Page:The Country-House Party.djvu/40

32 'What is it?' she questioned. 'Oh, act quickly. What would you do?'

He put his hand into his pocket with a strange smile.

'What is it?' he said. 'Only—a chance for life. A main oil-pipe has burst, and the oil is pumping itself over the river. Look at it gleaming and glistening from bank to bank.'

'And what of it?' she whispered hoarsely. 'Look! They will soon be upon us. Oh, be quick, be quick!'

'Only this,' he said, and handed her a box of matches. 'Lean far out, and—light the river.'

'Light the river!' She paused and gasped. She drew a match from the box, and turned, half afraid. 'It is a cruel thing,' she said, and looked behind at the fast-approaching boats. She saw their savage faces fixed eagerly upon the prey they believed theirs. Then she met the dear eyes of her lover fixed upon her.

'It is in your hands,' he answered, and bent to the oars again. What! could she send this man from her life again? How she had missed him