glow and in one of these periods a dull
bump ahead gave Archie a fright.

"Steady! I'll be all right in a moment!" the Governor called
reassuringly.

He had run into a log that lay across his path and the canoe had
attempted to jump it. When he reported himself free they went ahead
alert for further manifestations from the launch, which for some time
had given no hint of its position.

They were two-thirds of the way across the bay when the Governor gave
the signal to stop and they drew together for a conference.

"They must be keeping watch," said Archie calling attention to lights on
the shore. "If we could land without frightening the girls to death--"

The Governor whistled through his teeth. Somewhere to the left of them
as they lay fronting the camp, a sharp blow was struck upon metal. It
was repeated fitfully for several minutes.

"It's Carey tinkering his engine. He's been playing possum off there."

The launch was so near that they heard the waves slapping its sides.
Archie and Leary gripped the canoe tight while the Governor listened for
any indications of a change in Carey's position.

Suddenly Leary sprang up in the tossing boat.

"Look ahead!" he exclaimed, leveling his arm at a shadow that darted out
of the darkness and passed between them and the launch. The Governor saw
it and stifled a cry of dismay.

"Two women in a canoe! They're going to run for it!"

"They are fools!" growled Leary settling himself to the oars and
swinging the boat round.

The Governor had already turned the canoe and was furiously plying his
paddle. A lantern shot its beams from the phantom craft, but the light
vanished immediately.

"There goes his engine," the Governor called as he took the lead. "He
spotted that light and will try to run them down."

Isabel and Ruth, attempting to elude Carey's blockade and seek help at
Huddleston, were forcing a crisis that might at any minute result in
disaster. It was close upon midnight, and there was no help to be had
from either shore. A fierce anger surged through Archie's heart. There
could have been no safer place to commit murder than the quiet bay at
the dead of night. Ultimately the bodies would be washed up; there would
be the usual inquiries and a report of accidental drowning.

It was incredible that Carey would attempt to run down two women on the
dark bay and it was apparently his intention to circle round them and
drive them back to the camp. Neither the canoe