Page 202 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

unheeding, ran the boat alongside, under the very nose of
the revengeful Rex.
The mass of iron fell half in-board upon the now stayed
boat, and gave her sternway, with a splintered plank.
‘Villains!’ cried Frere, ‘would you swamp us?’
‘Aye,’ laughed Rex, ‘and a dozen such as ye! The brig’s
ours, can’t ye see, and we’re your masters now!’
Frere, stifling an exclamation of rage, cried to the bow
to hook on, but the bow had driven the boat backward, and
she was already beyond arm’s length of the brig. Looking
up, he saw Cheshire’s savage face, and heard the click of the
lock as he cocked his piece. The two soldiers, exhausted by
their long pull, made no effort to stay the progress of the
boat, and almost before the swell caused by the plunge of
the mass of iron had ceased to agitate the water, the deck of
the Osprey had become invisible in the darkness.
Frere struck his fist upon the thwart in sheer impotence
of rage. ‘The scoundrels!’ he said, between his teeth, ‘they’ve
mastered us. What do they mean to do next?’
The answer came pat to the question. From the dark hull
of the brig broke a flash and a report, and a musket ball cut
the water beside them with a chirping noise. Between the
black indistinct mass which represented the brig, and the
glimmering water, was visible a white speck, which gradu-
ally neared them.
‘Come alongside with ye!’ hailed a voice, ‘or it will be the
worse for ye!’
‘They want to murder us,’ says Frere. ‘Give way, men!’
But the two soldiers, exchanging glances one with the

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