Chapter 61: - Page 7 of 7

The police boat and the boat from the Pasig now started in pursuit of him.  A light track indicated his passage through the water as he drew farther and farther away from Ibarra’s banka, which floated about as if abandoned.  Every time the swimmer lifted his head above the water to breathe, the guards in both boats shot at him.

So the chase continued.  Ibarra’s little banka was now far away and the swimmer was approaching the shore, distant some thirty yards.  The rowers were tired, but Elias was in the same condition, for he showed his head oftener, and each time in a different direction, as if to disconcert his pursuers.  No longer did the treacherous track indicate the position of the diver.  They saw him for the last time when he was some ten yards from the shore, and fired.  Then minute after minute passed, but nothing again appeared above the still and solitary surface of the lake.

Half an hour afterwards one of the rowers claimed that he could distinguish in the water near the shore traces of blood, but his companions shook their heads dubiously.