The confident tone
in which the waterman spoke, had quite convinced him that he could do
what he said. With a perfect confidence in the power of his two
watermen, he looked at the police wherry without any alarm, and the foam
that it dashed up as it came bounding on, did not seem to fall coldly
upon his breast, as it had seemed to do before. "Two miles," he said. "That's a long start." "In a stern chase," said Bill, "it's half of the blessed world to get
over is them two miles." "Yes, yes--exactly; and I shall beat Mr. Anthony Strong, I feel now. You
see, my little nephew, Bill White, gave me the first start from
Blackfriars; but I knew I could not depend upon him all the way, so
I--There's another gun. Hal ha! Mr. Strong, it won't do." "Well," said Bill, with a look of what he, no doubt, thought was great
cleverness, "if I didn't know as this was a bit of fun between Mr.
Anthony Strong and you, sir, I should have said that them guns was for
us to lie-to." "That's just what he wants," cried Todd. "Does he?" "Yes. He thinks that he will frighten whoever is rowing into a dead
stop, when they find a police-galley firing guns; but I think he is
mistaken in this matter, my friends." "Rather!" said Dick, as he bent his back to the oars, and pulled away
like a giant. How the boat shot through the water! and yet to Todd's apprehension, the
police-galley gained upon him. Of course, he told himself that it must
gain with its sail and six rowers; but the question was, how much it
would gain in the seven or eight miles they had got to go? With what a
feverish action Todd licked his lips. CHAPTER CLXIV. TODD GOES BACK ON LAND. "Oh, quicker--quicker!" cried Todd. "That would be difficult," said Bill. "But I rather think as we is a
doing of it something out of the common way." Bang! went another gun from the pursuing boat, and this time there
certainly was the greatest possible hint given by the police-galley that
it was in earnest, for a bullet struck the water not above a couple of
boats' length from Todd's wherry. "Well," said Bill, "that may be firing, but I'll be hanged if it is at
all pleasant." "Oh, heed it not," said Todd; "heed it not. They would have such a laugh
at both me and you, if by any means they could frighten you into
stopping, and so giving me up--no, no, I mean giving up the wager. What
am I saying?" "I tell you what it is," said Bill, "to my mind this is a very odd sort
of wager, and if you have no sort of objection to it, sir, we will just
pull to the next stairs, and put you ashore. If you don't like that,
why, I rather think you must be content to lose your wager." "You will desert me? Oh, no--no. Surely you will not, and cannot. You
have but to name your price, and you shall have it." "No. That won't do. You must land now." Todd looked nervously along the bank of the river, and he saw a little
miserable landing-place, towards which the men now began to urge the
boat. He thought then that if he could get anything like a start of his
pursuers on the shore, all might yet be well. "I could get across the
country to Gravesend, and if once there, I might find some vessel to
take me off." "Pull to shore, then," he said; "I will take my chance. Pull to shore at
once, as swiftly as you possibly can." When the boat's head was turned towards the shore, it was pretty evident
that the police-galley was much more intent upon getting to Todd than to
Gravesend, for the rowers in it on the instant turned the boat's head in
the same direction, and it became then, truly, a case of life and death
to Todd. Vigorously as the boatmen worked, the little wherry was quickly so close
to the shore, that Todd saw he could land by a scramble through the
water. "There is your money," he cried, to the men; "and for what you have
done, I thank you with all my heart. Good-by to you." He sprang over the side of the boat, although by so doing he was up to
his knees in the river; but that he heeded not, and in the course of
half a minute he had scrambled to the shore, and going at a great rate
up the little steps at the landing-place, he gained the road and began
to run at great speed. The two boatmen were not a little amazed at this proceeding, and Bill
said,--

"I say, I rather think that this is another queer sort of a piece of
work than a wager; but if we don't wish to get ourselves into trouble,
we must stick to it tooth and nail, that that was what we believed it to
be." "Ay," said the other. "I believe you, we must, or else we shall get into
limbo for our share of the affair, and no mistake. Here they come, hand
over hand, and they don't look very well pleased, either." The rowers in the police-galley had made such strenuous exertions to
reach the landing-place quickly, that they were really not far behind
the wherry that had conducted Todd there, and the first thing that was
done was to lay hold of the wherry with a boat-hook, and drag it
alongside of them. Then the officer in command of the police-boat called
out in a voice hoarse with rage--

"What do you mean, you infernal rascals, by running off in this way,
when you know by our flag that we were the police? But you will have
leisure to repent of it in jail. Clap handcuffs upon them both, my men." "Why, what have we done?" said Bill. "You will win your wager yet, I
should say, if you look sharp about it." "Wager? What wager? What do you mean?" "Why, the gentleman told us that he had a wager with you about who was
to get to Gravesend first, and he was to take what means he could, and
you were to cut along in the galley, and there was to be quite a grand
dinner on the strength of it." "Oh, nonsense--nonsense." "Well, that's what he told me, and that's why we pulled away so for; but
if so be as it ain't, we are sorry enough, for why should we get into
trouble about a man we never saw before, and ain't likely to see again?" "This excuse won't serve you." "But who is he, and what's he done?" "For all we know to the contrary, he is the infamous Todd, the
murderer." "What? The fellow that made the people into pies! Oh, if we had only had
half a quarter of an idea of that! But, hold--I saw the way he went. It
was along that chalky bit of road. If you really want to nab him, why do
you waste time here talking to us? Come on shore, and I will go with
you, and we will soon have him now, if that will do any good." The officer saw at once that this was the only mode of proceeding that
promised him the least chance of capturing the fugitive, whether he were
Todd or not; for, after all, the persons in the police-galley had
nothing like positive evidence that it was Todd of whom they were in
pursuit. A couple of officers were left in the charge of the boats, and
the whole of the remainder of them landed along with Bill, and ran up
the steps to the road along which Todd had been seen to run. They did not know, however, what a wily, cunning personage they had to
deal with.