It was at this juncture that Miss Marlowe made an annoying discovery.
"Oh, papa, I have forgotten my pistol!" "Wait and I'll soon get it," she added, starting to leap the short distance from the gunwale to land, but Jack Everson caught her arm.
"You must not think of it; tell me where you left the weapon and I'll bring it." "I laid it on the table in the dining-room and in the hurry forgot it when we left." Jack turned to his friends.
"Don't wait here," he said, aware of the nervousness of the whole party.

"Push down stream, and I'll quickly overtake you." Without waiting for further explanation, he leaped the slight space and started up the lawn on a loping trot.

For convenience he left his rifle behind, but made sure that his revolver was in his hip pocket.
He did not apprehend that he would need the weapon in the short time he expected to be absent, but if anything went awry it would be more useful than the rifle.
In that moment of profound stillness following the disappearance of the young man among the trees grouped about the lawn, the motionless people on the boat felt a thrill of terror at the unmistakable sound of oars from some point on the river not distant.
"Let us land and take refuge in your house," suggested young Wharton; "we cannot make a decent fight in this boat." "We shall have a better chance than in the house," was the reply of the physician; "the bank of the river is shaded by trees a little further down; we must lose no time in getting there, and avoid the least noise." There were two long poles belonging to the boat, one of which was grasped by Wharton, while Anderson swayed the other, the remainder watching their movements, which could not have been more skillful.
Pressing the end against the bank, and afterwards against the clayey bottom, the craft speedily swung several rods from shore.
While the two men were thus employed, the others peered off in the gloom and listened for a repetition of the sounds that had frightened them a few minutes before.

They were not heard again, nor could the straining vision detect anything of the dreaded object, which could not be far away.

Not a person on board doubted that a number of their enemies were near and searching for them.