The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-07-15

sinister and dangerous ne relt his po-
sition. At last he squarely faced the
fact that his desire for Nan had in
creased a hundredfold by the fact that
he had lost her.
AS he sat in the darkness in his
stateroom he could hear every sound
in the adjoining one which she occu-
pied as plainly as If the thin panel
ling of wood were not between them.
He was a fool to be caught In such
a trap. His love had been too big and
serious tragedy to end in vulgar In
trigue. He made up his mind to cut
his trip short on some pretext, and in
the meantime he would devote himself
faithfully to an attempt to start Bivens
on the road to recovery.
At o'clock the next morning the
black nose of the Buccaneer slowly
felt her way into Hog Island inlet, on
the shores Of old Virginia, and drop
ped her anchor in the deep waters of
the channel back of the sand spit.
AS Stuart stepped on deck a cloud
of black ducks circled gracefully over
head and slowly spread out on their
feeding grounds. His heart gave a
throb of primitive Joy. He was boy
again and the world was young.
"Confound themw he cried. "I'll
show these ducks a trick or two be-
fore this trip is over"
He was glad he came. Bivens had
put him in command of the little
schooner. and he gave orders at once
to lower a tender and tow her to an
old anchorage he knew in little cove
behind Gull marsh. And then his
trouble began with Bivens.
"Let 'em fly if they want to; I'm not
going to bulge. Go yourself, jim"
go myself! What do you suppose
| gave up my work and came down
here a month for? l came to try to
teach you how to live, you fool, and
Pm not going without you. Get into
your togs! The guides are here and
ready. The tide waits for no man,
not even a millionaire; it's ebbing
now"
"Well. let it ebb. l don't want to
stop itr' the sick man snarled.
null CuLne Ill plSSSeu ctutIIS udHu
rs she passed, nodded good morning
and joined her voice to Stuart's.
Come; you must go, Cal. It's a
glorious day"
The doctor slipped in word too.
"By all means, Mr.. Bivens, get your
hand in the first day."
Bivens lifted himself to a half sit
ting posture, glared at his physician
and yelled with fury:
"Get out-all of you-and let me
alonev'
The doctor and Nan left on tip toe.
but Stuart folded his arms and looked
at Bivens.
'Oh, come now, this Is too ridicu-
lous, quarrel the first, day Of our
shooting. But you'll have to get one
thing fixed in your head once for all;
you don't run the entire world The
telephone, telegraph and mail service
have been suspended. The Buccaneer
has put to sea for New York. You're
on little eighty-foot schooner,
anchored In bay ten miles wide and
hundred miles long and I'm in com
mand- won't stand any nonsense
from you. Come down off your
perch, quick"
Bivens started to swear, caught the
expression of Stuart's face and sud-
denly extended his hand.
''I'm sorry, Jim; you must not mind
my foolishness. 1t was awfully nice of
you to come. I'll stay In today, but
you go and get some ducks for din
ner, like a good boy, and say-take
Nan along and teach her to shoot.
It's getting to be the rage among the
high flyers for the women to shoot"
"Please do, Jimw Nan cried from
the door. She had listened outside to
the duel in the 'stateroom
"An right" he answered.
For five days Bivens stuck to his
bed with dogged determination, and
each day Stuart went out with Nan.
Never had she been more resistlessly
charming. Each day their associa-
ton grew in tender intimacy and
every fear that had stirred his heart
at first was luiled at last to sleep.
On the sixth day BiHens rose early
and declared that he would try the
ducks. The barometer was falling, and
dark, snowy looking clouds were piling
up on the western horizon. A breeze
came stealing out of the cloud banks
with the chill Of snow in its breath.
Bivens insisted on going out at once,
against the advice and the protest of
the guide. He not only insisted on go
ing after the ducks, but, what was
worse, swore that he was going to get
his mail and kilograms from the shore.
Stuart protested vigorously.
"I've told you that the guide is the
only man who can run that tender over
the crooked course to the mainland,
and if he goes away we1l have no one