As I stepped out of the light boat into the loaded one, and directed my crew to follow, one of the men--an Irishman, named O'Connor--touched his forehead in the approved shell-back style, and observed-- "Av ye plaise, sor, Misther Forbes was sayin' would ye be so kind as to sthep along to the houle afore ye makes your next thrip to the ship? He's afther wantin' to shpake to ye." "Oh, very good," said I; and, stepping ashore, I directed Joe to go across to the other side of the basin to fetch the ladies and children, who had crossed earlier in the afternoon, and now stood waiting to be conveyed back to the ship, and then went groping my way along the dark, uneven path toward the hole. The man O'Connor and somebody else--who it was I could not distinguish in the gloom--were stumbling along in front of me, and making very poor headway, I thought, for I quickly overtook them. They were in my way, working along as they were, two abreast, for the path was very narrow; so I said to them--"Here, let me pass, you two; I am in a hurry!" They stepped aside without a word, one to one side of the pathway and one to the other; and as I passed between them one of them cried, "Now!" and, before I could even so much as think, they both flung themselves upon me and bore me to the ground, one of them springing upon me from behind, with his arms round my neck and his knee into the small of my back, while the other dashed himself upon his knees on my chest, and gripped me by the throat by one hand, as he pressed the cold muzzle of a revolver to my temple with the other.