Still, I was determined not to give in; and, just as one gets a
second wind in swimming, so did I now feel a new and strange
strength come upon me. I continued the conflict with renewed
energy.

Stepping backward upon one of the flat tombstones, I once more
stood ready to receive my opponent. He struck without effect at my
face, and while he was recovering his balance I saw my opportunity,
and hit him a strong blow between the eyes. He staggered and fell,
and I saw that the fight was over. Rising to his feet he did not
retaliate, but picked up his jacket, wrapped his store of the
treasure into his seal's skin, and wiping the dripping blood from
his nose, walked away across the heath in the direction of Crua
Breck, muttering a vow of vengeance.

The combat had been sharp and effectual; but it was the outburst of
an antagonism which had long been gathering strength; it was the
practical declaration of an enmity that grew and lasted for many a
day.



Chapter IX. Captain Gordon.


I was oppressed with a weight of weariness by the time that I came
within sight of Stromness. After leaving Hercus and Rosson over at
Yeskenaby, I met not a person until I reached the shores of Hamla
Voe. Here, however, on turning from the moorland path into the main
road, I saw a stranger resting upon the low wall at the roadside.