We struggled voiceless, neither having breath for useless speech, and each realizing that the end would probably mean death either to the one or the other. Only our heavy breathing, the quick shuffling of feet on the stony road, and an occasional rending of cloth, evinced the desperation in which we strove. Once, as we turned partially in the struggle, I caught a passing glimpse of the woman standing helpless, her face buried in her hands, and the sight yielded me new strength and determination. For her sake I must win! Even as this thought came, my burly antagonist pressed me backward until all the weight of my body rested upon my right leg. Then there occurred to me like a flash a wrestler's trick taught me years before by an old negro on my father's plantation. Instantly I appeared to yield to the force against which I contended with simulated weakness, sinking lower and lower, until, I doubt not, Brennan felt convinced I must go over backward. But as I thus sank, my left foot found steady support farther back, while my free hand sank slowly down his straining body until my groping fingers grasped firmly the broad belt about his waist. I yielded yet another inch, until he leaned so far over me as to be out of all balance, and then, with sudden straightening of my left leg, at the same time forcing my head beneath his chest in leverage, with one tremendous effort I flung him, head under, crashing down upon the hard road. Trembling like a reed from the exertion, I stood there looking down upon the dark form lying huddled at my feet. He rested motionless, and I bent over, placing my hand upon his heart, horrified at the mere thought that he might be dead. But the heart beat, and with a prayer of thankfulness I looked up. She stood beside me. “Tell me, Captain Wayne,” she exclaimed anxiously, “he is not--not seriously hurt?” The words thoroughly aroused me, and I recalled instantly her probable relationship to this man, her delicate position now. “I believe not,” I answered soberly. “He is a heavy man, and fell hard, yet his heart beats strong. He must have cut his head upon a stone, however, for he is bleeding.” She knelt beside him, and I caught the whiteness of a handkerchief within her hand. “Believe me, Mrs. Brennan,” I faltered lamely, “I regret this far more than I can tell. Nothing has ever occurred to me to give greater pain than the thought that I have brought you so much of sorrow and trouble.” She held up her hand to me, and I took it humbly. “It was in no way your fault; pray do not consider that I can ever blame you for the outcome.” Her eyes were upon me; I could view her face in the starlight, and for the moment I utterly forgot the man who rested there between us. “If you could only know,” I exclaimed eagerly, “how sincerely I long to serve you,--to atone in some small way for all the difficulty I have brought into your life; how my heart throbs to your presence as to that of no other living woman--”