No time to think.

All passed quicker than it can be said.

They closed in upon us, to push us from the canoe: Rudely the old priest flung me from his side, menacing me with his dagger, the sharp spine of a fish.

A thrust and a threat! Ere I knew it, my cutlass made a quick lunge.

A curse from the priest's mouth; red blood from his side; he tottered, stared about him, and fell over like a brown hemlock into the sea.