The Delta independent. [volume] (Delta, Colo.) 1886-19??, 1911-12-01
CHAPTER XIV.

The Attack on tho Yacht.
Britt, Manning and Fitch walked
briskly around the corner and board
ed at Blocker Street a subway train.
At Fourteenth Street they caught the
first uptown Van Cortlandt express
of the morning, and they made good
time to Two Hundred and Twenty
fifth Street. There they left the
train, and walked quickly along the
edge of a grassy blum overlooking
the government cut that now con-
meets the Harlem and Hudson rivers
by a more direct route than the old
Spuyten Duyvil creek. A few hun
dred yards beyond the low fence that
separates the meadow from the street
they came upon a man standing close
behind large tree. He was screened
from the little street and from the
bridge that spans 1t by thick under
brush. When he sighted Britt he
lifted his hand warningly and beck
oned. The three men went within
the shelter OF the bush.
Anything new. Gordon?" inquired
Britt
YES" said the other detective.
"They have gone aboard
where's Hicks?"
Down there near the water. piping
them off,
Are they on deck?"
"No, in the cabin; they seem pref
" busy, too"
Gordon looked at the sky. 1t was
growing brighter every minute.
Stepping with most solicitous ten
derness on the grass. and avoiding
every leaf and twig that might give
forth a slight crackle, the four men
made their way slowly among the
bushes to the spot where Hicks. lying
at full length with his head only a
little way above the ground. was
waiting and. at the same time, watch
ing a naphtha yacht of more than
ordinary size.
After a whispered conference with
Hicks, Britt slipped his hand into
side pocket of his coat. and took o'st
something that glittered in the sun
shine. At a single word from Britt,
Gordon and Hicks wormed their way
along the bank until they were at the
bow of the yacht. Britt, Fitch and
Manning stayed near the stern. Sud-
denly the lieutenant fired shot over
tine yacht that echoed metallically
from the cliffs, and at the signal. all
ave of the attacking party leaped
aboard the yacht, their feet striking
the polished deck with a concerted
thud that must have made those with
in the cabin think they were feeling
the first shock of landslide.
The FIVE men on the deck gave
those below little time for analysis of
their sensations. Gordon and Hicks
raced around the wheelhouse to the
starboard side of the craft, and
dashed down the companionway from
that direction, while Britt, Manning
and Fitch hurled themselves into the
port entrance to the cabin, alighting
on richly carpeted floor a dozen feet
below the deck. Two shots followed
before the police party could seize
Prince Kananda and All. who, facing
in opposite directions, stood at bay in
the center of the cabin. Britt and
Gordon struck upward the revolvers
OF the Indians as the triggers were
pulled The bullets few high, harm
ing no one Behind Kananda and All,
using q table as a breastwork, stood
Two more f1luuOOS, DOtu OI tucul
strangers to Britt. They were I'M
armed save for wicked-looking Malay
krises they gripped nervously as they
crouched in waiting for an attack.
Britt and Manning jammed their pis-
tolls into the faces of the men with
the krises; but the Indians. undis-
mayed, made savage slashes at them
with their razor-edged long knives
Gordon and Fitch sprang upon the
kris-bearers. Hicks with pistol In
each hand standing OF Kananda and
All. Again and again the Hindoos
FLASHED at their assailants, and that
they did not split at least one head
was due to the wary agility Of the
four who attacked them. Shots from
the detectives revolvers would have
brought them down at such short
range, of course; but the policemen
seemed bent on capturing them alive
and Fitch was not man to have re-
course to bloodshed until he could be
usrtaIn II was inevitable. Britt and