Fortunately for us, the tide was running swiftly between the islands, and
the time it took them to get round gave us a start. Moreover, their course,
till they got clear of the land, was set thick with perils, and they had to
go cautiously, while nothing but clear sea lay between us and Brecqhou.




CHAPTER XXXI

HOW I HELD THE NARROW WAY


And so, once again I was pulling for dear life, and now indeed for more
than life, with death, and more than death, coming on astern in venomous
jerks and vicious leaps.

Carette's soft hands were not equal to work of this kind, and she saw it.
There were but the two oars in the boat. I bade her hand me hers, and she
did it instantly, sliding it along to my rowlock and losing but a single
stroke.

The odds were somewhat against us, but not so much as I feared. For, if I
was single-handed against their six oars, their boat was heavier, and
carried four armed men in addition to the oarsmen.

But I saw that Brecqhou would be impossible to us, and moreover must prove
but a cul-de-sac if we got there, for at best there were but two sick men
there, and they could give us no help. The house indeed might offer us