Yet, even as we looked, life sprang up there again. Once more a shot rang out, followed by two others in sharp succession. And as we stared in that direction, wondering what this new affray could be, we saw a boat shoot out from beneath the bows, with a low, crouching figure in it which was evidently making frantic efforts to get away. Somebody on board the yawl was just as eager to prevent this escape; three or four shots sounded--following one of them, the figure in the boat fell forward with a sickening suddenness. "Got him!" I said involuntarily. "Poor devil!--whoever he is." "No!" exclaimed Miss Raven. "See!--he's up again." The figure was struggling to an erect position--even at that distance we could make out the effort. But the light of the newly-risen sun was so dazzling and confusing that we could not tell if the figure was that of an Englishman or a Chinaman--it was, at any rate, the figure of a tall man. And whoever he was, he managed to rise to his feet, and to lift an arm in the direction of the yawl, from which he was then some twenty yards away. Two more shots rang out--one from the yawl, another from the boat. It seemed to me that the man in the boat swayed--but a moment later he was again busy at his oars. No further shot came from the yawl, and the boat drew further and further away from it, in the direction of a spit of land some three or four hundred yards from where we stood. There were high rocks at the sea end of that spit--the boat disappeared behind them. "There's one villain loose, at any rate," I muttered, not too well pleased to think that he was within reach of ourselves. "I wonder which. But I'm sure he was winged--he fell in a heap, didn't he, at one of those shots? Of course, he'll take to these woods--and we've got to get through them." "Not yet!" said Miss Raven. "Look there!" She pointed across the cove and beyond the bar, and I saw then that a boat had been put off from the destroyer and was being pulled at a rapid rate towards the line of surf which, under the deepening tide, was now but a thin streak of white. It seemed to me that I could see the glint of arms above the flash of the oars--anyway there was a boat's crew of blue-jackets there. "They're going to board her!" I exclaimed. "I wonder what they'll find?" "Dead men!" answered Miss Raven, quietly. "What else? After all that shooting! I should think that man who's just got away was the last." "There was a man left on board who fired at him--and at whom he fired back," I pointed. "Yes--and who never fired again," she retorted. "They must all--oh!" She interrupted herself with a sharp exclamation, and turning from watching the blue-jackets and their boat I saw that she was staring at the yawl. From its forecastle a black column of smoke suddenly shot up, followed by a great lick of flame. "Good heavens!" I exclaimed. "The yawl's on fire!"