"It is your fancy, comrade," at length cried one of the pirates. "The bows of our boat crashed upon the drift-wood here, as you can see for yourself, for there is a deep furrow. Then you sprang overboard, lightening the load and causing her to move again. There is nothing in these signs, and I therefore urge you to press on. Remember, all of you, that our lives are forfeit if the day dawns and still finds us unsuccessful. Push on then, and let us not delay."
"As you will," grumbled the one who had at first raised the question, and who had spent the time in staring into the jungle towards the spot where Tyler lay. "Only if we lose them on account of the fact that you will not take my warning, then it will be sad for all of us. For me, Rembas shall not see me again, for to return would be to die."
"Then, as we all love the lives which we lead, and desire to go back to our homes, let us push on in all haste," cried his comrade. "Then shall we be more sure of coming upon these rascals."
With a heave they lifted the craft from the obstruction and placed her in deep water. Then they sprang aboard, and before the fugitives could believe their eyes, their enemies were sweeping down the stream, only the reflection of the light being there to show that they actually existed.
"We will let them tire of the search," said Tyler, with a big sigh of relief, "and then we will take to the water ourselves and make for the lower reaches. For the present we will lie still and listen, for others may come this way."
And so with ears straining for sounds which would warn them of the near presence of the enemy, and with all their senses alert, they waited in the forest for some three hours or more, not daring to stir from their hiding-place. Then, judging that the keenness of the search was over and that they might venture to take to the river, they crept from the jungle, lifted their boat into the stream, and embarked. A thrust of the foot and she was afloat, and a stroke of the paddle directed her on her way. Then, with the current to carry them, they let her drift silently through the night, being careful, however, to keep her still beneath the overhanging boughs. At length the latter came to an end, and the open river was before them. At once they took to their paddles, and were urging their craft into the centre of the Sarebus when a long, dark object which had been lying in close to the bank shot out behind them and came racing in their wake. Then a dusky figure in the front grasped at a pole, at the end of which was attached a hook with which it was the custom of the pirates of Borneo to tear their enemies from their prahus, and, thrusting it out into the night, made a dash at the unconscious figure of the rearmost of the two at the paddles. It caught; the hook passed beneath his arm and became entangled in his clothing.
"Back!" shouted the pirate. "Hold on your paddles!"
There was a startled cry of surprise, the guttural exclamation of a Chinaman, and ere Tyler had time to think, he was over the side and being dragged into the enemy's boat. Down came the shaft of the pole upon his head, rendering him unconscious of the roughness with which he was handled. Thrust here and there, hauled this way and that, he was at length pushed into the stern and left to lie there, while the pirates turned their attention to the remaining fugitive. But of him there was not a sign. The darkness or the river had swallowed him up.