d the last word left his lips when Coleman
received a blow between the eyes that laid him flat on the beach.
Fortunately the last wave had retired. There was only an inch or so of
foam around him. Long Orrick knelt on his foe, and drew a knife from
his girdle. Before the next wave came up, Coleman with one hand caught
the uplifted arm of his adversary, and with the other discharged a
pistol which he had drawn from his breast. In another instant they were
struggling with each other in the wave which immediately swept over the
beach, and Bax was standing over them, uncertain where to strike, as the
darkness rendered friend and foe alike undistinguishable.

The men in the boat at once rushed to the rescue, omitting to take
weapons with them in their haste. Seeing this, Bax seized the
struggling men by their collars, and exerting his great strength to the
utmost, dragged them both high upon the beach. He was instantly
assailed by the crew, the first and second of whom he knocked down
respectively with a right and left hand blow; but the third sprang on
him behind and two others came up at the same moment--one on each side--
and seized his arms.

Had Bax been an ordinary man, his case would have been hopeless; but
having been endowed with an amount of muscular power and vigour far
beyond the average of strong men, he freed himself in a somewhat curious
manner. Bending forward, he lifted the man who grasped him round the
neck from behind quite off his legs, and, by a sudden stoop, threw him
completely over his head. This enabled him to hurl his other assailants
to the ground, where they lay stunned and motionless. He then darted at
Coleman and Long Orrick, who were still struggling together with
tremendous fury.

Seeing his approach, the smuggler suddenly gave in, relaxed his hold,
and exclaimed, with a laugh, as Bax laid hold of him--

"Well, well, I see it's all up with me, so it's o' no use resistin'."

"No, that it ain't, my friend," said Coleman, rising and patting his foe
on the back. "I can't tell ye how pleased I am to meet with ye. You're
gettin' stouter, I think. Smugglin' seems to agree with ye!--hey?"

He said this with a leer, and Bax laughed as he inspected Long Orrick
more narrowly.

The fact was that the smuggler's clothing was so stuffed in all parts
with tobacco that his lanky proportions had quite disappeared, and he
had become so ludicrously rotund as to be visibly altered even in a dark