The Dermott news., 1916-01-20

bic mistake In his momentary excite
ment he had thought to eNtcrminate
Hernandez. But the cutthroats who
bounded into view never even saw Her
nandez. Hernandez was there, agile,
alert ready to defend himself But they
didn't know ii.
The only thing they saw was An
nette Ilington. elutched in the mighty
grasp OF their chief. Like a mob Of
rayenous wolves they bounced upon
her The chief beat them of.
There are two he exclaimed.
two The other runs free upon the
beach This one is mine. The other
on the beach. Scatter and find her.
Some half dozen of the crew. accus-
toned to obedience. scampcred of
But not so the rest Shoulder to shout
der. thigh to thigh. they struggled on
after their chief holding out their
hands toward the trembling girl upon
his shoulder. Step by step he fought
his way. clutching her firmly to him.
until lie reached the entrance to a
eave-his cave. He stopped to enter.
Then broke the storm
Down on shore Neal and Ilington,
alarmed at the prolonged absence Of
Annette. had scattered Neal secured
the beach in one direction Ilington III
another.
At last Neal found her-lncz. crouch
iug behind rock, lnez. painting with
fear. leapcd into his arms. He cast
her of for he did hot understand
Annette" she cried, they've got
her-there-that Nay that way
Annette. numb With fear lay quiy-
ering just within the mouth OF the
cave Behind her was the dark the
unknown. She VAS too terror strlck-
en- to move But she was Quick-wlt-
ted and she saw-and understood =
that this terrific fight was helping her,
She collected herself-she began To
plan. Inch by inch she Crept farther
into the darkness.
When the fight was at its hottest the
chief lunged far out in the midst OF II
and left the caves mouth temporarily
uncovered Like flash Annette wrig-
gled out OF the cave and skunk swiftly
toward the underground, She reached
il. when figure blocked her path.
II was Neal With a wild cry she
flung herself into his arms. But Neal
repulsed her for the instant. and with
forethoueht Almost hrutallv he
flung her behind him. and unshipped
his navy gun. For action was at hand
one man and only one had seen An
uctte crawl from the caves mouth and
that man was the pirate chief rs
soon as he could disentaugle himself
he was away and after her And hero
he came tearing through the under
growth with savage bounds.
Neal fred thrice hit once missed
twice and then the eutthroat was up
on him
IHHeton from the shore, heard the
shots He looked upward and saw.
pecriUr down at him from al emlnence
the face of his arch enemy, Her
nandcz,
lie shook a massive fist at the face,
and the face disappeared
llington hastened back TO the tenn
porary camp and found that the lieu
tenant aud his men were making ready
for run.
Come on loot cried llington. leap
ing into the underground. I'm ready
fer fight saw a head just now,
u ~ ri
Neal fought with fury. but his fight
was futile So be it said. was the
fight OF the pirate chief For Neal $
shots had brought the other beasts
swarmiug like human hornets about
their heads Annettc's temporary es-
cape had been discovered they had
been cheated vengeance was their
due They pounced upon Neal and
their chief like harpies once more
pandemonium reigned Annette
crouchcd unseen horror stricken.
Suddenly she shrieked aloud-for
Neal had disappeared beneath mass
OF men.
She shrieked and ran like wild for
the shore-for succor. There was no
fight in her-she was beaten by fear.
That shrek was fortunate for Neal
His assailants left him and darted at
ter her scurrying like wild dogs
through the brush.
And then crack crack crack.
The bark of dozen navy rifles. A
dozen men plunged headlong
II was a bad hght-a desperate fight.
Meals men were outnumbered.
Meantime solitary figure skunk
through the brush and crept past all
the fighters. This was Hernandez.
lHngton. during a lull, saw him pass,
bmt knee ut wher he went Her
nandez was still hoping