torn himself free, but still the powerful arms of his captor held
him as in a vise of iron. Meantime, our hero's assailant made
frequent though ineffectual attempts to thrust a hand into the
breeches-pocket where the ivory ball was hidden, swearing the
while under his breath with a terrifying and monstrous string of
oaths. At last, finding himself foiled in every such attempt, and
losing all patience at the struggles of his victim, he endeavored
to lift Jonathan off of his feet, as though to dash him bodily
upon the ground. In this he would doubtless have succeeded had he
not caught his heel in the crack of a loose board of the wharf.
Instantly they both fell, violently prostrate, the captain
beneath and Jonathan above him, though still encircled in his
iron embrace. Our hero felt the back of his head strike violently
upon the flat face of the other, and he heard the captain's skull
sound with a terrific crack like that of a breaking egg upon some
post or billet of wood, against which he must have struck. In
their frantic struggles they had approached extremely near the
edge of the wharf, so that the next instant, with an enormous and
thunderous splash, Jonathan found himself plunged into the waters
of the harbor, and the arms of his assailant loosened from about
his body.

The shock of the water brought him instantly to his senses, and,
being a fairly good swimmer, he had not the least difficulty in
reaching and clutching the cross-piece of a wooden ladder that,
coated with slimy sea-moss, led from the water-level to the wharf
above.

After reaching the safety of the dry land once more, Jonathan
gazed about him as though to discern whence the next attack might