"Nay, sor, ye'll tak' me wid ye now? Quick! ye're losing time."
"Let him come, Abel," whispered Mary.
"That's well spoken, young sor. And if we're to have whole shkins, let's be getting on."
The advice was excellent, for the sounds of pursuit were close at hand, and the dogs were baying as if they heard as well as scented their prey.
"All's ready," whispered Mary. "I heard the shots, and knew you were coming. Abel, your hand. Join hands all."
Abel caught at that of his sister, at the same time extending his own, which was taken by Bart, and he in turn, almost involuntarily, held out his to Dinny.
In this order they passed rapidly through the jungle, along a beaten track formed by the animals which frequented the place, and one which during her long, patient watches had become perfectly familiar to Mary Dell, who threaded it with ease.
It was one wild excitement, for the dogs were now growing furious. The scent was hot for them, and ere the fleeing party had reached the creek the fierce brutes had gained the edge of the jungle, through which they dragged their keepers, who mingled words of encouragement with oaths and curses as they were brought into contact with the tangled growth.
But all the same the hunt was hot, and in spite of Mary's foresight and the manner in which she guided her friends, the dogs were nearly upon them as the boat was reached.
"In first," whispered Abel; but Mary protested and would have hung back had not Bart lifted her bodily in after wading into the mud, where he stood and held the side of the frail canoe.
"Now, Abe," he whispered.
"I can hear them," shouted a voice. "Loose the dogs. Seize 'em, boys, seize 'em!"
"Here, room for me?" whispered Dinny.
"No," cried Abel, fiercely. "Keep back!"
"I'm coming wid you," cried Dinny.
Bart caught him by the shoulder.
"No, no, my lad, we're escaping; this is no place for you."
"Be my sowl, this isn't," said Dinny, shaking himself free, and seizing the side of the boat he began to wade and thrust her from the shore.
"In with you too."
Bart said no more, but followed the Irishman's example, and together they waded on into the muddy creek, only to get a few yards from the shore, as with a furious rush the dogs crushed through the canes and reeds, to stop, breast-deep, barking savagely.
"Purty creatures!" whispered Dinny. "Sure, and we musn't get in yet, or, if we do, it must be together. Push her out."
"Halt, there!" cried a loud voice, suddenly. "I have you. Down, dogs!
Do you hear! Halt!"
"Kape on," whispered Dinny.
"Make ready!" cried the same voice. "Present! Will you surrender?"
"Lie down, me darlins," whispered Dinny. "Divil a bit can they see where to shoot."
"Fire!" cried the same voice, and a dozen flashes of light blazed out of the cane-brake. There was a roar that seemed deafening, and the darkness was once more opaque.
"Anybody hit?" whispered Dinny. "Silence gives consint," he added to himself. "Push along, and as soon as it's deep enough we'll get in.
Ugh! bedad, it's up to me chin all at wanst," he muttered. "Can you give a boy a hand?"
A hand caught his wrist, and he was helped over the stern of the boat, dripping and panting, as Bart scrambled in simultaneously, and though the little vessel threatened to overset, it held firm.
Then another volley was fired, for the bullets to go bursting through the canes, but over the fugitives' heads, and once more darkness reigned over the hurried buzz of voices and the furious baying of the dogs.
Order after order came from the soft marshy land at the edge of the creek, mingled with shouts at the dogs, which were now loose, and barking and yelping as they ran here and there at the side of the water, where their splashing could be heard by those in the boat, which was being propelled slowly and cautiously by Mary, who knelt in the prow and thrust a pole she carried down in the mud.
The baying of the dogs as they kept making rushes through the canes gave the pursuers some clue as to where the fugitives would be; and from time to time, after a command given to the escaping men to surrender, a volley was fired, the bright flashes from the muskets cutting the darkness, and showing where their danger lay.
It was slow work for both parties, the pursuers having to force their way painfully through the tangled growth, while the heavily-laden boat had to be propelled through what was in places little more than liquid mud full of fibrous vegetation, and what had been but a light task to Mary when she was alone, proved to be almost beyond her strength with so heavy a load.
"Are you going right?" whispered Abel at last, for they were hardly moving, and it seemed to him that they were running right in among the growth that whispered and creaked against the boat.
"Yes; be patient," was the stern reply.
"I can see them. They're wading yonder in the mud up to their waists."
"There they are," came from apparently close at hand, and the dogs burst out more furiously than ever. "Now, then, you scoundrels, we can see you. Give up."
"Faith, and it's a cat he is," whispered Dinny. "What a foine senthry he'd make for night duty!"
"Surrender!" shouted the same voice, "or we'll blow you out of the water."
"The ugly, yellow-faced divil!" muttered Dinny.
"Now, then, come ashore, and I will not be so severe with you."
"Hark at that, now," whispered Dinny to Bart. "It's a baby he thinks ye, afther all."
"Curse them! Fire then, sergeant," cried the overseer. "No mercy now."
"Down, dogs!" roared the man again. "Quick, there--fire!"
A rattling volley from close at hand rang out, and it was followed by utter silence, as if those ashore were listening.
"Curse your stupid fellows, sergeant! Why don't you make them fire lower?"
"If they fired lower, we should have hit the dogs, sir."
"Hang the dogs! I wanted you to hit the men. Now, then, fire again."
There was the rattling noise of the ramrods in the barrels as the men loaded, and once more silence. The sinuous nature of the muddy creek had brought the fugitives terribly near to the dense brake; but Mary's pole remained perfectly motionless, and there was nothing to be done but wait till the party moved on, when there would be a chance to get lower down towards the open sea; while, after the next quarter of a mile, the creek opened out into quite a little estuary dotted by sandbanks and islets of bamboos and palms.
"Now I have them!" cried the overseer, suddenly. "Bring a gun, sergeant. I can pick off that fellow easily."