"Fire if he raises his hand," said Holmes, quietly. We were
within a boat's-length by this time, and almost within touch of
our quarry. I can see the two of them now as they stood, the
white man with his legs far apart, shrieking out curses, and the
unhallowed dwarf with his hideous face, and his strong yellow
teeth gnashing at us in the light of our lantern.
It was well that we had so clear a view of him. Even as we
looked he plucked out from under his covering a short, round
piece of wood, like a school-ruler, and clapped it to his lips.
Our pistols rang out together. He whirled round, threw up his
arms, and with a kind of choking cough fell sideways into the
stream. I caught one glimpse of his venomous, menacing eyes amid
the white swirl of the waters. At the same moment the wooden-
legged man threw himself upon the rudder and put it hard down, so
that his boat made straight in for the southern bank, while we
shot past her stern, only clearing her by a few feet. We were
round after her in an instant, but she was already nearly at the
bank. It was a wild and desolate place, where the moon glimmered
upon a wide expanse of marsh-land, with pools of stagnant water
and beds of decaying vegetation.
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