and the oar came down on his shoulder with a sounding whack. It was only by the greatest good luck that it did not hit him on the head. As it was it caused him to utter a cry of pain and release his hold on the boat.
It was a critical moment.
Adrian had just succeeded in pulling himself into the boat, but had not yet gained his footing; Donald was apparently helpless in the water, and Billie was struggling with the leader of the gun-runners, while the oarsman, with oar in hand, seemed to command the situation.
But before the man with the oar could gather himself for another blow Adrian, from his crouching position, sprang upon him. His head struck the Mexican squarely in the pit of the stomach, and with a loud “Ah!” as the wind was knocked out of him he toppled over into the water. The next instant Adrian reached over and seized Donald by the hair and pulled him up to the boat, where he was able to grasp the gunwale with his uninjured arm.
The blow which struck Donald, and his cry, had a most unfortunate result upon Billie. For just a moment he was undecided whether to throw his antagonist into the river, or to release his hold and help Donald. In that moment his opponent saw his opportunity and took advantage of it.
With his doubled knee he struck Billie in the
face and as the lad fell over into the boat, he plunged into the river and struck out for the Mexican shore.
“Don’t let him get away,” cried Billie, as soon as he could gather himself to speak. “It’s the leader of the gang!”
“All right,” said Adrian. “Help me pull Donald in and we’ll row after him.”
In almost no time Donald was helped into the boat and Billie and Adrian seized the oars and started in pursuit of the fleeing Mexican. They were not expert oarsmen, but they did their best and the boat made good headway. But row as hard as they could, they were unable to discover a trace of the fugitive, and it soon became evident that he had escaped in the darkness. Neither did they see anything of the man whom Adrian had knocked overboard.