We are betrayed!" And in a moment the whole mass of men went surging

and jostling backward down the pier, turning their defenceless backs on

their pursuers and piercing the night with craven outcry.

One coward thrust off the ship's stern, while another still held her by

the bows. The fugitives leaped, screaming, and were hauled on board, or

fell back and perished in the sea. Some were cut down upon the pier by

the pursuers. Many were injured on the ship's deck in the blind haste

and terror of the moment, one man leaping upon another, and a third on

both. At last, and whether by design or accident, the bows of the Good

Hope were liberated; and the ever-ready Lawless, who had maintained his

place at the helm through all the hurly-burly by sheer strength of body

and a liberal use of the cold steel, instantly clapped her on the proper

tack. The ship began to move once more forward on the stormy sea, its

scuppers running blood, its deck heaped with fallen men, sprawling and

struggling in the dark.

Thereupon, Lawless sheathed his dagger, and turning to his next

neighbour, "I have left my mark on them, gossip," said he, "the yelping,

coward hounds."

Now, while they were all leaping and struggling for their lives, the men

had not appeared to observe the rough shoves and cutting stabs with which

Lawless had held his post in the confusion. But perhaps they had already

begun to understand somewhat more clearly, or perhaps another ear had

overheard, the helmsman's speech.

The Black Arrow