The other woman, who held the cord, hesitated. Simon felled her with a blow on the point of the chin. Then, without troubling about Lord Bakefield, he rushed to the cabin. At that moment, Rolleston opened the door, shouting:
"What's up? The gold?"
Simon laid hold of the door to prevent his closing it and saw Isabel, at the back of the cabin, alive.
"Who are you?" asked the villain, uneasily.
"Simon Dubosc."
There was a pause, a respite before the struggle which Simon believed inevitable. But Rolleston fell back, with haggard eyes:
"M. Dubosc? . . . M. Dubosc? . . . The one who was killed just now?"
"The same," said a voice in the gangway. "And it was I who killed him, I, Antonio, the friend of Badiarinos whom you murdered."
"Ah!" groaned Rolleston, collapsing. "I'm done for!"
He was paralysed by his drunkenness, by his state of stupor and even more obviously by his natural cowardice. Without offering the least resistance, he allowed himself to be knocked down and disarmed by Antonio, while Simon and Isabel rushed into each other's arms.