"And there's been a policeman here!--and he's took her prisoner!--and he was the first to do it!--she's his prisoner, that's what she is!--only that great brute shoved him into the river. I saw him do it!--and there he's drowning now for all he cares!--'Gustus! 'Gustus! You great coward, why don't you jump in and pull him out!--he was only doing his duty!--do you want to have him drowned before your eyes? 'Gustus! Is that you, 'Gustus?" Descending the bank with all possible care, the agitated West got as near to the water's edge as she dared, peering into the murky stream for some signs of the being she loved. There were sounds on the lawn behind them. The man laid his hand on Dorothy's shoulder. "Down the steps!--into the boat! I don't mean to let them take us like this; there's something which I must say to you first--quick!" How she had got there she scarcely knew; but all at once the girl found herself seated in a small boat, which wobbled portentously as the man followed her into it. "Steady!" she heard him say. Whether he was speaking to himself, to her, or to the boat, she was not sure. "Don't move; keep perfectly still; we shall be all right. Damn the sculls! Where the devil is that rowlock? I've got it!" The boat moved forward; then stopped, with a jar. It seemed they had run into another boat--the presence of which moved her companion to wrath. "Hollo!--who are you?--what the deuce are you doing there? Get out of the way, if you don't want me to run you down!" A voice replied--a voice which Dorothy knew well: "Gently! gently! Listen to me! Hug the shore for about two hundred yards and you'll find a cut; go down it and, made fast to the opposite bank, under the trees, you'll find a houseboat. It belongs to old Vernon; it's empty now; go aboard; for the present you'll be safer there than anywhere, I'll see to that; I'll put them off the scent. I'll come as soon as ever I can; wait for me there till I come. Off you go!" And off they went, just as burly figures began to appear on the edge of the lawn. As they moved, almost noiselessly, through the water, the man asked Dorothy: "Who was that spoke to us, and talked about a cut, and a houseboat? I couldn't get a proper sight of him. Did you know him?" "I think," said Dorothy--as if she were not sure--"that it was Mr Frazer." As if she had not recognised his voice with just as much certainty as she had done her companion's! CHAPTER XIX AN INTERLUDE With sensations which she would not have found it easy to describe, Miss Frances Vernon felt a great hand grip her by the shoulder with a degree of roughness to which she was unaccustomed, and heard a coarse voice exclaim: