The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-07-06


the wide, shadowy reaches of the riv.
err Bat the mystical distances con-
fused and eluded him. The launch
seemed to move, painting, in an abyss
of night. She made little noise: a
hiss of water beneath her stem: the
steady humming of the motor, throt-
tied down to half speed; the muffled
gasping of the exhaust. And present
ly even these ceased at a word from
Couch, and the launch moved only
with the tide.
Abruptly towering wall of opaque
black rose out of the darkness to
starboard. O'Rourke braced himself
for the imminent instant of action,
poised so lightly upon his toes and
fingertips that a swell from a moving
vessel would have thrown him off
his balance, perhaps overheard. The
launch closed swiftly and silently in
upon the black wall; it lowered over
him like a cliff; far above he could
see dim divisions between black and
black that must be the rail. And he
shook his head, dismayed; he could
never scale that, he thought; not even
the O'Rourke could accomplish a mir
acle. But in a breath it had faded
back, and he realized that the tower
ing poop of the junk had misled him.
They were now alongside at the waist.
He stood up and saw a low railing
moving and caught it over the edge OF
the rail, drew the launch in, let go the
hnn ora1 rr-f& ~
! wrapped about his hand, jumped
blindly.
Something dealt him vicious, all
but paralysing, blow In the pit of the
| stomach; he doubled up, for a mo-
ment helpless, across the junk's rail,
but retained sufficient presence of
mind to hold on to the headwarp.
Then, recovering a trifie. he squirmed
over and fell sprawling upon the deck,
his heels drumming an abrupt and
violent alarm. From somewhere he
heard shrill jabbering arise, with an
| ensuing patter of bare feet. Swiftly
he got upon his knees and drew in the
headwarp, with his free hand search
ing along the rail for a cleat. Some
thing thumped heavily on the deck be-
side him, and grunted; and something
else followed with a second bump;
and the launch swung outward and,
caught by the current, jerked the
headwarp from his grasp. May the
luck Of the O'Rourke still hold" he
prayed fervently, getting upon his feet
to realize that, with Couch and the
man Wheeler, he was imprisoned
aboard the junk, doomed there to re-
main whatever might befall. until
the coming of the second launch =.
or perhaps for longer time.
AS he rose some indistinct body ran
into him and cannoned off with an un-
couth yelp; with no time to draw his
revolvers, the adventurer struck out
with a bare hand and had the salts
faction of finding a goal for his blow
of landing heavily on bare flesh and
of hearing the dull sound of fall
upon the deck.
Spontaneously lights were flashing
out for and aft. A revolver spat ven
omously beside him. Somewhere
man screamed and fell, whimpering
horribly. The revolver expoded a Sec
ond time There were confused
noises. as of furious struggle, rough
and tumble, and he suspected that one
or another of his companions had
been tackled bodily by one of the
junk's crew. On his own part he
caught a glimpse Of shadow moving
ghostlike against one of the lights,
and promptly exercised 1t with shot.
By this time the vessel seemed TO
be caught in the grip of pandemon-
ium; shouts and shots Wed with
screams, groans, confused padding
footsteps, to make the moment one OF
a nightmare. The boarding party stood
at bay, not daring TO venture from the
spot on which they had landed, firing
steadily but with discretion.
Huddled together like children in
fear of the powers Of darkness, the
three held their fire against the inev-
liable assault in Yorce, handicapped
fearfully by their absolute ignorance
of the lay of the deck, Of the number
OF their opponents. and Of from which