“Because he knows I wear an Injin disguise. It’s all very well for you that he don’t know, but I ain’t so easy suited. Toss him over, I say, and make no words.”
They lifted the bound man and flung him over the rail, while with a thrilling shriek Sadie fell senseless into the arms of the man who held her. He laid her gently down, and made a spring at the taffrail, and his body struck the water almost as soon as that of Mr. Wescott, who was unable to help himself.
“Come back here, you born fool,” screamed Dick Garrett. “What do you think the Cap will say when he hears how you act?”
“You go to ——,” said the rough but good-hearted fellow, naming a locality not sought after by humanity generally. “I’m going to save this man.”
“Then by ——” hissed Dick Garrett, “you stay with him; set in your poles, boys. Tom don’t want to come on board.”
By this time the man had seized the helpless form of Wescott, and with his clasp-knife managed to cut the bonds upon his hands and feet, and Wescott at once began to swim, but feebly at first, and the fiendish order of the desperate leader rung in his ears, and they saw the boat moving slowly away, leaving them alone on the wide river.
“We’re done, stranger,” said the man called Tom. “I done my best, but he’s run from us.”
“You can swim to the bank,” said Mr. Wescott, noting with what ease the man sustained himself.
“I reckon.”
“Then do so and leave me to my fate,” replied Wescott. “You have already risked too much for me.”