"Curses on your obstinacy! You have refused to do what is right, and you shall take the the consequences."
Stepping back he reclosed the door angrily, and hastily relocked the padlock; then he left the main chamber, for the outer one, and jumped into the boat.
The tide was now on the ebb, and the water was now down so that he could row out of the hole into the ocean.
As soon as he got out a grand sight met his gaze.
The old house on top of the bluff was in a sheet of lurid flame, lighting up the early evening, which otherwise was quite dark.
Showers of sparks ascended toward the heavens, and the crackling of the dancing blaze made weird music.
Pulling in to shore, Griffith Gregg leaped from the boat, and clambered up the side of the bluff.
The first man he met was Thornton of Leadville, who had fastened up the hut, and hurried to the scene of the conflagration, as soon as he had discovered the light.
The recognition was mutual, and each uttered a cry.
"At last!" the speculator cried, and he bounded forward, and seized his enemy by the throat. Gregg clinched with him, and the two men rolled to the ground, in a fierce struggle, the lurid light of the burning building lighting up the scene like unto the colored fire to some wild exciting drama.