twenty yards from the other.
``Not if I knows it,'' cried Sandy as

he shot square at Foley, the ball going
through the sleeve of his coat, but leaving

him unharmed.
``Curse yer fer a fool!'' came from

Foley, dropping his paddle and standing
up in the skiff, which now had nothing

to guide it but Hildey's exhausted arm.
The skiff was rocking violently. Foley

attempted to balance himself as he raised
his pistol to shoot. In a flash the frail craft

was caught in the conflicting currents, it
careened and capsized, and the two men

were battling for life in the whirlpool.
Sandy was so intent on escape that

he had gone some distance down stream
before realizing he was no longer

pursued. Suddenly an agonizing cry was
borne on the midnight air:

``Help! Help! I'm drownin'!''
The boy rested on his paddle, and

scanned the river in the direction of the
voice.

``Don't let's let 'em drown like rats in
a hole,'' said Sandy, and he started his

boat back toward the bend.
``Gil, gimme yer pistol. They may be

tryin' to play some trick on us, an' if
they are, we'll be ready for 'em.''

The precaution was unnecessary, for
when they came near, they saw the

upturned skiff circling around in the eddy,
its paddles bobbing with the waves, and

the hats of Foley and Hildey slowly
drifting toward the bank.

Leander and Dink, meanwhile, had
come up, and with the other two boys

remained for fully half an hour waiting
for some sign of the two robbers, but

in vain; for far beneath the surface of
the water in the maddening current, the

ill-spent lives of Foley and Hildey were
ended. They were dead in the cruel

embrace of the Devil's Elbow.
End

• sleeve [sli:v] n.袖子；袖套 (初中英语单词)
• pistol [´pistl] n.手枪 vt.用手枪射击 (初中英语单词)
• intent [in´tent] a.专心致志的 n.意图 (初中英语单词)
• midnight [´midnait] n.午夜；漆黑 (初中英语单词)
• meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
• paddle [´pædl] n.踏板 v.用浆划；划船 (高中英语单词)
• violently [´vaiələntli] ad.强暴地；猛烈地 (高中英语单词)
• precaution [pri´kɔ:ʃən] n.预防 vt.预先警告 (高中英语单词)