s captor.

He threw the cloak over his shoulders, stole silently to the hatchway,
and cautiously climbed up. Thrusting out his head he looked about
him, and he saw two or three figures bundled together at the
mainmast--woodsmen who had celebrated victory too sincerely. He looked
for the watch, but could not see him. Then he drew himself carefully up,
and on his hands and knees passed to the starboard side and moved aft.
Doing so he saw the watch start up from the capstan where he had been
resting, and walk towards him. He did not quicken his pace. He trusted
to his ruse--he would impersonate Iberville, possessed as he was of the
hat and cloak. He moved to the bulwarks and leaned against them, looking
into the water. The sentry was deceived; he knew the hat and cloak, and
he was only too glad to have, as he thought, escaped the challenge
of having slept at his post; so he began resolutely to pace the deck.
Gering watched him closely, and moved deliberately to the stern. In
doing so he suddenly came upon a body. He stopped and turned round,
leaning against the bulwarks as before. This time the watch came within
twenty feet of him, saluted and retired.

Immediately Gering looked again at the body near him, and started back,
for his feet were in a little pool. He understood: Radisson had escaped
by killing his guard. It was not possible that the crime and the escape
could go long undetected; the watch might at any moment come the full
length of the ship. Gering flashed a glance at him again, his back was
to him still,--suddenly doffed the hat and cloak, vaulted lightly upon
the bulwarks, caught the anchor-chain, slid down it into the water, and
struck out softly along the side. Immediately Radisson was beside him.

"Can you dive?" the Frenchman whispered. "Can you swim under water?"

"A little."

"Then with me, quick!"

The Frenchman dived and Gering followed him. The water was bitter cold,
but when a man is saving his life endurance multiplies.

The Fates were with them: no alarm came from the ship, and they reached
the bank in safety. Here they were upon a now hostile shore without
food, fire, shelter, and weapons; their situation was desperate even
yet. Radisson's ingenuity was not quite enough, so Gering solved the
problem: there were the Frenchmen's canoes; they must be somewhere on
the shore. Because Radisson was a Frenchman, he might be able to impose
upon the watch guarding the canoes. If not, they still had