" He indicated Seagreave with a contemptuous
jerk of the thumb.
"Seagreave," in cold fury, "you're a damned thief to take advantage of
her this way. Now, Pearl, you come on."
He seized her by the wrist and would have drawn her roughly from Harry's
encircling arm. She resisted, and Harry, in the strength of his
indignation, unloosed the old man's grasp and drew her hastily away. But
the touch of his hands had roused in Gallito fresh rage, and with almost
unbelievable quickness he lifted his heavy, gnarled stick and swung it
above Seagreave's head. Harry leaped back, near, perilously near, the
edge of the ravine. The soft, moist earth crumbled beneath his feet; for
a second he tottered on the edge, and then went down like a shot.
Pearl stood arrested in that first, quick rush of hers, frozen, gazing
in wild unbelief at the spot where Harry had disappeared. As for
Gallito, he also gazed almost uncomprehendingly, until the expression of
surprise on his livid face gave way to a saturnine and vindictive
satisfaction.
"He did it himself," he muttered, "the fool! I never touched him." Then,
shrugging his shoulders and spreading out his hands as if well content
to leave the matter to fate, he turned and began to walk down the hill,
still muttering as he went.
This roused Pearl from her momentary trance. "Father," she cried wildly,
"you must help me. You tried to hurt him and now you've got to help me.
We must get him. Father, father," she babbled, running after him, "you
must stay, you must help me, you must.
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