“What was the course they meant to pursue once they got hold of the silver (there were ten cases, and each could be carried easily by two men) nobody can tell now.  But so far, Davidson was right.  They were in the cabin.  He expected to hear the sounds of breaking-in every moment.  But the fact was that one of them (perhaps Fector, who had stolen papers out of desks in his time) knew how to pick a lock, and apparently was provided with the tools.  Thus while Davidson expected every moment to hear them begin down there, they had the bar off already and two cases actually up in the cabin out of the lazarette.

“In the diffused faint glow of the skylight the Frenchman moved no more than a statue.  Davidson could have shot him with the greatest ease—­but he was not homicidally inclined.  Moreover, he wanted to make sure before opening fire that the others had gone to work.  Not hearing the sounds he expected to hear, he felt uncertain whether they all were on board yet.

“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 sprang instantly 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.