f being able to detect
that which was bloodstained, and so avoid bringing it forth.

"Ach!" ejaculated the Irishman, becoming impatient for the conviction of
his guilty antagonist; "phwat's the use ov talkin'. Frenchy's the wan
that did it. That gropin' an fumblin' about the bottom of the wallet
was all pretince. He had the button in his shut fist all the time, an'
by Jaysus! he's entitled to the prize, the same as if he had dhrawn it.
It's him that's got to die!"

"_Canaille_! liar!" shouted Le Gros; "if I have, you--"

And as the words issued from his lips he sprang forward, knife in hand,
with the evident design of taking the life of his accuser.

"Kape cool!" cried the latter, springing out of reach of his assailant;
and with his own blade bared, placing himself on the defensive. "Kape
cool, ye frog-atin' son av a gun, or ye'll make mate for us sooner than
ye expected, ay, before yez have time to put up a _pater_ for yer ugly
sowl, that stans most disperately in nade ov it.

"Now," continued the Irishman, after he had fairly placed himself in an
attitude of defence; "come an whiniver yer loike. Larry O'Gorman is
riddy for ye, an' another av the same at yer dhirty back.
_Hoch_,--_faugh-a-ballah_,--_hiloo_,--_whallabaloo_!"

CHAPTER SEVENTY TWO.

A DUEL TO THE DEATH.

The strange ceremonial upon the raft,--hitherto carried on with some
show of solemnity,--had reached an unexpected crisis.

A second appeal to the goddess of Fortune was no longer thought of. The
deadly antagonism of the two chief castaways--Le Gros and O'Gorman--
promised a result likely to supply the larder of that cannibal crew,
without the necessity of their having recourse to her decrees.

One or other,--perhaps both,--of these men must soon cease to live; for
the determined attitude of each told, beyond mistaking, that his bared
blade would not be again sheathed, except in the flesh of his adversary.

There was no attempt at intervention. Not one of their comrades
interposed to keep them apart. There was friendly feeling,--or, to use
a more appropriate phrase, partisanship,--on the side of each; but it
was of that character which usually exists among the brutal backers of
two "champions of the ring."

Under other circumstances, each party might have regretted the defeat of
the champion they had adopted; but upon that raft, the death of one or
other of the combatants was not only desirable; but, rather than it
should not oc