The girl, with her hands bound behind her back, was standing near the man who was tied to the tree, and the firelight fell fairly on the faces of man and girl.
A low exclamation of the utmost astonishment broke from Frank's lips.
"It can't be—it is an impossibility!" he said.
"Pwhat is it, me b'y?" quickly demanded Barney.
"The man—the girl! Look, Barney! do you know them?"
"Oi dunno."
"Well, I know! There is no mistake. That is Captain Justin Bellwood, whose vessel was lost in the storm off Fardale coast! I am certain of it!"
"An' th' girrul is——"
"Elsie Bellwood, his daughter!"
"Th' wan you saved from th' foire, Frankie?"
"As sure as fate!"
"It can't be possible!" fluttered Professor Scotch. "Captain Bellwood has a new vessel, and he would not be here. You must be mistaken, Frank."
"Not on your life! That is Captain Bellwood and his daughter. There is no mistake, professor."
"But how——"
"There has been some kind of trouble, and they are captives—that is plain enough. Those men are sailors—Captain Bellwood's sailors! It's likely there has been a mutiny. We must save them."
"How can it be done?"
"We must land while those ruffians are fighting. We are well armed. If we can get ashore, we'll set the captain free, and I fancy we'll be able to hold our own with those ruffians, desperate wretches though they are."
"Wait!" advised the timid professor. "Perhaps they will kill each other, and then our part will be easy."
Frank was not for waiting, but, at that moment, something happened that caused him to change his plan immediately.
The fighting ruffians were using knives in a deadly way, and one man, bleeding from many wounds, fell exhausted to the ground. Another, who seemed to be this one's comrade, tore himself from the other three, leaped to the girl, caught her in his arms, and held her in front of him, so that her body shielded his. Then, pointing a revolver over her shoulder, he snarled:
"Come on, and I'll bore the three of ye! You can't shoot me, Gage, unless you kill ther gal!"
The youngest one of the party, a mere boy, but a fellow with the air of a desperado, stepped to the front, saying swiftly:
"If you don't drop that girl, Jaggers, you'll leave your carcass in this swamp! That is business, my hearty."
Frank clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from uttering a great shout of amazement. The next moment he panted:
"This is fate! Look, Barney! by the eternal skies, that is Leslie Gage, my worst enemy at Fardale Academy, and the fellow who ran away to keep from being expelled. It was reported that he had gone to sea."
"Ye're roight, Frankie," agreed the no less excited Irish lad. "It's thot skunk, an' no mistake!"
"It is Leslie Gage," agreed the professor. "He was ever a bad boy, but I did not think he would come to this."
"An' Oi always thought he would come to some bad ind. It wur thot spalpane thot troied to run Frank through with a sharpened foil wan toime whin they wur fencing. He had black murder in his hearrut thin, an' it's not loikely th' whilp has grown inny betther since."
"Keep still," whispered Frank. "Let's hear what is said."
The man with the girl laughed defiantly, retorting:
"You talk big, Gage, but it won't work with me. I hold the best hand just at present, and you'll have to come to terms. Keep back!"
"You don't dare shoot," returned the young desperado, as he took still another step toward the sailor.
In a moment the man placed the muzzle of the revolver against the temple of the helpless girl, fiercely declaring:
"If you come another inch, I'll blow her brains out!"
"The dastard!" grated Frank. "Oh, the wretch! Wait. I will fix him, or my name is not Merriwell!"
He drew an arrow from the quiver, and fitted the notch to the bow-string. His nerves were steady, and he was determined. He waited till the man had removed the muzzle of the weapon from the girl's temple, and then he lifted the bow.
Barney and the professor caught their breath. They longed to check Frank, but dared not speak for fear of causing him to waver and send the arrow at the girl.
The bow was bent, the line was taut, the arrow was drawn to the head, and then——
Twang! The arrow sped through the air, but it was too dark for them to follow its flight with their eyes. With their hearts in their mouths, they awaited the result.
Of a sudden, the ruffian uttered a cry of pain, released his hold on the girl, and fell heavily to the ground.
The firelight showed the arrow sticking in his shoulder.
"Ugh!" grunted a voice close beside the canoe. "Very good shot for a white boy. Not many could do that."
The trio turned in amazement and alarm, and, within three feet of them, they saw a shadowy canoe that contained a shadowy figure. There was but one person in the strange canoe, and he immediately added:
"There is no need to fear Socato, the Seminole, for he will not harm you. He is the friend of all good white men."
It was an Indian, a Seminole, belonging to the remnant of the once great nation that peopled the Florida peninsula. Frank realized this in a moment, and, knowing the Seminoles were harmless when well treated, felt no further alarm.
The Indian had paddled with the utmost silence to their side, while they were watching what was taking place on shore.
The arrow had produced consternation in the camp. The fellow who was wounded tried to draw it from his shoulder, groaning:
"This is not a fair deal! Give me a fair show, and I'll fight you all!"
"Where did it come from?" asked Gage, in dismay.
The two canoes were beyond the circle of firelight, so they could not be seen from the shore.
Gage's two companions were overcome with terror.
"This swamp is full of Indians!" one of them cried. "We've been attacked by a band of savages!"
Gage spoke a few words in a low tone, and then sprang over the prostrate form of the man who had been stricken down by the arrow, grasped the girl, and retreated into the darkness. His companions also scudded swiftly beyond the firelight, leaving Captain Bellwood still bound to the tree, while one man lay dead on the ground, and another had an arrow in his shoulder.
Close to Frank's ear the voice of Socato the Seminole sounded:
"Light bother them. They git in the dark and see us from the shore. Then they shoot this way some."
"Jupiter and Mars!" gasped Professor Scotch, "I don't care to stay here, and have them shoot at me!"
"White boys want to save girl?" asked Socato, swiftly. "They pay to get her free? What say?"
"Of course we will pay," hastily answered Frank. "Can you aid us in saving her? If you can, you shall be——"
"Socato save her. White man and two boys go back to cabin of Great White Phantom. Stay there, and Socato come with the girl."
"Begorra! Oi don't loike thot," declared Barney. "Oi'd loike to take a hand in th' rescue mesilf."
"Socato can do better alone," asserted the Seminole. "Trust me."
But Frank was not inclined to desert Elsie Bellwood in her hour of trouble, and he said:
"Socato,