, 1906-01-03
CONTINUED.

l1ON ~ JED.
There was no more sleep on board
that night. In fact, the sun was not
long in showing himself after the res
cuers returned to the vessel. The dar-
ing attempt of Mohammed's emissaries
was discussed without restraint, and
every sailor had "A story to tell of the
pursuit and rescue. The event furnish
ed conversation food for days and days
among both the seamen and the pas
sengers. Dan DeMille blamed himself
relentlessly for sleeping through it all
and moped for hours because he had
lost Il magnificent chance to do some
thing" The next morning he proposed
to hunt for the sheik and offered to
lead an assault in person. An investi-
cation was made, and government of
ficials tried to call Mohammed to ac-
count, but he had fled to the desert
and the search was fruitless.
Brewster refused to accept a share
of the glory of Peggy's rescue, pushing
Conroy forward as the real hero. But
the sailor insisted that he could not
have succeeded without help-that he
was completely exhausted when Monty
came to the rescue. Peggy found it
hard to thank him gently while her
heart was so dangerously near the riot
point, and her words of gratitude
sounded pitifully weak and insufficient.
ut would have been the same had
anybody else gone to her rescue" he
unused dejectedly. "She cares for me
with the devotion of Il sister, and that's
all. Peggy, Peggy" he moaned, 'if
you could only love me, Pd-Id-oh,
well, there's no use thinking about it!
She will love some M else, of course,
and-and be happy too. If she'd APP
pear only one-tenth as grateful to me
as to Conroy I'd be satisfied. He had
the luck to be first, that's all, but God
knows | tried to do it,"
Mrs. Dan DeMille was keen enough
to see how the land lay, and she at
once tried to set matters straight. She
was far too clever to push her cam
paign ruthlessly, but laid her founda-
lions and then built cunningly and Sc
curely with the most substantial mate
rial that came to hand from day to
day. Her subjects were taking them
selves too deeply to heart to appre-
ciate interference on the part of an out
slider, and Mrs. Dan was wise in the
whims of love.
Peggy was not herself for several
days after her experience, and the
whole party felt a distinct relief when
the yacht finally left the harbor and
steamed off to the west. A cablegram
that came the day before may have
had something to do with Brewster's
depression, but he was not the sort to
confess it. 1t was from Swearengen
Jones of Butte, Mont, and there was
something sinister in the laconic ad-
monition. 1t read:
Brewster, u. S. Consulate, Alexandria:
Have a good time while good times
last. JONES.
His brain was almost bursting with
the hopes and fears and uncertainties
that crowded it far beyond its ordinary
capacity. 1t had come to the point, it
seemed to him, when the brains of a
dozen men at least were required to
operate the affairs that were surging
into his alone. The mere fact that the
end of his year was less than two
months off and that there was more or
less uncertainty as to the character of
the end was sufficient cause for wor-
ry, but the new trouble was infinitely
harder to endure. When he sat down
to think over his financial enterprises
his mind treacherously wandered off to
Peggy Gray, and then everything was
hopeless. He recalled the courage and