"Vel, off I don'd misdake, it vas. Yoost vait here, und I pring you der girl. Ash to der money, she vas no fool, und put it avay vere she can get it again."
He vanished, only to reappear a few minutes later, accompanied by Madge.
Then followed a touching scene. The speculator received his lost daughter with open arms; there were explanations, and kisses, and tears, and laughs, and the reunion was now complete.
Leaving them to their joy, let us take a concluding glance at the ocean race, which was in the meantime transpiring.
The pursuers saw Gregg pull out from the shore as soon as he saw them; and they tugged at their oars with a will.
"Pull, boys!" Tompkins cried, from his position at the steering-oar. "See! the woman is waving her handkerchief! That is a signal to the crew on board to fire up, ready to be off. Pull—pull for your worth! We must intercept them, if possible, before they board!"
The villagers did pull, with a will, and their boat fairly leaped over the water.
Tompkins had guessed the truth. The countess's signal did result in the crew's raising anchor, and in unbanking the slumbering fires, for huge volumes of smoke almost immediately began to roll from the smokestacks.
But, pull though they did, with almost super-human efforts, the pursuers were destined not to win.
Gregg's boat reached the steamer while the villagers were yet eight minutes distant, and he and the countess clambered aboard. Then the steamer's whistle gave a defiant shriek, and the craft began to move away.