this I was too late. The moment I set foot on the sloop's deck it was
to close in battle with the big negro."

"Cochose? He saw you then?"

"No, only as a shape. He can have no better memory of me, than I of
him. We fought as demons, until his giant strength forced me over the
rail. He has no knowledge that I ever rose again."

"And then--what?"

"Oblivion; nothing. Only what I saw in the return of the boat tells me
what followed. I came back to consciousness in a small dory, afloat on
the Bay, with but one thought in my mind--to save the girl. How? It
was too late to return, even had I known the way; but I could come
here, to this ship. So here I came."

"But how, in advance of those in the long-boat?"

"By cutting across the point; the coast to the north is a wide circle.
Besides the discovery of Sanchez sorely wounded left the others
without a leader. Fairfax and his niece together with the treasure,
were in Travers' house, at top of the bluff. They had to carry out an
attack there, which probably meant more fighting. What really happened
there, of course, I do not know."

"It can be easily imagined," said Watkins soberly. "Estada has no
mercy; he is a born devil. I have seen him kill just for the pleasure
of it. With Sanchez to avenge he would be an unleashed demon. But it
is not the fate of those men to consider now; it is what will befall