"While he listened, the Frenchman, whose immobility might have but
cloaked an internal struggle; moved forward a pace, then another.

Davidson, entranced, watched him advance one leg, withdraw his
right stump, the armed one, out of his pocket, and swinging his

body to put greater force into the blow, bring the seven-pound
weight down on the hammock where the head of the sleeper ought to

have been.
"Davidson admitted to me that his hair stirred at the roots then.

But for Anne, his unsuspecting head would have been there. The
Frenchman's surprise must have been simply overwhelming. He

staggered away from the lightly swinging hammock, and before
Davidson could make a movement he had vanished, bounding down the

ladder to warn and alarm the other fellows.
"Davidson spranginstantly out of the boat, threw up the skylight

flap, and had a glimpse of the men down there crouching round the
hatch. They looked up scared, and at that moment the Frenchman

outside the door bellowed out 'TRAHISON - TRAHISON!' They bolted
out of the cabin, falling over each other and swearing awfully.

The shot Davidson let off down the skylight had hit no one; but he
ran to the edge of the cabin-top and at once opened fire at the

dark shapes rushing about the deck. These shots were returned, and
a rapid fusillade burst out, reports and flashes, Davidson dodging

behind a ventilator and pulling the trigger till his revolver
clicked, and then throwing it down to take the other in his right

hand.
"He had been hearing in the din the Frenchman's infuriated yells

'TUEZ-LE! TUEZ-LE!' above the fierce cursing of the others. But
though they fired at him they were only thinking of clearing out.

In the flashes of the last shots Davidson saw them scrambling over
the rail. That he had hit more than one he was certain. Two

different voices had cried out in pain. But apparently none of
them were disabled.

"Davidson leaned against the bulwark reloading his revolver without
haste. He had not the slightest apprehension of their coming back.

On the other hand, he had no intention of pursuing them on shore in
the dark. What they were doing he had no idea. Looking to their

hurts probably. Not very far from the bank the invisible Frenchman
was blaspheming and cursing his associates, his luck, and all the

world. He ceased; then with a sudden, vengeful yell, 'It's that
woman! - it's that woman that has sold us,' was heard running off

in the night.
"Davidson caught his breath in a sudden pang of remorse. He

perceived with dismay that the stratagem of his defence had given
Anne away. He did not hesitate a moment. It was for him to save

her now. He leaped ashore. But even as he landed on the wharf he
heard a shrillshriek which pierced his very soul.

"The light was still burning in the house. Davidson, revolver in
hand, was making for it when another shriek, away to his left, made

him change his direction.
"He changed his direction - but very soon he stopped. It was then

that he hesitated in cruel perplexity. He guessed what had
happened. The woman had managed to escape from the house in some

way, and now was being chased in the open by the infuriated
Frenchman. He trusted she would try to run on board for

protection.
"All was still around Davidson. Whether she had run on board or

not, this silence meant that the Frenchman had lost her in the
dark.

"Davidson, relieved, but still very anxious, turned towards the
river-side. He had not made two steps in that direction when

another shriek burst out behind him, again close to the house.
"He thinks that the Frenchman had lost sight of the poor woman

right enough. Then came that period of silence. But the horrible
ruffian had not given up his murderous purpose. He reasoned that

she would try to steal back to her child, and went to lie in wait
for her near the house.

"It must have been something like that. As she entered the light
falling about the house-ladder, he had rushed at her too soon,

impatient for vengeance. She had let out that second scream of
mortal fear when she caught sight of him, and turned to run for

life again.
"This time she was making for the river, but not in a straight

line. Her shrieks circled about Davidson. He turned on his heels,
following the horrible trail of sound in the darkness. He wanted

to shout 'This way, Anne! I am here!' but he couldn't. At the
horror of this chase, more ghastly in his imagination than if he

could have seen it, the perspiration broke out on his forehead,
while his throat was as dry as tinder. A last supremescream was

cut short suddenly.
"The silence which ensued was even more dreadful. Davidson felt

sick. He tore his feet from the spot and walked straight before
him, gripping the revolver and peering into the obscurity

fearfully. Suddenly a bulky shape sprang from the ground within a
few yards of him and bounded away. Instinctively he fired at it,

started to run in pursuit, and stumbled against something soft
which threw him down headlong.

"Even as he pitched forward on his head he knew it could be nothing
else but Laughing Anne's body. He picked himself up and, remaining

on his knees, tried to lift her in his arms. He felt her so limp
that he gave it up. She was lying on her face, her long hair

scattered on the ground. Some of it was wet. Davidson, feeling
about her head, came to a place where the crushed bone gave way

under his fingers. But even before that discovery he knew that she
was dead. The pursuing Frenchman had flung her down with a kick

from behind, and, squatting on her back, was battering in her skull
with the weight she herself had fastened to his stump, when the

totally unexpected Davidson loomed up in the night and scared him
away.

"Davidson, kneeling by the side of that woman done so miserably to
death, was overcome by remorse. She had died for him. His manhood

was as if stunned. For the first time he felt afraid. He might
have been pounced upon in the dark at any moment by the murderer of

Laughing Anne. He confesses to the impulse of creeping away from
that pitifulcorpse on his hands and knees to the refuge of the

ship. He even says that he actually" target="_blank" title="ad.事实上；实际上">actually began to do so. . .
"One can hardly picture to oneself Davidson crawling away on all

fours from the murdered woman - Davidson unmanned and crushed by
the idea that she had died for him in a sense. But he could not

have gone very far. What stopped him was the thought of the boy,
Laughing Anne's child, that (Davidson remembered her very words)

would not have a dog's chance.
"This life the woman had left behind her appeared to Davidson's

conscience in the light of a sacred trust. He assumed an erect
attitude and, quaking inwardly still, turned about and walked

towards the house.
"For all his tremors he was very determined; but that smashed skull

had affected his imagination, and he felt very defenceless in the
darkness, in which he seemed to hear faintly now here, now there,

the prowling footsteps of the murderer without hands. But he never
faltered in his purpose. He got away with the boy safely after

all. The house he found empty. A profound silence encompassed him
all the time, except once, just as he got down the ladder with Tony

in his arms, when a faint groan reached his ears. It seemed to
come from the pitch-black space between the posts on which the

house was built, but he did not stop to investigate.
"It's no use telling you in detail how Davidson got on board with

the burden Anne's miserably cruel fate had thrust into his arms;
how next morning his scared crew, after observing from a distance

the state of affairs on board, rejoined with alacrity; how Davidson
went ashore and, aided by his engineer (still half dead with

fright), rolled up Laughing Anne's body in a cotton sheet and
brought it on board for burial at sea later. While busy with this

pious task, Davidson, glancing about, perceived a huge heap of