CHAPTER VII.
The two men stopped and listened a moment, when Tom Pearce
started to go toward the door, exclaiming:
"Something has scared Renie!"
"Hold on! Nothing is the matter with the girl," said Garcia.
"How do you know?" retorted the old smuggler; and he made
another step toward the door, when the man Garcia suddenly
dealt him a blow with a club.
The blow was a powerful one, and it brought the old man to the
floor, which laid him insensible upon the broad of his back.
Meantime, the detective had overheard the scream; and had slid
away from his hiding-place, and started to run toward the
point from whence the cry had come.
Spencer Vance was convinced that the scream had been uttered
by Renie, and, remembering Sol Burton's attack upon the girl,
he suspected the man had renewed his attempt.
The detective ran for some distance, and saw no one; and his
anxiety became intense lest some real harm had befallen the
helpless girl. He could not understand what had become of
her. When he first heard the cry, it did not appear as though
the screamer could be more than a few hundred feet distant
from where he lay ensconced; but he had covered thousands of
square feet, and could see nothing of the girl, or, indeed,
was there a living soul visible.
The detective was straining his eyes in glances in every
direction when he caught sight of the figure of a man moving
stealthily across the sand.
The detective started to follow the man, and speedily
discerned that the stealthy prowler was the man Garcia.
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