There is no chance
for me and there is none for you!"
"What do you mean by your statement that I am in collusion
with your enemy?"
"I see it all. I was invited on this boat by you. Well, let
it go so, but, Denman, you will not live to triumph over me.
Nothing on land or sea can save you. I've got the bead on you
dead!"
"What do you demand"
"Your word that I shall stand face to face with my accuser."
"And then?"
"If he sticks to his charge, let him be my executioner."
"This is your demand?"
"Yes, this is my demand."
CHAPTER XX.
It was a critical moment; both men were cool and spoke in
deliberate tones.
They stood alone: well toward the after-deck, while the men
were all busy forward and below handling the contraband cargo.
The night was calm; the sea was unruffled; not a cloud
intervened between sea and moon and stars, and yet two human
lives hung in the balance--the lives of two brave men.
The detective was greatly disappointed. He had not
accomplished all he desired. He had hoped not to be
discovered until the schooner landed her cargo, and he had
fallen upon the rendezvous and the mode of transport to the
city. Still he had obtained a large amount of information,
facts which he could work up; and could he only get ashore
alive, he would be able to run down close on the real backers
of the contraband business, who were a band of foreigners who
only made their money by illicit traffic in New York, to spend
it abroad.
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