Each body sank with a sullen
and leaden splash into the element where, the casings which
swathed them becoming loosened, the rug and the curtain rose to
the surface and drifted slowly away with the tide.
As Jonathan stood gazing dully at the disappearance of these last
evidences of his two inadvertent murders, he was suddenly and
vehemently aroused by feeling a pair of arms of enormous strength
flung about him from behind. In their embrace his elbows were
instantly pinned tight to his side, and he stood for a moment
helpless and astounded, while the voice of the sea-captain,
rumbling in his very ear, exclaimed: "Ye bloody, murthering
Quaker, I'll have that ivory ball, or I'll have your life!"
These words produced the same effect upon Jonathan as though a
douche of cold water had suddenly been flung over him. He began
instantly to struggle to free himself, and that with a frantic
and vehement violence begotten at once of terror and despair. So
prodigious were his efforts that more than once he had nearly
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.
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