to the unprotected body of his adversary.

Edgar at once rushed upon him, snapping his revolver as he ran; but, all
the chambers having been already emptied, no shot followed. Brandishing
his cutlass, he uttered an involuntary shout.

The shout was unexpectedly replied to by another shout of "Aileen, to
the rescue!" which not only arrested him in his career, but seemed to
perplex the pirate greatly.

At that moment the bushes behind the latter opened; a man in ragged
shirt-sleeves and torn trousers sprang through, whirled a mighty club in
the air, and smote the pirate's uplifted shield with such violence as to
crush it down on its owner's head, and lay him flat and senseless on the
ground.

"Mr Hazlit!" gasped Edgar.

The merchant bounded at our hero with the fury of a wild cat, and would
have quickly laid him beside the pirate if he had not leaped actively
aside. A small tree received the blow meant for him, and the merchant
passed on with another yell, "To the rescue!"

Of course Edgar followed, but the bush paths were intricate. He
unfortunately turned into a wrong one, when the fugitive was for a
moment hidden by a thicket, and immediately lost all trace of him.

Meanwhile Rooney Machowl, hearing the merchant's shout, turned aside to
respond to it. He met Mr Hazlit right in the teeth, and, owing to his
not expecting an assault, had, like Edgar, well-nigh fallen by the hand
of his friend. As it was, he evaded the huge club by a hair's-breadth,
and immediately gave chase to the maniac--for such the poor gentleman
had obviously become. But although he kept the fugitive for some time
in view, he failed to come up with him owing to a stumble over a root
which precipitated him violently on his nose. On recovering his feet
Mr Hazlit was out of sight.

Rooney, caressing with much tenderness his injured nose, now sought to
return to his friends, but the more he tried to do so, the farther he
appeared to wander away from them.

"Sure it's a quare thing that I can't git howld of the road I comed by,"
he muttered, as with a look of perplexity he paused and listened.

Faint shouts were heard on his left, and he was about to proceed in that
direction, when distinct cries arose on his right. He went in _that_
direction for a time, then vacillated, and, finally, came to a dead
stand, as well as to the conclusion that he had missed his way; which
belief he stated to himself in the following soliloquy:--

"Rooney