This made the predicament worse, for if we waited till he
finished his rites we should for certain be found by him. At
the same time, to return over the boulders in the bright
moonlight seemed an equally sure way to discovery. I whispered
to Archie, who was for waiting a little longer. 'Something
may turn up,' he said. It was always his way.

I do not know what would have turned up, for we had no
chance of testing it. The situation had proved too much for
the nerves of Tam Dyke. As the man turned towards us in his
bowings and bendings, Tam suddenly sprang to his feet and
shouted at him a piece of schoolboy rudeness then fashionable
in Kirkcaple.

'Wha called ye partan-face, my bonny man?' Then, clutching
his lantern, he ran for dear life, while Archie and I raced
at his heels. As I turned I had a glimpse of a huge figure, knife
in hand, bounding towards us.

Though I only saw it in the turn of a head, the face stamped
itself indelibly upon my mind. It was black, black as ebony,
but it was different from the ordinary negro. There were no
thick lips and flat nostrils; rather, if I could trust my eyes, the
nose was high-bridged, and the lines of the mouth sharp and
firm. But it was distorted into an expression of such a devilish
fury and amazement that my heart became like water.

We had a start, as I have said, of some twenty or thirty
yards. Among the boulders we were not at a great disadvantage,
for a boy can flit quickly over them, while a grown man