"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." "Faith, and what a foine liar he would make wid a little training," whispered Dinny. "Why, I can't even see my hand before me face." "Hush," whispered Bart, and then he half started up in the boat, for there was a sudden splashing, a shout, and the piteous yelping and baying of a dog, which was taken up in chorus by the others present. Yelp--bark--howl, accompanied by the splashing and beating of water, and rustling of reeds and canes, and then a choking, suffocating sound, as of some animal being dragged under water, after which the dogs whined and seemed to be scuffling away. "What's the matter with the dogs?" said the overseer. "One of those beasts of alligators dragged the poor brute down," said the sergeant. "It struck me with its tail." There was a rushing, scuffling noise here, and the heavy trampling of people among the tangled growth, growing more distant moment by moment, in the midst of which Mary began to use her pole, and the boat glided on through the thick, half-liquid mud. "Sure, an' it's plisant," said Dinny, coolly; "the dogs on one side, and the crockidills on the other. It isn't at all a tempting spot for a bathe; but I've got to have a dip as soon as we get out of this into the sea." "What for?" whispered Bart.