"I have no idea of throwing myself into the hands of those steamboat men. Don't you see the Champion is full of men?"
"Do you suppose they would harm us?"
"I do. No doubt Mr. Parasyte is on board, and he will give them liberty to maul us as much as they please."
"Perhaps you are right; I didn't think of Mr. Parasyte's being with them."
"Of course he is; and I think we can make better terms by fighting it out. For my own part, I would run the steamer ashore and take to the woods, rather than give myself up to Mr. Parasyte and such a gang as he has now."
Bob did not fully agree with me, though he thought we had better get back to Parkville, if we could. This was not an easy matter, for the Champion lay between us and our destination, and could cut us off if we attempted to pass her. She could run up alongside of the Adieno, if we attempted to dodge her, and throw her men on our decks.
The Sisters lay near the middle of the lake, and the Champion must go to the north or to the south of them. I made a blunder; I ought to have waited at the end of the channel until our pursuer had reached his most southern or most northern point in coming round the shoal, and then gone off in the opposite direction; but even then he might have put about, and headed us off. It was hard to decide what to do, and I continued to go to the westward until the Champion, which had chosen the southern passage, was due south of The Sisters, when I stood away to the northward.
But the pursuer "had me;" and finding it was useless to attempt to get by her, I headed the boat down the lake again. The Champion then crowded on all steam and chased us. This was exactly what I wished her to do, and I led her five miles down the lake.
"I don't know about it, Ernest," said Bob, shaking his head. "I think she will catch us. This boat is the fastest, but we don't understand her well enough to make her do her best."
"I am afraid of that; but don't talk to me, if you please, now," I replied.