ILLUSTRATIONS
["Rex gazed into the rolling eyes, the wild, distorted visage of the Corsican, and felt himself shoved to the very brink of the crevasse"] . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece
["The two teams raced side by side, the leaders snapping at each other"]
["From the Indian's extended palm the yellow flash of native gold filled Britton's startled eyes"]
THE STAMPEDER
CHAPTER I.
Britton's steam-yacht tore out its lungs in protest at the black smudge of a coasting vessel reeling straight across its bows.
The siren bellowed thrice in a choking fury of warning and denunciation till the echoes boomed over the Algerian harbor and floated high up to the Mustapha Supérieure, where English lords slept at peace in luxurious hotels.
Disconcerted by this tremendous volume of sound, the coaster vacillated, veered and yawed as if under some drunken steering-hand, to leap forward unwarily and bury her weather-beaten prow in the white side of the Mottisfont.
The terrific impact swept the yacht's forecastle clear of snoring sailors, and, after shooting the temporary owner headlong from his berth, commenced to polish the companionway passage with his features, an operation which he instinctively though not wholly wakefully resented by a frantic grasping for something substantial.