The Irish standard., 1911-08-19

They knew-your people l mean
that the yacht was likely to be attack
ed. I told them so myself, and then
their pretended guide confessed"
How did you know about the Wal
rus?" she asked curiously.
! "The Portuguese was one of them;
he had guided your first party down
into little valley Of perpetual fog,
under orders to abandon them there.
When he saw me sailing about over
head-through the fog, you know-he
i broke down and confessed and then
| we'll, he made q clean breast Of it. He
leaders plans; but the mere fact that
he had been delegated to guide the
party into q place from which 1t was
to be expected they could never get
out, was conclusive as to his intel-
lions at least" e.
! He had spoken rather disconnected
", his sentences punctured by the
sounds of firing from the yacht. By
the time he finished they were almost
continuous.
why docs it sound so much fainter
than 1t did?" she asked. TITS not
nearly so loud a. that first volley We
heard"
TITS trick Of tho fog, very likely"
he said. Fog is frightfully treach-
erous thing. 1t deceives mons ears az
we'll as their eyes. There's no judy
ing distance through 1t. When you
cried out Just now, couldn't tell
whether you wore 80 feet below me or
500 feet. I was up above 1t, you see.
and hadn't any way of telling how
deep 1t was.-There! Do you hear?''
he went on. "The firing has stopped
altogether. Your people are almost
certainly SAFE"
"Will you let me 90 inside this hut"
he asked, "and SEQ II 1t is habitxblef
| II 1t is. you'd better 60 in and let me
make you as comfortable as can.
don't think you need have any fears
ing wouldn't do any good any way.
! There's nothing we can do but wait
for daylight. Nothing can happen any
where until then"
He had, very distinctly. in mind
what might happen then If the Walrus
people were repulsed from the yacht.
Unless they were all destroyed in the
attack, they would undoubtedly make
trouble as soon 40 morning revealed
the fact that they had two hostages
in their hands. But he could fight
them of better from the doorway Of
the hut than from anywhere else. And
there was no need of troubling the
girl with that consideration, not for
the present. at least.
TITS all right in there" she said.
y spent don't know how many
hours there reading before you came.
But the candle has burned out"
The open door behind them gave ac-
cess into tiny shed, protrudinE from
the corner of the hut and serving, evil
! IDENTIFY, a. vestibule for It, The in
ner door, a heavier and stronger af-
fair. opening at right angles to 1t,
gave access to the Interior of the hut.
/ Cayely switched on his bulls-eye
and cast brief glance about the
room. There were two or three rude.
fimsy-looking doors which undoubted-
ly opened into small, cabin-like bed
rooms; but the principal part Of the
hut was taken up by the room in
which they found themselves.
Cayley set his little bull'-eye on q
shelf where they could make the most
of It's thin pencil of light. He then
turned his attention to the door, and
after a little struggle succeeded in
getting It shut. and. what was moro.
securely bolted by means OF a heavy
wooden bar which dropped into an
iron crotch. II they were attacked
with the first Of the daylight. this
place would afford them security until
the people from the Aurora could
come to their rescue. His revolver
was a Colt, 45, and his belt was full Of
cartridges. With that weapon, he re-
membered that he had once been con-
sidered the best shot in the army.
The girl, when he turned to look at
her, was seated on the edge Of bunk
at the other side Of the hut. Her pal
Tor, the traces Of tears he could see
in her eyes, the pathetic droop to her
lips. all emphasized the thing her
voice had told him already, namely,
that some emotional crisis, which
she had been through in those recent
hours, had left her quite exhausted.
! Without word, he turned to his
bundle which he had deposited in a
corner Of the room. and fished out
from 1t his sheep-skin sleeping-bag 1t
was not until he approached her, with
it across his arm, that his eye fell
upon the rosewood box and the mo-
rocco-bound book which lay beside it
Her eye followed his. They're fa-
theirs papers," she said. II found tho
box in here. That's why stayed. I
had come ashore"
WAIT a minute" he interrupted. He
took up tho book with a gentleness
almost reverent laid it in the little
chest and set it down on the door b.
side the bunk. .-
The quality Of the act brought tho
too ready tears to her eyes, but he did