"So is mine; and both are covered by the rising water. Therefore there are only the six cartridges of your Browning left."
CHAPTER IV
THE BATTLE
All things considered, their best chance of safety would have been to plunge into the river and escape by the left bank. But this plan, which would have cut them off from Rolleston and which Simon did not wish to adopt except in the last extremity, must have been foreseen by Forsetta, for, as soon as light was clear enough, they saw two tramps going up the Somme on the opposite bank. Under these conditions, how were they to land?
Shortly afterwards, they saw that their retreat was discovered and that the enemy was profiting by their hesitation. On the same bank as themselves, some five hundred yards down-stream, appeared the barrel of a rifle. Up-stream an identical menace confronted them.
"Forsetta and Mazzani," declared Dolores. "We are cut off right and left."
"But there's nobody in front of us."
"Yes, the rest of the tramps."
"I don't see them."
"They are there, believe me, in hiding and well sheltered."