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THE 
 ADVENTURER 
 
BY LLOYD OSBOURNE. 
 
 The Adventurer 
 
 Wild Justice 
 
 Baby Bullet 
 
 Three Speeds Forward 
 
 The Queen Versus Billy 
 
 Love, the Fiddler The Notormaniacs 
 
 In Collaboration 'with Robert Louis Stevenson 
 
 The Wrong Box 
 The Ebb-Tide The Wrecker 
 
The ship drove through a sea of rearing horses and naked, 
 shrieking humanity." 
 
 [Page 258.] 
 
THE 
 
 ADVENTURER 
 
 LLOYD OSBOURNE 
 
 Author of "Baby Bullet," 
 "Wild Justice," etc. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 NEW YORK MCMVII 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY 
 THE RIDGWAY COMPANY 
 
 Published September, 1907 
 
I 
 
 08 \ 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 "The ship drove through a sea of rearing horses and naked, 
 shrieking humanity" Frontispiece 
 
 "It struck him for the first time, too, that the house was 
 
 dark" 8 
 
 " ' That's the bargain, Kirkpatrick ' " 58 
 
 "Lurching, groaning, discordantly protesting . . . she flew 
 
 onward" . 222 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 H Y do other men succeed, and I fail ? " How 
 often does the unsuccessful man ask himself 
 this question as he sees about him, on every 
 side, the evidences of an unattainable prosper- 
 ity. Clods risen to greatness; mediocrities 
 snuggled into warm berths ; dull fellows, without an idea in 
 their wooden heads, perceived high up the ladder, securely 
 perched in affluence. What of better men at the bottom, 
 from whom has been withheld this magic power? What's the 
 matter with them? What invisible lead is weighing down 
 their unfortunate feet? Why has Fate assigned them all 
 the kicks, and reserved the halfpence for the others? 
 
 Lewis Kirkpatrick, on the top of a Chelsea bus, was 
 moodily turning over these things in his mind. Ordinarily 
 he would have given them very little thought, but the driz- 
 zling London day was favorable to introspection, as like- 
 wise were the nine shillings and eightpence in his pocket. 
 Nine shillings and eightpence and the clothes he stood in! 
 That was what Kirk had to show for thirty-two years of 
 an active and adventurous life. 
 Nine shillings and eightpence! 
 
 To look at him you certainly would have thought he 
 might have done better. His blue eyes were bright as a 
 
 I 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 girl's it wasn't drink that ailed Kirk. There was charac- 
 ter in his firm mouth; courage in his chin; fearlessness and 
 honesty in the carriage of his head. A fine-looking man in- 
 deed tall, clean built, manly with broad shoulders and 
 a shapely neck. Not at all the type of failure, though a fail- 
 ure he was. A man damned by his own ability, and cursed 
 by a restlessness that prevented him forever from taking root. 
 Born of an old New England stock, reared a gentleman, and 
 at nineteen, through the death of his parents, cast out in the 
 world to shift for himself such was Kirk's earlier history. 
 He could swim anywhere, make a living anywhere and this 
 fatal facility had been his ruin. So soon as he learned that 
 he could always make the world feed and clothe him his 
 wanderings began began, never to end. 
 
 He had enough knowledge of the sea to make it bear him 
 where he wished. He could hand, reef and steer, heave the 
 lead, and box the compass. You don't need much sailoriz- 
 ing nowadays to ship aboard a steamer or a fore and after. 
 He was something of a navigator, too, and could take a 
 sight. He could cook, figure out accounts for the captain 
 or supercargo, work a donkey engine, and repack a leaky 
 stuffing box. What's called a handy man, and always very 
 quick to learn. On shore his abilities were even more 
 extensive. Tutor, photographer, surveyor, bookkeeper 
 mender of guns and clocks and sewing machines odd job- 
 man, tinsmith, paperhanger, sailmaker. A good mechanical 
 draughtsman, knew something of assaying and reduction 
 processes, could shoe a horse, milk, shear sheep, and set type. 
 To offset the impression that our hero was the eighth won- 
 der of the world, let us admit frankly that he did none of 
 these things too well. It was just the Yankee faculty of 
 turning his hand to anything, and managing after a fashion 
 to pull through. Part bluff part raw inherent ability 
 
 2 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and both aided by a pleasant voice, good humor, and very 
 winning manners. Kirk was a favorite everywhere. 
 
 The previous year he had had no more thought of ever 
 finding himself in London than in Kamchatka. He had been 
 trading in the Kingsmill Islands on a little dot of a South 
 Sea atoll named Arorai. Beginning with no capital, and 
 " staked " by a Chinese merchant named Quo Hong Fat, he 
 had gradually worked up a very good business. True, he 
 was still three thousand dollars in debt, but his turnover 
 was steadily growing more and more considerable, and a 
 few years would have found him the owner of his store and 
 stock, and in possession of a comfortable independence. One 
 night, however, as he was sitting and dreaming on the edge 
 of the lagoon, the smoke of a neighboring fire blew into his 
 face. At the same moment the long and continuous roar of 
 a mighty comber burst upon his ears. It was as though 
 some great express train had thundered by, leaving in its 
 wake the cindery smell of civilization. Again Kirk waited 
 for the roll on the reef, again he shut his eyes and breathed 
 in the acrid smoke; again he had the startling effect of the 
 train whizzing past him in the dark. When he arose it was 
 to find himself hating Arorai, hating his lonely life among 
 the savages, on fire to escape at any cost, and get back to 
 the world of men. The demon of restlessness took him by 
 the throat, and all his bygone hopes and plans disappeared 
 in the throes of an aching homesickness. Not the literal 
 homesickness for the place where he had been born, but for 
 people white people the bustle and roar of civilization as 
 exemplified by that train that train compounded of the 
 smoke of a naked savage's fire and the green seas bursting 
 against the coral. 
 
 He nailed up the store, made an exact division of his ac- 
 counts, buried nine hundred Chile dollars in the copra-shed, 
 
 3 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and gave the Hawaiian missionary a sealed letter to be sub- 
 sequently delivered to Quo Hong Fat. He retained two hun- 
 dred and twenty Chile dollars (a little over a hundred in 
 our money) a sum which he considered rightfully his own 
 and then began to count the days till a ship might call. It 
 mattered not where it came from, or where it was likely to 
 go. Any road was Kirk's road so long as it led from Arorai. 
 
 The barkentine Ransom gave him a lift to Sydney, New 
 South Wales, from which a month later he shipped as A. B. 
 on the British tramp Windsor Castle for the port of Lon- 
 don. Here in due time he arrived, with thirty-nine pounds 
 in his pocket; and installing himself in humble lodgings in 
 Radnor Street, Chelsea, took in the tail of the London sea- 
 son. He did the galleries of all the theaters, took in all the 
 sights from the Tower to Kew, sat in the Park in his shabby 
 blue clothes, and watched the wonderful procession of the 
 smart and the great. Saw the king bowling by in a gold 
 carriage, with postillions and outriders. Saw Westminster 
 Abbey. Spent long days in museums. Took trips in the 
 penny steamers. Gorged himself with civilization. 
 
 He hoarded his money ; carried his lunch in a paper pack- 
 age; read the daily paper in a free reading room; grudged 
 every cent that debited itself upon his freedom. Not that 
 he had any fear of want. Shipping was brisk, and the port 
 short-handed. Three pounds ten were the wages out of Lon- 
 don; and often, as mentally he cast up his accounts on his 
 homeward way, the bells would ring out the refrain: Three 
 pounds ten, three pounds ten, three pounds ten at once 
 comforting and disquieting as the inevitable end of his holi- 
 day forced itself upon him. 
 
 One afternoon, returning somewhat earlier than usual, he 
 discovered the sidewalk blocked with a large part of his land- 
 lady's effects. From the door more were issuing in a pell- 
 
 4 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 mell manner, suggestive of riot and revolution, while the 
 unfortunate lady herself, in a sea of wreckage, was tearfully 
 expostulating with a red-faced man. It seemed that Mrs. 
 Brundage such was the worthy creature's name had been 
 dispossessed; and lacking the sum of eleven pounds fifteen 
 shillings and ninepence was in the process of being put out 
 on the street. Of all human catastrophes, there are few 
 more moving to the heart. The dejected furniture, the tum- 
 bled mattresses, the poor, shabby household gods shivering 
 in the rain it is a hard man, indeed, who does not feel a 
 gush of pity at such a sight. Though he could but ill afford 
 it, Kirk paid the sum demanded, and laid up in Heaven 
 11.15.9 X 100. 
 
 On earth this left him with exactly two pounds, fourteen 
 shillings and threepence halfpenny! 
 
 The populace acclaimed his noble action. The red-faced 
 man gave him a receipt. Mrs. Brundage, inarticulate with 
 gratitude, assured him brokenly that he would not be out a 
 penny, and that he was to consider his board and lodging 
 paid up in advance for sixteen weeks to come. Had the un- 
 fortunate lady been better able to live up to this contract Kirk 
 would have been pleased enough. But as he assisted her to 
 carry in her belongings a gnawing incredulity beset him, and 
 he reflected somewhat drearily on the speculative nature of 
 his tenure in No. 7. Later on, he went out and bought five 
 pounds of shag tobacco, and, determining not to borrow 
 trouble, smoked a philosophic pipe amid the Brundage ruins. 
 If all went well he might now count on food, lodging, 
 and tobacco for sixteen weeks and with fourteen shil- 
 lings in hand to meet any unforeseen emergencies was pre- 
 pared to see a lot more of London before he must needs 
 sign on. 
 
 " Three pounds ten" rang out the bells of St. Ste- 
 
 5 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 phen's. " Three pounds ten, three pounds ten f three pounds 
 ten!" 
 
 " Don't you worry, old fellow," said Kirk. " I'm going 
 to stick it out in London for a long time yet ! " 
 
 For a while it looked as though he might. Mrs. Brun- 
 dage had a brief period of prosperity induced by two new 
 lodgers. The morning bloater gave way to a slice of ham; 
 tea was occasionally brightened with sausage; the midday 
 lunch packet swelled in bulk. Now an apple, now a large 
 juicy pickle rewarded our sightseeing friend on the summit of 
 his bread and oleomargarine. The number of things you 
 can see for nothing in London is simply astounding. Time 
 and shoe leather are the only requisites. You can hear free 
 lectures, too, on every conceivable subject, from radium to 
 Greek art. You can listen to noble and inspiring music in 
 ancient churches, and feel (for nothing) the uplifting of the 
 spirit induced by beautiful and stately services. 
 
 It was hard work, of course. It is always hard work to 
 be very poor. You have to walk miles and miles, and fre- 
 quently lose your way in the bewildering labyrinth of the 
 streets. But the point to Kirk was that one could pass long 
 and profitable days without the expenditure of a cent. The 
 treasure-houses of the world were open to him. Wonders 
 of art and science, assembled at incalculable expense, and at 
 incalculable pains were as much for him to look at as for 
 any duke. Kirk, in his shabby, blue suit, in his dented billy- 
 cock hat, in his clumsy boots already far down at the heel 
 Kirk would have delighted his unknown benefactors by his 
 zest and eagerness. Often in his heart he thanked them for 
 the privileges they had given him, and frequently stopped 
 before their busts or portraits to accord them his meed of 
 gratitude. 
 
 " Well done, old fellow," he would say. " Wish I could 
 6 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 tell you how much obliged I am to you! " And thus paus- 
 ing before the effigy of the Right Honorable Lord Some- 
 thing Something, with half the alphabet tacked on behind 
 him, Kirk would pay his homage to the mighty dead. 
 
 In all his wandering and lonely life he had longed for 
 these things that now at last were within his reach. He had 
 the imagination that can invest dead things with life. He 
 was the sort of man that could get a thrill at the sight of 
 old classic jewelry and traverse the intervening centuries till 
 he seemed to see the women that wore them in the dim and 
 wonderful past an American of a not uncommon type to 
 whom the crudities of his own new land, and of his own 
 materialistic generation, had left hungry for romance and 
 beauty. 
 
 Thus the gray days passed not gray to him but bright 
 with the inner sunshine of long-cherished hopes fulfilled. 
 The only disturbing element was the uncertainty of the 
 Brundage raft, and the likelihood of its suddenly foundering 
 in the financial seas. The two new lodgers had flown away. 
 Ham, sausage, and pork pies became but memories of the 
 past. Bloater again predominated bloater and tears. Mrs. 
 Brundage's tremulous smile grew more tremulous, and a 
 period of strange disappearances set in. Familiar objects 
 unaccountably vanished. This mysterious shedding of things 
 material first effected Mrs. Brundage's person her cameo 
 brooch, her old-fashioned earrings, her wedding ring and 
 by degrees, spreading like some malignant disease, it swept 
 whole mantelpieces, and devoured beds, mattresses, and 
 washstands. The interior of No. 7 Radnor Street was melt- 
 ing like snow in the sun, and one waited apprehensively for 
 the walls to follow. 
 
 Another red-faced man might now be encountered, smok- 
 ing a pipe in the basement, and stolidly reading a sporting 
 
 7 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 paper. Mrs. Brundage referred to him as her brother, and 
 seemed greatly agitated at his visit. He was an unobtrusive, 
 uncommunicative person, with a faculty for gluing himself 
 all day to a chair and detaching his mind from the life about 
 him. It pleased Kirk to see the widow's relations rallying 
 to her side, and he ascribed the fellow's taciturnity to the 
 undemonstrative English nature. But there were occasions 
 when he could not resist a certain misgiving occasions when 
 the silent stranger took on a more ominous aspect, and he 
 asked himself whether indeed he were a brother at all, or not 
 perhaps some obscure, legal phenomenon of a disquieting and 
 threatening nature. 
 
 Well, to get back to Kirk on the bus where we left 
 him, you will remember, in the drizzle of a late October 
 afternoon. He had put in the day at Greenwich Observa- 
 tory, walking there and back, and had found himself so 
 footsore and weary on his return that he had extravagantly 
 climbed on top of the first Chelsea bus. A brooding sense 
 of impending misfortune was too strong to be shaken off. 
 His conscience, too, was troubling him. Although legally 
 entitled to nine weeks more of board and lodging his man- 
 hood revolted from imposing himself any longer on Mrs. 
 Brundage. He had to draw the line somewhere, and why 
 not at eating the first floor front? 
 
 Descending at the King's Road he turned into Radnor 
 Street. He walked up the steps of No. 7 and knocked. 
 Waited, and knocked again. Mrs. Brundage was unusually 
 slow in opening the door. It struck him for the first time, 
 too, that the house was dark that no light showed from any 
 of the windows. He knocked again rap, rap, rap. A head 
 popped up from the neighboring area-way. 
 
 "Looking for Mrs. Brundage?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 8 
 
"It struck him for the first time, too, that the house was 
 dark." 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " She ain't 'ere no more. She went away a nour ago 
 in a keb with her married sister ! " 
 
 " But I don't understand. Hold on what's the matter? 
 When is she coming back? " 
 
 " She ain't coming back at all. She's sold up! " 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 'T took Kirk a moment to collect himself. 
 Tired and hungry, he did not at first appre- 
 ciate the full magnitude of his misfortune. 
 Then he remembered his kit inside, his to- 
 bacco, his rubber boots, his overcoat all his 
 poor, cheap outfit without which he would be lost indeed. 
 Had Mrs. Brundage packed and left them with the frowsy 
 maid-of-all work next door? 
 
 " A sort of blue 'old-all, wasn't it? " 
 Kirk eagerly indorsed this description. 
 " It went in the van with the rest! " 
 " But, good heavens, it was everything I have in the 
 world!" 
 
 "Too bad!" 
 
 "But the van where did it go to?" 
 " Dunno." 
 
 " What am I to do about it ? " 
 " Dunno." 
 
 " Have you any idea where her married sister lives? " 
 " Dunno." 
 
 " What did she say to the cabman ? " 
 " Nothink. Just drove orf ! " 
 
 Kirk was too dazed to put any further questions. He 
 walked into the King's Road again. " Signing on," which 
 so recently had appeared the solution of all his difficulties 
 now took a very different look. Sea life is hard enough, 
 even with a modest outfit of flannels and socks of boots, 
 
 10 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 oilskins, and spare changes. Without them ? A man 
 couldn't hope for any advance except on a deep-water vessel. 
 But Kirk had no fancy for square-riggers. He wasn't 
 enough of a sailor for that. They would find him out in 
 no time, and probably disrate him. The food was atrocious, 
 too, and it's no joke to pass a weather earing on a stormy 
 night, with a brute of a mate swearing at you like a bull of 
 Bashan. Kirk's desire was for steam. But he didn't want 
 to die of pneumonia, or be a rheumatic cripple for the rest of 
 his life. No, he must try to get a job ashore, and save suffi- 
 cient money for a new kit. 
 
 Turning over these thoughts in his mind he at length 
 stopped at a baker's and bought a twopenny loaf. And then, 
 out into the street again, surreptitiously eating it while pre- 
 tending to gaze into the shop windows. He made his 
 way to the free reading room, and ensconsed himself in a 
 warm corner with a couple of the daily papers. Surely 
 somewhere in the advertisement columns he would find his 
 job. He had to find his job, and find it double-quick. He 
 had nine shillings and sixpence in his pocket, and not a single 
 thing he could pawn not even the overcoat that he had 
 stupidly forgotten to take with him that morning. Nothing ! 
 In all his past vicissitudes he had never quite touched such 
 bedrock before, and in the worst of his evil days could always 
 at least recall a companion or two with whom he had 
 chummed in. His present loneliness daunted him, and he 
 would have given years of his life for a pal. True is it in- 
 deed that misery loves company. 
 
 The Daily Telegraph began badly, and ended worse. No 
 jobs here only a disturbing feeling that men of marked 
 ability were a-begging, and their services attainable for a 
 song. The Daily Mail w r as equally depressing. Kirk em- 
 bezzled the Times from an old gentleman who was nodding 
 2 II 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 off to sleep ; and a perusal of its columns lowered his spirits 
 to zero. Employers wanted deposits, references, certificates, 
 and degrees. They flung out their haughty demands with 
 the consciousness that they could make their own terms. 
 Paragons of learning were invited to East Dulwich for a 
 hundred pounds a year, to rise by yearly increments of five 
 pounds to a final hundred and sixty. Unfortunate govern- 
 esses, capable of teaching everything under the sun, were ex- 
 pected to be of an exact shade of Protestantism, total ab- 
 stainers, attractively mannered, and pay for their own wash- 
 ing out of thirty pounds per annum. The British Empire, 
 as thus reviewed by a perishing stranger, seemed to offer as 
 few opportunities as the upper Congo or the White Nile. 
 
 By Jove, here was something! On the first page, three 
 items down the second column ! Caught and lost in the twin- 
 kling of an eye, and then caught again. Kirk's breath came 
 quickly as he read the startling advertisement. Here was 
 something that might pan out. Here was a job that appealed 
 to all the adventurer in his nature : 
 
 WANTED: Resolute men, thirty to thirty-five, single, of 
 superior education, inured to hardship and danger; honest, 
 sober, good-tempered, and above everything able to hold their 
 tongues. Apply by letter in own writing, giving antecedents, 
 to DESPERATE ENTERPRISE, No. 199,024 Times. 
 
 Kirk did not wait to analyze it, did not waste time in 
 speculation. It was enough that he seemed to fill the bill, 
 and all his thoughts were directed to make his letter of 
 application a success. He would be taken or rejected on that 
 letter, and it behooved him to make it a little masterpiece 
 if he could. He hurried out for paper and envelopes, and 
 bent himself to one of the hardest tasks of his life. He felt 
 
 12 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 instinctively that half the loafers and ne'er-do-weels of Lon- 
 don would be in competition against him hundreds of them, 
 possibly thousands and that his only chance was to sling 
 his ink effectually. He wrote his letter twenty times not 
 on the precious paper itself but in a halfpenny version 
 book, making one rough draft after another. Some he dis- 
 carded as too modest; others as too breezy and self-compla- 
 cent. His effort was to hit the delicate mean between the 
 two, and yet draw such a picture of himself that they'd fall 
 over one another to get him. 
 
 Finally he chose a sort of censuslike form. It sounded 
 curt and manly, and resolved many of his literary perplex- 
 ities. He would not try to puff himself he didn't seem to 
 have the necessary art. A letter full of brag would kill him. 
 He wrote as though he were filling out a printed form. 
 It reminded him of one of those thumbnail historiettes which 
 the police file away in the Rogues' Gallery. Not an extra 
 word in it, yet everything said. Such a letter, in fact, as a 
 resolute man of thirty-two, single, of superior education, 
 inured to hardship and danger; honest, sober, good tem- 
 pered, and above everything able to hold his tongue might 
 be expected to dash off " in own writing." 
 
 But what of an address? How was Desperate Enter- 
 prise to reply to him ? He appealed to the grim young lady 
 in charge. Might a letter be addressed to him in the care 
 of the free reading room? She seemed very much perturbed 
 at the suggestion. The rules of the institution hadn't pro- 
 vided for such contingencies. She eyed him darkly, and was 
 at length prevailed upon to give him a very grudging assent, 
 dissociating herself personally from all liability. It struck 
 the grim young lady as a scandalous proceeding. Suppose it 
 became a common practice? Suppose everybody had their 
 letters addressed in care of the free reading room ? What if 
 
 13 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the committee complained? What if the post office com- 
 plained? What if the other free readers complained? He 
 might do it once, at his own risk, but was not to form the 
 habit. He wasn't to regard it as the thin end of the wedge, 
 and expect to carry on an animated correspondence. Nor 
 was he to lay it up against her if his letter miscarried, or 
 got lost, or was accidentally destroyed. The attitude of the 
 free reading room was to be simply passive. 
 
 Kirk did not dare to ask her for a stamp. He slunk out 
 and bought one at a grocer's, dropping the fateful letter 
 in the box with unspoken good wishes for its safe and speedy 
 voyage. What a fool he was to count so much on it at all ! 
 It might well be that the whole thing was a hoax, or else 
 the cracked-brain absurdity of some silly boys. What if 
 Desperate Enterprise was aged seventeen and lived with his 
 mother? Or was a tottering graybeard with romantic illu- 
 sions ? Pshaw, he mustn't take it too seriously. What really 
 was serious was a bed. 
 
 He got a shake down in a Salvation shelter. Fourpence, 
 and twopence more for breakfast. He felt dirty and un- 
 kempt. He cleaned his teeth with the end of a burned-out 
 match, and combed his hair with his hands. The chained 
 comb and brush of Salvation repelled him. But their water 
 was all right, and so was their soap. Then he passed out 
 into the streets, with the walk of a man who has nowhere 
 to go and nothing to do. He directed himself first to Rad- 
 nor Street in the faint hope of recovering his clothes, or pos- 
 sibly meeting Mrs. Brundage, and getting on their track. 
 But No. 7 was shut and silent, with the blinds drawn, and 
 the steps littered with odds and ends of paper and straw. 
 Nothing to be got here except a piercing note of desolation. 
 He went to the reading room, and took up the day's papers, 
 finding in the Times a repetition of yesterday's advertisement. 
 
 14 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 He took a note of six or seven others, and put in a dreary, 
 hungry day looking for work. Two of them carried him 
 to fee-snatching agencies, whose plausible managers tried to 
 rob him of half a crown a piece. Then he tried for a berth 
 on one of the river steamers and failed. Tried for a fire- 
 man's job on the Southwestern Railway and failed. Tried 
 at a type-casting plant, at a storage warehouse, at a sail- 
 maker's loft. No good. Full up, everyone, with only a 
 vacancy here and there for exceptional men, highly skilled 
 in some particular branch. There was a linotype job a-beg- 
 ging but he left it still a-begging. Dispirited and forlorn, 
 he returned to the Salvation shelter, and passed another 
 anxious night. 
 
 The next day he was almost too out of heart to return 
 to the free reading room. His money was melting fast, and 
 common sense bade him seek a seaman's institute whose ad- 
 dress he had, and try for a ship. Here, at any rate, he had 
 something to sell that somebody wanted. The port was 
 short-handed, and sailormen were in demand. He would ship 
 as cook in a deep-water vessel, and get a substantial advance. 
 Not a job he fancied, but it paid good money, and assured 
 him of a kit. The necessity for that kit was looming up 
 as the biggest need in life. Nobody appreciates the luxury 
 of cleanliness more than a man who is suddenly denied it. 
 No, he would take in the reading room on a chance of a reply 
 from Desperate Enterprise, and failing any word from that 
 quarter, would hasten across the river to the institute. 
 
 He addressed himself to the grim young lady, whose un- 
 promising countenance did not serve to raise his hopes. With 
 well-calculated rudeness she allowed him to ask his ques- 
 tion several times over before condescending to answer. 
 
 "A letter? Oh, yes, there was a letter!" 
 
 He took it from her with trembling hands, and retreated 
 15 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 to a corner near the window. So much was at stake that he 
 could not bring himself all at once to open it. He must 
 nerve himself for a refusal. He must remember the thou- 
 sands of other applicants. He turned over the envelope in 
 his hand, still withheld by a sort of dread. The paper was 
 of excellent quality, bluish and thick, and addressed in a 
 bold big hand. Kirk summoned all his courage and tore it 
 open. But it held no corresponding bluish thick sheet only 
 a few words typewritten on another variety of paper : " You 
 seem the kind of man we want. Meet me to-day (Wednes- 
 day) at the Vienna bakery, 928 High Holborn, at 2.30 sharp, 
 recognizing me by the green tie I shall wear. Desperate 
 Enterprise." 
 
 Kirk read and reread this many times. He was ashamed 
 of the exultation it gave him. Again common sense bade 
 him beware, to steel himself against disappointment, to dash 
 cold water on his absurd elation. But the spirit within him 
 revolted at these prudent counsels. The spirit within him 
 was on fire, and the blood tingled in his veins. Mystery 
 and romance were not to be set thus tamely aside and talked 
 down. Why should one be so confident that nothing ex- 
 isted in the world save the commonplace and the prosaic? 
 After all, was this not as good a way as any other to get 
 recruits for a desperate enterprise presuming it to be really 
 desperate, of course ? " More than anything able to hold 
 their tongues." These words recurred to him significantly. 
 Men who could fulfill all the terms of that advertisement 
 were bound to be rare. . . . Well, there was one thing he 
 might be certain of. They weren't after his money, any- 
 how. He had told them that he was broke. 
 
 It was a hard thing to know how to fill up the inter- 
 vening hours the gap from nine o'clock to half past two. 
 He decided to go to High Holborn and look up the rendez- 
 
 16 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 vous designated. Suppose, like so many places in London, 
 it was almost unfindable. It was a wonderful old town for 
 losing your way in. What if half past two arrived and he 
 was still groping for it ? No, he would chase up that Vienna 
 bakery, take accurate bearings of it, and find some neigh- 
 boring garden or park to camp in. 
 
 Kirk's spirit rose as he turned out into the open air and 
 followed the King's Road into Sloane Street. He knew 
 vaguely that High Holborn was near the British Museum, 
 and that it was a goodish walk from Chelsea, but it would 
 all help to fill up the time and bring him nearer half past two. 
 It was the second day of November dark and foggy and 
 the chill of impending winter was already in the air. But 
 he was not in the humor to find fault with anything. To 
 him at that moment London was the most fascinating city 
 in the world. What was grubbiness and gloom to a man 
 who was hastening to enroll himself in a desperate enter- 
 prise and meet a mysterious stranger in a green tie ? 
 
 The Vienna bakery was easily found. It was a good- 
 sized place at the gore of High Holborn and another street, 
 and wore a very smart, pleasant, and appetizing appearance. 
 Through its wide, uncurtained windows Kirk saw rows of 
 little marble tables, and at one of them a waiter whisking 
 chocolate for a lady. He liked the look of the Vienna 
 bakery, and hoped that Green Tie would stand treat. He 
 could hardly do less under the circumstances, and Kirk de- 
 cided on chocolate, and as many of those crisp rolls as he 
 could venture to eat without making too bad an impres- 
 sion. Six if he could, but anyway three! His hunger, 
 which had been very poorly satisfied at the Salvation shel- 
 ter, became ravenous at the sight of these outspread dainties. 
 He went in, and timidly bought a small loaf of brown bread 
 for twopence a horrible extravagance incurred on the im- 
 
 17 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 pulse of the moment and regretted before he reached the 
 street. 
 
 But it was an excellent little loaf, though abnormally 
 small for twopence, and Kirk munched it hungrily as he 
 strode away in the direction of the British Museum. In 
 his utter homelessness this venerable pile took on a friendly 
 and welcoming aspect. It assured him of warmth, of a 
 bench to sit on, of a clock. Incidentally he could look up his 
 old friends, the Greek and Roman antiquities, and muse 
 cheerfully on the nothingness of man. Standing before those 
 noble remnants of classic ages his own little hopes and fears 
 dwindled into insignificance. He wiped the telltale crumbs 
 off his legs, and altogether felt greatly refreshed. Even the 
 gray London light failed to daunt his rising courage. If 
 all went well would he not soon find himself embarked on 
 a Dangerous Enterprise, with money in his pockets, and bold, 
 resolute companions? He would recall this unending day 
 as his starting point into the unknown, and amid brighter 
 scenes would look back on it almost with fondness. 
 
 One o'clock. Half past one. Two. With his eyes 
 never off the clock he watched the minute hand tediously 
 forge around the dial. At the quarter he was suffocating, 
 and could no longer adhere to his determination to wait for 
 the twenty past. Walking fast, at times almost running, 
 he again made his way to the Vienna bakery, and stopped 
 panting at the door. He could not well go inside without 
 ordering something, and must therefore loiter at the en- 
 trance, attracting as little attention as he could. There was 
 another entrance at the side on which he had also to keep a 
 watch ; and it was while he was in the spell of a most pain- 
 ful excitement that a tall bulky man brushed past him, and 
 seating himself at one of the unoccupied tables exposed to 
 view an unmistakable green tie! 
 
 18 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 IRK fought down his first impulse to rush in 
 and seat himself beside the stranger. He 
 prudently reconnoitered him instead and 
 gave him a close and earnest scrutiny. Des- 
 perate Enterprise was a shabbily dressed, 
 good-natured, breezy-looking, bland individual of about 
 forty, with a tawny mustache and a dirty collar. Yet he 
 had none of the air of a man down in his luck, nor for that 
 matter any appearance of the desperado or the adventurer. 
 He had more the look of an actor, and his whole get-up sug- 
 gested the theater rather than the real vicissitudes of for- 
 tune and this effect was heightened by a pair of blue eyes 
 that twinkled kindly and merrily. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said Kirk, entering and stopping 
 diffidently before him. " I I believe you are the gentleman 
 whom I was to have the honor of meeting here ? " 
 
 The stranger rose to his feet, and assuming a would-be 
 mysterious expression which quickly broadened into a smile, 
 asked if he had the pleasure of shaking hands with L. K. ? 
 
 " Lewis Kirkpatrick at your service, sir," said Kirk, ac- 
 cepting a place beside the stranger, who motioned him into it, 
 and then sat down himself. 
 
 " Call me Smith," he said, " unless you have a prefer- 
 ence for something more high sounding?" 
 
 Kirk replied with a laugh that Smith was quite acceptable 
 to him. 
 
 " Ha, a man of humor," said Desperate Enterprise, laying 
 19 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 a large fat hand cordially on Kirk's knee, as though to em- 
 phasize his approval. " A fellow who can see a joke! Gad, 
 if all goes well you'll soon be initiated into the biggest joke 
 of the century, ha, ha ! Waiter ! " 
 
 Orders were given and taken. Kirk chose chocolate and 
 rolls, wondering all the while whether he was dealing with 
 a madman. Mr. Smith demanded muffins and a pot of tea, 
 and then settled back bulkily into his seat. 
 
 " I'm very eager to hear about that job, sir," said Kirk. 
 Mr. Smith's face changed. 
 
 " My dear man," he observed, almost with severity, " in 
 this interview I am going to ask the questions, and you are 
 going to do the answering. I admit the one-sidedness of the 
 arrangement, but this is due to circumstances beyond my con- 
 trol. I am here in the capacity of a sifter, and you are the 
 siftee!" 
 
 " Very good," said Kirk. " I want to be in on this thing, 
 and am quite willing to go through all the preliminaries." 
 
 " We liked your letter." Mr. Smith was looking at him 
 very keenly, and Kirk's first impression of his Companion's 
 irresponsibility began to change. Here was plainly a man 
 accustomed to read faces; and his own, when he consented 
 to be serious, was both masterful and authoritative. ' To 
 be absolutely frank, you seem the kind of man we want; 
 and my only duty is to find out whether you told us the 
 truth." 
 
 " Then go ahead," said Kirk, in no way abashed. He 
 liked Mr. Smith, and he felt pretty sure that Mr. Smith 
 liked him. " I'm all ready to turn myself inside out." 
 
 Mr. Smith drew out a piece of paper and a pencil. 
 
 " Now about that navigation ? " he began suavely. " You 
 tell us you can work a sight. Here's an observation sup- 
 posed to be taken at ten-thirty-three A.M. and here's a dif- 
 
 20 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ference in time between an imaginary noon and a Greenwich 
 noon as shown by your imaginary chronometer. Would you 
 mind giving me the latitude and longitude?" 
 
 Kirk gazed blankly at the bit of paper on which these 
 facts were scribbled. It came over him that Mr. Smith was 
 demanding the impossible. 
 
 " I cannot do it," said Kirk, looking up. " I'm afraid 
 you don't understand. I'd have to have a Nautical Alma- 
 nac and the year." 
 
 " 1887, July 27th," blandly responded his examiner, 
 producing at the same time a copy of the Nautical Alma- 
 nac from his ulster pocket. 
 
 Kirk again looked blank. " But, Mr. Smith, I'd have 
 to have a book of logarithms ! " 
 
 " Here, my friend," said Mr. Smith, placidly laying down 
 another volume on the marble table. 
 
 "And the error of the chronometer?" put in Kirk. 
 
 From a waistcoat pocket his smiling inquisitor produced 
 the rating. 
 
 " You seem to know a lot about it," he said. " My dear 
 man, I don't know how you'll end, but I compliment you 
 on your excellent beginning." 
 
 Kirk was rusty in his navigation. Moreover he was hun- 
 gry and tired, and so wrought up that it was hard to con- 
 centrate his faculties. His depression did not escape Mr. 
 Smith's watchful eyes. 
 
 " Take your time take your time," he said. " We've 
 chosen you out of nine hundred already. I can see you know 
 how to do it. Why, the last so-called sailor didn't know he 
 even needed an almanac! " 
 
 The waiter rattled down the refreshments. Kirk took a 
 sip of chocolate and began to figure. Mr. Smith leaned back 
 and bubbled over with a singular entertainment. 
 
 21 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Kirk indeed took his time. He did not dare to risk a 
 failure. He was horribly rusty, and had a paralyzing mo- 
 ment of indecision when he was at a loss to decide whether 
 his longitude was east or west. He sipped some more choco- 
 late, and gobbled a roll. Yes, it was east. How could he 
 have been so foolish as to think otherwise! He worked out 
 the position twice independently. 
 
 " Here it is," he said at last. " At least this is what I 
 make it." 
 
 Mr. Smith deliberately produced another scrap of paper, 
 remarking as he did so that it was all Greek to him. Kirk's 
 labors were compared. Thank Heaven, the two positions 
 agreed. He breathed a sigh of relief, and hastened to get out- 
 side another roll. 
 
 " Capital ! " cried Mr. Smith, repocketing the two books, 
 and beaming with satisfaction. " Now let us get through the 
 rest of the programme, though I'll tell you right here that in 
 your case it is a mere formality." 
 
 This engaging preamble seemed designed to lull Kirk's 
 suspicion ; for Mr. Smith was as shrewd and searching in his 
 questions as though he were some eminent counsel blandly 
 crushing a witness into powder. He popped back and for- 
 ward over Kirk's whole career, pinning him to a date here, 
 a fact there, and then darting up like a jack-in-the-box to 
 tax him with an apparent contradiction. This genial and 
 smiling Mr. Smith, for all his bonhomie turned out to be as 
 diabolical an inquisitor as ever tore a fabric of lies to pieces 
 in a court of law. At times, too, he attempted to ruffle 
 Kirk's temper, and tease him into some hot rejoinder. Some 
 of his questions were almost insults in themselves, but Kirk 
 turned them off with a laugh, and refused to play into his tor- 
 mentor's hands. Altogether, when at last they stood up to 
 go, Kirk's original opinion of Mr. Smith had changed ma- 
 
 22 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 terially. The latter's gay masquerade was a blind. Under- 
 neath was a man of strong character, cunning, clever, and 
 full of guile. 
 
 "Well, what next, sir?" asked Kirk. 
 
 Mr. Smith fumbled in his pockets for a card, on which, 
 in blue pencil, was written, " 82 Tedworth Street. Knock 
 four times." 
 
 " I intend making a very favorable report on you," he re- 
 marked. " Come to-morrow morning at ten o'clock to that 
 address. And now, my dear man, good afternoon, and au 
 revoir" 
 
 They passed out of the bakery, and Mr. Smith hailed 
 a passing hansom and jumped in. The last Kirk saw of 
 him was a large fat white hand waving a farewell. 
 
 It would be hard to describe Kirk's feelings as he strolled 
 down Holborn and tried to piece together in his recollection 
 all the details of that singular interview. What did it all 
 mean, he asked himself? Who was this man, and what did 
 he want of him? The advertisement had said nothing of 
 navigation. No sailorizing was even mentioned in it. Yet 
 he had been put through his facings as though he had gone 
 up to try for a Board of Trade certificate. Was it just a 
 part of the sifting process? Just an example of this Mr. 
 Smith's thoroughness? He had been three hours on the rack. 
 Three hours! And looking back on it he marveled at the 
 skill and completeness with which his examination had been 
 accomplished. His respect for Mr. Smith was unbounded. 
 Kirk admired capacity, and it boded well for the enterprise, 
 whatever it might be, to have such a man as leader. But 
 was he the leader? That " we " recurred to Kirk. It was 
 always " we." There was an impersonality about Mr. Smith 
 that baffled Kirk. He had never let slip a word or a hint 
 
 23 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 as to the nature of the undertaking. His easy-going, com- 
 fortable, smiling manner was even disconcerting in the re- 
 trospect. Not at all the manner of a man organizing a des- 
 perate enterprise. Yet was it not perhaps the mask that 
 concealed a very different Mr. Smith behind? It was hard 
 to say. It was all very mysterious. 
 
 But Kirk was very happy. These musings and ques- 
 tionings stirred his imaginations. He had emerged trium- 
 phantly from the ordeal that was the great thing and he 
 was as good as enrolled already. He had no doubts, no 
 hesitations. An enterprise that was good enough for Mr. 
 Smith was good enough for him. It certainly could be 
 nothing criminal. It was impossible to connect Mr. Smith 
 with anything criminal. But for that matter it was impos- 
 sible to connect Mr. Smith with anything at all. The man 
 was an enigma. His purpose was an enigma. His light- 
 heartedness and gayety the biggest enigma of all. Yet he 
 had voluntarily spent three hours on Kirk, and gone to a 
 lot of pains to turn him inside out. He didn't strike one 
 as the sort of person to do this for nothing. Indeed, it repre- 
 sented a pretty hard afternoon's work. And now he was 
 off to " report." 
 
 Kirk strolled through the darkening streets with the 
 swing and vigor that come of success. There was no lag 
 in his walk now, no indecision as to which street he should 
 take, no crumpled list of addresses to decipher under the 
 gaslights. There was no job to look for now. The job 
 was found! He had won against nine hundred. All he 
 had to do was to exist till the next day, and then knock 
 four times at 82 Tedworth Street. A simple and exhil- 
 arating programme, easily performed, and dazzling in its 
 possibilities! And after he had knocked four times? Oh, 
 well, what was the good of worrying about it? He re- 
 
 24 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 peated to himself that what was good enough for Mr. 
 Smith was good enough for him. 
 
 He treated himself to a generous dinner. He felt that 
 he could well afford it. Roast beef, potatoes, cheese, and a 
 pewter mug of beer. A fellow with a desperate enterprise 
 before him was entitled to live high. It was policy, too, to 
 be in good shape for 82 Tedworth Street. He had to make 
 a good impression on " we," and confirm Mr. Smith's favor- 
 able opinion. He promised himself an ample breakfast, a 
 shave, and a shine. Perhaps even a penny flower in his 
 buttonhole. There was a lot at stake. He felt instinctively 
 that anything of Mr. Smith's was bound to be well paid. 
 You are always well paid for risking your life. It was 
 only fair that you should be. He hoped it wasn't too des- 
 perate. He was willing enough to take his chances with 
 the rest, but there was something to be said for a whole skin. 
 But what was the good of a whole skin if you had nothing 
 to put inside it no beef, no potatoes, no cheese, no beer! 
 If you got right down to it, more men died of poverty than 
 were ever shot in battle or drowned at sea. Poverty wasn't 
 as spectacular, but just as effective. A man with any spirit 
 would choose a bullet. He wasn't afraid of bullets. The 
 only lurking dread in his mind was jail. Hard pressed 
 as he was, with his back to the wall, he was not going to 
 steal; nor murder; nor enter the photogravure or coun- 
 terfeiting business. It had to be a straight proposition. But 
 somehow it was impossible to connect Mr. Smith with any- 
 thing that wasn't straight. 
 
 This brought him back to the point that it was impos- 
 sible to connect Mr. Smith with anything at all. Was the 
 whole affair a joke then? Assuredly not. It was too con- 
 sistent and too well worked out for a joke. It represented 
 too much calculation, too much expense. What of those 
 
 25 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 nine hundred other applicants? Of those nine hundred let- 
 ters to be read and sifted? Of innumerable interviews in 
 Vienna bakeries? It was mighty businesslike. It was mighty 
 thorough and systematic. Suppose he, Kirk, were in a posi- 
 tion where he had to raise a small army of resolute and 
 determined men inured to hardship and danger could be 
 see any way of improving on the method adopted by Mr. 
 Smith? No, indeed, he would copy Mr. Smith's procedure 
 to the last dot. Advertise, sift out, boil down the whole 
 kettleful to a residue of the right sort. It was a mighty 
 good way to go about it. Yes, a mighty good way. 
 
 Kirk passed the rest of the evening in the free reading 
 room, and then went back to his fourpenny cot in the Sal- 
 vation Army shelter. The next day at the stroke of ten 
 he was on the steps of 82 Tedworth Street. It was an 
 ordinary four-story London house, undistinguishable from 
 its neighbors save for a painted sign above one of the base- 
 ment windows: " To be leased unfurnished for a term of 
 years; apply to Jaffrey & Thatcher, house agents, 807 
 Marylebone Road W." It was a most respectable-looking 
 house, in a most respectable-looking street, and except for 
 a tarnished brass knocker, and windows heavily glazed with 
 dust, there was nothing to suggest that it was not a typical 
 roof-tree of Britain's best the house of a well-to-do pro- 
 fessional man or city merchant. The blinds were all drawn 
 down as though the household were still asleep, and in the 
 area there was none of the usual morning bustle of clatter- 
 ing servants and tradesmen's boys. A general lifelessness 
 pervaded the headquarters of Kirk's unknown employers, and 
 his four knocks, as he struck them slowly and deliberately, 
 seemed to reecho through an empty house. 
 
 The door, almost to his surprise, was promptly opened 
 to him by a maid. She was a very pretty woman in the 
 
 26 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 usual cap and print dress a startlingly pretty woman 
 and Kirk could hardly keep his eyes off her as he told 
 her he wanted to see Mr. Smith. Her voice was as pretty 
 as herself, with a faraway suspicion of a lisp in it, and 
 Kirk was not at all offended at being asked to repeat 
 his question. He did so quickly, still looking at her in 
 admiration. 
 
 " You are to come in and wait," she said. " Mr. Smith 
 is busy at present, but he will be pleased to see you in a 
 few minutes." 
 
 Kirk followed her into a bare hall. There was no car- 
 pet on the floor, no furniture, not a sign of habitation. 
 Above them an uncarpeted stairway lost itself in gloom. 
 Had it not been for a jet of gas, burning at the end of the 
 passage, he would have found himself in utter darkness. It 
 was a ghostly business to trail after the housemaid, and 
 guide himself by the wall as she led the way upstairs a 
 dim figure, dimly seen, outstripping him with her light feet. 
 One flight two flights and there she was, panting a little, 
 as she opened the door of a back room. It, too, was lighted 
 artificially, and was as starkly bare as the rest of the house. 
 Here Kirk was left, assured again that he would not be long 
 kept waiting. 
 
 Kirk, greatly wondering, went to the window and 
 peeped out at the side of the blind. Below him was a dingy 
 back garden, walled in with brick and abutting on an alley. 
 Corresponding back gardens, identical in size, met his eye 
 in a series up and down the block. He turned away from 
 the depressing sight, attracted by the sound of voices above 
 him. A faint murmur reached him, and once the sudden 
 scraping of a chair. Though he could make out no words, 
 the conversation sounded smoothly on his ears unexcited, 
 matter of fact, almost droning. He seated himself tailor- 
 3 2 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 fashion on the floor, and put his unlit pipe to his mouth. 
 He did not dare to smoke, but the familiar action soothed 
 him, and he found satisfaction in breathing in air. He 
 was not exactly uneasy, but the circumstances were so strange 
 and the veil of mystery so profound, that his heart beat a 
 little thickly, and his nerves twitched with impatience and 
 suspense. 
 
 After a while a long while it seemed to Kirk the 
 door opened, and the pretty housemaid signaled him to come 
 out. 
 
 ' ( They are ready for you now," she said. 
 
 Kirk in silence followed her up another flight, and per- 
 mitted himself to be ushered into the room in front. The 
 gas was brightly burning. At a common deal table, stacked 
 with papers, and with here and there some medical instru- 
 ments, sat a small, dark, youngish man, scribbling on a pad. 
 He was rather smartly dressed in a frock coat, creased 
 trousers, light-colored waistcoat, and a large Ascot tie pinned 
 with a diamond horseshoe. At his side, tilting backward, was 
 the bulky, friendly form of Mr. Smith, with a cigar in the 
 corner of his mouth, and the same quizzical, good-natured ex- 
 pression that Kirk remembered so well. In a corner of the 
 floor lay a silk hat, a soft felt hat, a silver-handled bamboo 
 cane, and a small leather case, half opened. 
 
 Mr. Smith, without rising, greeted Kirk with a cheer- 
 ful, offhand, " My dear man glad to see you ! " and in- 
 dicated the only other chair in the room. Kirk smiled and 
 took it, while the dark young man for the first time raised 
 his eyes. 
 
 " Dr. Jones," said Mr. Smith expansively, by way of 
 introduction. " Charming fellow pride of the medical pro- 
 fession can find more things the matter with a well man 
 than ou could in a whole hospital! " 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Kindly divest yourself of your coat, waistcoat, and 
 shirt," said Dr. Jones succinctly. 
 
 Kirk, very much embarrassed, proceeded to obey. Mr. 
 Smith blew smoke rings, and smiled ambiguously at the ceil- 
 ing. The doctor filled up the interval by resuming his 
 scribbling. 
 
 The examination didn't take long, but it was pretty 
 brisk while it lasted. Kirk was thumped, prodded, stetho- 
 scoped, and generally inquired into. The doctor, in a color- 
 less, professional tone, asked those unblushing questions that 
 in anyone else would be resented with a blow. Asked them 
 with an air of quiet incredulity, as though lies were his 
 daily portion verifying Kirk's answers by unexpected 
 pinches and taps. Mr. Smith's pronounced indifference was 
 a great consolation to Kirk. Mr. Smith did not seem to 
 care a doit, and yawned throughout the proceedings with 
 undisguised boredom. Tilted back in his chair, and dream- 
 ily eyeing the ceiling through clouds of tobacco smoke, he 
 settled himself like a man at a railway station condemned 
 to wait for his train. 
 
 At last his train arrived. Dr. Jones begged Kirk put 
 on his clothes again, and turning to Mr. Smith, remarked: 
 " Strong as a horse of superior intelligence nervous and 
 high strung, but with the good qualities that belong to this 
 class of subject. You will probably find him one of your 
 best men. I pass him with pleasure! " 
 
 These unexpected compliments made Kirk glow with 
 satisfaction. The little dark doctor had given no indication 
 that his judgment would be so favorable. His praise, as 
 dispassionate as that of a judge at a poultry show, had the 
 calm sincerity of an expert to whom the fowl itself was of 
 supreme unimportance. Mr. Smith awoke to interest, set- 
 tled his chair on four legs, removed the cigar from his mouth, 
 
 29 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and bluffly took up the task now resigned to him by Dr. 
 Jones. 
 
 " Have you ever seen a thing like this before? " he asked, 
 as he passed Kirk what seemed to be a bank note. 
 
 Kirk took it, and examined it attentively. He had to live 
 up to his " superior intelligence," and was prepared for some 
 kind of trap. But to all intents and purposes the bill was 
 one for one hundred pounds a crisp, new Bank of England 
 note that rustled most agreeably as he felt and twisted it 
 between his finger and thumb. If it were a forgery he might 
 well be forgiven for thinking it genuine. 
 
 " A hundred pounds," added Mr. Smith. " Put it in 
 your pocket, my dear man. It is yours ! " 
 
 " But what for ? " demanded Kirk, very much mystified. 
 " What am I to do with it? " 
 
 " Anything you please," replied Mr. Smith. " My dear 
 man, you have successfully passed two stages of our sifting 
 process. This note is number three! " 
 
 " But am I not to be told yet? " 
 
 "Told? Told what?" 
 
 " The meaning of the whole affair ? What it is you want 
 of me, Mr. Smith?" 
 
 Mr. Smith burst out laughing. Even the doctor appeared 
 to enjoy the sight of Kirk's disturbed and surprised counte- 
 nance. 
 
 " My dear man," began Mr. Smith, controlling himself 
 with difficulty, " let me explain a little further. That note 
 is yours to do exactly as you like with. Go away. Spend 
 it on drink, or women, or ginger beer or salt it down in 
 the Post Office Savings Bank. Only, if on Monday after- 
 noon you cannot bring it back here intact intact, mind you 
 the people I represent have no use for your services. It 
 is the final test of your character and self-control, and you 
 
 30 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 may find it the hardest one of all. No question of honor is 
 involved, nor honesty, nor anything of that sort. We make 
 you a present of that hundred pounds. Only, as I said be- 
 fore, if you don't bring it back to us on Monday afternoon 
 we shall decide that you're not the man for us. And when 
 I say a hundred pounds, I mean a hundred pounds, and not 
 a penny less. Don't bring us any sad tale of how you were 
 unavoidably compelled to eat up eleven shillings of it or 
 ninepence of it or, by Jupiter, threepence halfpenny of it. 
 We want the whole note or nothing. Got the idea? " 
 
 " I think I have," said Kirk in a maze. 
 
 " You may find," continued Mr. Smith, " that weighed 
 against an unknown enterprise, of an admittedly hazardous 
 character, with risks and hardships swollen by imagination 
 that a hundred pounds in the hand is worth a lot of birds 
 in the bush ! " 
 
 " Let's get on to that," said Kirk. " Not that I'm at- 
 tempting to force your confidence, Mr. Smith, or learn what 
 I can plainly see you will not tell me. But there are two 
 questions I consider I have a right to put. First, Is there 
 anything criminal in this enterprise? " 
 
 Mr. Smith brought his hand down on his fat leg with a 
 resounding smack. " Not by a jugful ! " 
 
 " Question number two," went on Kirk. " What is there 
 in it for me? " 
 
 Mr. Smith paused impressively before replying. 
 
 " Possibly nothing," he responded at last. " Possibly 
 nothing at all." 
 
 "Oh!" exclaimed Kirk. 
 
 Mr. Smith raised his hand as though to stop him. 
 
 " Possibly even probably a fair-sized fortune." 
 
 " A fair-sized fortune ? What do you call a fair-sized 
 fortune?" 
 
 31 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Mr. Smith's voice grew suddenly serious. 
 
 " Well, say from ten to one hundred thousand pounds! " 
 
 Kirk stuffed the note in his trousers pocket. The action 
 spoke volumes. Even as he did so the dazzling housemaid 
 tapped at the door, and informed Mr. Smith that Joseph Gill 
 was below waiting to see him. 
 
 " Mr. Smith," said Kirk, breathless with excitement, " if 
 I'm not here Monday it will be because I'm dead. If you 
 have nothing else to ask of me, I will say good morning! " 
 
 Mr. Smith gave him his hand. The doctor looked up 
 from his pad and nodded. A minute later the front door 
 closed on Kirk, and he found himself in Tedworth Street in 
 a tumult of the most indescribable emotions. His hand 
 closed tightly on the hundred-pound note, and he walked 
 rapidly away. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 E have said that Kirk's hand closed on the 
 hundred-pound note. But touching that 
 note also, and jostling beside it was the sum 
 of one shilling and tenpence halfpenny the 
 most of it in coppers. One shilling and ten- 
 pence halfpenny to carry him through what remained of 
 Friday, all of Saturday and Sunday, and at least a break- 
 fast for Monday morning. Any idea of a bed he had to 
 put away from him. Even for food it was going to be a 
 ticklish operation to spread a shilling and tenpence half- 
 penny over how many meals? At the standard number 
 three a day there were ten to be provided for. Ten, with 
 a lunch on Monday. Nine, with no lunch on Monday. 
 Well, say ten! One shilling and tenpence halfpenny in 
 American money amounted to about forty-five cents, or a 
 shade over four cents a meal ! 
 
 At this rate it was possible to keep body and soul to- 
 gether. Not exactly lapped in luxury, perhaps, but still 
 together. Though it was early in November the weather 
 had not turned very cold, and to a hardy fellow like Kirk 
 the prospect of a few nights out of doors was less dreadful 
 than you would imagine. The safety of the hundred pounds 
 was a much more serious consideration. What on earth was 
 he to do with it? Where was he to hide it? Horror of 
 horrors, suppose some of his night-hawk companions were 
 to hold him up and rob him ! That was the worst of tuck- 
 ing into a packing case, or prowling up some dark, riverside 
 
 33 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 alley where barrels and lumber were apt to be found. Yet 
 he couldn't well entrust it to anybody to keep for him. 
 He thought of the grim young lady in the free reading room, 
 and his heart sank. What of a police station ? They'd prob- 
 ably think him a thief and lock him up. It wasn't a story 
 that would be readily believed. A dirty, starving scarecrow 
 with a hundred-pound note! No, there was no help here. 
 
 He remembered St. Stephen's church. It was a queer 
 old place, with extraordinarily high, old-fashioned pews. 
 When you sat down in one of them you as much disap- 
 peared from view as though you had entered an unroofed 
 shed. It would be an easy matter to go in at some evening 
 service, and then crouch down and hide while the others were 
 going out. " Safe as a church! " The words had a new sig- 
 nificance for him now. But was there any evening service 
 on week nights? Well, why not find out? Kirk had an 
 indistinct recollection of a notice board with something on 
 it about daily matins and evensong. He had wondered at 
 the time what these unfamiliar words meant. Great Scott, 
 he'd go and find out. 
 
 Later he congratulated himself on having done so. 
 There was a service every evening at nine " praise and 
 prayer " it said on the board, which likewise offered him 
 the address of the sexton in gilt letters even bigger. Kirk 
 wandered into the graveyard, and finding it deserted, set 
 himself to a task that had been on his mind for some little 
 time namely, as a precaution, to sew the one-hundred- 
 pound note into the lining of his waistcoat. All he had to 
 do it with was some string and his old knife, but they both 
 served well enough to effect his purpose though it was a 
 clumsy job and ill disguised. Still, the note was now far 
 safer than it had been in his pocket, and besides, no one was 
 likely to suspect that such a poor, sloshy-footed tramp pos- 
 
 34 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 scssed anything more than the shillings and the coppers that 
 Kirk was quite willing to risk. 
 
 The rest of the day passed with grinding monotony. 
 Dusk brought supper. Then more monotony, more aimless 
 attempts to kill time, more futile walks and loiterings. To 
 a vigorous, energetic man there is no work so hard as idle- 
 ness. Not the idleness of ease, of books, of pleasant rooms, 
 with distractions for every minute but the hopeless, soul- 
 depressing idleness of the streets. Kirk was thankful when 
 at last he heard the church bell tolling, and could assure 
 himself of his night's rest. He slunk into St. Stephen's, 
 hoping to lose himself in the crowd, and discreetly sink out 
 of sight in one of the box pews. 
 
 But there was no crowd. The dim, cold church was 
 empty. The ghostly pews showed no heads above their 
 paneled sides. Kirk hurriedly popped into one of them, and 
 doubled himself up out of sight. The bell tolled and tolled. 
 Three pounds ten! Three pounds ten, three pounds ten! 
 Minutes passed. The bells ceased, and then the invading 
 steps of another wayfarer were heard. Here at last was 
 the congregation. A false hope, alas ! The steps were those 
 of the clergyman, and Kirk heard the creak of ancient boards 
 as he mounted into the pulpit. The pulpit was very high, 
 and placed almost in the center of the church. The clergy- 
 man, to make matters worse, was unusually tall. He took 
 a most unsportsmanlike advantage of Kirk by rising on his 
 toes and peering down. Kirk held his breath with appre- 
 hension, wondering if he had been detected. It almost seemed 
 as though he had escaped. The clergyman cleared his throat, 
 settled back on his feet, and in a high-pitched quavering 
 voice began: 
 
 " Dearly beloved brr brother the Scripture moveth us 
 in sundry places to ! " 
 
 35 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 There was no good trying to make a hotel of that church. 
 The clergyman had Kirk under constant supervision, and at 
 the end of the service shamelessly waited for him to walk 
 out. This Kirk did, like a dog with its tail between its legs. 
 Very little the better, I'm afraid, for his share of that even- 
 song. It was nearly a quarter of ten as he found himself 
 once more treading the streets, and pitifully undecided as 
 to where he should betake himself. He determined on the 
 Salvation shelter. He liked the Salvationists. They could 
 be awfully good to a man that was down on his luck. , They 
 would do something for him, he knew that. They would 
 not turn him away. 
 
 But it was a night of misfortunes. There was an enor- 
 mous crowd in the street. Policemen were everywhere. The 
 place was all puddled up with water, and Kirk found his 
 progress peremptorily barred. 
 
 " Stand back ! Keep 'orf ! No passageway 'ere ! " 
 
 " What was the matter? " 
 
 "Fire!" 
 
 A bystander volunteered the information that a drunken 
 man had set his cot in flames, and that the Salvation barracks 
 had gone up in smoke. 
 
 " A rare sight," said the man. tf You ought to have seen 
 them ajumping from the windows! Wy, with my own 
 heyes I saw two of them " 
 
 Kirk turned back, sick at heart. Where was he to go? 
 There were doubtless other Army refuges, but how was he 
 to find them? No one could help him, though he asked re- 
 peatedly, his voice in spite of himself sinking to the key of 
 mendicancy that warned all from him. The ever-present 
 thought of the hundred pounds made him timorous for the 
 first time in his life. He dreaded more than ever those cut- 
 throat purlieus on the waterside, where shelter was most 
 
 36 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 likely to be obtained. There seemed nothing for it but the 
 Embankment that wide, stately boulevard that bordered the 
 Thames, stuck out at intervals with green benches and 
 policemen. He had often seen people asleep on the benches. 
 He had read allusions in the newspapers to the number of 
 people sleeping on them. Had familiarized himself with the 
 idea of sleeping on one of them if actually driven to it. It 
 was well policed that was the great thing. He knew it 
 was well policed. Rows of police! 
 
 So he made his way to the Embankment through a net- 
 work of small, dark, and confusing streets. The next trouble 
 was to find a bench that was empty. The raw, damp weather 
 had not thinned the ranks of the disinherited. Bench after 
 bench was occupied, though not always by recumbent figures, 
 however. On one a drunken woman, gabbling incoherently 
 to herself. On another a pair of such wicked-looking hooli- 
 gans taking alternative puffs of the same cigarette, that Kirk 
 shivered for his hundred pounds till he was well passed 
 them. It was strange what a coward this money made him. 
 He distrusted everybody but the stalwart men in blue, who 
 seemed to him fewer and much farther between than he 
 had anticipated. At last he saw an empty bench, and hur- 
 ried to seize it before it might be snapped up by anyone else. 
 He was dog-tired and it was pleasant to stretch himself out 
 at length after that long, long day. But he decided not to 
 go to sleep. He did not dare to go asleep. Fool that he'd 
 been not to get the address of another Army shelter. It 
 was all the fault of that confounded church. Kirk reviled it 
 heartily, and then had to laugh. " Dear Beloved Brother! " 
 What a joke it would be in days to come happier days 
 " from ten to a hundred thousand pounds," said Mr. Smith. 
 A hundred thousand pounds was half a million dollars! 
 The bench seemed suddenly less hard the whole situation 
 
 37 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 less miserable. Five hundred thousand dollars! was it not 
 worth a little discomfort! 
 
 Then he dozed off, awaking after an unknown interval 
 to a penetrating realization of cold and achiness. He was 
 disgusted at the treachery of his body, which had faithfully 
 promised not to go to sleep. It had lied to him shamefully. 
 Oh, dear, how sleepy he was! Perhaps if he sat up he could 
 better resist these overwhelming waves of slumber. Accord- 
 ingly, he sat up and blinked at the lights across the river. 
 Blinked till no exertion of will power seemed able to keep 
 them open. He dozed off again, dreaming in the most posi- 
 tive manner that he was awake dreaming of policemen, 
 of Mr. Smith, of lighting his pipe with a hundred-pound 
 note. 
 
 There was a terrible weight on his chest. Bound and 
 gagged he was lying under a ten-ton triphammer that was 
 slowly squeezing him to death, struggle as he might. He 
 opened his eyes, and in an instant returned to consciousness. 
 A pair of hands were throttling his life out, while another 
 pair were pinioning his legs. Still another hand was roving 
 through his trousers pockets. Kirk was a powerful man 
 quick, cunning, and resourceful in the face of danger. He 
 tore away the fellow from his throat, sprang over sideways, 
 and landing a kick into something soft and human, managed 
 to scramble to his feet. There ensued a random, indiscrimi- 
 nate punching. Kirk, yelling murder at the top of his lungs, 
 staggered backward, reeling from a blow in the mouth. 
 But even as he did so he hit out right and left, smashing 
 one of his assailants headlong to the pavement. But the sec- 
 ond one pressed him hard, and from behind he could hear 
 the third, breathing violently through his teeth, and awaiting 
 a chance to spring on him. A voice cried out: " Slug him, 
 Bill! My Gawd! why don't you slug him?" Kirk fell 
 
 38 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 on his knees, turned, and grabbed the fellow behind him by 
 the legs. They both went over with a crash, twisting and 
 writhing in a death battle. Kirk had a momentary peep at 
 the stars then of a hobnailed boot descending. A skinny 
 hand was gripping his throat in a vice, while he was desper- 
 ately hammering his elbow into what he hoped were human 
 ribs. The hobnailed boot missed him by an inch, thanks to 
 a convulsive effort that taxed every atom of his strength. 
 The hobnailed boot rose again, aiming another vicious stamp. 
 
 " Murder, help, murder! " 
 
 Peep, peep, peep! 
 
 It was a policeman's whistle. The sound was taken up 
 and repeated from several quarters. Elephantine footsteps 
 approached running. But there was the hobnailed boot still 
 smashing at him. Peep, peep, peep! He dodged it once. 
 Dodged it twice. Peep, peep, peep! 
 
 Then oblivion. 
 
 He awoke in a sort of dormitory, the occupant of one 
 of a long row of cots. He was extraordinarily tired, extraor- 
 dinarily confused and dizzy. His eyes rested dully on the 
 white-clad figure of a nurse. She came over to him instantly, 
 and her kind, good face was comforting just to look at. Her 
 voice was low and pleasant, and her hand, as she laid it on his 
 throbbing temple, gave him a childish contentment. 
 
 "You are better?" she asked. 
 
 Kirk smiled and nodded. He felt for his head and was 
 thunderstruck to find that he no longer had any hair. Ban- 
 dages, but no hair! What the deuce had become of his hair? 
 Why bandages? Then, with a wave of recollection the 
 whole affair of the Embankment recurred to him. 
 
 " Nurse," he said feebly, " am I much hurt? " 
 
 She cooed over him in clotted cream English accents. 
 39 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "And the hundred pounds? " he cried out. " In Heav- 
 en's name, where is my hundred pounds? " 
 
 " You mustn't get excited ? " she said, ignoring his 
 question. 
 
 Then another thought struck him. 
 
 " What day is it? " he demanded. 
 
 "Sunday!" 
 
 He sat up in bed, greatly to her astonishment. He felt 
 shaky and sick, but able, nevertheless, to get up and dress. 
 He had to get up and dress. 
 
 " I'm not delirious," he said. " I had a hundred-pound 
 note sewed up in the lining of my vest. I cannot remain 
 here without knowing whether it is safe! " 
 
 More professional coos of the poor-dear-man-do-be-quiet 
 order. 
 
 But the poor, dear man roared for his clothes, and raised 
 such an outcry and hullabaloo that a doctor came running 
 in from the next ward. He exchanged a few words with 
 Kirk, tried ineffectually to boss him into submission, and 
 then very grudgingly gave way. 
 
 " You're a foolhardy fellow," he said. " You've just 
 shaved concussion of the brain. You'll come back here on 
 a stretcher! " 
 
 " Bring me my clothes! " roared Kirk. " I haven't con- 
 cussion of the brain. I want my clothes! " 
 
 A dresser arrived on the scene. Also some convalescents 
 with brooms. Also another nurse. They formed a little 
 group about Kirk while he still ferociously insisted on his 
 clothes. 
 
 " Oh, well, then, get him his clothes," said the doctor. 
 
 There was an interminable delay while they were being 
 brought. Kirk devoured some calves'-foot jelly, and fiercely 
 repeated the tale of the hundred-pound note sewed in the 
 
 .40 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 lining of his vest. It was met by a row of incredulous faces. 
 So incredulous, indeed, that for a moment he wondered 
 whether the whole affair were not a dream Mr. Smith, the 
 house in Tedworth Street, the Desperate Enterprise every- 
 thing. Then a man appeared with the clothes. But why 
 had they changed from blue to a dingy mustard? Kirk 
 gazed at them in bewilderment. 
 
 " They are not mine at all ! " he exclaimed. " Great 
 Scott, those are not my clothes! " 
 
 " Yes, they are," said the man. " You can see the num- 
 ber for yourself 6696 just as they were stripped off you 
 and ticketed. I ought to know, for I did it myself ! " 
 
 The whole party regarded Kirk as though he were de- 
 lirious. He heard something in an undertone about a 
 " strait-jacket." 
 
 " Give me that coat," he cried defiantly. " I'll soon show 
 you whether it's mine or not. There, can't you see it's made 
 for a man nine sizes smaller than I am ! Here, put it on." 
 
 With the air of humoring a very sick patient, the doctor 
 held out the coat for Kirk to slip his arms into. He man- 
 aged to get them in, but that was the most that could be 
 done. Everybody laughed. It might have been a boy's, 
 while Kirk was a broad-shouldered, deep-chested man. The 
 absurdity of its being Kirk's coat was patent. 
 
 " Johnson, there's some mistake here," said the doctor. 
 
 " Why, I took it off him myself, sir," cried Johnson. 
 " Look at the ticket, sir ! Number 6696. The coat's all 
 right, sir; it's the man what's changed." 
 
 Then one of the convalescents bore in. 
 
 " You've got the figures upside down," he said. " You've 
 gone and give this poor fellow's duds to 9699 ! " 
 
 Johnson faltered, and muttered something under his 
 breath. 
 
 41 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 The doctor flushed angrily. 
 
 " Johnson, I'm going to have this thing sifted to the 
 bottom," he cried. " And sifted here and now! " 
 
 Johnson threw up the sponge. 
 
 " It must have been that hemorrhage case yesterday," he 
 quavered. " He did make a most awful hubbub, I remem- 
 ber, and went away swearing like the old Nick. But it was 
 his ticket, and I made him take them." 
 
 "'But do you know his name? Do you know where he 
 went to? Have you got his address? " 
 
 Kirk bellowed these questions like a maniac. His eyes 
 were flashing, and his fists closing convulsively on the 
 coverlet. 
 
 " You'll find all that in the book," said Johnson, with 
 lamblike meekness. " Leastways it orter be in the book. 
 But the book not being in my department," he went on, " I 
 really cannot positively, definitely say for certain." 
 
 " Bring the book directly," shouted the doctor. " If this 
 matter is not cleared up instanter, I'll have you dismissed! " 
 
 Johnson slowly turned, and in a most woebegone manner 
 walked down the ward toward the door. 
 
 " Don't get excited, dear," said the nurse to Kirk. " If 
 you allow yourself to get excited you'll become delirious 
 again, and have to have ice put on your poor head ! Won't 
 he. doctor? " 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 BOUT three o'clock on that same Sunday 
 afternoon, Kirk very pale and determined 
 might have been seen emerging from the 
 hospital in a suit of Mr. Johnson's own. 
 Too short in the arms, far too ample in the 
 waist, baggy and threadbare these habiliments of the un- 
 fortunate Johnson hung upon Kirk with a scarecrow effect 
 that caused the passers-by to turn and stare. In one of Mr. 
 Johnson's pockets there rattled one shilling and eightpence 
 (the halfpenny having unaccountably disappeared) and in 
 another was a sheet of paper, inscribed in pencil : " Betts, 
 Edmund George. Admitted October 1 8th. Advanced 
 phthisis. Hemorrhages. Weight, 8 stone 6. Occupation, 
 picture-frame maker. Address, 17 Henrietta Street, Soho. 
 Discharged incurable November 3d." 
 
 Number seventeen was a small, dark shop in a mean, dark 
 neighborhood. The window held an easel, on which, en- 
 larged from a carte-de-visite , and incased in a gimcrack 
 frame, was one of the granite-faced ancestors of the poor. 
 On one side of this was a chromo of a Swiss lake; on the 
 other a lady, apparently unclothed, floating limply on the 
 bosom of an ocean. A lion, a comic motor picture, a de- 
 spairing female clinging to a cross, a pair of clamps, and a 
 key saw completed the dreary ensemble. Within the shop 
 was Mr. Betts himself, a shambling, dwarfish creature, with 
 a heavy stoop, who, beside a glue pot, and with a picture 
 between his legs, was engaged in the active exercises of his 
 4 43 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 profession. He raised his eyes as Kirk entered, and stared 
 at him queerly. 
 
 "Are you named Betts?" inquired Kirk. "Edmund 
 George Betts?" 
 
 Mr. Betts, in a surly, husky tone, admitted that he 
 was. "And wot of it?" he demanded. 
 
 " You were discharged yesterday from St. Mark's Hos- 
 pital?" 
 
 Mr. Betts looked as if he would have gladly denied it. 
 His dull, wasted face, the hue of dirty plaster, took on a 
 most forbidding expression. He seemed to apprehend what 
 was coming, and was evidently nerving himself for a hostile 
 interview. 
 
 " I don't see that it is any business of yours," he said. 
 " Wot is it to you if I was? " And then he added, apparently 
 quite at random and very belligerently: " I'm a hard-working 
 man." 
 
 " See here, Betts," said Kirk, " you were given my 
 clothes by mistake. Where are they ? I want them 1 " 
 
 Mr. Betts went through with a very creditable perform- 
 ance of astonishment. Indignant astonishment, broken by 
 a fit of coughing. 
 
 " I don't know wot you're talking about," he replied at 
 last. " These are all the clothes I've got. If you don't 
 believe they are mine, just walk across the street and arsk 
 the tailor who made them." 
 
 There was a battle of looks. Betts's effrontery increased 
 as he perceived Kirk's helplessness. He made stage play over 
 the frame, and sandpapered vigorously. 
 
 " I'm going to stay here till I get my clothes," Kirk 
 announced. 
 
 "You're crazy," said Betts. 
 
 " I tell you, I'm going to have my clothes," said Kirk. 
 44 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " There's a policeman at the end of this street," said 
 Betts, grinning evilly. " You and he ought to know each 
 other. If you go on bothering me, I fancy you soon 
 will!" 
 
 Betts hammered at his frame, the master of the situation. 
 Kirk, dizzy and ill, wondered what on earth he was to do. 
 The creature's defiance enraged him, and yet he seemed 
 utterly powerless. After all, it wasn't the clothes it was 
 the hundred-pound note he wanted. It was plainly within 
 his power to force the restitution of his clothes. But the 
 restitution of the note was a very different matter. 
 
 It could be denied, first of all, that he had ever possessed 
 such a note. Secondly, it would be impossible to connect 
 Betts with the theft of it. The sly consumptive had the 
 whip hand of him. Was ever there anything so infuriating! 
 Kirk gazed blankly at the glue pot, bubbling over a gas 
 burner, and tried to think. Betts, elaborately unconcerned, 
 measured distances with his thumb, and began to unscrew 
 the clamps. 
 
 " There was a hundred-pound note sewed in that vest," 
 said Kirk, " and you've got it! " 
 
 " Wot's the man talking about?" inquired Betts con- 
 fidentially of a bottle of bronze solution. " First it was his 
 clothes, and now it's his hundred-pound note! Next it will 
 be a diamond tarara with the initials V. I. ! " As he said 
 this he gazed meaningly into the street, and again address- 
 ing the air, wondered what could be detaining Mr. Thomp- 
 son, the policeman. 
 
 " He always passes about this time," he observed. " I'm 
 looking for him every minute now. Shall call him in to see 
 if he can't do anythink for a hard-working man, pestered by 
 a disorderly person, who won't go away when he's told ! " 
 
 Goaded beyond endurance, Kirk snatched up the pot of 
 45 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 boiling glue, and seizing the fellow's collar with his left 
 hand delivered an ultimatum. 
 
 " If you don't make a clean breast of it I'm going to 
 pour this all over your head ! " 
 
 Betts squealed and toppled backward, with Kirk on 
 top of him. The man was as weak as a child, and his 
 attempt to cry out brought on a fit of horrible coughing. 
 Kirk pinned him to the floor, and threatened him with the 
 upraised glue pot. A few drops, spilled in the struggle, 
 trickled down the sides of the pot and fell one by one on 
 Bett's skinny neck. 
 
 " My money! My money! " thundered Kirk, tilting the 
 pot till his own hand scorched. " Or I swear to heaven I'll 
 burn your face off ! " 
 
 The framemaker, coughing and strangling, rolled his 
 eyes in terror. He ceased his ineffectual struggles lest he 
 might himself contribute to a catastrophe, gasping out some- 
 thing that sounded like a surrender. Kirk assisted him to 
 sit up, and then waited sternly for the paroxysm to pass. 
 Betts painfully regained his breath, and wiped his mouth 
 with a dirty handkerchief. 
 
 " Now, then, where are my clothes? " 
 
 "Burnt!" 
 
 "'But the note, what did you do with the note? " 
 
 Betts's eyes wandered about the shop like a hunted rat's. 
 At last they settled dismally on the glue pot. It was a sig- 
 nal for Kirk to again raise it threateningly. 
 
 "Oh, my Gawd!" screamed the creature. "Don't, 
 don't, don't ! " 
 
 "Where's my money?" reiterated Kirk. 
 
 " How was I to know who it belonged to? " moaned the 
 framemaker. " I told him they weren't my clothes, but he 
 forced me to take them. They hung all over me, and I 
 
 46 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 had to turn up the cuffs yet he still insisted they were 
 mine. At first I didn't believe it was a good note at 
 all. I nearly took it back to the hospital. But the tailor 
 across the way said it was a good one, and that as I was 
 forced to take the clothes the note was lawfully mine. 
 He said he'd cash it for me for a quid, and told me to 
 go out and spend it fast before anybody could come down 
 on me ! " 
 
 All the fight had gone out of Betts. He was whimpering 
 and pleading like a child. His voice scarcely rose above a 
 whisper. He seemed to regard himself as a victim of an 
 immense injustice. The note had been none of his own 
 seeking; it had been thrust upon him with violence and 
 contumely, and here now was Kirk adding insult to injury 
 with melted glue. 
 
 Kirk watched him as he rose and staggered to a corner 
 of the room, where, from beneath a heap of rubbish he drew 
 out a paper bag. 
 
 " Here's all that's left of it," he said. " I don't know 
 how much I've spent and the tailor he got a pound." 
 
 Kirk emptied out a mass of notes, gold, and silver, and 
 feverishly set himself to count them. Betts looked on with 
 an air of nervous detachment, and attempted to disarm criti- 
 cism by retelling the whole story. It buzzed mournfully 
 in Kirk's ears as he stacked sovereigns in fives, ranged the 
 notes, and vaguely forecasted the shortage. His face grew 
 so ominous that Betts felt in his pockets, and cascaded the 
 contents of his purse into a heap. With this addition the 
 whole reached ninety-one pounds eighteen shillings and four- 
 pence. 
 
 Betts had to account for a little more than eight pounds ! 
 
 Kirk stuck the money into his pocket and imperiously 
 ordered Betts to make up the difference. 
 
 47 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Oh, my Gawd ! " exclaimed Betts with unaffected sin- 
 cerity. " I haven't a bob in the world ! " 
 
 " Then you'll have to sell something," said Kirk, grind- 
 ing his teeth. " You owe me eight pounds, one, and eight- 
 pence, and by George, I'm going to have it! " 
 
 " You can't get blood out of a stone," protested Betts, 
 shrinking from him in terror. " I've been five weeks in 
 hospital the whole stock ain't worth over twenty pounds 
 you can see that for yourself and the most of it's owed for. 
 Why, I haven't even a bed to sleep on. All up the spout, 
 every end and stick of it! " 
 
 " You must have got something for that eight 
 pounds? " 
 
 Betts produced a post-office receipt for five pounds. 
 
 " I sent this to my wife down at Wapping," he said. 
 " She and the two kids are staying with their mother, who's 
 a lodging-house keeper in a poor way. A quid for the tailor 
 makes six. The rest just slipped through my fingers like 
 money will when you're flush of it ! " 
 
 Kirk groaned as he perceived the uselessness of attempt- 
 ing to regain another penny. Mr. Betts snuffled audibly, and 
 murmured something about having been honest brought up, 
 and always able to look the world in the face. 
 
 " I'll tell you what I'll do," he said at last. " I'll write 
 you out a paper, promising to make up the balance on weekly 
 installments of seven and sixpence! " 
 
 Kirk brushed the suggestion aside. To-morrow would 
 be Monday, the day on which he was pledged to return to 
 82 Tedworth Street with the hundred-pound note intact. 
 Weekly installments of seven and sixpence were too derisive 
 to be entertained for an instant. He had a fleeting notion 
 of extracting that pound from the rascally tailor, and then 
 as quickly resigned it. What even was another pound ? He 
 
 48 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 felt dizzy and ill, and in no state for a further drain on his 
 energies. Somehow or other he had to raise eight pounds by 
 the next afternoon, or forego any share in Mr. Smith's des- 
 perate enterprise. He had to think, and think hard, and 
 must needs pull himself together. Nothing of the kind was 
 possible in that stuffy, little workshop, with its penetrating 
 smell of glue, squalor, and disease. An uncontrollable dis- 
 gust overwhelmed him. Without another word he passed 
 out into the street, and hastened away, asking himself miser- 
 ably what on earth he was to do. 
 
 He was tempted to seek out Mr. Smith and throw him- 
 self on his mercy. Mr. Smith surely could not blame him 
 for such a terrible train of accidents. But then Mr. Smith 
 mightn't believe him. Besides, too, the latter's warning had 
 been so explicit. Kirk remembered the upraised finger, and 
 the serious, almost cynical voice. Mr. Smith had been more 
 than prepared for his backsliding. With all his appearance 
 of easy good nature, there was a streak of iron in that man. 
 Kirk could almost hear the interview in imagination; the 
 urbanity, the sympathy and the door ! No, he did not dare 
 make the attempt. If it was to be made at all it must be 
 as the last resort. There were still eighteen hours before him 
 in which to raise the deficit. Surely in a city of six million 
 inhabitants it was possible to find or borrow or beg eight 
 pounds! 
 
 He followed street after street at random. Money, 
 money, money everywhere in banks, in shuttered shops, 
 in the pockets of well-dressed people. Money strolling! 
 Money driving rapidly past in hansom cabs. Money non- 
 chalantly leaving clubs or standing undecidedly on the steps 
 of magnificent hotels. Eight pounds! Eight pounds! Oh, 
 the mockery of this affluence on every side this ocean in 
 which he had not a drop to drink! He was glad to strike 
 
 49 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 across meaner neighborhoods where there was less to agonize 
 him. He was hardly able to drag his feet along. Never 
 had be been so tired so utterly exhausted. 
 
 His head swam, and it was only by indomitable resolu- 
 tion that he could put temptation by him the temptation 
 to enter the first likely hotel; eat, bathe, sleep, and ignobly 
 surrender to his physical needs, resigning all idea of getting 
 the eight pounds, resigning all hope of sharing in that des- 
 perate enterprise, acquiescing in defeat, and accepting it as 
 inevitable. But no, no, no, he would not give in ! He would 
 rest in the free reading room, whip up his jaded faculties, 
 and somehow or other find a way out. 
 
 For an hour he sat apathetic in his chair. Dusk fell, 
 the lights were lit, and still he was not one whit nearer the 
 eight pounds. Then, in the queer, unexpected way that such 
 things happen, he began to get a glimmer of an idea. An 
 idea necessitating a three-week-old number of the Sporting 
 and Dramatic Record. He found it with difficulty, and rap- 
 idly turning over the pages, at length laid his finger on what 
 he sought. 
 
 It was an interview with Homer Kittredge, the literary 
 lion of the hour. Homer Kittredge, that astounding young 
 man who had taken London by storm with his South Afri- 
 can stories. Kirk, also, had been taken by storm, and cher- 
 ished a tremendous admiration for the great author so 
 much so, indeed, that he had previously read the interview 
 with avidity and remembered it well. Here it was, por- 
 trait and all Kittredge's lodgings, Kittredge's modesty, 
 Kittredge's breakfast, Kittredge's views on things in general. 
 The interview was flippant and silly, but all the same it 
 represented Kittredge in a delightful light broad, tolerant, 
 generous, and human. Kittredge had been induced to talk 
 of his early struggles, of his bitter fight with poverty, of his 
 
 50 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 walking through the streets, just as Kirk had done, trying 
 to keep his hands from snatching at diamond stickpins. It 
 was humorously expressed it was laughable, and intended 
 to be so but it gave Kirk an extraordinary fellow-feeling 
 with the novelist a friendship, a tenderness. Here, best of 
 all, was the astounding young man's address: n Rye Row, 
 Charing Cross. 
 
 Half an hour later Kirk descended from a hansom and 
 found himself in a dirty little side street off one of the great- 
 est thoroughfares of London. The house before him was as 
 dirty and unprepossessing as the street it fronted on. Kirk 
 remembered that Kittredge was busy on a novel dealing 
 with low life in London, and this explained his choice of a 
 slum to live in. He was breathing the same air as his 
 characters, and could gaze down on their heads from his 
 second-story window. It showed what a thorough fellow 
 Kittredge was, and proved his determination to get down 
 to brass tacks. But even conceding all this it seemed a 
 strange abode for a man who had the whole of London at 
 his feet, and the general aspect of grime and poverty fell 
 like a chill on Kirk's eager hopes. Now that the die was 
 about to be cast he discovered that his courage was all gone, 
 and as he knocked he trembled. A slatternly girl opened 
 the door. She listened with contempt to Kirk's request to 
 see Mr. Kittredge. He spoke low and pleadingly, and at 
 once confirmed the suspicions engendered by his disreputable 
 clothes and haggard, unshaven face. 
 
 " No beggars! " she exclaimed, and would have slammed 
 the door in his face had he not, with surprising presence of 
 mind, stuck in his sloppy boot to prevent her. She kicked 
 at it viciously from within. Kirk rapped loudly on the panel, 
 and expostulated fiercely. The young woman screamed. A 
 crowd sprang up from nowhere. Inside the house heavy 
 
 51 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 footsteps could be heard descending the stairs two steps at 
 a time, hastening to the defense. 
 
 The door was flung wide open, and Kirk saw before 
 him a bristly haired, broad-shouldered, very angry young man 
 in gold spectacles. 
 
 "What's all this?" he demanded, with the glitter of 
 battle in his eyes. " What do you mean by sticking your 
 foot in my door? " 
 
 " I want to see Mr. Kittredge." 
 
 "I'm Mr. Kittredge!" 
 
 Kirk faltered. The words he meant to say died on his 
 lips. He was silent. 
 
 " You ought to be ashamed of yourself ! " cried the novel- 
 ist. "A big, sturdy man like you begging! I won't give 
 you a penny, and if you don't clear out I'll punch your 
 head!" 
 
 Kirk did not budge. His white face, his evident distress, 
 the glisten of real tears in his eyes all struck the novelist 
 with a sudden contrition. 
 
 " Oh, well, here's a shilling! " he cried. " Take it, and 
 get!" 
 
 Kirk, in a broken voice, refused the alms. 
 
 " Mr. Kittredge," he said, " it is true I am a beggar 
 but not that kind of beggar. Look here ! " and with that 
 he plumped his hand in his pocket, and drew it out brim- 
 ming with gold. 
 
 The sight staggered Homer Kittredge. His face changed 
 to an extraordinary interest. Still holding the shilling he 
 studied Kirk from top to toe, his amazement increasing as 
 he contrasted the latter's disheveled and unkempt appearance 
 with the shining sovereigns. 
 
 "Then what do you want?" he demanded at last. 
 
 " Eight pounds," said Kirk. 
 52 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "'But, my dear fellow, why in Heaven's name should I 
 give you eight pounds ? " 
 
 " If you'll let me come in I'll tell you why," said Kirk. 
 " Oh, Mr. Kittredge, please let me come in! " 
 
 The great writer still stared at him. He seemed at a 
 loss to know how to answer. The master of imaginary ro- 
 mances stood spellbound before the real thing. 
 
 " All right come along," he said. " I won't promise 
 you eight pounds, but I'll give you ten minutes of my time. 
 Mind the step, old fellow ! " 
 
 And thus invited, Kirk followed Homer Kittredge into 
 the dark and uninviting passage. 
 
 53 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 E was led upstairs and ushered into an attrac- 
 tively furnished room. At one end, sparkling 
 in the light of the open fire, was a trophy 
 of arms rifles, bayonets, Oriental daggers, 
 etc. On the warmly tinted walls hung re- 
 productions of Detaille dashing war pictures, full of move- 
 ment, color, and red legs. Limp red legs lying dead on 
 gray village streets; vigorous red legs, astride of horses, in- 
 tercepting Uhlans; weary but heroic red legs, covering the 
 retreat of dusty columns ; dejected red legs, cutting the regi- 
 mental colors into pieces before surrender. There were two 
 tables in the room. One littered with manuscript, cigar 
 stumps, books, and newspapers; the other spread for a soli- 
 tary dinner that Kirk had evidently interrupted. 
 
 "Hungry?" inquired the novelist, picking his napkin 
 off the floor, and briskly seating himself. 
 
 " Yes " 
 
 " Well, then sit down. Beer?" 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Kittredge, I did not mean to " 
 
 " Hold your tongue," said the novelist cheerfully. " Skip 
 gratitude and all that, and get yourself one of those mugs 
 off the mantelpiece." As Kirk obeyed he carved a slice off 
 the roast, and apologized for offering it to him on a bread- 
 plate. 
 
 " But I dare say you won't mind," he added. 
 The two men smiled at each other across the table. 
 Kittredge flourished his mug. 
 54 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Now, my handsome tramp," he cried, with ambiguous 
 geniality, " let's drink to our better acquaintance, and try 
 not to tell me any more lies than you can help. Murderer, 
 thief, blackmailer, felon and you may throw yourself fear- 
 lessly on my breast for it's my business to get behind the 
 scenes of life, and right down to the heart of things. I 
 will keep your secret, and hose you down with good advice. 
 But if you insist on feats of imagination, and think to fool 
 me with a penny novelette I warn you that I'm an impa- 
 tient man, and ill to deal with. Truth I love; fiction I can 
 do for myself, and probably better than you. Horseradish ? " 
 
 Kirk listened unruffled to this extraordinary speech. He 
 was in a state of delicious contentment, and all his cares and 
 miseries seemed at an end. He drank his beer, devoured his 
 beef, put away countless squares of bread, smiling like a child 
 whenever he met those restless black eyes that fixed them- 
 selves so constantly on his. His attitude plainly puzzled 
 Kittredge, who, in spite of his better judgment, felt strongly 
 attracted toward his strange guest, and inclined to believe 
 in him. 
 
 " You are a slow fellow in coming to the point," he 
 ventured at last. 
 
 "I'm afraid to," said Kirk. "Nobody in the whole 
 world ever needed eight pounds more than I do. While I 
 sit here, eating your excellent dinner, I can tell myself the 
 fairy tale that you will give it to me, and feel comfortable 
 and safe." 
 
 "But why eight pounds?" asked Kittredge. "It's an 
 unusual kind of sum. A chap that would give you eight 
 would just as readily give you ten ! " 
 
 Kirk emptied his pockets on the tablecloth, building up 
 a little pile of gold, notes, silver, and coppers. 
 
 " I have to make that a hundred," he said. " I don't 
 55 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 care if it isn't a penny over. But one penny less, and I'll 
 almost go mad with disappointment. If by to-morrow after- 
 noon I don't have a hundred-pound note to show to a cer- 
 tain person, I forfeit all chances to a hundred thou- 
 sand!" 
 
 " A hundred thousand ! " exclaimed Kittredge incredu- 
 lously. " Now, see here, do you think I'm going to swallow 
 all that?" 
 
 Kirk was abashed by his rough and jeering tone. 
 
 " Perhaps only ten thousand," he said hurriedly. " It's 
 all very mysterious, Mr. Kittredge. I'll I'll tell you about 
 it, and then you can judge for yourself." 
 
 This he forthwith proceeded to do. Kittredge lit a cigar 
 and listened, his keen, mobile face constantly changing its 
 expression as Kirk took up the thread of his narrative from 
 the time he arrived in London, down to his encounter with 
 Mr. Betts. From time to time Kittredge put a question, 
 always rather sharply, and then with a wave of his cigar 
 bade Kirk continue. His interest was manifest, and once 
 or twice, in a curt, illuminating way he helped Kirk out 
 as the latter was at a loss for the right word. In the middle 
 of it all the girl came in to clear the table. Kittredge or- 
 dered her to leave the room and, rising, locked the door, and 
 then resumed his seat, checking a facetious remark of Kirk's 
 with an impulsive, " Go on, go on never mind that ! " 
 
 At the end of his story, carried to the novelist's very 
 threshold, Kirk reached over for a cigar, and waited for 
 his companion to speak. He hardly knew what to expect, 
 and his uncertainty was not relieved by Kittredge springing 
 to his feet, and striding about the room, exclaiming, " By 
 Jove ! By Jove ! " excitedly under his breath. 
 
 Then he returned and, leaning over Kirk, said he'd give 
 a thousand pounds to change places with him. 
 
 56 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "To think I was grubbing here while things like that 
 were going on under my nose! That's the worst of us 
 writers we dream of romance while fellows like you, con- 
 found you, are doing it living it eating and drinking and 
 sleeping with it! It's a shame that I should be getting 
 this second-hand. I ought to have been there myself. I 
 wonder if it's too late? You ask them when you go back. 
 Don't tell them it's me but just say a friend, and put 
 it in hot. Will you, old man? I mean it, truly! I'd 
 chuck this to-morrow on the bare chance. Oh, Lordy, why 
 don't I read my Times \ " 
 
 Kirk timidly brought up the subject of the eight pounds. 
 
 " Eight pounds! " cried the novelist, stamping about the 
 room again. " Bet your boots I will. Only you must come 
 back and tell me all about it. That's the bargain, Kirkpatrick. 
 You owe it to me, you know. You'll be a cur if you don't. 
 There are more stories in this old town than I ever found 
 in Africa, and, by George, I think you and I have got a big 
 one by the tail ! " 
 
 Kirk was too overcome to speak. The friendship, the 
 sympathy, above everything else the assurance of the eight 
 pounds, fired his brain and set his pulses dancing. His 
 wildest hopes had not soared so high. He had never an- 
 ticipated that his story would carry Kittredge away in this 
 headlong fashion. The reaction left him sick and giddy. 
 An hysterical gayety possessed him. He found himself 
 shaking Kittredge's hand and vowing eternal brotherhood. 
 The spectacles glimmered and shone through clouds of to- 
 bacco smoke; the impetuous voice rose in a crescendo. It 
 seemed he was a man after Kittredge's own heart ; that Kitt- 
 redge, indeed, was just such another; that life was the real 
 thing, my boy, and books the wretched substitute diabetic 
 make-believes, so to speak, for the crusty, wholesome loaf 
 
 57 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 that real men crave. They toasted each other in beer, smok- 
 ing furiously. 
 
 Kirk gradually recovered something of his composure. 
 
 " Frankly, Mr. Kittredge," he said at last, " what do you 
 suppose it all means? " 
 
 Kittredge shook his head. 
 
 " I haven't the faintest idea," he returned. " But in the 
 general mystery several things stand out. These people have 
 money a very great deal of money, apparently, to judge 
 from the way they rent houses and throw about hundred- 
 pound notes. Secondly, their system is admirably devised. 
 It implies an unusual knowledge of human nature. They're 
 getting together a body of men who will go anywhere and 
 dare anything. They are drawing on the real desperate 
 class men of tried courage and character, with nothing to 
 lose nothing but their lives, and you and I know how cheap 
 lives are held with that sort. Thirdly, the adventure is 
 admittedly hazardous. Your Mr. Smith told you that him- 
 self; even laid it on a bit; showed an evident willingness 
 to scare off the weaklings." 
 
 " Well ? " asked Kirk, as the novelist paused. 
 
 " It must be something of the freebooting order," Kitt- 
 redge resumed. " Finnish revolution, gun-running in Hayti, 
 perhaps some African mix-up of the Rajah Brooke de- 
 scription. It wouldn't surprise me if your friends were 
 to carve out a kingdom somewhere a la Pizarro. In some 
 ways it is easier to-day than it ever was before. The map 
 isn't at all so securely tinted as some people believe. Why 
 should not one of our enormously rich men strike out on 
 the good old-fashioned lines of personal leadership? Give 
 me five million pounds, and I could take my choice of twenty 
 savage kingdoms. The two-party system exists everywhere, 
 old man, and all you need to do is to swing one of them! 
 
" ' That's the bargain, Kirkpatrick.' " 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 That's how Cortez got Mexico. Turn the scale, that's all. 
 Throw in your weight with the opposition, and stiffen them 
 up with money and guns. That's been politics from the 
 year one. Maximilian tried it, too, and would have won 
 in a canter if you Americans hadn't fought him under the 
 rose. Uncle Sam was too strong for him but, my stars, 
 it wasn't the Mexicans! " 
 
 An hour ran by as they sat and talked and speculated on 
 this fascinating subject. Kittredge got down an atlas, and 
 ran his thumb over many a potential conquest. The process 
 of putting two and two together was endlessly repeated. 
 Mr. Smith's chance expressions were weighed, argued over, 
 and minutely analyzed. They groped for hidden meanings, 
 for clews. Kirk had to repeat the whole story, with slow 
 and elaborate details. He was made to give Mr. Smith's 
 intonations, his very manner as he said this or that. The 
 doctor, too, was put under a microscope. Kittredge was a 
 veritable literary bloodhound. Give him an old boot, or a 
 discarded hat, and he could pursue a trail indefinitely. Pur- 
 sue but alas, never to reach anywhere. At last he had to 
 admit that the problem was insoluble. They had not enough 
 to go on. Nothing but conjecture, conjecture, conjecture, 
 racking to the brain, but accomplishing nothing. 
 
 Suddenly the novelist looked up at the clock. 
 
 "By Jove, I must get back to work!" he exclaimed. 
 " All this put it clean out of my head. I have two chapters 
 to finish ! You won't mind, will you ? " 
 
 Kirk rose apologetically, thinking that he was dis- 
 missed. 
 
 " Oh, no, no! " said Kittredge. " I tell you what. Go 
 
 into my room there, and shave and have a bath and get into 
 
 that purple dressing gown some tomfool admirer sent me 
 
 last week. Then lie down on the sofa here, and make 
 
 5 59 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 yourself comfortable till I've finished. Then I'll make up 
 some kind of bed for you on the floor." 
 
 Kirk felt bound to protest a little. He hated to be in 
 the way and said so. He would return in the morning. He 
 wouldn't presume any further on Mr. Kittredge's kindness. 
 But Mr. Kittredge's answer was a good-natured oath. 
 
 " Do what you're told and keep quiet," he said with 
 charming brutality. " Get out, do you hear, and don't bother 
 me. Open your head again, and I'll throw a bootjack at 
 you. Skedaddle!" 
 
 Thus expedited, Kirk went into the bedroom, and obeyed 
 his directions to the letter. Oh, how good it was to take off 
 that two-days' beard, to slop and splash in the wash basin, to 
 lie his length in the bath and feel a delicious lassitude steal 
 over him ! He dawdled luxuriously, enjoying to the full every 
 stage of his toilet, and tiptoed about so as to make as little 
 noise as possible. His mind was relieved of all its worries. 
 No longer did the nightmare of that eight pounds rise and 
 daunt him. He had got it! Wonder of wonders, he had 
 got it! And had not only got it, but had found a friend 
 also Homer Kittredge, the most dominant figure in Lon- 
 don at that moment ! How good the world was, to be sure ! 
 What good hearts it held, what generosity and kindness! 
 His hands were reverent of the combs and brushes, the towels, 
 the shaving mug. They were Kittredge's, and he touched 
 them respectfully because they were Kittredge's. On the 
 dresser was a gold watch, a lumpy purse, a jeweled knife. 
 There was nothing to prevent him from putting them in his 
 pocket and bolting. Such trust in him made his breast 
 heave. This was what had made Kittredge great his 
 knowledge of men. You could be ragged and dirty and 
 unkempt, but those eyes could see the soul beneath, and find 
 honor and uprightness within. Had Kirk been an Oriental 
 
 60 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 he would have knelt down and kissed every one of those eight 
 pairs of boots that were arranged so neatly against the wall. 
 Being a white man, and unused to such practical manifesta- 
 tions of regard, he could only murmur in a broken voice: 
 " God bless him ! God bless him ! " And hope in days to 
 come he might be able to prove his gratitude. 
 
 The purple dressing gown was lying across the back of 
 a chair. It was gorgeously embroidered with gold thread, 
 and lined inside with watered silk. It had a brilliant, new 
 look, as though the novelist himself had hesitated at array- 
 ing himself in such Arabian Nights splendor, and preferred 
 to treat it as an objet d'art. Kirk, with trepidation, got into 
 the lordly garment, and knotted the sash around his waist. 
 He would have vastly preferred a suit of pyjamas, but orders 
 were orders, and he was only doing what Kittredge had 
 bidden him. He returned to the other room, expecting to 
 be greeted with a shout of laughter. 'But Kittredge was 
 head-down in his writing, and oblivious to everything but 
 his work. Kirk laid down on the sofa, and little by little 
 dozed off in sleep. 
 
 At intervals during the night he awoke, wondering and 
 bewildered at the strangeness of his surroundings. His 
 sleepy eyes would settle themselves on that black head so 
 intently bent over the paper, and his sleepy ears would listen 
 to the racing of the pen. Half hidden in a cloud of tobacco 
 smoke, and impelled by an ungovernable fury of creative 
 effort, Kittredge was performing one of his prodigies, re- 
 gardless of time or jaded nature. As a page was finished 
 he flung it to the floor, and with a snatch at the ink bottle 
 began again on the fresh sheet. The extraordinary energy 
 and concentration of this performance hypnotized Kirk. The 
 rain of paper, the scratch, scratch, scratch of the pen, the 
 bent and determined shoulders as fixed as a statue's all 
 
 61 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 followed him into his dreams, so that asleep or awake there 
 always was Kittredge, indomitably toiling into the small 
 hours. The scene varied now it was Arorai, now it was 
 the cabin of a ship, now it was Radnor Street but where- 
 ever it was there also was Kittredge, doubled over his desk, 
 writing, writing, writing. 
 
 He never knew at what advanced hour the novelist had 
 finally tired and gone to bed. It was morning when Kirk 
 awoke for the last time and found himself alone. A gray, 
 dark morning, mournfully brought to his attention by the 
 strains of a grind-organ in the streets below. Over him was 
 a blanket that he had no recollection of another proof of 
 Kittredge's thoughtfulness. He sat up and looked at the 
 clock, thunderstruck to find that it was after nine. Beside 
 the sofa were his clothes in a tumbled heap, surmounted by 
 a little note, and nine pounds in sovereigns. 
 
 "I am dog-tired, and will ask you to please not disturb 
 me. Here's a pound over, with my blessing. Come back 
 to-morrow and let me know all about it. H. K." 
 
 Kirk dressed himself, feeling delightfully rested and in- 
 vigorated. That extra pound was a Godsend, and would 
 put him on velvet. He would treat himself to a capital 
 breakfast and get into fine trim for his afternoon's appoint- 
 ment. Great Scott! though, what a narrow shave it had 
 been ! The thought made him shiver as a man shivers when 
 he recalls some frightful accident that he has lately escaped. 
 It is always more terrifying in the retrospect than at the 
 time. One needs a little leisure to become properly panic- 
 stricken. And with the shiver was a gloating sense of 
 safety, of everything having come out right, of a heart no 
 longer burdened and oppressed. All about him on the floor 
 
 62 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 were those scribbled sheets. He stepped carefully in order 
 to avoid them. Some day he would read them in a book, 
 and Kittredge would remind him when and where they had 
 been written. How they would laugh and talk, the pair 
 of them! What a privilege it was to know such a man! 
 The greatest man in England, and Kirk's friend! It was 
 a happy augury for the desperate enterprise that it had 
 already brought him this! He smoothed out the dress- 
 ing gown and wondered how he'd ever dared to wear it. 
 It shone richly in the daylight, and fell into lustrous folds 
 as he assisted it to a chair. A present from a duchess, prob- 
 ably. Well, wait a bit, and he'd make Kittredge presents, 
 too! A gold-topped dressing case, perhaps, or a penholder 
 encrusted with diamonds! Nothing would be too good for 
 Kittredge. He wouldn't mind if it cost him a thousand 
 pounds. He had to get even somehow, though all the money 
 in the world would leave him still a debtor. Kittredge had 
 saved him. Kittredge had pulled him out of hell! 
 
 He wrote a few lines of farewell and hung the missive 
 from the chandelier. But he could not bear to go without 
 another look at his benefactor. He peeped in the darkened 
 bedroom, and glanced at the recumbent figure beneath the 
 covers. Only a black head showed, and one muscular arm 
 flung out in the abandonment of slumber. He would have 
 liked to shake that hand before departing to blurt out his 
 thanks, his gratitude. It gave him a pang to go like this, 
 without one word. Well, his little note would have to say 
 it for him ! He stealthily shut the door, and made his way 
 out of the house, stopping in the street to look up at the 
 windows of Kittredge's room. 
 
 What amazing things had happened since last he had 
 stood there only a few short hours before ! 
 
 He took breakfast in a quiet little coffee room, smoked 
 
 63 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 his pipe, and waited for the banks to open. There didn't 
 seem to be any in this neighborhood, and he had quite a long 
 search to find one. It was an imposing structure, with mar- 
 ble steps and a uniformed doorkeeper. Kirk directed him- 
 self to the cashier's wicket, and confidently laid down an 
 exact hundred pounds that he had previously counted. He 
 was smiling with satisfaction, and in the exuberance of his 
 feelings wished the cashier good morning. 
 
 " I should be very much obliged if you could let me have 
 a hundred-pound note," he said. 
 
 The cashier, a fastidiously well-dressed young man, eyed 
 him superciliously, and in a drawling voice, the acme of 
 refined insolence, asked him if he were a customer of the 
 bank? 
 
 " Why, no," returned Kirk, conscious for the first time 
 that his appearance was against him. " But I hope that " 
 
 " Can't do it," said the cashier languidly, turning on 
 Kirk the back of a faultlessly fitting coat. 
 
 Kirk explained civilly that he was a stranger, and that it 
 was a matter of urgent importance; that it would be a favor 
 on the part of the supercilious young man to oblige him. 
 
 " Can't do it," snapped the cashier, laying a caressing 
 hand on a tray of gold. " We deal only with customers ! " 
 
 This put a new idea into Kirk's head. 
 
 " How does one become a customer? " he asked, think- 
 ing he might pay in a hundred at one end and draw it out 
 at the other an ingenious stratagem, possibly open to criti- 
 cism, but unavoidably forced upon him. No doubt the 
 process would take a little time. But what was time! 
 He had oceans of time! And it would teach that hide- 
 bound old bank not to trifle with Americans. 
 
 But he had failed to count on the conservatism of British 
 institutions. 
 
 64 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " You must be introduced by another customer," drawled 
 the cashier. 
 
 Kirk left the bank and sought another. This was a much 
 less pretentious place no lordling here behind the wicket, 
 but a careworn man in a shabby alpaca coat. Kirk laid down 
 his money, and with all the ingratiation he could muster 
 begged permission to exchange it for a hundred-pound note. 
 
 The careworn man was unexpectedly polite. Without 
 actually committing himself as to the note, he engaged Kirk 
 in a friendly conversation, smiling and smirking in the most 
 unaccountable manner. Kirk thought his behavior peculiar, 
 but hiding his surprise, tried to sustain his side of the con- 
 versation and acquit himself no less handsomely. The 
 agreeable fiction was suddenly disturbed, however, by the 
 arrival of the bank manager behind the bars. This individ- 
 ual eyed him sharply, exposing to view as he did so a 
 printed broadside headed: "Scotland Yard, Warning to 
 Bankers." 
 
 " Wrong man," said the manager. " Too tall for Til- 
 lottson no scar under the left eye nose doesn't correspond. 
 What kind of a game is he trying to work on you ? " 
 
 " Says he wishes a hundred-pound note for this, sir." 
 
 The manager looked suspiciously at the pile of money, 
 and taking up one of the gold pieces rang it on the counter. 
 Then he sampled one of Kirk's five-pound notes. 
 
 " Tell him to go away," said the manager to the cashier, 
 as though he were too proud to address Kirk personally, 
 and preferred this regal indirectness. " Tell him to go away 
 directly." 
 
 " Go away! " repeated the cashier. 
 
 Then Kirk, gathering up his money, forthwith retired 
 from that temple of Mammon. He tried another, and an- 
 other. He was repulsed everywhere. His attempt to change 
 
 65 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 his money into a hundred-pound note was regarded as darkly 
 nefarious. The trick wasn't apparent on the face of it, but 
 one look at him seemed sufficient to arouse the banking in- 
 terest to the enormity of his demand. Scarecrow figures like 
 himself had no legitimate business with hundred-pound notes. 
 He was dismissed with varying shades of incivility from 
 the icy-polite to the frankly insolent. 
 
 After three hours of this kind of thing Kirk began to 
 lose heart. It was already past noon, and he had little time 
 to lose. He decided on a new plan of operations, and sought 
 out the money-changing kiosk in the yard of Charing Cross 
 station. Taking the bull by the horns, he described his un- 
 availing effort to get a hundred-pound note, and offered the 
 man a premium of ten shillings to enlist his interest. He 
 had been so repeatedly rebuffed that his manner in spite of 
 himself, had lost all its assurance. Thief and impostor was 
 stamped all over him. He made his request with such a 
 hang-doggish air that it would have been a bold man who 
 would have entrusted him with threepence. 
 
 "But what do you want it for?" demanded the man, 
 rigid with suspicion. 
 
 Kirk's explanations were very lame. After a certain 
 amount of hemming and hawing, it occurred to him to make 
 capital out of his misfortune. 
 
 " None of the banks will take my money on deposit 
 unless I'm introduced," he said. " I can't go around like 
 this, carrying all this stuff loose in my pocket, now can I ? 
 But I could sew a hundred-pound note in my clothes, don't 
 you see ? " 
 
 " Oh, if it's only to deposit," exclaimed the man, " we 
 can accommodate you very easily. We pay three per cent 
 on short terms and four on longer. Why didn't you say that 
 at once, and save trouble? " 
 
 66 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Kirk was handed a form to fill out, and was further 
 obliged with a stylographic pen! 
 
 This was a facer indeed. His own petard was hoisting 
 him with a vengeance. He feebly explained that he would 
 prefer to take the note. That he would willingly pay 
 fifteen shillings premium. That the likelihood of his leav- 
 ing England at short notice rendered the note almost a 
 necessity. 
 
 " Then we'll give you notes of the country you're going 
 to," said the man, with diabolical helpfulness. " East or 
 west, north or south, in kroners, dollars, thalers, francs, 
 marks, pesetas we pride ourselves in doing the biggest 
 money-changing business in London." 
 
 " I'd rather have a hundred pounds in English money," 
 quavered Kirk. 
 
 " Well, we can manage that, too," said the man, going 
 to a drawer. " Here's a fifty, two tens " 
 
 " But I want it all in one note," persisted Kirk. " It's 
 no good to me if it isn't in one note. I want a hundred- 
 pound note ! " 
 
 The money changer's long-suffering patience exploded. 
 We shall not go into what he said, nor how he said it. Kirk 
 retired at the first volley, and, to complete the military meta- 
 phor, fled in disorder. There was nothing for it but to 
 return to Kittredge, and again appeal to the novelist's sym- 
 pathy. Fool that he had been not to do it sooner, and thus 
 spare himself hours of humiliation. Kittredge, besides, was 
 close at hand. Rye Row was only three minutes away. He 
 hated to bother Kittredge any more, but in the words of the 
 proverb, " needs must when the devil drives! " 
 
 A little later he was knocking at the well-remembered 
 door. The same little servant let him in. Port at last, thank 
 Heaven ! 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " May I see Mr. Kittredge ? Go up and tell him it is 
 Lewis Kirkpatrick on most urgent business! " 
 
 " I'm sorry," said the little maid, " but Mr. Kittredge 
 \vas called away most unexpectedly at ten o'clock." 
 
 " But when will he be back? " 
 
 Kirk's heart was in his throat, and a terrible conster- 
 nation beset him. 
 
 " Can't say," said the girl. " He didn't seem to know 
 himself. It was down in Surrey somewhere." 
 
 "Down in Surrey somewhere!" repeated Kirk. "Do 
 you mean to tell me he left no address? " 
 
 " Oh, no! " said the girl. " He never leaves his address. 
 Mr. Kittredge is a very queer gentleman. He comes and 
 he goes it may be a day, it may be a week. Often in the 
 morning I take the tray up to him, and he ain't there ! Yes, 
 a very queer gentleman ! Do you wish to leave a message in 
 case he should come back? " 
 
 " I think not," groaned Kirk. " Indeed, don't know what 
 to do. I'll come back later. Yes, I'll come back later! " 
 
 The girl watched him curiously as he turned and walked 
 away. 
 
 " Poor fellow," she said to herself. " I'm sorry I didn't 
 offer him a piece of cold meat. He's a nice-spoken gentle- 
 man in spite of his clothes, and his face is fair pitiful. Oh, 
 dear, oh, dear, what a hard world it is, to be sure! " 
 
 68 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 F all Kirk's vicissitudes, this seemed to him 
 the worst. The weight of his pocket, heavy 
 with gold, mocked him at every step. A 
 myriad of clocks warned him that the pre- 
 cious moments were slipping by, and that his 
 appointment at 82 Tedworth Street was in jeopardy. It 
 was already after one, and although " afternoon " is an elastic 
 term, no amount of stretching could make it include to- 
 morrow and the day after. Six o'clock woul'd spell the 
 knell of his hopes. And the exasperating thing was that he 
 had his hundred pounds safe and clinking under his hand! 
 But for Mr. Smith's absurd proviso he might jump into the 
 first hansom and keep his appointment and his word. But 
 it had to be a note a hundred-pound note! Oh, good Lord, 
 what was he to do what was he to do? He might appeal 
 to the American consul. He might lay his plight before 
 one of those rich Americans that can always be found in 
 London. But this meant delay, and, worse still, precluded 
 him from hanging about Rye Row on the chance of Kittredge 
 returning unexpectedly. Of all the alternatives before him 
 the safest and the surest was to camp on the novelist's door- 
 step. 
 
 It was possible, indeed, that Mr. Smith might be less 
 exacting about the appointment than the note. He had laid 
 no particular stress on the appointment. The test of char- 
 acter was the return of the hundred-pound note intact. A 
 little delay might easily be accounted for. No delay could 
 
 69 
 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 be as damning as the absence of the note. Even if he were 
 a day two days late, he need not absolutely despair. Such 
 were Kirk's reflections as he strolled miserably along, at- 
 tempting to put a brave face on the matter. But nothing 
 could stifle the inner voice that said all was lost. It per- 
 sisted drearily, and called his attention to the fact that the 
 afternoon was waning. It shattered the trumpery artifices 
 with which he tried to console himself. Yes, all was lost! 
 
 Then, in a kind of panic, he hurriedly retraced his steps. 
 It was crazy thus to abandon Rye Row, and wander away 
 from his one possible salvation. He must station himself 
 near Kittredge's door and await the novelist's return. It 
 would be a forlorn business, and depressing alike to body 
 and soul, but he couldn't see that there was anything else 
 to do. He loitered about the street for an hour, occasionally 
 resting on a doorstep. Whenever he attracted too much 
 attention he would move on, stop at the end of the street, 
 and forlornly search for a new coign of vantage. A busy 
 world looks askance at the loafer, and instinctively gives him 
 a wide berth. A shabby, pale man with nothing to do ex- 
 cept to prowl pertinaciously up and down an honest street! 
 Embryo criminal ! Area sneak-thief ! Keep the chain on the 
 door, Mary! 
 
 Kirk's first shame gave way to a brazen indifference. 
 Let them stare and cackle ; let them think the worst of him ; 
 let them take in the canary and the doormat! He was too 
 tired to care. He would sit on their doorsteps and passively 
 defy them. When ordered off one he would choose the next, 
 and so on, if need be, all round the street ! But it was weary 
 work. The steps were hard. The monotony grinding. The 
 day without an end. At last, determined to set up an estab- 
 lishment of his own, and be beholden to no one, he made his 
 way to a shop he remembered having passed previously, and 
 
 70 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 bought a second-hand camp stool for one and eightpence. A 
 further outlay of fourpence halfpenny made him the possessor 
 of " Zanoni," by Bulwer Lytton. Thus equipped, he re- 
 turned to Rye Row, and preempted a bit of pavement oppo- 
 site number eleven. 
 
 This new departure roused Rye Row to a perfect frenzy 
 of curiosity. All the children of the neighborhood grouped 
 themselves about him. Grown-ups emerged from houses and 
 forced their way up to him, breathing on his neck, and read- 
 ing snippets of " Zanoni " over his shoulder. There was a 
 general consensus that he was mad, and might go off any mo- 
 ment in a homicidal mania. And while he read and read, 
 they speculated audibly on his personal appearance on the 
 fact that he seemed also deaf and dumb, on the misfortune that 
 he should have chosen their row as the scene of his sinister 
 activities. The climax was reached when the little house- 
 maid in Kittredge's house came over to him with what she 
 called a " sangwich." He sheepishly ate his " sangwich " 
 while everyone looked on as though he were a monkey in a 
 zoo. The insiders stared unblinkingly ; the outsiders giggled 
 and shoved. The passers-by took him for an evangelist, and 
 those who had the time and inclination waited to join in 
 the hymn. 
 
 The individuals changed, but the crowd remained. The 
 slow hours dragged along, dusk came, the lamplighter had 
 made his rounds, and still there was no Kittredge to repay 
 our poor friend for his martyrdom. But night brought 
 relief from persecution and a friend. The little housemaid, 
 after a battle with her mother, had won a grudging consent 
 that Kirk should be allowed to bring his stool into the area- 
 way of number eleven. It was a most welcome concession, 
 and bringing with it another " sangwich," proved to be a 
 double boon. Here in a dark corner he camped the rest of the 
 
 71 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 evening, shivering in the raw air like a vagrant dog. But 
 the evening was as profitless as the afternoon, and by eleven 
 o'clock Kirk folded up his stool, stuck " Zanoni " in his 
 pocket, and stretching his cramped limbs, directed himself 
 to find a shelter for the night. A cabman offered to drive 
 him to a place where he could get a good comfortable shake- 
 down for a shilling. Kirk accepted his proposal with alac- 
 rity, and, after a short drive, found himself in the cabman's 
 own home and the guest of his " Missis." 
 
 It was a good enough room, and the people looked 
 honest. Kirk locked his door, and dragging a heavy chest 
 of drawers against it, tumbled into bed. The long, long 
 day was over, with all its disappointments, its weariness, its 
 vanished hopes. Kirk closed his eyes, and floated into a 
 better country: a country where there was none to mock 
 or gibe; a country in which hundred-pound notes were 
 unknown and banks existed not to a merciful oblivion 
 that gives us strength for another day, and the courage to 
 suffer and endure. 
 
 The next day, after a hurried breakfast, Kirk again 
 sought his post. Kittredge had not returned, nor was there 
 any word from him. To an interminable Monday Kirk 
 had now to add an interminable Tuesday. But there were 
 now alleviations that he had not enjoyed the day before. 
 The privilege of the area gave him seclusion. He could 
 read his book in peace, and smoke his pipe in undisturbed 
 comfort. " The time of day," as it was called, could be 
 exchanged with the little housemaid, and with the little 
 housemaid's dragon mother. The vagrant dog got a few 
 pats on the head, and was discovered to be well-mannered 
 and grateful. Kirk was given a slip of carpet to rest his 
 feet on, not to speak of Mr. Kittredge's morning paper to 
 read. His sad air, his dilapidated appearance, his mournful 
 
 72 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 eyes, attracted a sympathetic attention. The little housemaid 
 became as eager as he for Kittredge to return, which, with 
 the positiveness of female intuition, she declared was now 
 surely close at hand. 
 
 But alas for intuition ! The morning went, and no Kitt- 
 redge. Noon came, and no Kittredge. Two, three, four, 
 five o'clock, and still no Kittredge. The short, wintry after- 
 noon merged itself into shadow, and the lighted lamp showed 
 a figure on a camp stool, sunk like a Christian martyr in a 
 stone cell, waiting spectrally for the writer to return. It was 
 seen to dine on a " sangwich." It was seen to comfort itself 
 with a pipe. It was seen to refuse an umbrella from the 
 little housemaid, and overheard to say that it didn't mind 
 the drizzle. Bodily ills had lost all power to hurt. It was 
 the mind that suffered from the hammer, hammer, hammer 
 of one idea incessantly repeated. Oh, that Kittredge would 
 come! Oh, that Kittredge would come! 
 
 Night found Kirk again an inmate of the cabman's. The 
 hopelessness and desperation of his position kept sleep at bay. 
 What if Wednesday came and there was still no Kittredge? 
 Was he to wait with folded hands while Mr. Smith hoisted 
 anchor and sailed away without him ? Would it not be better 
 to go straight to Mr. Smith and tell him everything? Test 
 of character, indeed ! Was he not perhaps holding too slav- 
 ishly to the letter of the law, while as a matter of fact he 
 had more than fulfilled the spirit? He had his hundred 
 pounds to show. Friendless, penniless, and ragged, he had 
 put up a terrific fight, and had emerged triumphant. Surely 
 this would count in his favor? Ought it not to count even 
 more than if he had tamely stuck to his note, and as tamely 
 had returned it? But it would be hard to gloss over the 
 Kittredge episode to Mr. Smith. The eight pounds thus 
 gained had been at the cost of letting Kittredge into the 
 
 73 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 secret. Of course Kittredge was as true as steel. He 
 could trust Kittredge implicitly. But Mr. Smith might 
 regard it very differently. " Above everything, able to 
 hold their tongues," ran the advertisement. It was con- 
 ceivable that Mr. Smith might consider this a more serious 
 dereliction than the actual loss of the note and the subsequent 
 shortage. Had he not, perhaps, been an awful fool to try 
 and make up that eight pounds at all? Would it not have 
 been wiser to go to Mr. Smith direct? 
 
 Who could say? It was Scylla and Charybdis all over 
 again. Only one thing shone out plainly that Mr. Smith 
 should not be informed that the secret had leaked out. Well, 
 what of telling the truth with modifications? A rattling 
 good lie that would explain the eight pounds without com- 
 promising him? Say an advance from a deep-water ship? 
 Or consular charity ? Or saving a little boy a sort of little 
 Fauntleroy in a lace collar from being run over? With 
 subsequent gratitude and largesse on the part of parents ? He 
 had done such a thing once in San Francisco, and with this 
 to give color and vivacity to his yarn might he not draw on 
 his imagination for the rest ? The real little boy had gasped 
 and disappeared, leaving Kirk to fight a teamster. But it 
 was worth thinking over as a possible expedient. He would 
 think it over. It was a time to make resolutions, for assur- 
 edly he had sat on that camp stool long enough, and for 
 good or evil must bring things to a head. 
 
 The next morning, fagged and dispirited, he returned to 
 Rye Row. It was impossible to arrive at any resolution 
 without first finding out whether Kittredge had returned. 
 His plans for the day hinged on that. He knocked. The 
 little housemaid shook her head. No Kittredge! 
 
 He was about to turn away when a hansom sprang 
 round the corner, and there was the novelist himself! 
 
 74 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 There was a hurried, friendly greeting on the curb. 
 Kirk poured out his tale of woe. The little housemaid 
 beamed from the doorway, all smiles. Kittredge showed a 
 beautiful contrition. He insisted on taking the whole dis- 
 aster on his own shoulders. What an ass he had been not to 
 foresee it all. Good Heavens, yes, what an ass ! He couldn't 
 forgive himself, he said. Not that it was any use crying 
 over spilled milk. The thing to do was to get that hundred- 
 pound note in a jiffy. Oh, the banks weren't open yet? Gad, 
 that was true, wasn't it? But there were clubs! That re- 
 minded him that he had been made a member of the Athe- 
 naeum. At least he thought he'd been made a member of 
 the Athenaeum. He hadn't opened any of his letters for 
 three weeks, and was consequently hazy. But he fancied 
 he remembered one with the name of the Athenaeum on it. 
 It might have been to tell him that he was blackballed. But 
 they'd risk it, anyhow. Yes, the Athenaeum was a club. 
 A sort of bishops' deadfall, you know, where they could take 
 off their gaiters and play pinochle. Mostly bishops, with a 
 few headliners from the arts. A sort of concession to a 
 democratic age, old man. 
 
 Kirk jumped in. Kittredge grabbed a bunch of tele- 
 grams that the little housemaid handed up. Still brightly 
 talking he ordered the cabman to drive to the Athenaeum, 
 opening the envelopes as he did so, and throwing them into 
 the street. He remarked that it was a telegraphic age, and 
 that the only use for letters nowadays was as a vehicle for 
 checks. Oh, and love letters, of course! Love and money 
 needed covers, but the rest of the world's correspondence 
 was better done by wire. Kittredge was helping this modern 
 tendency by ignoring letters altogether. It wouldn't be long 
 before everybody would follow suit. Though he himself 
 would probably fall a martyr to progress, the penalty of all 
 6 75 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 reformers, anyhow. Hated in this century, and canonized 
 in the next ! 
 
 It was exhilarating to sit beside this wonderful man 
 the personification of success and warm oneself in his kind- 
 ness and geniality. Kirk's spirits rose. It was impossible 
 to resist such charm and gayety. He even gave a humorous 
 description of himself sitting on a camp stool and reading 
 11 Zanoni." In the retrospect it seemed extraordinarily laugh- 
 able. Kittredge laughed over it, too, and said he would 
 put it in a story. Two days in an area reading " Zanoni " ! 
 That was real life for you the thing a fellow couldn't 
 invent. A writer had to stick to life as a drowning man 
 to an oar. Get away from life, and you are lost you sink 
 leaving only bubbles to show where you had been. That 
 was his, Kittredge's, present danger. Oh, yes, he knew it! 
 Feared it! The tendency of success to surround itself with 
 walls and keep life out the real, palpitating life of the 
 people. Put a butler between you and the world, and as a 
 novelist you committed suicide. Take them all good men 
 butlered to death, everyone atrophied into old leather, and 
 repeating themselves like phonographs. Except the daring 
 few, like Tolstoi for instance, or Hardy, or Loti, who had 
 the manhood to resist the Capuas of fame. 
 
 All this while they were bowling briskly through the 
 streets, with a rattle of glass and a jingle of harness that often 
 interrupted the novelist's tirade. His exuberant humor was 
 contagious, and Kirk seemed to rub off something of his 
 companion's freedom and light-heartedness. The belated 
 appointment, the precariousness of his position, all his re- 
 cent misgivings and terrors, troubled him no longer. He 
 was content to smile and blindly share the conviction 
 of security and good fortune that animated the man be- 
 side him. All would come right he knew not how or 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 wherefore but Kittredge had ordained it so, and that was 
 enough. 
 
 They drew up before the haunt of bishops, and Kittredge 
 went in, taking with him Kirk's hundred pounds. A few 
 minutes later he reappeared, looking rather crestfallen. Kirk 
 steeled himself against disappointment, and assuming that 
 his friend had failed, proposed to drive on to one of the big 
 hotels. 
 
 " Oh, that's all right," said Kittredge, handing over a 
 note. He smiled ruefully. " I've paid blood for that," he 
 went on. " The office didn't have such a thing as a hundred- 
 pound note, and I was just about to leave when Sir Cor- 
 nelius Blum turned up the biggest bore in London, you 
 know famous heavyweight conversationalist social steam- 
 roller. Well, he had one a hundred-pound note, I mean 
 and I couldn't get it away from him without promising 
 to dine at his house and read one of my stories aloud ! The 
 old wretch knew that he had me on the hip, and wouldn't 
 fork out till everything had been signed and sealed! Oh, 
 Diamond, Diamond, you know not what you've done ! " 
 
 Kirk expressed his regrets. 
 
 " Well, it can't be helped," exclaimed the novelist, and 
 fell into a profound melancholy. 
 
 The cabman broke into it by inquiring where he was to 
 drive next. 
 
 Kittredge woke up. 
 
 " I'll drop you at the end of your street," he said dis- 
 mally to Kirk. Whatdyecallum Street where you were to 
 meet Mr. Thingabob." 
 
 " Tedworth Street," put in Kirk. " Number 82." 
 
 Off they clattered again, Kittredge somewhat silent, Kirk 
 jubilant, and squeezing the note as though it were the hand 
 of a long-lost sweetheart. He was still in the mood of 
 
 77 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 exultation. The last of his cares had disappeared. After 
 incalculable difficulties, and misfortune on top of misfor- 
 tune, here he was at last driving blithely to success and 
 glory. 
 
 The novelist, rankling with memories of Sir Cornelius 
 Blum, and bitter with the thought of that impending dinner, 
 could not resist the impulse to take him down a peg. 
 
 " You're three days late," he said. " They may have 
 bounced you for all you know ! " 
 
 But Kirk's soaring spirit refused to droop. He laughed 
 away the suggestion. He emphatically pointed out that in 
 an enterprise of such evident magnitude, three days were as 
 nothing. 
 
 " I'm not afraid of that," he said. 
 
 " It would be a joke on you if they had kept the num- 
 ber of the note ! " said Kittredge, with a twinkle of his 
 specs. " It isn't very probable, but you'd better be prepared 
 for it." 
 
 Kirk's consternation provoked an immense mirth in his 
 companion. Kittredge laughed and laughed. Then, with a 
 delightful cordiality, he patted Kirk on the knee and told 
 him that he was only teasing. 
 
 " You're all right, old fellow," he said. " The sort of 
 men they're getting aren't likely to have extra hundred-pound 
 notes. It's the very fact that they haven't that makes the 
 test a test. They knew you only had a few shillings in your 
 pocket, and the idea was to put a big temptation in your 
 way. I only said it because you looked so silly and satisfied 
 a sort of kitten-and-cream expression, you know." 
 
 But Humpty-Dumpty once fallen would not so easily be 
 set up again. Kirk worried horribly, and insisted on seri- 
 ously debating the possibilities of such an unforeseen disaster. 
 The novelist had to work like a Trojan to undo the harm 
 
 78 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 his chance remark had caused. They were still deep in the 
 discussion when the cabman drew up in front of 82 Ted- 
 worth Street. 
 
 " Good luck, old fellow," cried Kittredge, warmly shak- 
 ing Kirk by the hand. "I'll back you to win any day. 
 Come around to-night or to-morrow and tell me all about 
 it. Ta-ta, and may God love you, and not call for you too 
 soon!" 
 
 He drove away, leaving Kirk standing on the pavement 
 in a state of painful excitement. The house looked extraor- 
 dinarily still and deserted. The drawn blinds, the all-per- 
 vading dust, the unlived-in air somehow daunted him, and 
 disinclined him to hurry. Vague and fanciful terrors beset 
 him. What if no one should answer his knock? What if, 
 indeed, the three days' delay had been fatal? What if the 
 whole mysterious enterprise had as mysteriously flown, leav- 
 ing no trace but this desolate shell? Conquering his irreso- 
 lution, he walked up the steps and knocked. He wondered 
 if the dazzling housemaid would admit him. Hoped ex- 
 ceedingly that she would. Knocked again louder, more 
 peremptorily. How slow they were! It was cruel to keep 
 him standing there. 'Bang, bang, bang! He listened vainly 
 for the sound of footsteps within. Bang, bang, bang with 
 an increasing irritation, blended with fear. Bang, bang, 
 bang, BANG! A passer-by stopped and stared at him curi- 
 ously. Kirk assumed an easy attitude pretended to him- 
 self that he was delivering a parcel, and tried to act the part. 
 Whistled, gazed up and down the street, knocked some more. 
 Waited, whistled again, yawned, till the passer-by wearied 
 of watching him and continued on his way. 
 
 Kirk discovered a bell that could be rung. So he rang 
 it rang and knocked, alternatively. Still nothing happened. 
 The heavy door refused to open. He tried its knob on the 
 
 79 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 bare possibility of its being unlocked. But it wasn't un- 
 locked. On the contrary, it seemed not only locked, but 
 bolted. He shook it angrily, venting his ill humor on it. 
 Added a kick. Rang, knocked, shook it again. Then, con- 
 scious that he was attracting too much attention, and not 
 knowing what else to do, he descended the steps and walked 
 away. 
 
 An idea came to him to attack the premises from the 
 rear. He remembered the little alley out on which he had 
 looked the day of his first appointment. He discovered it 
 without difficulty. It was an empty little alley : brick walls 
 on either side of him; no danger of detection save from the 
 rear windows of the adjacent houses. He searched them for a 
 possible spy, and then relieved, considered the wall. It wasn't 
 much of a wall eight feet high or so and the contractor 
 had stinted the glass that was supposed to defy the burglar. 
 Kirk found a likely place to set his foot in, rose, and with 
 a sailor's nimbleness climbed over and dropped inside. A 
 door gave access to the kitchen. It was locked, of course. 
 All the lower windows were barred with iron. But one on 
 the floor above was unprotected, and Kirk saw he could easily 
 reach it by getting on the roof of a lean-to shed that appar- 
 ently had been used to keep bicycles in. Bicycles and flower 
 pots, to judge from a very cursory inspection of its interior. 
 A minute later he was standing on the roof examining the 
 window. It presented no difficulties save the intangible ones 
 of the British Constitution and outraged law. Visions of 
 penal servitude caused Kirk to turn his head and carefully 
 scan the neighboring houses. Reassured, he knocked out an 
 upper pane, undid the catch, raised the sash, and slipped 
 into the silent house. 
 
 It was dark and ghostly. The shrouded twilight was 
 only just sufficient to permit him to advance without groping. 
 
 80 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 The boards creaked under him, and the house became alive 
 with disconcerting echoes. He could not resist a feeling of 
 awe, of danger, of unwarranted intrusion that might at any 
 moment be summarily avenged from some dim recess or 
 black passageway. He walked warily, ready to spring back, 
 ready to clench his fists and defend himself. It was hard 
 to resist the impression that he was attacking, and others 
 waiting to defend, the citadel of mystery in which he had 
 so recklessly set his foot. Through the profound gloom 
 eyes seemed to watch him, and shadowy figures rustled as 
 they closed on the line of his retreat. 
 
 Swallowing his fears, he tiptoed forward. He opened a 
 door and stepped out on the stairway. It was the stairway 
 up which he had been led on the day he had been given the 
 hundred-pound note. He resolved to find the very room 
 that Mr. Smith had occupied Mr. Smith and the little 
 imperturbable doctor. Here was the likeliest place to find 
 some clew to put him on their track a card, an addressed 
 envelope, or some fallen trifle that the detectives of fiction 
 were wont to make such good use of. He was much less 
 sure of his own ability in this direction. Indeed, his only 
 hope was that Mr. Smith's flitting had been unexpected, 
 that it had been a case of grab and run, that the table 
 might still be piled with memoranda, notebooks, and 
 what not, all precipitately abandoned for him to pounce 
 on now. 
 
 He entered the room, and going to the window raised 
 the blind an inch. The flooding light revealed it much as it 
 had been before. There was the table, there the three cheap 
 chairs, there the butts of Mr. Smith's cigars. The table 
 was littered with papers. Ink, penholders, black blotters, 
 and a calendar all set out in the orderly confusion that 
 attends the desk of a busy man. In fact, the position of 
 
 81 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Dr. Jones's chair suggested that he had pushed it back, and 
 had risen in the midst of his work, little realizing the call 
 that was to take him away forever. Kirk seated himself 
 in the chair and began to examine the papers with avidity. 
 The first was a notebook. He hurriedly turned over the 
 pages. Blank, blank, blank, every one. Then he applied 
 himself to an assortment of loose sheets. There was not a 
 word on any of them. Not a single word not even a blot. 
 But there were more notebooks, more papers. These, too, 
 revealed the same emptiness of white paper. All had been 
 sifted over, and there was not one that bore so much as the 
 scratch of a pen. 
 
 His perplexed eyes at length settled themselves on the 
 grate. Here, indeed, was a partial solution of the puzzle. 
 The grate was black with burned manuscript the crisp, 
 crinkled remainders of what once had been written sheets. 
 On some the ink still shone, to tantalize him on closer in- 
 spection with whole sentences that at a distance seemed 
 easily decipherable. He knelt down, only to discover that he 
 could not make out a single word. The detective of fiction 
 would have had a microscope, or some admirable self-invented 
 means to aid him. But Kirk hadn't. He could only stare 
 dismally, and poke a finger through the incinerated mass, 
 which thereupon crumbled into dust. Like a pricked bubble 
 it fell to nothing, and the elusive words vanished forever 
 from his ken. 
 
 He got up and set himself to search the whole room 
 minutely. He ripped up the chairs, and tapped the table 
 legs on the approved principles of Gaboriau. But the ap- 
 proved principles didn't help him. The chairs, of a plain, 
 British, kitchen variety, held no secrets in their rush bot- 
 toms. The table legs were solid and equally sincere. The 
 blotters, being black, were likewise uncommunicative. The 
 
 82 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 floor was a richer field of research. Here were cigar butts 
 and match ends in profusion. Also a shoelace. Also a 
 crumpled-up telegraph form blank. 
 
 'But there were other rooms. He would not despair yet. 
 He would ransack the whole house from top to bottom. 
 And this he did, beginning at the garret, and working down 
 with feverish thoroughness. It was depressingly easy. They 
 were all as bare as a bone. The tenants previous to Mr. 
 Smith appeared to be of that self-respecting class who pride 
 themselves on leaving a clean house behind them. There 
 was no rubbish to paw over, no closets crammed with trash. 
 Nothing but the inevitable dust that had filtered in, impal- 
 pable, resistless, unseen, to glaze the floors and settle thickly 
 on mantelpieces and gas fixtures. 
 
 When at last the task was over, Kirk had to admit that 
 he was defeated. The room upstairs the room with the 
 three chairs, the table, and the choked grate seemed the only 
 one that Smith & Co. had ever inhabited, if, indeed, the word 
 inhabited could be applied to the use they had put it to. 
 He decided to examine it again on the unlikely contingency 
 that he had overlooked something. He couldn't remember 
 that he had, but it would be a satisfaction to make certain, 
 So he went up again, and allowing himself the privilege of 
 a better light, began anew. 
 
 Suddenly, in the midst of his work, he was startled by a 
 terrific rat-a-tat-tat at the front door. It resounded through 
 the empty house like claps of thunder. He caught his breath. 
 He had the sensation of being detected in some awful crime. 
 Were the police breaking in? Was the door falling before 
 their axes? Ought he to fly to the garret, or boldly make 
 a break for it by the way he came ? 
 
 But his moment of panic passed. He was in a tight 
 place, and needed all his wits about him. Tense and alert, 
 
 83 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 he ran to the window, threw it wide open, and gazed down 
 into the street. 
 
 What he saw was a postman descending the steps of 
 No. 82, bearing a bulky packet of letters in his hand! 
 An unmistakable British postman, ambling toward the next 
 house on his round of deliveries! 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 IRK hastily closed the window and withdrew 
 into the center of the room. He was ashamed 
 to think how he had been fooled, how his 
 imagination had exaggerated those innocent 
 knocks into veritable thunders. Police 
 axes good heavens, what tricks one's nerves could play! 
 It was the gravelike stillness of the house that had preyed 
 upon him that and its mysteries, which he had set him- 
 self so unavailingly to solve. Then all at once it came 
 over him that perhaps the postman had shot some letters 
 through the slit of the door. This natural concomitant of 
 his knock struck Kirk with the suddenness of a revelation. 
 Of course that was why he had knocked that was why any 
 postman knocked knocked to deliver letters ! 
 
 Kirk raced down the stairs three steps at a time. He 
 reached the main floor at a jump, and flew to the little cage 
 that hung suspended to the front door. Yes, within it was 
 a letter, glimmering whitely through the bars! He had it 
 out in a second, and carried it to the nearest window, where, 
 intercepting a leak of light in the closely drawn blinds, he 
 feverishly made out the address: 
 
 /. H. Tregurtha, Esq., 
 82 Ted-worth St., 
 
 W. 
 85 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 In the corner of the envelope, boldly printed in red ink 
 was: 
 
 JAFFRAY & THATCHER, 
 House Agents, 
 
 807 Marylebone Road, W. 
 
 The detective of fiction would have made no bones of 
 tearing it open with a yell of triumph. But Kirk, though 
 he had wandered very far from the station in life in which 
 he had been born and bred, had yet the repugnance of a 
 gentleman to prying into other people's correspondence. 
 Though he was on fire with curiosity, the promptings of 
 honor withheld his itching fingers. He turned the letter 
 over and over in his hand, as much teased as a famished 
 setter with a duck. But the temptation was irresistible. It 
 wasn't in human nature not to fall before it. Somehow 
 the letter came open, he hardly knew how. Conscience pro- 
 tested, but the deed was done nevertheless. 
 
 It was a curt epistle, in a round, undistinguished clerk's 
 hand. 
 
 Jaflray & Thatcher, House Agents, 
 807 Marylebone Road, W. 
 
 November 5th, 189 
 ]. H. TREGURTHA, Esq., 
 
 DEAR SIR: The gas company informs us that there is a small 
 charge against you of 35. lod. for gas consumed during your one 
 month's occupancy of 82 Ted worth Street. Kindly remit the 
 amount to this office at your early convenience, and believe us to be, 
 
 dear sir, 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 JAFFRAY & THATCHER, 
 
 Per N. T. R. 
 86 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Kirk hugged himself at his good fortune. Here again 
 was a rift in the best-laid plans of mice and men. A trifling 
 gas bill, incurred and forgotten, had stultified all those 
 elaborate precautions that had thus far succeeded in keeping 
 Kirk without a clew. Burned papers, aliases, mysterious 
 rendezvous, had been all in vain. J. H. Tregurtha was of 
 course Mr. Smith! Five minutes with the directory would 
 discover his address. Kirk was now to windward of the 
 whole affair, and the rest was but seamanship and clever 
 handling. 
 
 He lost no time in getting out of the house, returning 
 as he came by the roof of the shed. At a chemist's shop, 
 for a charge of one penny, he was permitted to examine the 
 directory, which was chained up like a dog, as though other- 
 wise it might bolt out of the door and incontinently disap- 
 pear. He ran his finger down the column of Tre-s with a 
 trembling of eagerness. After all, it was only a presumption 
 that the man he sought lived in London. Then the name 
 swam before him in the small mean type of the densely printed 
 page. The right name, the right initials, startling the eye 
 as though written in fire! 
 
 " Tregurtha, J. H. f Solicitor, 719 Chancery Lane, E. C." 
 
 Kirk took the first hansom, and giving this address to 
 the cabman, was rapidly borne toward his destination. His 
 brain was in a whirl. He hardly knew what he meant to 
 say to Mr. Tregurtha. To find him was the great thing 
 to find and confront him! Chancery Lane was so nar- 
 row, and the houses on either hand so high and dark, that 
 it was with the sensation of entering a cellar that Kirk 
 turned into it out of Holborn, and shivered in a chilly gust 
 that struck him to the marrow of his bones. 
 
 At last they drew up before a dingy doorway. Kirk 
 paid the cabman and ran in, stopping to run his eyes over 
 
 87 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the series of brass plates that bore, in decaying letters from 
 which the paint had long since fled, the names of the occu- 
 pants of No. 719. On one of them was J. H. Tregur- 
 tha, Solicitor, second floor. Mounting the stairs, and di- 
 rected thither by a passing messenger, he at length reached 
 a glazed door on which there was a similar legend. He was 
 about to knock when the door opened of itself, and he found 
 himself face to face with Mr. Smith! 
 
 If Kirk were surprised, it would require a stronger term 
 to do justice to Mr. Smith's expression. Discomposure, 
 stupefaction even, was written on those rosy features. He 
 started violently and fell back, still staring at Kirk as though 
 he could not believe his eyes. Kirk took in the fact that he 
 was handsomely dressed in conventional afternoon costume 
 frock coat, silk hat, immaculate white waistcoat, faultless 
 trousers, and a rich dark tie held in place by a circlet of 
 pearls glossy, well groomed, almost bandboxy. A singu- 
 lar metamorphosis indeed, from the Mr. Smith of the thread- 
 bare tweeds and the dirty collar. 
 
 Kirk was about to speak when Mr. Smith stopped him 
 with a warning gesture. 
 
 " Don't talk here," he said. " Come inside to my private 
 office," and with that he led the way within. 
 
 Kirk found himself in a large apartment, furnished in 
 a key of gloomy splendor. Thick carpets, heavy substantial 
 mahogany furniture, framed steel engravings all guarded 
 from intrusion by a little fence that ran the length of the 
 room, over which a kitten could have jumped without the 
 slightest difficulty. Two clerks on stools were busy scrib- 
 bling in a corner. Another was at work at a typewriter. 
 Seated before an imposing desk, and deep in the perusal 
 of some law books, was an elderly little man of the head- 
 clerk variety, who rose deferentially as Mr. Smith appeared, 
 
 88 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Please see that I'm not disturbed, Mr. Timms," said 
 Mr. Smith, in a tone of unquestioned authority. " If any- 
 thing should come up, let Mr. Standing attend to it." 
 
 He then beckoned to Kirk, and opening a door marked 
 " private," gravely ushered him into a smaller office. Here, 
 in a cosier atmosphere than the one he had left, Kirk was 
 bidden to take an armchair, while Mr. Smith, after care- 
 fully locking the door, drew up another close beside him. 
 
 " Now, my dear man," he said, with some return to his 
 ordinary breezy and good-natured manner, " you have man- 
 aged to drive a four-in-hand through a secret we thought 
 we had guarded very carefully. I will be quite frank with 
 you, and will admit that I regret it exceedingly. Not that 
 you can do us any harm, if such by any chance should be 
 your intention. Yes, my true name is Tregurtha well 
 and what of it ? " 
 
 Kirk was embarrassed by this somewhat provocative ad- 
 dress. The tone, though kind, bore an underlying threat. 
 Mr. Smith or rather Tregurtha was plainly ill at ease, 
 and appeared to be arming himself for a disagreeable inter- 
 view. 
 
 " It's none of my business who you are," said Kirk with 
 spirit. " I haven't the remotest intention of doing you any 
 harm. My only desire is, as it always has been, to enroll 
 myself in your undertaking, and explain why I failed to 
 keep my appointment." 
 
 Thus speaking, he laid down the hundred-pound note. 
 
 Mr. Tregurtha showed no interest in it. 
 
 " My dear man," he said, " you're just three days too 
 late!" 
 
 "Too late!" cried Kirk. 
 
 " Too late," repeated Mr. Tregurtha coolly. 
 
 "Then what am I to do?" 
 89 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Tregurtha shrugged his shoulders. 
 " You've made a hundred pounds," he observed. " Your 
 time wasn't altogether wasted. I would suggest that you 
 go away and spend it and, if you'll do me a favor, keep 
 the thing out of the newspapers. My principals would re- 
 sent any publicity, and blame me for the leakage. Though, 
 of course, if it should become common property, I would 
 have no hesitation in giving you the lie, and denying it 
 in toto." 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Tregurtha, you're mistaking the kind of man 
 I am." Kirk's voice was full of pleading, and a convincing 
 sincerity animated his handsome face. " I have set my heart 
 on this thing. You've told me yourself that I'm the very 
 kind you want. Don't throw me over without at least lis- 
 tening to my story to my explanations. After all, though 
 I do say it myself, I am too good to lose. I have grit and 
 loyalty, and the fact that I have successfully tracked you 
 down ought to be a proof, at any rate, of my intelligence." 
 
 Mr. Tregurtha smilingly conceded the point. 
 
 " That's the hardest part of it," he said at last. " You 
 were preeminently the type of man we wanted and wanted 
 badly. I am not penalizing you for failing in your appoint- 
 ment. I wouldn't let a trifle like that stand in the road. 
 You see " 
 
 He stopped abruptly. 
 
 "Well?" inquired Kirk. 
 
 " Oh, you're too late, my dear man. The whole business 
 has now passed out of my hands. I couldn't help you if I 
 would!" 
 
 " Do you mean that you are not the leader? That hon- 
 estly and truly your position was only that of a subordinate? " 
 
 " Precisely." 
 
 " And that now, having accomplished the duty you were 
 90 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 entrusted with, others are carrying the enterprise to the next 
 stage?" 
 
 " That is it exactly." 
 
 " And the present interview between us is simply to per- 
 suade me to hold my tongue, and not give away the little I 
 already know? " 
 
 " You couldn't put it better." 
 
 " Of course, I wouldn't do that," continued Kirk. 
 " You've treated me with a great deal of consideration. 
 You've made me a present of a hundred pounds. I will only 
 ask you to make some allowances for a deeply disappointed 
 man. I don't want to flatter you, but you've made me feel 
 that anything you are connected with is bound to be worth 
 while. To lose my chance now is almost more than I can 
 bear." 
 
 Mr. Tregurtha sighed. His face was all sympathy and 
 kindness. His regret was unfeigned. 
 
 " Too bad too bad," he murmured. 
 
 " Now, see here," went on Kirk with increasing con- 
 fidence, " you must do me a good turn. You must move 
 heaven and earth. You must pitchfork me in somehow. I 
 have the will; you must find the way! " 
 
 " The steamer left two days ago! " 
 
 No sooner had he said this than he looked as though he 
 would have gladly recalled it. His mouth tightened, the 
 kindness died out of his eyes. He had plainly made a slip, 
 and was pulling himself together to undo his blunder. 
 
 He waited keenly, defensively, for Kirk to take advan- 
 tage of his remark. 
 
 "Don't be afraid, Mr. Tregurtha," said Kirk. "If 
 
 it's to be a duel between us, I know well enough that I will 
 
 lose. I won't ask any questions about that steamer, or try 
 
 to crowbar my way into your secret. I'd do that fast enough 
 
 7 91 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 if I thought I could succeed. But I know I can't. My only 
 hope is to throw myself on your generosity. To beg not 
 extort." 
 
 Tregurtha did not change a muscle of his face. Then 
 he rose, still silent, and walked about the room in the sham- 
 bling, aimless fashion that helps some men to think. He 
 returned and sat down again, crossing his fat legs. 
 
 " Will you take a gamble ? " he inquired. 
 
 "A gamble?" 
 
 " I can offer you a bare possibility. It involves a long 
 journey, very likely for nothing a journey in the dark. You 
 will arrive at a certain place, a town, and there you will 
 wait for at least ten days. Perhaps instructions may reach 
 you perhaps they may not. If my principals want you 
 they will certainly find you. Do not fear about that part 
 of it they will find you, wherever you are. But if they 
 don't want you, you will hear nothing from them. At the 
 expiration of ten days you may consider yourself free of the 
 whole affair. You will understand that your services have 
 not been required. This is all the assurance I can give you. 
 It is what sportsmen would call a long shot a ten to one. 
 No, a hundred to one! A chance so slight that were I in 
 your place I would absolutely not consider it. 'But it is a 
 chance and will you take it ? " 
 
 " I'll take anything," said Kirk comprehensively. 
 
 " And you will not consider yourself tricked got rid of 
 sent on a fool's errand if no call is made on you, and 
 you find yourself in a distant country, as ignored, as appar- 
 ently forgotten, as though you were the victim of some 
 deliberate deception?" 
 
 The two men's eyes met. Was Tregurtha sincere, or 
 was his proposal a masterpiece of duplicity? A scheme de- 
 signed to get rid of him finally, completely, and forever? 
 
 92 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Kirk was at a loss to decide. His whole instinct was to be- 
 lieve; yet years of contact with the seamy side of life coun- 
 seled caution. 
 
 " That's all I can do," added Tregurtha. " Take it, or 
 leave it." 
 
 " Mr. Tregurtha," said Kirk, " have I that on your 
 sacred word of honor? " 
 
 The solicitor solemnly raised his hand. 
 
 " Indeed you have," he remarked. " I pledge you my 
 honor. And I will only repeat that you must not misjudge 
 me if you fail." 
 
 "That's understood," said Kirk. "Only I wish you 
 could see your way without violating the confidence of your 
 principals to enlighten me as to the general nature of the 
 enterprise. I mean," he continued quickly, as a shadow 
 passed over Tregurtha's face, " I mean, is it to be on land 
 or sea? Does it involve a question of weeks or months? 
 Am I to equip myself for any special kind of service? I 
 am an old campaigner, Mr. Tregurtha, and the merest ink- 
 ling of the work expected of me would be priceless for, 
 as you know, one's comfort, even one's safety, so frequently 
 turns on trifles. And the more dangerous the undertaking, 
 the more important it becomes to guard one's health and 
 strength. I don't want to go out there and fail for lack of 
 a rubber blanket to lie on at night, or omit breeches and 
 boots if the expedition is to be mounted? I trust you will 
 not think this request unreasonable, or suspect me of trying 
 to take any advantage of you ! " 
 
 Mr. Tregurtha, with a nod of his head, admitted the 
 entire reasonableness of the demand. Only, as he went on 
 to say, it was quite unnecessary to satisfy it. 
 
 " Everything has been arranged for," he said. " There 
 are others to attend to all that. Nothing has been over- 
 
 93 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 looked, I can assure you. This is a question of picked men, 
 performing an arduous and dangerous task, and, considering 
 that the cost of recruiting them has reached nearly four 
 hundred pounds each, you can understand that we will take 
 the most excellent care of them." 
 
 This closed Kirk's mouth. It was impossible to press 
 Mr. Tregurtha any further without appearing both rude 
 and inquisitive. 
 
 Tregurtha rose. 
 
 " I'm afraid you will have to excuse me," he remarked. 
 " You might be good enough to wait in the outer office until 
 I can send some one for your ticket! I hope you will not 
 mind its being second class," he added. " I am spending 
 other people's money, you know, and even as it is in your 
 matter, I mean I am already unduly stretching my au- 
 thority." 
 
 Kirk expressed his satisfaction with any kind of a ticket. 
 What did he care which class it was! Give him a bunk 
 and a blanket, and enough to eat, and he could make him- 
 self comfortable on anything afloat. Thus protesting his 
 willingness, he followed Mr. Tregurtha into the outer office. 
 Here a whispered consultation took place between the solici- 
 tor and Mr. Timms, in the course of which the latter's face 
 often turned significantly in Kirk's direction. 
 
 " Now, my dear man," said Tregurtha, holding out his 
 hand to Kirk, " I will wish you good-bye and good luck. 
 Mr. Timms has taken charge of your affair, and you will 
 simply wait till it is settled. As for myself, important busi- 
 ness calls me elsewhere. I cannot tell you how much I 
 respect your determination to take all chances and conquer 
 all obstacles. You will probably fail, for I've already told 
 you of the odds against you. But, by Jove, I admire your 
 spirit. From the bottom of my heart I wish you success. 
 
 94 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Who knows but what in a few months you will be back here 
 with a hundred thousand pounds to invest! Ha-ha, who 
 knows! Yes, it's a gamble but sometimes gamblers break 
 the bank! Good-bye again take care of yourself lucky 
 chap you are to get away from all this fog and cold. Wish 
 I was!" 
 
 The big man bustled cheerfully away, and his steps were 
 heard descending the stairs. Mr. Timms made a civil re- 
 mark about the weather, invited Kirk to sit down, and giv- 
 ing one of the clerks a letter to take to the steamship office, 
 informed Kirk that he would not long be kept waiting. 
 This done, Mr. Timms buried his nose in his books again, 
 feeling that he had satisfied all the demands of courtesy. 
 The typewriter clacked, the street outside rumbled with 
 traffic, the remaining clerk twisted on his high stool and 
 yawned audibly. Kirk, essentially a man of the out-of-doors, 
 pitied these unfortunate slaves of routine and drudgery. His 
 own life had been a hard one, but he had managed to keep 
 the yoke off his neck. Even the sight of it on others de- 
 pressed him. He gazed at Mr. Timms as he might at some 
 wretched outcast, saying to himself in the words of the 
 missionary bishop: " But for the grace of God, that might 
 be I!" 
 
 But these momentary reflections vanished in favor of 
 others more personal and more thrilling. There was the 
 recent interview to speculate upon. The ticket. Tregurtha's 
 good faith or the reverse. The location of that distant 
 country to which he had been assigned. North, south, east, 
 or west, where was that steamer to bear him? He would 
 dearly have liked to inquire of Mr. Timms, but somehow 
 he could not bring himself to do so. He was shy of Mr. 
 Timms. He was afraid that Mr. Timms would stare, would 
 look surprised at a man who did not know where he was 
 
 95 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 going. The typist would look surprised, too. Also the pert 
 young man on the stool. Even as it was, he could not turn 
 in his chair without their all stealthily regarding him. The 
 typist and the clerk, at least. Mr. Timms, with his thin 
 shoulders bowed over the desk, was too intent on his re- 
 searches to be thus disturbed. Occasionally he would raise 
 his eyes to the ceiling, like a chicken drinking, and then 
 take another long sip of the law. A dreary chicken, drear- 
 ily occupied, whom it had taken long years to train and bring 
 up to his present perfection. A chicken who had to drink 
 ink and digest law books for the privilege of being permitted 
 to live. So at least it seemed to Kirk, to whom the contrast 
 of his own wild fortunes, with unknown possibilities of great 
 stakes to be won or lost, made him feel a prince in com- 
 parison. 
 
 At last the other clerk arrived. Kirk could hardly tol- 
 erate his delay in taking off his overcoat and muffler, and the 
 leisurely manner in which he dawdled about before handing 
 Mr. Timms the ticket. Mr. Timms was equally uncon- 
 cerned, and calmly laid it by on his desk untouched until 
 he had finished the page he was reading. The ticket meant 
 nothing to those people. Nor Kirk's impatience. Nor his 
 eager and flushing face. It was but another break in the 
 monotony of their jog trot round. And not much of a 
 break at that. 
 
 Mr. Timms examined the ticket, which was of a greenish 
 complexion, and thickly printed on the back with the things 
 shipping companies do for you in the event of this, that, or 
 the other from losing your baggage to unsuccessfully encoun- 
 tering pirates. Then he made an entry in a daybook. Then, 
 with the same air of supreme indifference, he turned to 
 Kirk, and with the benignity of a person dropping a penny 
 into a blind man's cup, said, " Here you are! " 
 
 96 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Kirk snatched it from him. The intensity of his curi- 
 osity was agonizing. His eyes leaped to the type, and to the 
 filled-in blanks, with their stubby writing. 
 
 His destination was Port of Spain, Trinidad, West 
 Indies. His ship was the Medvuay, of the Royal Mail S. S. 
 Co., scheduled to sail from Southampton on November 2ist. 
 
 97 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 HE succeeding twelve days were too unevent- 
 ful to be described in detail. Kirk broke his 
 hundred pounds, installed himself in cheap 
 but comfortable lodgings, and bought a 
 modest wardrobe at the Army and Navy 
 Stores. They were peaceful, placid days these of his wait- 
 ing pleasant at the time, and pleasanter still to look back 
 upon. It was a period of reaction, much of it spent before 
 the fire in slippers and dressing gown, with books and papers 
 to while away the hours between those ample meals that 
 alone seemed to mark the progress of time. Brain, body, 
 and nerves all were weary, all were glad to rest. Trini- 
 dad seemed immeasurably distant. The desperate enter- 
 prise itself became a dream, separated from reality by oceans 
 and continents. The thought of failure had no power to dis- 
 turb him. The whole thing was so remote, so hazy, so incon- 
 ceivable. The mind refused to worry about it, or see beyond 
 Southampton. Life was now bounded by Southampton. It 
 was impossible to project himself beyond Southampton. 
 
 Of course he went and saw Kittredge. Kittredge was 
 tremendously excited. Kittredge had a thousand ideas on 
 the subject revolutions, dictators, a Venezuelan empire 
 Heaven knows what! Kirk smoked his pipe and listened 
 imperturbably to the novelist. He loved the companion- 
 ship, the privilege of lying back in a chair with his feet on 
 a table, the perennial satisfaction of having gained such a 
 friend. But he said little; he smoked and smoked; while 
 
 98 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Kittredge reared fairy castles and carved out kingdoms. 
 The novelist was humorously indignant at Kirk's apathy. 
 
 " You're a chump," he vociferated. " You haven't a soul 
 above a milk wagon. Here I am wading through seas of 
 blood, pouring out treasures of imagination worth at least 
 a shilling a word, without counting the American rights, 
 while you look on like a stuck pig." 
 
 Kirk lazily blew away the smoke. 
 
 " I can't make head or tail of it," he said. " I've racked 
 my head long enough. I've determined to take things as 
 they come." 
 
 " It's men like you who peel potatoes while others are 
 covering themselves with everlasting glory." 
 
 " Can't help it. It's a stone wall, and you can't see 
 through it any better than I can. They've kept their secret 
 mighty well, Kittredge, and we aren't likely to stumble on 
 it by accident. I'm as willing as anybody to make a dino- 
 saurus out of a thigh bone but where's your thigh bone? " 
 
 " It's infernally puzzling," granted the novelist. 
 
 " It's worse," said Kirk. " Because we aren't even sure 
 of their good faith. Perhaps they are just side-tracking me 
 to Trinidad to get me out of London. I can't forget how 
 disgusted Tregurtha looked when I plumped in on him. 
 By the way, did you manage to find out anything about 
 him?" 
 
 " Not very much." 
 
 "What exactly?" 
 
 " Only that he is a solicitor of the confidential, man-of- 
 business kind. Acts in this capacity for a small clientele of 
 very rich people. A man of undoubted standing. The sort 
 that everybody speaks well of, and nobody knows! One of 
 those obscure pillars of the universe who attract no atten- 
 tion unless they tumble. Negatively important, you know. 
 
 99 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Get a leaded paragraph if he died or levanted, but otherwise 
 ignored. Controls unlimited money, yet with the reputa- 
 tion of investing only in ground rents, and gilt-edged mort- 
 gages. Not at all one's idea of a pirate leader." 
 
 " No, he certainly isn't," said Kirk. 
 
 " In fact, he's about the biggest mystery in the whole 
 mysterious business," went on Kittredge. " It's midsum- 
 mer madness for a man like that to lend himself to under- 
 hand and desperate schemes. He ought to have looked 
 perturbed when you met him, for if the truth got out he 
 would cut a weird figure. What gets me is that he should 
 be fool enough to risk it! " 
 
 " It gets me, too," said Kirk, with an increasing per- 
 plexity. " Kittredge, it's it's staggering ! " 
 
 At last the great day came. Waterloo station. Special 
 train. Mountains of baggage. Weeping friends. Golf 
 sticks. "Take your seats! Take your seats!" Smoky, 
 grimy old London left behind. A desolate winter landscape 
 of luminous grays. Rain beating against the windows. Sta- 
 tions rattling past without a stop. A smell of sea and tar. 
 Smokestacks, yards, rigging, men in jerseys. Prolonged back- 
 ing, tooting, and the sensation, of being shunted on a rougher 
 track. " All tickets ready ! All tickets ready ! " Another 
 stop. Effusion of green tickets. On again, very slowly, till 
 abreast of a towering liner with rakish smokestacks. Por- 
 ters, pandemonium, " second-class passengers this way," 
 surging gangways, crush, jostle, slippery slats underfoot, 
 umbrella handle in your back, frantic officers in blue and 
 gold and aboard! 
 
 The trip was monotonous. Kirk kept to himself, and 
 mixed little with his fellow-passengers. Not that he was an 
 unsocial man, but it seemed wiser not to make any friends, 
 
 100 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and risk no confidences. He had a secret to keep, and his 
 role was to be inconspicuous and attract no attention. He 
 earned the reputation of being a pleasant, silent man, in- 
 separable from his pipe and his book. Those that tried to 
 penetrate his reserve called him morose. The pumping fra- 
 ternity, male and female, got nothing out of him. To point- 
 blank questions he would protect himself by asking what 
 time it was, and if this did not suffice he would offer con- 
 jectures on the next day's run. His final resort was to 
 continue his reading with an air of artless preoccupation. 
 Altogether, he was a very unsatisfactory second-class pas- 
 senger, and was popularly nicknamed " the oyster." 
 
 There were the usual dances, the usual concerts, the 
 usual quarrels and flirtations. Fiercely whiskered, South 
 American gentlemen had to be restrained from pulling the 
 noses of other fiercely whiskered, South American gentle- 
 men. Dark-eyed ladies of Castile looted the fruit dishes at 
 the beginning of dinner, and calmly appropriated the best 
 orange or the only grapes. Obstreperous children made 
 everybody miserable and played screaming games. Colored 
 citizens of Haiti, in frock coats and carpet slippers, jabbered 
 endlessly about " President Sam " whoever he was and 
 the necessity of something being done at once, with inter- 
 minable, " Entendez-vous, je vous prrrrie" and " Tenez, 
 mon ami, tenez! Gordon, du vin wouge, s'il vous plait! " 
 The English, largely predominant, busied themselves in the 
 manufacture of a social system, and soon evolved an upper 
 circle, a next-to-the-upper circle, and an ostracized list of 
 those that must be kept down and resolutely cold-shouldered. 
 
 And so the days passed in agreeable tedium, the little 
 world of the second class sorting itself out, and everyone 
 save Kirk finding his or her level. Leaders emerged bores 
 reciters. Toadies and mischief-makers. Bold young men 
 
 101 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 pursued maidens. Wily maidens pursued bashful young men. 
 And over all was the dome of tropic sky, and around them 
 the unbroken blue horizon, with the Medway as the center 
 of the universe. 
 
 In thirteen days they reached Barbadoes, where Kirk 
 changed to the Solent, one of the three smaller vessels await- 
 ing the mail. The Medway herself went on to Colon. 
 Three days later Kirk arrived at Port of Spain, Trinidad. 
 
 There was the usual bustle attending an incoming 
 steamer. Friends greeting one another, touts forcing hotel 
 cards into unwilling hands and fighting for hand baggage. 
 Officials, peddlers, boatmen, naked boys diving for pennies, 
 insinuating darkies, with confidential grins and winks, press- 
 ing some very dubious wares on your attention. A terrible 
 loneliness came over Kirk as he stood there, bag in hand, 
 waiting he did not know for what. The folly of his journey 
 now began to strike him for the first time. How was anyone 
 to find him in this city? How could any message possibly 
 reach him? He had been fooled. He had been got out of 
 the way. But even as he said these things to himself he kept 
 gazing about anxiously, prepared to be greeted, prepared to 
 have a letter slipped into his hand. He answered every 
 glance in his direction, drawing himself up, and with the 
 words, " Yes, I am Lewis Kirkpatrick," ready on his lips. 
 But no one asked him who he was. No one accosted him, 
 save touts and boatmen. How he had been tricked! How 
 childishly he had been tricked ! 
 
 In London it had seemed simple enough. " Go to Port 
 of Spain, and await instructions." He had had no idea 
 it would turn out to be an imposing city, with wharves 
 and warehouses and innumerable hotels and wide, spacious 
 streets. He, the needle in a haystack of colossal propor- 
 tions! No address had been given him, no rendezvous. He 
 
 102 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 had a sickening sense that to abandon the steamer would 
 be to abandon everything. Here, at least, he could be found 
 if anybody wanted to find him. But once ashore, and lost 
 among twenty thousand people! How precipitate he had 
 been, how foolish and unheeding! Hadn't even put it 
 squarely to Tregurtha, who had treacherously slipped away, 
 with the very idea, perhaps, of eluding such questions. 
 
 He waited miserably, while the commotion lessened and 
 the decks thinned. Passenger after passenger was rowed 
 ashore. The ship regained something of her ordinary quiet. 
 People eyed him curiously and wondered at his indecision. 
 His bag bore a large label with " Port of Spain " on it. 
 Did he not know, then, that this was Port of Spain? Alas, 
 he did. Hated the sight of it, too. Wished a thousand times 
 that he had never quitted London ! 
 
 He stopped one of the officers and begged for the address 
 of the best hotel. He would be less a needle in the best 
 hotel. It seemed that it was called the Ice House. It 
 was an extravagance to put up at the best hotel, but was 
 it not the right policy? There could be no doubt about 
 that. Unless he were to give up all hope, at once and for- 
 ever, the Ice House was imperative. Here he was findable 
 at any rate. Here he could rest with some confidence (the 
 words stuck in his throat) that these vague " instructions " 
 would not miscarry if he were lucky enough still to be 
 wanted. He went ashore in a very gloomy frame of mind, 
 and offered a nigger boy sixpence to guide him to the hotel. 
 He engaged a room, and still hoping against hope, asked if 
 there was a letter for Lewis Kirkpatrick. But there was 
 no letter. He turned away, not disappointed it was worse 
 than disappointment but crushed, heartsick, and realizing 
 all over again the futility of his voyage. 
 
 The hotel, like most hotels in the tropics, was comfort- 
 103 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 less and draughty, with long, uncarpeted corridors, and big, 
 bare public rooms. For some reason or other there were 
 very few guests, and in comparison with the crowded and 
 noisy steamer the place seemed altogether lifeless, and given 
 over to flies and slumbering waiters. Kirk was restless and 
 unhappy. He was afraid to go out and look at the town 
 lest the message might come in his absence. Resigned as he 
 was to failure, convinced that Tregurtha had betrayed him, 
 he yet could not bring himself to actually accept defeat. In 
 his thoughts, however black, there was always a " perhaps." 
 He would stick tight to the Ice House and wait. Wait, 
 most probably, for nothing; but wait, anyhow. Keep him- 
 self in evidence. Hang about the verandas, pester the office, 
 smoke and read and loaf, yet always with a weather eye 
 lifted. 
 
 At dinner an uncommonly good one, by the way he 
 was put at a table not far from a party of three. They 
 were all men, and their good spirits and hilarity only served 
 in contrast to make his own lot appear more bitter. He 
 listened moodily to the popping of their champagne corks, 
 their outbursts of laughter, their boisterous raillery of one 
 another, in which there were references to unintelligible mis- 
 haps in the past that often convulsed the table. 
 
 The word Medway made Kirk prick up his ears. It 
 seemed that they had been fellow-passengers, and had come 
 out in the same steamer. In the saloon, of course. In that 
 other world, enviously seen from across a barrier, where 
 people dressed for dinner, lolled aristocratically in deck 
 chairs, and walked in spacious freedom. They were sports- 
 men big-game men on a rousing holiday that was to take 
 them up the Orinoco after tapirs and tigers. There was no 
 concealment of these plans. Kirk was no eavesdropper. It 
 was for all to hear, and they talked and acted like boys out 
 
 104 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 of school. Nice boys, though. They were gentlemen in- 
 dubitably, but exuberant and jolly old and tried compan- 
 ions who had been in Africa together, India, everywhere. 
 
 The more serious member of the party was referred to as 
 " the bart." He was about forty-five, with crisp, iron-gray 
 hair and a close-cut beard. A fine-looking man, with a loud 
 voice, full of friendly authority. A pair of eyeglasses dangled 
 from his neck, which he put on only when he wanted to 
 speak to a waiter. He couldn't even ask for bread without 
 first setting them on the end of his nose, holding his head 
 at an angle lest they should fall off. They were always 
 dropping into his plate or getting tangled on his buttons, 
 and as he seemed to see perfectly well without them every- 
 thing but waiters, that is Kirk wondered why he should 
 expose himself to so much annoyance for nothing. 
 
 Of the two other members of the trio, one was a very 
 stout, fair, apoplectic man of about the same age as the 
 bart., with a blurting way of speaking, and a large flipper 
 of a hand with which he would attack the person he wished 
 to address. His manner of getting into the conversation was 
 to hit out with his flipper like a walrus, and land the back 
 of his hand on the other fellow's waistcoat. He would keep 
 this up till he had captured attention, slamming the speaker 
 of the moment into submission. He never had anything 
 particular to say, but slam, slam, it had to be said. He was 
 named Mins Sydney Mins. 
 
 The third was younger not over thirty. He answered 
 to either Freddy or " the captain." He was dark and hand- 
 some, with a waxed mustache and the stiffish carriage of a 
 soldier. His black eyes sparkled with fire and mockery. He 
 bubbled over with talk, repartee, and whimsicality. He 
 could make the most ordinary transaction appear absurd 
 by the humorous twist he gave everything. He would flip 
 
 105 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 a waiter and imitate Mins's plethoric tone. He would drop 
 imaginary eyeglasses into his fricasseed chicken, and fish 
 them out on the end of his fork. He would purposely mis- 
 understand a question and make it preposterous. A charm- 
 ing fellow, sprightly and gay, whose incessant chaff never 
 concealed a sting. Able to see a joke on himself, too, and 
 laugh heartily when the tables were turned. Full of boyish- 
 ness and fun, and with all the winning manners of a well- 
 bred Englishman. His name, as Kirk learned from the 
 waiter, was Tread well Captain Frederick Treadwell, 
 D.S.O., of the British Army. The man with the stiff gray 
 hair was Sir Adrian Stiles, Baronet. The walrus was Mr. 
 Mins, of Opp, Pryor & Mins, the great brewers. " Mints 
 of money," said the waiter with negro unctuousness. " Could 
 buy out this hotel and never wiggle an eyelash. Fif ' thousand 
 a year, sah. The tiger as gets him will do a million pounds 
 worth of damage ! " 
 
 Kirk, from his solitary table, watched the merry party 
 with a certain wistfulness. What jolly men they were, how 
 happy and care free these glorified beings from another 
 world, with nothing to do but drink champagne and shoot 
 tigers! It was a privilege to sit near them, to pick up the 
 crumbs of their racy talk, to smile into his plate at some 
 lively sally of the captain's. Yet his pleasure was not unal- 
 loyed. The contrast was too painful. It intensified his own 
 loneliness, and weighed down his already heavy heart. He 
 felt like a beggar gazing through the plate-glass windows 
 of some magnificent shop gazing at the unattainable, so 
 near, and yet so immeasurably far. His eyes smarted with 
 a sort of pity for himself. He wondered if in the whole 
 town there was anyone so sad as he so miserable and de- 
 spairing. 
 
 The next morning there was still no letter. He break- 
 106 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 fasted, and wandered out on one of the verandas to smoke. 
 Sat on a very hard green chair, and filled his pipe. He had 
 hardly taken more than a whiff or two when Mr. Mins 
 appeared. Mr. Mins took the adjoining, hard, green chair, 
 and elaborately lighted a cigar. The man of millions 
 breathed hard, fidgeted, and executed some grunts that 
 seemed the preliminaries of conversation. Then he threw 
 out his flipper and landed a blow in the region of Kirk's 
 stomach. The attack, though expected, was startling in 
 its seventy. It jarred Kirk's breakfast and made him 
 gasp. 
 
 " Live here? " inquired Mins, flipping him again. " Live 
 here?" 
 
 " No," replied Kirk, " I am a stranger." 
 
 Mr. Mins relapsed into silence, blew out smoke, and 
 regarded some buzzards engaged in scavenging the gutter. 
 
 Then he hit out again. 
 
 "Yankee? "he asked. 
 
 " Yes," said Kirk. " I'm an American." 
 
 Mr. Mins digested this long and earnestly. 
 
 Finally he remarked dreamily that he had won sixpence. 
 
 Letting this sink in, he turned, and catching Kirk off 
 his guard, flipped him good and hard. 
 
 " Had a bet with Stiles," he said. " Saw you in the 
 bar last night. Saw your foot reaching for a step. Sure 
 sign. American. Stiles wouldn't believe it. Bet him six- 
 pence. Won sixpence. Joke on Stiles. Have a drink ? " 
 
 Kirk didn't want to drink, but as an overture of friend- 
 ship he did not care to refuse it. Drinks were brought. He 
 tried to keep the ball of conversation rolling. But it would 
 not roll. The weather, buzzards, tigers but all to no effect. 
 Mr. Mins subsided into smoke, and an occasional " ugh, 
 ugh." The flipper hung by his side, out of action. He 
 8 107 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 yawned, crossed his fat legs, and remained ponderously 
 inert. 
 
 Here, after a while, they were both discovered by the 
 captain and Stiles. The newcomers had been riding. They 
 entered boisterously, clanking spurs, shaking the floor with 
 their heavy boots, and greeting Mins as though they had 
 been separated for a week. They drew up chairs, looking 
 at Kirk a little askance. 
 
 " American," said Mins, giving Kirk another in the 
 solar plexus by way of introduction. " Ha-ha! Knew I 
 was right. Won sixpence ! " 
 
 Kirk smiled. The captain and Stiles nodded to him 
 good-naturedly. The sixpence was paid. The American 
 need of resting the foot on something came in for attention. 
 The subject was rapidly exhausted. Then Mins, with an 
 air of immense import, announced that he had some news 
 to tell. He tantalized his companions by making them offer 
 guesses. No, it wasn't this, it wasn't that. Try again, old 
 fellow! At length they gave it up. 
 
 " His girl," said Mins, indicating the captain jovially. 
 " The stunner on the Medway the one that wouldn't look 
 at him always crying under a tartan rug maid on guard 
 to keep off the cavalry Miss Mystery Westbrook ha-ha 
 what do you think? Upstairs on the front veranda, nib- 
 bling buttered toast! Been here all the while, and we never 
 knew it! Freddy fooled bart. off the scent like a silly ass 
 poor little me the fellow to run her down. 'Pon my soul 
 and honor yes, right above us in a lovely pink arrange- 
 ment with satin bows! Ha-ha peace has its victories as 
 well as war! Stumbled right on her, and got one of those 
 knock-down looks from her gray eyes. Took me for the 
 captain, and up goes her pretty nose ! " 
 
 This half-intelligible monologue caused the liveliest sen- 
 108 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 sation. The captain jumped up excitedly. Stiles was for a 
 time eagerly incredulous. Kirk pieced together the odds 
 and ends of their random sentences and exclamations. This 
 Miss Westbrook Vera Westbrook had occupied one of 
 the best cabins of the ship. She was exceedingly pretty and 
 exceedingly sad. The captain, very much smitten, had tried 
 every artifice to break down the reserve with which she sur- 
 rounded herself. Had tried without the least success, greatly 
 to the amazement of his two companions, who had made her 
 a target of their curiosity. And here she was in the Ice 
 House, discovered by chance Miss Mystery Westbrook, as 
 they called her, demurely eating buttered toast on a ver- 
 anda where all might walk! 
 
 The captain hurried off to verify the discovery. Stiles 
 amplified the tale of the young lady's extraordinary beauty 
 and extraordinary reserve. Mins flipped Stiles and Kirk 
 indiscriminately in order to coerce their attention and pre- 
 vent himself from being left out. 
 
 " Here was I (flip) a pretty warm man, as they used 
 to say (flip). One of the leading commoners of England, 
 by Jove snubbed, would you believe it! (Flip, flip, flip.) 
 And Stiles, old county family (flip) name in Doomsday 
 Book (flip, flip) snubbed, too (flip, flip, flip) ! And Fred 
 Tread well dashing Horse Artillery D. S. O. (flip) 
 Chitral campaign (flip) Bhil war (flip) South African 
 record (flip) young, fascinating, magnificent future (flip) 
 snubbed, too, by George!" (Flip, flip, flip, flip!) 
 
 The captain returned, smiling ruefully. 
 
 " Just my luck," he said. " Saw her disappearing through 
 a doorway in a pink blaze of attractiveness. Hope she didn't 
 didn't think " 
 
 " You're a silly ass," said Mins. 
 
 " Felt more like an awful bounder," continued the cap- 
 109 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 tain dismally. " I thought I'd just walk in, and er make 
 sure Mins wasn't spoofing us and appear surprised and 
 bow, don't you know and perhaps find an opening to say 
 good morning, you know! " 
 
 " It's those boots," said Stiles. " Til-lillup, Til-lillup 
 probably took for you an earthquake or a mule battery going 
 into action. If you'd only left it to me " 
 
 " Leave it to you ! " roared the captain scornfully. 
 " You're at the root of all our trouble. You caught her the 
 first day out, when she was too seasick to escape, and bored 
 her to the screaming point with your infernal family. When 
 Fm interested in a girl I'll thank you to keep your paws 
 off. Yes, and Mins, too. He only hit her once, but it 
 prejudiced her against all of us." 
 
 " Never hit her," growled Mins. " Don't know what 
 you're talking about. Offered her my binoculars, that's all ! " 
 
 " With one of your bear pats," added Treadwell. 
 
 " Wish you fellows would shut up," exclaimed Stiles. 
 " You make such a row I can't think. The hotel people 
 must know something about her." 
 
 " No, they don't," said Treadwell. " I went and asked 
 them." 
 
 " There's some mystery about her," continued Stiles. " I 
 would give my first chance at a tiger to know what it is. 
 Oh, you can chaff all you like, but you'd give your ears to 
 know both of you! " 
 
 " Little Mystery Westbrook, I wonder who you are," 
 hummed the captain. " With your eyes sae sweet, and your 
 feet sae neat, and " 
 
 A gawky negro servant checked this musical outburst. 
 
 "Mr. Lewis Kirkpatrick ? " he asked, impersonally roll- 
 ing his eyes over the whole party. " Mr. Lewis Kirk- 
 patrick?" 
 
 110 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Here ! " shouted Kirk, jumping up. 
 
 " Letter for you in the office, sah." 
 
 Kirk hastily excused himself, and flew into the house. 
 
 The clerk handed him the letter, explaining that as it was 
 said to contain money he had hesitated to trust it to any of 
 the servants to deliver. 
 
 11 Just as well to be on the safe side," he added, smiling. 
 
 Kirk tore it open. Snuggled within ten five-dollar notes 
 he found two separate sheets. On one was written : " You 
 will proceed to Ciudad Bolivar on the ' El Capitan/ leaving 
 here on Sunday. Remain on the steamer till you are called 
 for by one of our agents." On the other was : " Pass Lewis 
 Kirkpatrick up the river." There was no signature to either, 
 but Kirk remarked that the paper was of a peculiar quality, 
 very thick, glossy, and mottled, and to judge from the water- 
 mark, German in origin. It had been probably chosen to 
 identify the bearer with the mysterious enterprise, and yet 
 give him no clew in the way of names or initials. 
 
 "Who brought this?" asked Kirk. 
 
 " A boy." 
 
 "What kind of boy?" 
 
 " Just an ordinary, common or garden boy," said the 
 clerk humorously. 
 
 " Ever see him before? " 
 
 The clerk was about to answer " No," when a rustle of 
 skirts caused him to turn. He assumed a most deferential 
 expression, and leaned over the counter, beaming from ear 
 to ear. Kirk turned, too, and looked into the eyes of the 
 dazzling housemaid who had admitted him to 82 Tedworth 
 Street! 
 
 There was an instant of mute recognition. 
 
 Kirk, as in a dream, lifted his hat, and withdrew a step 
 backward. Still in a dream he heard the clerk saying: " Yes, 
 
 III 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Miss Westbrook. Make it up to Sunday, certainly Miss 
 Westbrook. Oh, the steamer is most comfortable, Miss 
 Westbrook. All our guests have spoken highly of the El 
 Capitan, Miss Westbrook. Making any stay at Bolivar? 
 Interesting place, but poor accommodation very poor. 
 Nothing but cots, and a snake in each room fact, positively 
 take the place of cats, you know. Better stay on the boat, 
 and come back with her. No snakes on the boat, Miss West- 
 brook!" 
 
 She turned away, and with an unshrinking look at Kirk, 
 as though to recall the momentary recognition she had been 
 betrayed into, passed him without a sign, and glided grace- 
 fully toward the stair. 
 
 112 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 CENE, four days later, the upper deck of the 
 El Capitan, a large, sidewheel, river steamer 
 of American design, beating her way up the 
 muddy waters of the Orinoco. On either 
 hand, diminished by distance to drab insig- 
 nificance, was a low line that the glass showed to be forest, 
 with the roots of the trees sunk in ooze. A sullen land- 
 scape, in spite of the bright sky overhead, forbidding in its 
 suggestion of flood, savagery, and tracklessness. A frightful 
 region, in which man, naked and bestial, contests his domin- 
 ion with snakes and jaguars, and perches himself on crazy 
 platforms in the tops of trees a human monkey, envious of 
 his half-brother's tail, gibbering at passing steamers and pro- 
 pitiating them with charms. 
 
 The passengers, some thirty-five or forty in number, were 
 gathered on the forward deck. An idiot with a gun was 
 taking snapshots at some white birds that hovered about the 
 steamer, and lazily kept pace with her. Kirk, leaning 
 against the rail, was resentfully regarding Sydney Mins, who 
 was hanging over Miss Westbrook, and attempting to make 
 himself agreeable. She lay in a deck chair, still and beauti- 
 ful, with her clustering chestnut hair somewhat loosened 
 and her pretty hands folded in her lap. She was very fair, 
 her face oval, and features were of a singular purity. A 
 vivid face that it was not easy to take one's eyes from, ador- 
 able when it smiled, and tender and enigmatic in repose. Kirk 
 thought he had never seen a more exquisite human being. 
 
 "3 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 From her little bronze boots to the top of her curly head 
 she seemed to him the embodiment of perfect womanhood. 
 Her grace and delicacy, her high-bred air, something girl- 
 ishly appealing under the infliction of Mins all moved Kirk 
 with a fine exasperation. 
 
 It seemed a brutal world into which such flowers were 
 flung to be trampled on. It made Kirk quite hot to think 
 of it. Angels, to be devoured by wolves. That tall, captain 
 fellow, cigar in mouth, and talking tiger to the sweaty-faced 
 baronet, would probably think he was conferring a great 
 favor in marrying such a paragon. If not he, indeed, some 
 similar swaggering, top-lofty creature, to whom giving up 
 bears for matrimony would probably appear in the light of a 
 condescension. And the paragon would probably think so, too, 
 and contentedly yield the treasure of herself to a man who 
 had not sense enough to value it. Kirk felt very bitter. 
 And unwarrantable jealousy made him sick at heart. What 
 business had this insufferable brewer to force himself on the 
 girl and coerce her by sheer noise and bulk ? Pioneering the 
 way for the two others, who were covertly looking on, ready 
 to advance when the stout skirmisher had effected his work. 
 Anybody could see that he was an infliction to her. Kirk 
 ached to take him by the collar and throw him overboard. 
 That was what it was to be a gentleman to be hampered 
 by a finer instinct. A gentleman kept aloof, a trifle jaun- 
 diced perhaps, while bounders butted in. Such at least was 
 how Kirk put it to himself. The truth was he would have 
 given worlds to be in Mins's shoes. But he was a shy man 
 shy, and innately chivalrous and would have deemed it 
 a great liberty to accost this young lady even to ask if she 
 were comfortable, or propose to move the chair into a shadier 
 place. It took a coarser type to do that a Mins! And he 
 hated and envied him, both at once. 
 
 114 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 He moved nearer, teased and tempted. He vented his 
 ill humor on the idiot with the gun. Ordered the idiot to 
 stop. Said he ought to be ashamed of himself. Stood there 
 ready to twist it out of his hands if the fellow didn't acquiesce. 
 The fellow blustered and then subsided, cowed by Kirk's 
 determined look disappeared with his gun, to be seen or 
 heard no more. Kirk leaned against a stanchion, not a dozen 
 feet from Mins, and moodily filled another pipe. He felt 
 very stiff, self-conscious, and angry. He almost regretted 
 the attention his action had excited. People edged away 
 from him, as though they, too, might be called to account. 
 They hardly dared to look at the white birds, lest they might 
 get into trouble with this belligerent stranger. Kirk kept 
 his flushed face rigorously away from Miss Westbrook. He 
 felt humiliated, lonely almost an outcast for no conceiv- 
 able reason. He wondered how he was to endure another 
 day of this kind of thing. 
 
 But he could not keep his face away forever. He turned 
 and as he turned their eyes met. Then, to his utter as- 
 tonishment, she called out, " Mr. Kirkpatrick! " 
 
 Kirk could not have been more stupefied if the deck had 
 opened and swallowed him up. He gazed at her, unable to 
 believe his ears. 
 
 " Here you " exclaimed Mins roughly. " Don't 
 stand there like that lady wants you ! " 
 
 Kirk hastened to her side. His face was burning. The 
 sound of his own name, coming from those lips, had fairly un- 
 manned him. 
 
 " May I have a turn with you about the decks? " Miss 
 Westbrook asked sweetly, as though it were a most natural 
 request. " No, keep your pipe I don't mind it! " 
 
 " Well, I like that," blurted out Mins in a scolding 
 voice. " As if I hadn't spent an hour trying to " 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "You don't mind, do you?" Miss Westbrook asked, 
 resting her lustrous eyes on Kirk's face, and disregarding 
 Mins's protest. 
 
 " Indeed, I'd be only too delighted," said Kirk, recover- 
 ing himself, and respectfully offering his hand to assist her. 
 
 She rose and took his arm, while Mins, rejoining his 
 astonished companions, gazed after the pair too hurt and 
 too surprised even to flip. 
 
 Kirk was very much embarrassed. He was at a loss for 
 anything to say. His divinity was embarrassed also, and a 
 delicate pink tinged her face. 
 
 " You must help me," she murmured. " You will think 
 it very strange very forward perhaps, but but I hardly 
 know how to ask such a favor, but those men are so curious 
 about me not rude heaven knows, they are not actually 
 rude it would be easier if they were but they persecute 
 me with little attentions with questions that are looked 
 even if they are not asked. It makes me very uncomfortable. 
 You could help me a great deal if you wanted to." 
 
 Kirk warmly proffered his services. 
 
 " I knew you would say that," she returned. " Yet it 
 took a lot of courage to speak to you like that. But I was 
 driven to it I had to that man had planted himself there 
 for the day." 
 
 " But what is it you wish me to do? " asked Kirk. 
 
 " Oh, just to stand between me and the world," she said, 
 looking up with a troubled smile. " Is it too much to ask? 
 Talk to me, sit next to me at table monopolize me." 
 
 Kirk smiled, too. He was radiant with satisfaction. A 
 favor indeed! Why, the doors of paradise were opening 
 before him! 
 
 " There's nothing that would please me better," he ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 116 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " You must have found it hard, too," she said significantly. 
 "You mean ?" 
 
 " Oh, I lied," returned Kirk. " It's none of their busi- 
 ness who we are. A man has to protect himself! " 
 
 Their eyes met understandingly. It was a tacit acknowl- 
 edgment of their common secret. Kirk was tempted to put 
 his thoughts into words. The effect of them on his com- 
 panion was disconcerting. She withdrew her arm, and im- 
 petuously silenced him. 
 
 " Don't make me regret my decision," she cried. " We 
 know what we know but it isn't to be spoken of. If you 
 will not consent to that if you will not put it out of your 
 mind absolutely-^ I I " 
 
 " Oh, forgive me," pleaded Kirk. " I shall never refer 
 to it again. Please forgive me ! " 
 
 She relented, and took his arm again. They walked aft 
 and leaned over the taffrail, watching the white birds. 
 
 " I wonder where we are going to," she said at last 
 in almost a whisper. " I wonder where we are going to! " 
 Then she broke off suddenly with a frightened laugh. " Oh, 
 dear, I'm as bad as you are I must keep off the grass myself. 
 But we shall be good friends, shan't we? You are going 
 to live up to my good opinion of you? I want so much of 
 you so much! Is it a bargain? Men are so But you 
 are different I can see you are different! You'll be 
 good to me, won't you? I shall be so helpless, so lost if 
 you fail me. Do you know, you have suddenly become the 
 most important person in my life ! " 
 
 " I hardly see how," said Kirk. " But you can be assured 
 of one thing I will serve you with all the devotion in me, 
 and count it a very high privilege." 
 
 Their hands met in a clasp of gratification. 
 117 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Thank you," she said simply. " YouVe lifted a load 
 off my heart." 
 
 This was the beginning of an intimacy that to spectators 
 appeared closer than it really was. It was more the friend- 
 ship of a brother and sister, long separated, almost strangers, 
 reunited after many years. The pair were always together. 
 Their chairs were always side by side, either at table or on 
 deck. They walked together, read together, played unend- 
 ing games of cards together. It was a confederacy that kept 
 busybodies at a distance. So loverlike to all appearance that 
 the hardiest interloper was daunted. Madame Jeanne Bel- 
 liot, Miss Westbrook's maid, was greatly scandalized. She 
 was a thin, middle-aged woman with a mouth like a wolf, 
 and something of a wolfs disposition jealous and cow- 
 ardly, with a rasping temper. Her lack of English saved 
 Kirk many passages at arms, but her mistress, in the seclusion 
 of their little cabin, fared less well at the grim lady's hands. 
 
 Miss Westbrook confided to Kirk that she was an intol- 
 erable annoyance. 
 
 " I'm going to send her back from Bolivar," she said. 
 " I can't stand her any more. She is wearing me out. Every 
 day she gets worse and more religious. Not that I would 
 mind her being religious if she would keep it to herself 
 but she gets messages from God, and all sorts of things 
 messages to me, you know, transmitted through her like a 
 telephone central. It may sound absurd, but it has become 
 absolutely unbearable. The higher powers object to you. 
 They object excessively to the Orinoco River. They order 
 me to go home under the penalty of all sorts of dreadful 
 things. You see, she isn't an ordinary maid. She's been 
 with us so long that she has gradually got to own the family. 
 Papa 
 
 118 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 She stopped, and turned away her eyes brimming with 
 tears. The mention of her father had evidently evoked a 
 painful emotion. It was some time before she recovered 
 herself, but even then her smile was a little tremulous, and 
 her voice still poignant with thoughts that Kirk was not 
 allowed to share. 
 
 " I wouldn't do that," he said, referring to Madame Bel- 
 liot's dismissal. " This is a wild country, and you had better 
 put up with her. You must put up with her! It would be 
 perfect madness to to " 
 
 " I have you," she returned, half pettishly, half in fun. 
 " You won't let the tigers eat me, will you? " 
 
 " Well, I'm hardly the equivalent of a " The wide- 
 open, innocent gray eyes abashed him. The business of ex- 
 plaining propriety to a lovely, young creature was embar- 
 rassing. But Kirk floundered through it, genuinely aghast. 
 " Besides," he added, treading delicately on the tabooed sub- 
 ject, " our roads may separate at Bolivar." 
 
 Her only reply was a look, brilliant and enigmatic in its 
 denial, that seemed to premise a greater knowledge of his 
 own future than he himself possessed. It made him feel that 
 her liking for him was not a caprice, but rather the result 
 of a fellowship that she recognized and accepted while yet 
 keeping him in the dark. In some strange manner, for a 
 while at least, their fates were joined. Her dependence on 
 him was not a favor, but a right. She expected him to 
 serve her, not because she was a very pretty woman, but by 
 reason of some invisible authority that was invested in her 
 an authority that he dimly felt and readily acquiesced in. 
 It was a singular relation, and to Kirk a very precious one. 
 He was not a vain man he did not think to presume upon 
 it. He was grateful, very grateful. He was her dog, to 
 watch over and protect her, and he asked no more than a 
 
 119 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 dog's reward toleration and a friendly pat on the head. 
 It was the humbleness of a great love a love that asked for 
 nothing and gave all rare, beautiful, and ennobling. 
 
 As they drew nearer their destination she seemed to lose 
 courage and cling to him the more. She had long, sad spells 
 of silence which he forebore to break in on, some instinct 
 withholding him. He suited himself to her moods, smoking 
 his pipe, saying nothing. She often told him that he was a 
 great comfort to her a great consolation. " So much com- 
 pany and so little bother," she said naively. " So big and 
 dependable and quiet. I have a lot to thank you for, Mr. 
 Kirkpatrick!" 
 
 All this while our three tiger hunters were in a pother 
 of unsatisfied and burning curiosity. They watched Kirk's 
 elevation with resentful surprise. To be cut out by this 
 chap who had crossed second class in the same steamer with 
 them was intolerable, insulting. The captain, though in- 
 wardly boiling, pretended to care the least, and was too 
 well bred a man to pry and speculate. Stiles was frankly 
 a gossip, and gave up his whole mind to the solution of the 
 mystery. Mins, of a coarser fiber than either, energetically 
 waylaid Kirk, and tried to flip him into communicativeness. 
 It wasn't altogether to the credit of the baronet that he 
 was so willing to profit by Mins's inquisitiveness, and even to 
 egg him on. But shipboard life is demoralizing, and human 
 nature, confronted by a mystery, is sadly apt to lose its 
 head. There are many things we do that, when set in type, 
 appear blacker than they are. Yet it must be confessed 
 that our tiger hunters were consumed by an insatiable curi- 
 osity, and hardly had any other topic of conversation. 
 Morning, noon, and night they kept Kirk and Miss West- 
 brook under an unceasing surveillance, and teased one an- 
 other with unanswerable questions. 
 
 120 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 It was late in the afternoon when Bolivar came in sight. 
 A low, straggling town on the left bank, with red-tiled 
 roofs, and a few squalid streets losing themselves in jungle. 
 The falls that barred this reach of the Orinoco were not 
 particularly impressive, and suggested more an artificial dam, 
 nine or ten feet high, than one of the rocky obstructions of 
 nature. Above the falls was a small, rusty, stern-wheel 
 steamer, together with three singular sailing craft of the 
 kind that penetrate the upper waters of the Orinoco. The 
 river sailor has to seek his wind above the treetops of the 
 forest, and for this purpose has to rear a mast astonishingly 
 disproportionate in height to the length of his vessel. This 
 towering stick, as lofty as a ship's mainmast, and similarly 
 rattled, bears in the dizzy sky two little gimcrack yards on 
 which are set two little pocket-handkerchief sails. The effect 
 is so grotesque that the eye has difficulty in accustoming 
 itself to the sight. It is perpetually startled, and cannot see 
 a man going aloft without apprehension. It would seem as 
 though his weight would topple over the whole crazy struc- 
 ture, and lay the tiny vessel on her beam ends. 
 
 The El Capitan moored off the town, and was at once 
 boarded by the port authorities. There was the inevitable 
 animation of an arriving steamer noisy boatmen, frantic 
 passengers, stacks of baggage, gesticulating functionaries. 
 Jabber, jabber, jabber! Exhibition of passports. Assiduous 
 stewards waiting to be tipped. Winches roaring. Great 
 wooden lighters hovering vulturelike, trying to fasten them- 
 selves on the corpse. Nigger boys diving for small silver. 
 Hubbub, fuss, orders, threats, and the sharp hiss of escaping 
 steam. 
 
 Kirk and Miss Westbrook had drawn aside. Behind 
 them, on a camp stool, was Madame Belliot, dejectedly 
 eating oranges, and resigning herself with what grace she 
 
 121 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 could to being deserted. Miss Westbrook was pale and 
 frightened. She was holding to Kirk's hand like a child, 
 and shrank close to him as people passed and jostled her. 
 Kirk, too, was uneasy, and his eyes searched the unfamiliar 
 faces for some gleam of recognition. It was hard to resist 
 the conviction that something had gone amiss that he was 
 not to be met and taken charge of, after all. The destiny 
 of his companion fretted him even more. She also was 
 waiting. She, also, was searching the faces with timid per- 
 sistence. Were they to be separated? Was he to stand 
 there and do nothing while she was led away by some of 
 those swarthy cutthroats. Why had she not trusted him 
 entirely? Why should she persist in screening herself in 
 mystery? By so doing she had put it out of his power to 
 help her to advise and protect her. He was not even 
 allowed to speak to her. Ah, it was intolerable cruel. He 
 had earned her confidence. He had earned the right to it. 
 Yet he was as ignorant as Mins over there Mins, who was 
 slyly watching them while pretending to busy himself with 
 gun cases and packages. 
 
 Kirk noticed a halfbreed Indian, barefooted, bareheaded, 
 in red-striped pyjamas, impassively smoking a cigarette be- 
 side him. He was short and thickset, with high cheek 
 bones and beady eyes. From time to time he spat on 
 the deck and rubbed the place with his naked foot. Kirk 
 disliked his proximity and edged away. But the half- 
 breed stuck by him. His persistency annoyed Kirk, who 
 was about to shove him away when something in the fel- 
 low's manner arrested him. The beady eyes had a curious, 
 seeking look. The impassive face was ambiguously uplifted 
 to his. 
 
 Kirk chanced it. 
 
 " Looking for anybody, senor ? " 
 122 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 The half-breed drew out a dirty scrap of paper, on which 
 Kirk was dumfounded to read, " Lewis Kirkpatrick." 
 
 There was a moment of bewilderment, of stupefaction. 
 
 The half-breed stolidly continued to puff at his cigarette. 
 
 Kirk produced his pass. The man gazed at it indif- 
 ferently. Then laying his hand on Kirk's sleeve he made a 
 pantomime of leading him to the gangway. 
 
 But Miss Westbrook interfered. Before Kirk could real- 
 ize what she was doing, she had drawn the Indian out of 
 earshot, and was speaking to him in a low and agitated voice. 
 He submitted woodenly, cigarette in mouth. The girl 
 pleaded. She held to his arm. Her face was paler than 
 ever, and almost desperate. But the creature she addressed 
 made no sign. His beady eyes settled themselves on a little 
 diamond heart at her neck. She unsnapped it and offered it 
 to him, but he pushed it away. She turned to a passing 
 Venezuelan officer, who stared at her in insolent admiration, 
 and twirled his mustache. There ensued a colloquy of 
 three. The Venezuelan officer deftly accepted a bank note. 
 Something was laboriously explained to him, and by him 
 to the Indian. The latter's masklike face relaxed. It grew 
 dimly comprehensive. He put out his hand and patted her 
 on the shoulder respectfully, reassuringly, stroking her 
 like a dog. It was all right. He understood. This way, 
 please ! 
 
 Kirk and Miss Westbrook resigned themselves to him. 
 Peons seized the young lady's trunks three in number 
 together with her dressing case and Kirk's bag. The half- 
 breed came behind, urging them toward the gangway as 
 though they were sheep. The whole party descended into 
 a boat and shoved off. It is strange how naturally one ac- 
 cepts a leader and follows him. Kirk made no demur. The 
 girl was as submissive as himself. They smiled at each other 
 9 123 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and acquiesced, not knowing where they were going. The 
 situation was even piquant. Kirk said it reminded him of 
 the Babes in the Wood. High above them Madame Belliot 
 alternately waved her handkerchief and cried into it. She 
 seemed the emblem of a disappearing civilization the last 
 outpost, so to speak, of a world they were leaving behind. 
 
 They brought up at a wharf, landing at some green, 
 slimy steps. Here were customhouse officers, of a sullen 
 and slovenly aspect, who had things their own way for twenty 
 minutes. But the little men were very polite and made the 
 ordeal an easy one. The trunks were carried into the boat 
 again, and the passengers retook their seats, and a course 
 set across the river to the opposite bank. The half-breed, 
 by way of conversation, occasionally stroked his charges on 
 the back an ingenious performance of the good-dog-good- 
 dog order. Kirk stroked him, and everybody was pleased. 
 
 Grounding on the shingle the crew leaped out and 
 dragged the boat high and dry. The trunks were raised 
 on brawny shoulders, and with the half-breed leading the 
 whole party struck inland. The track was rough; the trees 
 met overhead; an agreeable twilight relieved the eye after 
 the glare of sun and water; the falls boomed dully in the 
 distance. It was all a singular spectacle the trunks pasted 
 over with European labels, the shuffling peons, the leader 
 in his red-striped pyjamas, Kirk and Miss Westbrook de- 
 lightedly watching the parrots overhead as though they had 
 no other concern in life. The spirit of adventure was in 
 them both. An exhilarating comradeship animated them. It 
 was all so mad, so laughable ! What were they doing in this 
 extraordinary zoo! Where was Coffeecake taking them? 
 They had caught the name from the peons. It was very 
 close to Coffeecake, anyhow. Coffeecake! How they 
 laughed! What fun it all was! Only why weren't there 
 
 124 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 any monkeys? It only needed monkeys to complete the 
 tropic picture! 
 
 The road turned, paralleling the river. They were 
 mounting the left bank, making a detour that would bring 
 them out, apparently, above the falls. The trees thinned. 
 The rusty white steamer loomed ahead, coupled to the shore 
 by a plank. Coffeecake's steamer? It would almost seem 
 so. What was the name, in faded gilt, on the front of the 
 pilot house? Bis yes Bismarck! The S. S. Bismarck , 
 Captain Coffeecake! Such a disreputable old Bismarck, 
 with the paint peeling off his plates and several floats of his 
 stern wheel missing! A three-veranda vessel, so to speak, 
 with an aged engine on the ground floor. Dirty, dilapidated, 
 down at the heel given over to squalor and Coffeecake. 
 
 They passed up the plank. The deck was piled high with 
 firewood, roughly stacked, with little lanes running in and 
 out. Coffeecake led the way up the ladder to deck number 
 two. More firewood. More little lanes. A shabby saloon 
 amidships, with four cabins off it, two on either side. Over 
 the door of one was a brass plate marked " CAPTAIN." Cof- 
 feecake indicated that this was for Miss Westbrook, and 
 threw it open. A peon within was busily engaged in filling 
 two gunny sacks with the belongings of its late occupant. 
 Razors, pyjamas, shoes, underclothes all going in pellmell. 
 
 " Where was the captain? " 
 
 " Muerto, senor" 
 
 "Dead!" 
 
 Gibberish to the effect that the cabin would soon be in 
 good shape. Well-aired bed, fresh sheets, everything to the 
 young lady's satisfaction! 
 
 Across the way, under a plate marked " CHIEF ENGI- 
 NEER," was the door of Kirk's cabin. It was in somewhat 
 better condition than the other, and the packing process, as 
 
 125 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 evidenced by a stout gunny sack, had been already com- 
 pleted. 
 
 " Where was the chief engineer, then ? " 
 
 " Muerto, senor! " 
 
 They reached the top deck in a less cheerful frame of 
 mind. " Muerto, senor," was disturbing. How muerto? 
 Whether knife or fever, it seemed equally depressing. The 
 holiday flavor had somehow evaporated. It was rather a 
 grim little steamboat after all. Yes, a very grim little steam- 
 boat, with dead men's beds to sleep in. Ugh ! Well, he had 
 his pistol, and Miss Westbrook had a two-ounce bottle of 
 quinine. But it was all a trifle creepy-crawly just the same. 
 There were several empty grass hammocks swinging between 
 the stanchions. Coffeecake curled up in one and went to 
 sleep. Kirk and Miss Westbrook settled themselves respect- 
 ively in two others, and wondered what was going to happen 
 next. The drowsy afternoon was sinking into sunset, and 
 there was no particular indication that the Bismarck would 
 ever move. The pair talked together in low tones. Miss 
 Westbrook was confident it was fever that had carried off 
 the captain and the chief engineer. It was a frightful coun- 
 try the white man's grave. They must boil every drop 
 of water and keep out of the sun. No gunny sack wind-up 
 for them. 
 
 They were still deep in these reflections when there arose 
 a shout from the bank. Coffeecake roused himself and went 
 forward, followed by his two passengers. They beheld a 
 peon bearing a large mail bag. He hurried up the gangplank, 
 and even as he did so the sleepy Bismarck awoke. There 
 was a rumbling of steam, the reverberation of engines, the 
 sound of guttural orders. Coffeecake ran up into the pilot 
 house and took the wheel. Bells jingled; ropes were cast 
 off; the plank was drawn in; and before Kirk could fully 
 
 126 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 realize what was taking place, the steamer was under steer- 
 ageway and swinging out into the stream. 
 
 He dashed below to examine the bag, which was lying 
 on the forward deck where the peon had thrown it. 
 
 On it he read : 
 
 DR. VON ZEDTWITZ, 
 ORINOCO IMPROVEMENT COMPANY, BOLIVAR. 
 
 127 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 IRK had seen many strange places in the course 
 of his life, and had found himself in some 
 queer situations but in all his adventurous 
 past there had been nothing to compare with 
 the Bismarck, or to those days that now un- 
 rolled themselves before him. The unending river, the vast 
 and impenetrable forests on either hand, the mysterious des- 
 tination to which he was being borne all stirred him with a 
 feeling of romance that he had not known since boyhood. 
 The glamour of exotic scenes was heightened by a compan- 
 ionship that made every moment precious. There were but 
 two people in the world Vera Westbrook and himself 
 and what lover could but envy him ? 
 
 Kirk arranged a little paradise on the upper deck. Here 
 were their hammocks, a table, books, binoculars, chairs, and 
 a canvas screen that could be shifted to protect them from 
 the dazzling glare. This camp was on the forward part of 
 the vessel, so that they had but to raise their eyes to watch 
 the unfolding panorama before them. They read aloud to 
 each other, taking up the book in turn. They talked, dis- 
 cussing the imaginary characters, Vera speaking for the 
 women, Kirk for the men. They watched monkeys in the 
 treetops parrots alligators on sandy banks. And above 
 everything they laughed, with an unfailing entertainment 
 in the trifles that made up their day. The laughter of happy 
 comradeship, the gayest laughter of all, springing from that 
 delicious contentment which has its source in love. 
 
 128 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Kirk knew she liked him. 'But beyond that he was 
 baffled, not knowing what to think. She was so frank, so 
 confiding, so trustful, that the actual freedom of their inter- 
 course disquieted him. It seemed to imply on her part a 
 regard in which the heart had no concern. Kirk dimly felt 
 that her very friendship precluded a more tender sentiment. 
 There was nothing of the pursuer and the pursued in their 
 relation. If Kirk, with the ardor of a man deeply in love, 
 ventured at times to press his suit, she at once froze, and 
 made him understand with a sweet imperiousness that he was 
 presuming on forbidden ground. He became instantly con- 
 scious that here he had to deal with another woman, and his 
 surprise, almost humiliation, was most painful. A woman 
 separated from him by a thousand barriers of caste and 
 position, whose condescension he had been fool enough to 
 misunderstand. It made him realize that it was her supe- 
 riority which permitted the singular friendship to exist be- 
 tween them. The great are always most gracious in their 
 treatment of those beneath them. The true aristocrat is a 
 much better hand at unbending than the grocer. 
 
 Kirk never felt so sure of being in her good graces as 
 when he could make her smile. He was all right so long as 
 he treated her as a charming boy whom chance had thrown 
 in his path. But let him grow serious, and she shrank into 
 her girlish armor with a vexation, a resentment, that was 
 not to be easily appeased. Love, or the pretense of love, was 
 utterly out of the question. It affronted her, and Kirk soon 
 learned to submit himself to her will. This renunciation cost 
 him some bitter moments. It was the price he had to pay 
 for her toleration of him for her kindness and camaraderie. 
 At times he grudged the price, and was moody and heart- 
 sick. He was given so much and so little. 
 
 She had no compunction in drawing him out about him- 
 129 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 self. Her rule of reticence was extraordinarily one-sided. 
 He had to tell everything, and lay his whole life bare, while 
 she remained, as she had begun a mystery. He was at a 
 loss even to guess her nationality. She was not English, and 
 yet she seemed not to be American. She appeared to him a 
 stepchild of both, a delightful cosmopolitan, with a dash of 
 French thrown in. She was familiar with all these coun- 
 tries, and apparently much at home in each. At any rate, 
 London, Washington, and Paris were constantly on her lips. 
 She passed indifferently from the one to the other, somehow 
 conveying in her manner that she had a place in all three. 
 Kirk learned only one definite thing about her, which was 
 that her mother had died when she was yet a child, leaving 
 her, as she expressed it, " with a father to take care of." 
 The mention of her father, as always, plunged her into a 
 reverie. She would hastily change the subject, though her 
 face would remain overcast for an hour afterwards, and 
 her gayety become forced and unnatural. There was little 
 doubt that her journey had some connection with her father. 
 It almost seemed, indeed, that she was going to him. Though 
 the why and wherefore of it racked Kirk's head with un- 
 answerable conjectures. 
 
 The third person in their strange life was Coffeecake. 
 This astounding mariner was everything on that ship, from 
 captain to cabin boy. Kirk and Miss Westbrook saw nothing 
 of the crew, who pigged together on the engine deck, and 
 never trespassed above, save at times to relieve Coffeecake in 
 the pilot house. Coffeecake housemaided their cabins. Cof- 
 feecake brought them their unassuming meals. Coffeecake 
 smoothed them down, literally, with a large, brown hand 
 whenever they seemed to him out of spirits or in need of 
 sympathy or affection. It was Coffeecake who, when doubt- 
 ful of his course, or perhaps to ascertain his position the 
 
 130 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 question was never actually determined tasted the water 
 in which they floated, and with connoisseurlike sips out of a 
 tin can solved wonderful problems of river navigation. He 
 was capable of tucking them in at night or hearing them say 
 their prayers. The will, at any rate, was never wanting, 
 and there was a kind-uncle quality in his attentions that 
 was most endearing. 
 
 The meals he served were as queer as anything else con- 
 nected with the Bismarck. A can of some kind of meat, 
 presumably chosen at random, together with a can of vege- 
 tables, similarly picked out. Add ship's biscuits ad lib and 
 a steaming pot of chocolate flavored with cinnamon and 
 there was lunch or breakfast or dinner, as the case might 
 be. He seemed to be guided by the pictures on the can. A 
 bullock stood for beef, a sheep for mutton, and so on. Once 
 he was in the act of opening a can on which was the effigy of 
 a red devil (it was deviled tongue) when the label caught 
 his eye, and he suddenly stopped transfixed. He pointed at 
 the red apparition with his finger, and with a nauseated ex- 
 pression ran to the rail and threw it overboard. 
 
 Coffeecake drew the line at canned devil! 
 
 This rough and ready housekeeping was answerable for 
 some unheard-of combination of meat and vegetable, lob- 
 ster and green peas, sardines and sauerkraut, sausages and 
 asparagus. Once they sat down to plum pudding and string 
 beans. But the chocolate was excellent in spite of its pecul- 
 iar flavoring, and though the diet could not be called luxuri- 
 ous, they made out well enough, and enjoyed these artless 
 meals with the relish that comes from long days passed in 
 the open air. 
 
 At sundown the Bismarck tied up beside the bank, and 
 the toils and perils of the day were over. Coffeecake usually 
 chose a sandy beach to moor by, explaining that tigers and 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 snakes dreaded these open places and were careful to avoid 
 them. Whether this was true or not they certainly saw 
 no sign of either, although on one occasion they heard a 
 curious, sobbing sound, like that of a peevish child, which 
 Correecake declared to come from a jaguar. The half-breed 
 would not allow his charges to land, dissuading them by a 
 pantomime of the awful things that might happen if they 
 did so. It was noticeable that the crew, who were withheld 
 by no such prohibition, kept fairly close together, and when 
 ashore never separated by more than a few yards. Man, 
 in this region, held nature in a very uncertain bondage, and 
 single-handed was no match for his myriad enemies. 
 
 These silent nights followed as an exquisite relief to the 
 sultriness and glare of the daytime. A full moon lit the 
 sky, the air was cool and hushed, the dark and broken forest 
 gave back no sound, and the ear was untroubled save by the 
 ripple of water along the keel. To survey it all from the 
 height of the upper deck was a joy not easy to put into 
 words. It was a beauty that hurt, a beauty that stirred the 
 heart with a peculiar poignance; one was humbled without 
 knowing why, distressed and moved by a profound and tender 
 melancholy. 
 
 Side by side Kirk and Vera Westbrook would look down, 
 often not exchanging a word, but more drawn together, more 
 subtly in accord than they ever were at any other time in the 
 day. The spell of that untrodden wilderness was upon them, 
 the spell of the moon, of the tropic night, of strange and 
 exotic scenes. Their crazy steamer seemed a sort of citadel, 
 from which, secure and guarded, they gazed at the savage 
 landscape as though from some magic carpet borne by genii. 
 They had no map; they knew nothing of the windings of 
 that mighty river on which day by day they steamed into 
 the heart of the continent; they knew only that civilization 
 
 132 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 was receding, and that before them was the still and shining 
 Orinoco with its secrets yet untold. 
 
 A week went by and brought with it no interruption of 
 their voyage. They passed a few villages desolately set on 
 the edge of the forest, with boats drawn up on the river 
 beach, much like rows of alligators. Lifeless little hamlets, 
 consisting of a dozen tumble-down sheds, roofed with thatch. 
 The glass showed some recumbent figures in hammocks, 
 naked children, and pigs. Coffeecake did not care to stop 
 at any of them. He made unintelligible gestures of disappro- 
 bation. No villages for Coffeecake. He preferred the pri- 
 meval forest and the sand bank. 
 
 Eight days, nine days, ten days they had almost lost 
 count. A drowsy routine had settled on them, a drowsy 
 contentment and laissez-faire. Kirk would willingly have 
 gone on forever to the end of his allotted span. But this, 
 of course, was not to be. There is a conclusion to every- 
 thing. The Bismarck, one torrid noon, slowed down beside 
 a ramshackle wharf, from which a path led up to a couple 
 of large wooden sheds. A few Indians were there to meet 
 them with a bullock wagon. It was an ungainly, prairie- 
 schooner affair, with a tentlike top of canvas, and was 
 drawn by three yoke of oxen. Into it were put Miss West- 
 brook's trunks, Kirk's belongings, and the mail bag, together 
 with some hammocks, canned stuff, and camp kettles. The 
 day was suffocatingly hot. The very air shivered with heat. 
 The Babes in the Wood sat on an empty gin case and 
 watched the proceedings with immense depression. They 
 were too dizzy and blinded to have any curiosity left. Even 
 the news that Coffeecake was to accompany them did little 
 to raise their spirits. They felt like Shadrack, Meshak, and 
 Abednego in the fiery furnace, and could do nothing but 
 mop their faces and gasp. But the indefatigable Coffeecake 
 
 133 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 took command, bustled about, and gradually got things into 
 shape. 
 
 The Babes in the Woods were invited to get in, which 
 they did, although with no particular enthusiasm. The Bis- 
 marck looked cool and inviting compared to this stifling cart, 
 innocent of springs and grilling in the sun. Coffeecake gave 
 the word to move. The oxen were goaded forward with 
 hoarse cries and the thrusts of long and sharp-pointed sticks. 
 The ponderous wagon started, jolting and creaking like a 
 field piece on the march. The expedition was off, laboriously 
 doing three miles an hour, Coffeecake leading with his 
 pyjama jacket negligently carried over one arm, and his bare 
 brown back glistening with sweat. 
 
 The road, though narrow, was surprisingly good. There 
 were culverts to prevent it from bogging in the rain, and 
 rough, substantial bridges over the streams. It followed 
 the river, rising gradually as the banks grew steeper and 
 more precipitous, and occasionally made a detour inland to 
 avoid some jutting promontory or impassable cliff. It was a 
 clever piece of engineering, and Kirk, who himself had 
 had some acquaintance with roadmaking, eyed it with 
 approval. Blasting had not been shirked, and the gra- 
 dients were consistently gentle. The man who had laid it 
 out had been an expert, and his skill and foresight were 
 evident on every hand. No Venezuelan assuredly, but 
 some long-headed foreigner with Molesworth at his fin- 
 gers' ends. 
 
 A few miles brought them high above the Orinoco, over- 
 looking some rapids. Here was the explanation of the de- 
 serted Bismarck. She could go no farther. From the falls 
 of Bolivar to this second barrier was the limit of her activity. 
 The view grew more bold and picturesque as they toiled 
 along the cliffs. The river whitened below them, a wild 
 
 134 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and flashing torrent, toiling furiously between narrowing 
 walls of rock. 
 
 The grandeur of the scene was intensified by its utter 
 loneliness. Forest, sky, and roaring river, but of man no 
 sign. Forest, forest, forest, as far as the eye could reach. 
 A savage wilderness, somber and frowning, as unconquered 
 to-day as it was a thousand years ago. Human presumption 
 faltered before the untamed majesty of nature. It was some 
 little time before Kirk could assert himself, and guess at the 
 horse power that was going to waste. It was not easy to 
 resist the awe that the sight inspired, but once he had said 
 " horse power " he felt better, and shook off his momentary 
 humility. A tiger becomes less a tiger when you have ven- 
 tured to forecast the value of its skin. It brings you back 
 to good dry land. A man can then hold up his head again, 
 and unflinchingly take his place in the scheme of things. 
 Ignoble if you like, but such is the lord of creation, and the 
 underlying instincts that have raised him to kingship. A 
 practical beggar, eager always to get something for nothing. 
 
 It took Kirk and Vera a long time to learn that they 
 did not have to remain in the wagon. At last they revolted, 
 got out and walked, and joined Coffeecake at the head of 
 the procession. The girl raised a pink silk parasol, and Kirk 
 stuffed leaves in the crown of his sombrero, and thus pro- 
 tected from the sun they exchanged the wagon for a much 
 easier mode of progression. Indeed, their principal trouble 
 was to relax their gait so as not to outstrip the oxen alto- 
 gether. It was a most loitering and snaillike business, with 
 long rests beside the road, and fatiguingly tedious. The 
 wagon moved just fast enough to constantly interrupt them 
 in some cosy little talk, and just slow enough to make steady 
 walking impossible. Of course, they might have gone on in 
 advance and dropped the main body behind them, but this 
 
 135 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 was where Coffeecake came in with a stern prohibition. He 
 indicated that he was accountable for their safety, and that 
 anything in the nature of a jaguar incident was likely to 
 cost him dear. They were both a little incredulous by now 
 of this jagaur that had been so consistently foisted upon 
 them ever since leaving Bolivar. But it was not easy to 
 argue with Coffeecake, especially as it involved one in a 
 sort of personal encounter in which he yowled, bit your 
 shoulder, and went through with a blood-curdling panto- 
 mime of scratching the skin off your face. In anything like 
 a disagreement Coffeecake always came out on top. 
 
 At sundown, after having accomplished about fifteen 
 miles, they arrived at a large bamboo shed, roofed with gal- 
 vanized iron. The wagon was driven into it, and the oxen 
 unyoked, while Coffeecake started a camp fire and busied 
 himself in preparing supper. It was a wild and lonely spot 
 in a little clearing overlooking the river far below. The 
 disregarded jaguar, who in the sunlight had been scorned 
 and derided, became much more real as the shades of night 
 began to fall. Not that he betrayed himself in any tangible 
 form, but the glancing firelight showed what seemed to be 
 his eyes staring at them out of the gloom, and every rustle 
 was ascribed to his stealthy approach as he crouched down 
 before his spring. Coffeecake, like some good, old, darkey 
 mammy with a bugaboo up the chimney, made a wonderful 
 and capricious use of his ally. He invented or pooh-poohed 
 jaguars as best suited his own purposes. Without this 
 phantom his authority would have been shorn of half its 
 strength. Propose something he did not like, and there was 
 a fancy picture of a jaguar meowing for blood. Express 
 a fear of jaguars on some other occasion, and he would smile 
 pityingly at your needless alarm, and dismiss the subject with 
 a few reassuring pats. 
 
 136 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Vera's hammock was slung inside the wagon, a poncho 
 was draped over the front, and in this compact little bower 
 she was left for the night. The rest of the party slept on 
 the ground round the fire, Kirk with his Mauser pistol 
 under the rough pillow he had made of grass. It had never 
 occurred to him to be afraid of anything on the Bismarck; 
 but here, in this outlandish outpost of the woods, he felt 
 the need of being armed and ready for any emergency that 
 might arise. He slept badly. He was restless and appre- 
 hensive. His head was racked by conjectures and fore- 
 bodings. The mystery in which he had so long moved sud- 
 denly became intolerable. Where was he being taken? 
 What was the meaning of it all? Who were these unseen 
 people who were using him as a pawn in their extraordinary 
 enterprise? And strangest of all, what could Vera West- 
 brook have to do with it? What inducement, or compul- 
 sion, could be sufficient to force her to face such perils? It 
 was impossible to conceive anything more reckless or des- 
 perate. He trembled to think of the risks she had run 
 of the chances she had taken so unconcernedly. No, not 
 unconcernedly there had been times when she was fright- 
 ened when he had seen her quail and lose heart when 
 (in spirit at least) she had clung to him, her courage gone, 
 her vivid face stained with tears. 
 
 Kirk awoke greatly refreshed. He put by these disturb- 
 ing questions that had harassed him over night. A delicious 
 morning brought with it acquiescence and philosophy. Se- 
 crets ? Mysteries ? Oh, he would unravel them fast enough. 
 Possibly even too soon. There was at least another day that 
 he could share with Vera, and ramble and talk and laugh 
 without a thought of the future or of separation. The most 
 delightful of all intimacies, and none the less precious that 
 it might at any moment be snatched from him. They had 
 
 137 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 an exhilarating breakfast together on the floor, while the 
 oxen were being yoked again under the directions of Coffee- 
 cake. This paternal and shiny-skinned individual had greatly 
 endeared himself to the Babes in the Wood. They sang 
 his praises over their cinnamon chocolate, and unanimously 
 voted him six suits of new striped pyjamas. The worthy 
 fellow had earned them twenty times over. The only trouble 
 was that the will had to be taken for the deed. It was one 
 of those fairy tale rewards, obtainable at the end of the rain- 
 bow, or some other similar and unlikely emporium. Under 
 these circumstances Kirk thought they might generously 
 raise the number to a dozen. Why not be prodigal when 
 they were about it ? Yes, a dozen and silk at that ! 
 
 The day was a repetition of the one before. They had 
 almost to walk backwards to keep up with the oxen. Crawl, 
 crawl, crawl, with stops under shady trees and long con- 
 fidential talks. A picnic sort of day, passed amid noble and 
 striking scenes, with random strolls off the road to look down 
 at the river beneath. By two o'clock it grew so unsupport- 
 ably hot that they took shelter in the wagon, and played 
 games of cards on the jolting floor, peeping out at times 
 to keep tab on the Orinoco. Kirk said he had grown so at- 
 tached to the old river that he did not wish to lose it; to 
 which Vera replied, with sparkling ambiguity, that he need 
 not be afraid " as there was a good deal of it left! " Kirk 
 asked her what she meant, but she evaded the question by 
 trumping his king, and turning him off with a smile that 
 might have meant much or nothing. 
 
 Night was falling as they entered a little village beside 
 the river. It was a place with twenty or thirty houses, and 
 the whole population came out to greet them. A hundred 
 people at least, chattering like so many monkeys, and mob- 
 bing the wagon as though a circus had come to town. They 
 
 138 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 were all Indians, of varying shades of swarthiness and dirt; 
 a squalid, noisy crowd, with inquisitive hands and jeering, 
 guttural voices. They accompanied the wagon to the water's 
 edge, where, moored to the bank, was a small stern-wheel 
 steamer, hardly bigger than a fair-sized launch. This vessel 
 was the only civilized looking object in San Fernando de 
 Atabapo. She was a smart little craft, with an upper deck, 
 awninged over fore and aft, giving her a top-heavy look, as 
 though the merest puff might send her over. A lantern 
 glimmered on her main deck, illuminating the figure of a soli- 
 tary white man. He was of middle age, stout, big, and fair, 
 with untrimmed beard and hair that gave him the appear- 
 ance of a blonde gorilla. Kirk found himself shaking a 
 large and friendly hand and listening to a large and friendly 
 voice. All belonged to Captain de Ruyter, late of the Dutch 
 Navy, who introduced himself in accents that suggested he 
 held a golf ball in his mouth. 
 
 " How many? " he asked. 
 
 " Two," said Kirk. " Myself, and this young lady! " 
 
 "Leddy!" exclaimed Captain de Ruyter. "Go// im 
 Himmel, what is dass you say? " 
 
 " I am Mr. Westbrook's daughter," said Vera, stepping 
 forward and laying her hand on his sleeve. 
 
 The ex-naval officer straightened himself and saluted. 
 He became instantly deferential, clicking his heels, and stand- 
 ing to attention. 
 
 " Captain de Ruyter, madam ! At your service, madam ! " 
 he said. 
 
 " May I have a few words with you alone, captain?" 
 she asked. 
 
 The blonde gorilla respectfully led her aft, guiding her 
 past the obstructions of the deck with deep-voiced warnings 
 and apologies. Kirk was at a loss to know what to do with 
 10 139 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 himself, and after lingering a couple of minutes in indecision, 
 he finally mounted to the deck above and seated himself on 
 a bench. It was a clear and tranquil night. The stars were 
 reflected in the water, shimmering like little streaks of fire. 
 Coffeecake's voice was heard above the uproar of the crowd, 
 fiercely jabbering in mingled entreaty, expostulation, and 
 command. A flaming torch silhouetted the nearer houses, 
 enhancing their strange and foreign aspect. In all his wan- 
 derings Kirk had never experienced such a sense of wildness, 
 remoteness, and savagery. Never had he felt so immeasurably 
 far from the world of civilization. Even in Arorai he had 
 had the fellowship of the sea, that illimitable highway which 
 bound him to Sydney, San Francisco, and all those haunts of 
 men. No ocean could seem as impenetrable as those forests 
 that now hemmed him in those wastes of jungle, swamp, and 
 unmapped mountains. He was in the very heart of South 
 America, and as he gazed across the Orinoco he realized that 
 he was in a country less known than Africa untrodden and 
 unexplored save on the fringes of those giant rivers that 
 alone had been penetrated by the trader and the orchid 
 hunter. 
 
 The little vessel shivered beneath him. Her propeller 
 slowly revolved. She glided past the village, and headed 
 upstream. 
 
 " By Jove, they were off! " 
 
 140 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 HE Moltke such was her name was as 
 clean and cosy as a little yacht. In con- 
 trast with the Bismarck she was a miniature 
 palace. They dined that night in a brightly 
 lighted cabin, waited on by an Indian stew- 
 ard in a white jacket. The quarters were cramped, every- 
 thing was on a toy scale, but Captain de Ruyter maintained 
 the amenities of civilization in spite of almost insurmountable 
 difficulties. The dinner consisted of several courses, each of 
 them excellent ; there were napkins, silverware, finger bowls, 
 and black coffee in little cups, all in extraordinary contrast 
 to Coffeecake's pell-mell housekeeping. There was evidently 
 an understanding between Captain de Ruyter and Miss 
 Westbrook. The former talked gravely on impersonal 
 topics the difficulty of keeping meat without ice, the taste- 
 lessness of monkeys, the delicious flavor of a certain kind of 
 eel. The stout Hollander was a great gourmand, and, to 
 judge from his random observations, devoted most of his 
 attention to the galley. 
 
 It was strange to sit there as Kirk did and politely 
 make conversation out of generalities, while questions rose to 
 his lips he could not ask, nor even dare to look. Vera was 
 as composed as though she were seated at the table of some 
 ocean liner, with New York or Liverpool awaiting her at 
 the end of the trip. She was in noticeably good spirits, and 
 her laughter and gayety captivated Kirk, and soon caused 
 him to forget everything in the charm of her presence; but 
 
 141 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 he was mystified, nevertheless, and his eyes often sought her 
 face in a sort of bewilderment. It was not lost on him that 
 Captain de Ruyter treated her with the respect that bordered 
 on servility. He would stop, even in the midst of such 
 exciting sentences as " then you stoff him with chestnuts, 
 and laying him " at the merest hint of her wishing to 
 speak or perhaps to motion to the steward for another roll. 
 From de Ruyter's manner toward her she might have been 
 a queen, and she accepted it as her right, greatly to Kirk's 
 perplexity. She was not above enjoying the impression it 
 made upon him, and assumed the role so sweetly and gra- 
 ciously that Kirk's heart ached with the sense of the gulf 
 opening between them. 
 
 The next morning it was even worse. The captain had 
 given up his cabin to her, and she had thus been enabled to 
 draw on her trunks and make a toilet. She appeared at 
 breakfast as radiant and dainty as though she had stepped 
 straight out of Trouville. Kirk was abashed at the contrast 
 he presented to her, in his serge trousers and flannel shirt. 
 It seemed to exemplify a change in their circumstances that 
 made it an incredible presumption for him to love her. She 
 perceived his moodiness, and perhaps divined its cause, and 
 unbent to him with so charming a grace courted back his 
 good humor with such sparkling glances and little caressing 
 ways that his bitterness turned into an unreasonable delight, 
 and he forgot everything in the ecstasy of the moment. 
 
 The Moltke had left the Orinoco near the tumble-down 
 settlement, and was steaming up one of its tributaries, named 
 the Inirida. It was a shallower stream, but with the same 
 densely forested banks, and its tortuous channels gave the 
 effect of a series of lakes, one unfolding after another in 
 an unending succession. Although the Moltke only drew 
 four feet of water, it took careful piloting to keep her off 
 
 142 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the shoals and sand banks, and more than once she actually 
 grazed the bottom and muddied the water with the impact. 
 
 Captain de Ruyter concerned himself not at all with this 
 feature of his command. His energies were all directed 
 toward housewifery, and the ship was left to run herself. 
 There were some half-naked Coffeecakes to attend to this, 
 leaving the indefatigable Dutchman free for more absorb- 
 ing duties. He was one of those old maids of the sea to 
 whom dirt is abhorrent. Cleaning and airing and scrubbing 
 and shining brasswork never ceased on board the Moltke. 
 And when he was not busy overseeing these details, he was 
 either in the galley or wandering about with a pot of paint. 
 Even when he took his rest in a hammock, he played with a 
 pet monkey tied to the rail and ruminated on the next day's 
 menu. He practically did all the cooking himself, and was 
 never so happy as when beating a mayonnaise or sniffing at 
 the oven door. 
 
 Except at meal times, when he exerted himself to talk, 
 he appeared a stolid, uncommunicative man, keeping starkly 
 to himself and repelling any advances. Kirk gathered that 
 he had left the Dutch navy under a cloud, and had found 
 a congenial exile in South America. Vera surmised that he 
 had been probably making nudelins in the galley at some crisis 
 requiring his presence on the bridge, or frying batter cakes 
 when he should have been at his guns. There was no doubt 
 as to which was the more congenial occupation to this naval 
 hero, and it took no deep student of human nature to under- 
 stand the reason of his failure. Kirk went below one day 
 and discovered they were carrying a dangerous head of steam. 
 The boilers were leaking ominously, and it was evident by 
 the gauge that the safety valve was either faulty or over- 
 loaded. He reported the fact to Captain de Ruyter, who 
 was sitting in the galley doorway stuffing a chicken. 
 
 143 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " So? " said the captain, with an air of bovine irritation 
 at being disturbed. " So? " 
 
 " You had better come and look at it for yourself," said 
 Kirk. " We'll be in the air in five minutes." 
 
 " Dat boiler was always troublesome," returned the 
 Dutchman imperturbably, with his fist full of bread crumbs. 
 " You go down and tell dat nigger to reduce pressure or 
 I myself will descend and kig him." 
 
 Kirk modified the message and exerted a little authority 
 on his own account, tempered by a couple of silver dollars. 
 After that he visited the engine deck at intervals, and bribed 
 the peons to keep the pressure needle within limits. Nobody 
 resented his interference, least of all the captain, who never 
 alluded to the matter again. The engine, like the ship, could 
 take care of herself, and might blow itself into a million 
 fragments for all the Dutchman seemed to care. His only 
 interest in it was from the paint-pot side, and so long as it 
 shone like a new pin he was placidly content. He was a 
 strange creature, and at times Kirk thought him a little mad. 
 But he was certainly a magnificent cook, and in this sphere 
 of activity had no equal. Like many another man he had 
 simply chosen the wrong profession, arriving at last by 
 devious roads (and a court martial) at the place where he 
 rightfully belonged. 
 
 During all those days on the Orinoco they had seen but 
 little of animal life. 'But here, on the Inirida, they penetrated 
 a more teeming region. The river swarmed with alligators, 
 not lined up decorously like logs on the flats, but positively 
 tadpoly with uncounted thousands. They were fierce, too, 
 snapping at the garbage that was thrown overboard, and 
 flashing their ferocious teeth as they rushed and fought in 
 the shallow water. It was an unnerving sight, nightmarish, 
 flesh-creeping. Worse still were the boas that attacked the 
 
 144 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 live chickens de Ruyter kept in coops on the main deck. 
 These huge serpents several times invaded the ship in the 
 small hours, and the ensuing squawking, uproar, and club- 
 bing was something terrific. The captain's only concern was 
 the safety of his larder, but Kirk and Vera failed to share 
 his matter-of-fact view of the situation. The thought of 
 twenty-foot snakes crawling over the ship at night made 
 their blood run cold. It was all very well to be told that 
 boas were not poisonous and extraordinary cowardly. A 
 bruite over six yards long and as thick as a man's leg, dis- 
 turbed the imagination. What if he broke in the cabin 
 door, or insinuated himself through the screens? De Ruy- 
 ter derided the suggestion, and built a nightly fort about 
 his broilers. He turned in with the grains beside him, 
 and would fly below at the first flutter of his pets. He 
 confided to Kirk that " dem snages are a great big nui- 
 sance and no mistake," and indulged in some hair-raising 
 reminiscences. 
 
 There were insects also to contend with: tiny ants with 
 stings like drops of melted lead; jiggers that burrowed 
 under the skin, and would only back out if ammonia were 
 applied to the spot; flies of myriad forms, but each with 
 some special power to tease or hurt; centipedes, hairy 
 worms, villainous red-legged tarantulas. There was prob- 
 ably no place in the world so rich in multitudinous forms 
 of life. But if the disagreeable side of this wonderland 
 has been dwelt upon, it must be remembered that there was 
 another: parrots of every hue of the rainbow; humming 
 birds, as iridescent as jewels; gorgeous butterflies; troops 
 of monkeys, swinging and swaying in the treetops; birds of 
 beautiful and fantastic plumage, delighting the eye with a 
 kaleidoscope of color; ghostly turtles, scurrying in hundreds 
 over the sand at night; fireflies in astounding profusion, 
 
 145 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 glimmering mysteriously in the glades of the forest, and out- 
 lining fallen trunks or huge decaying roots. 
 
 At dawn all nature seemed to awake and clamor. The 
 forests, previously still, vibrated with the tumultuous up- 
 roar that thrilled the ear with innumerable tiny voices swell- 
 ing into a diapason that was at once menacing and trium- 
 phant. The battle of the day was about to be resumed, 
 the truce was over, and from every nook and cranny of those 
 untrodden wastes there rose a clarion of defiance. 
 
 Kirk loved the dark, tranquil hour that ushered in the 
 day. With an overcoat wrapped about him he would watch 
 the shadows slowly melt and vanish, and wait expectantly 
 for the first faint coming of the dawn. It never failed to 
 affect him with a peculiar delight, and he regretted the time 
 when flat and grassy savannas gradually usurped the place 
 of forest. After three days' steaming they had reached a 
 country of llanos that extended on either side as far as the 
 eye could reach, vast billowing plains, parching in the sun, 
 and as illimitable as the sea itself. The air became less 
 stifling, less dank. From twelve to three it was as fiercely 
 hot as ever, but infinitely more endurable. The wide view 
 brought with it a sense of freedom, enhanced by the trade 
 wind. Every morning it sprang up, to die down later on in 
 the noonday heat, reviving again toward four to blow briskly 
 until dusk. The sky, no longer a ceiling between two walls 
 of forest, became a dominant feature in the landscape, with 
 piled-up mountains of cloud rimming the horizon with fairy 
 fastnesses. 
 
 Kirk would have been content to go on forever. What 
 better had the world to offer him ? To be near the woman 
 he loved, to feel day by day her increasing dependence on 
 him, to share those serene and delightful hours with her 
 alone what change could be for anything but the worse? 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 He had no money, no position, no profession, no future; 
 and the pathetic realization that the real prizes of life could 
 never be his, caused him to cling all the more passionately 
 to these fleeting moments. He was a man of thirty-two, 
 hard-headed, and accustomed to look facts squarely in the 
 face. He was no boy, entertaining childish dreams and 
 presumptuously self-confident. In his more sober moods he 
 foresaw he was laying up untold pain for himself. He would 
 pay dearly for having raised his eyes to such unattainable 
 height. Such a woman was not for him. She belonged to 
 another world a world that barred him at the threshold. 
 What was he but one of the lost legion one of those who 
 salted the frontiers with their bones, on whose unmarked 
 graves there would stand in after years the houses of those 
 for whom they had pioneered. 
 
 He had his times of despair when, from the bottom of 
 his heart, he regretted the fate that had brought Vera West- 
 brook and himself together, times when he kept aloof, in 
 an exasperation of bitterness, determined to crush down the 
 love that was devouring him. Love! What an ass he was, 
 what a fool, what a dolt! He must free himself. He must 
 draw back while he was yet able. He must hold fast to 
 common sense, and put such folly by him. A man who had 
 nothing to give had no right to ask. He was cutting, in- 
 deed, a most humiliating figure. Marriage! He laughed 
 at himself sardonically. Had he said good-bye to reason! 
 Why should he poison an exquisite friendship by these ab- 
 surdities, and torment himself for nothing? Crying for the 
 moon, that was what it was, when anybody but an idiot 
 would have been grateful and satisfied. He took himself 
 hotly to task, and determined to be wiser in the future. A 
 man's will could control anything even a sore and rebel- 
 lious heart. 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 But when he tried to put these resolves into practice he 
 was met by unforeseen difficulties. His abruptness, his fits 
 of silence, his spiritless and dejected air all were provoca- 
 tive of the danger he wished so ardently to avoid. Vera 
 suspected what was passing in his head, and her manner 
 toward him grew softer and more caressing. Instead of 
 taking offense or affecting a similar coldness, she set herself 
 to win him back by those tender artifices that are instinctive 
 in every woman. Like all her sex she loved to be loved. She 
 liked Kirk well enough to wish to have him at her feet. 
 Though her pride would have taken fire had he presumed 
 to court her or openly arrogate the attitude of a lover, she 
 was willing, in a thousand subtle ways, to court him. It 
 tempted the cruelty in her, thrilling her with a strange zest. 
 She did not grudge hurting herself a little in order to drive 
 home her victory. Kirk was too sincere a man to turn these 
 weapons against herself to try and enmesh her in her own 
 net. He perceived dimly that she was coquetting with him, 
 and he shrank from the duel in which he had everything 
 to lose. He knew well enough that if he ever reached an 
 avowal their comradeship would be at an end. His silence 
 was the price of that intoxicating intimacy which at the 
 first word would vanish like a bubble. So he remained 
 silent, marveling at the contradictory nature that was so 
 eager to lure him on to his own destruction. 
 
 Oh, man and maid, can you never live in peace! Must 
 you always tease and torment each other, and work forever 
 at cross purposes? Is it not possible for man to be fire and 
 woman tow, and yet leave out the devil, or Cupid, or what- 
 ever name we may apply to that third person in the trans- 
 action? Can you not accept each a piece of pie, like good 
 children, instead of fighting for the plate? 
 
 Alas, no. 
 
 148 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 So it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. 
 
 It was well for Kirk's resolution that the Moltke's voy- 
 age approached an end. Perhaps it was as well for Vera 
 Westbrook. In two weeks they had managed to get along 
 without a quarrel, though Kirk was heart and soul in love, 
 and she in the first disquietude of that insidious affliction. 
 No quarrel and no making up love's armory not half 
 drawn upon. 
 
 The announcement came at dinner, as Kirk inquired of 
 de Ruyter why the ship was still under way. 
 
 " Aren't we going to tie up to-night? " he asked. 
 
 " No," said the Dutchman, noisily swallowing soup. 
 " Slow down, dat's all, and bring up to Felicidad by mid- 
 night. You had better get ready to land, Kirgpatrick ! " 
 
 This was the first time their destination had been alluded 
 to or named. Felicidad ! Kirk liked the sound of it, and 
 his wondering eyes sought Vera's in the hope of an explana- 
 tion. But she avoided his look, and he forebore to press the 
 unspoken question. It would soon be answered, anyhow. 
 The captain hurriedly began to talk about Sumatra, and 
 the delicious oysters to be found there in the mangrove 
 swamps. 
 
 " No oysters like them," he declared. " Meld in your 
 mouth. Meld in your mouth ! " And with this as a begin- 
 ning he rambled over the globe on a sort of oyster cruise, 
 with a wealth of oyster information that was staggering. 
 Kirk listened to it all as he might to the droning of a bee, 
 his thoughts intent on Felicidad. What was this place? 
 Who were those unknown employers of his that at last he 
 was to meet face to face? What did they want of him? 
 What could be the nature of an enterprise which was to 
 take its start from this remote point in the heart of the 
 continent? His curiosity, so long dormant, now took fire 
 
 149 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 afresh. He was in a fever of anticipation. He saw visions 
 of danger, of hardship, of extraordinary opportunities to be 
 taken advantage of. He had courage for them all, the 
 health and vigor and unshaken determination. These ele- 
 mental qualities, so little thought of in civilization, are su- 
 preme in the wild places. It is then that a man stands out 
 for what he is, judged only by the primitive standard. The 
 thought stirred Kirk stupendously. Nothing was impossible 
 not even ! He would win her. He would win the 
 hundred thousand pounds. He would conquer every ob- 
 stacle! And if he failed, welcome then to oblivion and to 
 the long sleep that has no awakening. All or nothing a 
 sublime resolve old as man himself, and springing eternally 
 from the same inspiration. 
 
 A sad evening succeeded dinner. Vera was preoccupied 
 and said little. They had been so happy together, so happy 
 and now it was all over. They indulged in some mirthful 
 recollections. They followed their acquaintance from the 
 Bolivar to the Bismarck, and from the Bismarck to the 
 Moltke, laughing as they brought back every little incident 
 of their varied journey. But it was the laughter of senti- 
 ment, in which there was a note of tears, with long pauses 
 between when each remained silent. Separation impended, 
 strangers, a new order of things. Those long, bright days 
 together, those enchanting evenings under the stars were fast 
 fading into the past, memories, irrevocable, precious, not to 
 be recalled without a pang. Kirk expressed the hope that 
 the steamer would strike a bank, and thus delay the catas- 
 trophe of parting. Vera let the observation pass with a 
 smile, and a denying movement of her graceful head, as 
 though fate could not thus be trifled with. 
 
 Kirk felt for her hand in the dark and pressed it. She 
 gently drew it away. 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "No, no, you must not!" she exclaimed, impetuously 
 arresting the words which rose to his lips. " Let it end as 
 it began an idyll untarnished, unvulgarized, ethereal as 
 a dream. This is what made me like you you have been so 
 chivalrous, so good, so generous and forbearing. Don't dis- 
 appoint me now when it is all over ! " 
 
 " It has grown very hard," he said moodily. " I wouldn't 
 be a man if I had not loved you. God knows, I resisted all I 
 could. I've never cared for the role of the hopeless suppliant. 
 I've tried all along to keep myself from slipping into that 
 sort of relation toward you not for your sake, not because I 
 was generous, or anything of that kind but because I'm a 
 proud man who hates to humiliate himself." 
 
 Her face, beautiful and unrelenting in the starlight, filled 
 him with a sudden bitterness. He leaned over the rail, gaz- 
 ing in dejection at the water below. She came over and 
 nestled close beside him. 
 
 " Poor little Babes in the Wood," she exclaimed. " They 
 tried so hard to keep the serpent out of their paradise, but 
 the horrid thing would get in ! " 
 
 Her tone was so contrite, so piquant, and tender that 
 Kirk was disarmed. He had to smile in spite of himself. 
 
 " You are a dear, dear fellow," she went on. " Perhaps 
 I had to resist a little bit myself. It hurt me when you said 
 it humiliated you to care for me. It isn't humiliating at 
 all it ought to be a liberal education." 
 
 They both laughed. Her charm was irresistible. Kirk 
 was filled with a wild and unreasoning elation. It delighted 
 him to wring that admission from her, however whimsically 
 and mockingly she had put it. 
 
 " Now I must pack up and get a little nap," she added, 
 and before he could protest she had fled and disappeared down 
 the companion. 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Kirk remained on deck, smoking cigar after cigar in the 
 darkness. He was in a whirl of conflicting emotions, under- 
 going all the alternations of happiness and misery. He knew 
 not what to think what to hope. But he was a dear, dear 
 fellow. Those words repeated themselves exultantly, in soft 
 and limpid accents, consoling him in his more somber mo- 
 ments of reflection. But he could not rid himself of the 
 impression that she had taken farewell of him. That her 
 tenderness had been inspired by the impending change in their 
 relations. He seemed to feel that he had been dismissed, 
 sweetly, graciously, reluctantly but still dismissed. It 
 checked the presumption that her words had caused him. 
 It was but natural, at the end of their singular intimacy, 
 that she should let him down easily. He had been good. 
 He had been chivalrous. He had acted, at any rate, like a 
 gentleman, and she had thus repaid him in the only manner 
 possible a disquieting thought, indeed, obtrusive and not 
 easily to be denied. Well, time would show time would 
 tell him though the suspense in the meanwhile was hard to 
 bear. Yet yet ! 
 
 He dozed off and awoke again. The steamer was still 
 moving. A glance at his watch showed it to be nearly one 
 o'clock. Where was Felicidad? De Ruyter, always an in- 
 competent, had probably miscalculated his position. The 
 dim, flat landscape on either hand betrayed no sign of habi- 
 tation. The splashing wheel turned monotonously, tirelessly, 
 as though it had all the rest of the night before it. Kirk 
 looked ahead for distant lights, but there were no lights 
 none, at least, save the sinking stars. It was cold, and he 
 walked briskly up and down to warm himself, wondering 
 whether to go below or to stick it out a little longer. He 
 finally decided on his bunk, and descended to the lower depth. 
 He was groping for the door handle when the ship suddenly 
 
 152 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 stopped. There was a jangle of bells in the engine room, 
 sleepy, querulous orders, the tramp of feet, a shivering impact 
 as the vessel ground her side against a creaking wall of piles. 
 Kirk ran forward, and almost fell into de Ruyter's arms. 
 
 " Felicidad ! " said the latter grumpily. 
 
 All that Kirk could see was a small wharf to which they 
 were being made fast. Whatever else Felicidad consisted 
 of was hidden in the darkness. There was no one to meet 
 them no sign of life or animation. All was ghostly, black, 
 and silent. Kirk got his bag and stepped ashore, joining 
 the captain and Miss Westbrook, who were awaiting him. 
 De Ruyter held a lantern which he raised as Kirk approached, 
 yawning as he did so. 
 
 " Gome," he said, and with that he led the way, Vera and 
 Kirk walking obediently behind him. They took hands like 
 children, laughing as they stumbled along, and making fun 
 of the whole adventure. Kirk said that what pleased him 
 most about Felicidad were the public buildings, though he 
 confessed to be disappointed in the new opera house. Vera 
 said she liked the air of spaciousness the noble plan on 
 which it had been laid out. Room, that was the great thing 
 in a modern city. Room! there certainly seemed to be an 
 unlimited amount of it. Room if nothing else. To all 
 appearance the captain was leading them across a trackless 
 prairie, though in the blinding light of his lantern it was 
 impossible to discern what might be before them. 
 
 " Who goes there? " rang out a voice, close and startling. 
 
 " Friend ! " cried de Ruyter. 
 
 An indistinct figure was seen, rifle in hand. 
 
 " Is that you, Nash," inquired the captain. 
 
 " Bet your boots," replied the sentry, in a nasal and fa- 
 miliar vernacular, grounding his weapon and cheerfully 
 shaking hands. Kirk and Vera drew a little apart, as there 
 
 153 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ensued a whispered colloquy between de Ruyter and the 
 stranger. 
 
 " I'll go up to headquarters and report, while you take 
 Kirkpatrick and find him a shakedown somewhere." 
 
 " Sure," said Mr. Nash. 
 
 The party divided, Kirk following his new friend, while 
 de Ruyter and the girl started off in another direction. The 
 night was as black as pitch, but Nash strode on as though he 
 could have found his way blindfolded. Kirk perceived a 
 glimmer of whiteness looming large and vague against a 
 denser shadow. Nash stopped and lit a match, revealing a 
 large tent. Its front stood open, showing within a double 
 line of cots, in which twenty men or more were lying asleep. 
 They tiptoed in softly, guided by one match after another, 
 searching for an unoccupied bed. They found a couple in 
 the corner, and Nash whispered to Kirk to take his choice. 
 
 " Happy dreams ! " he said, and forthwith departed. 
 
 Kirk took off his shoes, and lying down as he was, drew 
 the coverlet over him. 
 
 So this was Felicidad! 
 
 154 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 IRED though he was, he was too restless and 
 excited to sleep. The heavy breathing all 
 about him, the occasional snores, the gur- 
 gling and gasping of the man next him 
 all irritated his nerves and helped to keep 
 him wide awake. The cot was narrow and sagged in the 
 center. It was too hot above, too cold below, and he turned 
 and twisted in unavailing efforts to make himself comfort- 
 able. Probably he would have fared no better in a feather 
 bed, for his thoughts were too busy to allow him to shut his 
 eyes and drift away into oblivion. At last these questions 
 were to be answered that had so long distracted him. The 
 veil was about to be lifted. He stood on the actual threshold 
 of the mystery, which, with the rising sun, would be a mys- 
 tery no longer. No wonder that he longed for daylight 
 and could not coerce himself into even a momentary forget- 
 fulness. He was tantalized beyond measure to have to lie 
 there and wait for the leaden hours to pass. Several times 
 he rose and crept out of the tent, eager for the first peep of 
 dawn. He was fearful that it might come unawares and rob 
 him of a single moment. 
 
 At the first indication of lessening darkness he put on 
 his shoes and sallied forth. His watch, visible for the first 
 time, showed him half past four. From the ground a mist 
 was rising, unwholesome and malarious, earthy in its smell, 
 and sodden with fever. It disappeared somewhat in the twi- 
 light of encroaching day, but not enough to give him an 
 11 155 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 unimpeded view of the settlement. Tents and mist, tents and 
 mist that was all he could make out. Felicidad was a 
 camp, military in its precision and regularity a compact, 
 hollow square of canvas, with an imposing center tent that 
 could easily have housed a small circus. Kirk made the 
 round of the settlement, peering inquisitively into the various 
 tents. Some held nothing but merchandise in cases salmon, 
 lard, fruit, etc. Others sheltered machinery, crated roughly, 
 wound round with gunny sacking, and apparently not yet 
 assembled. It was impossible to determine what it was in- 
 tended for. Kirk begrudged the time for a protracted inspec- 
 tion, and hurriedly passed on. 
 
 He seemed to be the only person in Felicidad who was 
 awake at that hour, and he was overcome with a sort of awe 
 as he looked in at cots and sleeping figures. These dim inte- 
 riors had the bareness of soldiers' quarters. They were rough 
 and comfortless, with clothes hanging, laundry fashion, from 
 lines stretched from eave to eave. A kerosene case for a 
 chair, a lantern, a tin wash basin such was the prevailing 
 furniture. Some of the tents were tied fast from within, 
 forbidding entry. Others stood broadly open, concealing 
 nothing kitchen messrooms with board tables and long 
 benches, a sort of office with a typewriter and a pigeon-holed 
 desk and more storerooms. There was a carpenter shop, 
 knee deep in shavings; a smithy, with forge, bellows, drills, 
 lathe, and open chests containing mechanics' tools ; a hospital, 
 smelling of disinfectants. 
 
 Kirk next turned his attention to the central marquee, 
 but stopped short, and then drew back as he heard the meas- 
 ured tread of the sentry. He had a vision of a man passing 
 and repassing with a rifle on his shoulder. Tramp, tramp, 
 tramp, and turn. Tramp, tramp, tramp, and turn. Kirk 
 retreated. He felt like an interloper, a spy, and shrank 
 
 156 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 from being challenged. He had a misgiving that he would 
 be ordered back to his tent. He had to see more before that 
 happened. It was still dark and misty, though the eastern 
 clouds were reddening. There yet remained a few minutes 
 more of freedom, a few minutes more in which to satisfy his 
 consuming curiosity. 
 
 He made his way to the end of the white square, at- 
 tracted by a sort of pole that showed fitfully beyond a pole 
 or flagstaff of immense height, elusively wrapped in mist. 
 He walked fast, passing the last line of tents, and following 
 a wide and well-defined track. He was excited. There 
 now seemed to be two poles, together with mysterious cord- 
 age and yards high in the air something shiplike and 
 extraordinary that surpassed his wildest conjectures. He 
 redoubled his pace. He began to run. But the mounting 
 sun was faster than he. As it flashed over the horizon the 
 mist rolled up like the curtain of a theater, vanishing with a 
 startling suddenness in the first rosy beams of morning. 
 
 The sight that met his eyes filled him with an inexpress- 
 ible astonishment. Before him was a vessel, a topsail 
 schooner with the loftiest masts he had ever seen, resting, 
 not on water, but on eight gigantic wheels. 
 
 It was a stupefying apparition. Kirk stood still, unable 
 at first to do anything but gasp. Yes, on wheels twenty feet 
 high, with tires eighteen inches wide powerful and mas- 
 sive as though for the carriage of some giant cannon. But 
 instead of a Brobdignagian cannon was a fabric of colossal 
 proportions, surmounted by two powerful masts. A vessel 
 of a hundred and fifty feet long, rigged, not for the ocean, 
 but to skim the land. An astonishing conception, carried 
 out with boldness and intrepidity. No oversparred racing 
 machine ever carried half the spread of canvas of this mon- 
 ster. Her main boom passed sixty feet beyond the taffrail, 
 
 157 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and the sail itself was double the ordinary height. Her fore- 
 topsail yards were inordinately long. The slender topmasts 
 seemed to pierce the sky. She would not have lived an 
 hour at sea, and as Kirk gazed up he wondered whether she 
 would fare any better on land. This new seamanship was 
 likely to be twice as exacting as the old. The man who sailed 
 this towering mass would have his work cut out for him. 
 To keep her on an even keel would tax him to the utmost, 
 and he would find himself confronted by problems that none 
 but he had ever faced before. 
 
 Kirk hurried on, the strange vessel looming up before him 
 and growing vaster and higher with every step he took 
 toward it. A wooden stairway gave temporary access to the 
 lower deck, which was about ten feet above the ground. 
 Kirk mounted it and found himself in a spidery cage of 
 aluminum, a skeleton, so to speak, which had yet to be 
 filled in. The framework had been finished to the last rivet, 
 but the secondary stage had been hardly more than begun. 
 Evidences of work were visible on every hand planks, tools, 
 great rolls of sheet aluminum, partitions of the same mate- 
 rial in the first process of erection, cabins and passageways 
 hardly more than outlined in a slender framework of the 
 all-pervading dirty-white metal, with gaping interstices 
 through which the sun was broadly shining. 
 
 On the upper deck things were less advanced, hardly a 
 third of it being covered over. Kirk had to pick his way with 
 care along the lanes of planks lest a false step should precipi- 
 tate him below. Everything was in confusion. Machinery 
 was stacked under tarpaulins. A temporary forge stood be- 
 neath the bridge. An eight-cylinder gasoline winch was in 
 the course of installation abaft the foremast, and a number of 
 its parts lay scattered about on sheets of canvas. A hundred 
 jobs had been simultaneously going forward and overlapping 
 
 158 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 one another. Kirk walked through a litter of boxes and 
 barrels, cordage, tool chest, carpenters' benches, paint pots 
 a bewildering tangle of a thousand discordant objects 
 thrown pell-mell together. There seemed work enough to 
 last a hundred men a hundred years. The land-ship, so 
 trim and stately from a distance, revealed on closer inspec- 
 tion a chaotic interior which was most depressing. She was 
 hardly more than an aluminum shell a delicate, spidery 
 framework requiring weeks of labor, possibly months, to 
 make her habitable and ready. 
 
 Ready? For what? To sail those vast and billowy 
 plains? Incredulity, keen and painful, overcame Kirk as he 
 clambered to the bridge and looked down. Had he fallen 
 into the hands of madmen? What an egregious undertaking 
 what an absurdity! And it was for this then he had 
 traveled so far, and allowed himself to dream such dazzling 
 dreams? The whole idea was so novel, so amazing, so 
 unheard of, that his first sensation was one of frightful dis- 
 appointment. Then, little by little, he began to reason with 
 himself. What right had he to declare offhand that such a 
 thing was impossible? He remembered that everything new 
 had seemed impossible to somebody to the most, in fact. 
 The first steamer was an impossibility. The Suez Canal was 
 an impossibility. The St. Gothard tunnel had been derided 
 by the best engineers. Yet all in time had become facts. Pos- 
 sibly this thing he stood on was destined also to become a 
 fact. 
 
 He realized that he had no data to go on, that it was a 
 problem that lay outside his entire experience. It was a 
 question of an enormous resistance having to be overcome by 
 a proportionate-sail plan a simple equation of the one 
 against the other only to be actually determined by experi- 
 ment. But the weight to be thus moved was appalling. 
 
 159 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Looking down he was dismayed at the incalculable tons of 
 aluminum that met his eyes. It was inconceivable to ever 
 think of it moving. He was daunted afresh by the huge- 
 ness and slightness of the fabric, by those crazy wheels that 
 projected outboard so many feet, by those insignificant axles 
 no thicker than his arm. Could they possibly bear the load ? 
 Could they bear the decks, cabins, water tanks, all in process 
 of construction? Then there were people to be carried, 
 food for the people, baggage for the people, weight to be 
 added to weight with a staggering prodigality. 
 
 Then it began to dawn on him why the rigging and 
 sparring had been completed before the hull. Evidently, 
 as a precautionary measure, she had been tried under sail 
 just as soon as the aluminum skeleton had been finished, a 
 trial to settle and test all doubts and put the practicability 
 of the scheme to proof. Why else should they have gone to 
 the trouble of setting up the rigging and bending sails a 
 task which, under ordinary circumstances, would have been 
 better left to the last. This was a reassuring thought, and 
 was made even more reassuring by the sight of the wheel 
 in the extreme stern. A series of wheels rather, four in all, 
 sufficiently spaced apart to allow eight, or if need be, sixteen 
 men, to hold the fragile monster on her course. 
 
 Kirk made up his mind to go aloft and see how things 
 looked from the foretop. The shrouds were rattled down, 
 thus making it an easy matter to lay aloft. It was not until 
 he had begun to climb that Kirk fully realized the height 
 of those masts. From the bridge they had appeared fore- 
 shortened and dwarfed, but now, as he mounted ratline after 
 ratline, he appreciated that he had done them an injustice. 
 He had seldom seen such sticks in anything afloat. The 
 foretop loomed above him as high as a ship's royal. In 
 spite of his eagerness he had again and again to stop 
 
 160 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and take breath. Like Jacob's ladder it seemed to lead to 
 heaven. 
 
 At last he reached the top. It was canvassed in, breast- 
 high, making it a sort of crow's nest. It was broad and com- 
 fortable, and a man could have swung a hammock in it 
 easily. Against the mast were two flexible speaking-tubes 
 that probably communicated to the steersman and to the 
 bridge respectively. It was here from which the ship was 
 sailed, then? It seemed a cumbrous method of giving or- 
 ders, but there was likely no better way. The new sailor- 
 izing had exigencies unknown to the old. The sea, in a 
 sense, was always level, and one was not required to pick 
 out a course. But these vast plains, for all their appearance 
 of flatness, were broken into hummocks, hollows, and out- 
 croppings not an acre anywhere that could be absolutely 
 trusted. The outlook from the bridge was too limited for 
 safety. But from the crow's nest a view could be obtained 
 that stopped only at the horizon. For miles ahead the coun- 
 try could be unfolded like a map, and a way picked out with 
 unerring certainty. 
 
 From that dizzy eerie in the sky he looked down on the 
 sea of dingy yellow that stretched away from him on every 
 side so vast, so illimitable, so alluring in its immensity and 
 desolation that he was held spellbound before it. 
 
 The sun had risen, flooding the eastern rim with fire. 
 The ribbon of the Inirida gleamed like silver as it wound 
 and twisted from horizon to horizon. The Moltke, like a 
 smart tin toy, lay snugged against the wharf, seemingly tied 
 to it by a piece of thread. The camp, also diminutive and 
 suggestive of the playbox, presented a pretty and inviting 
 aspect. Corkscrews of smoke were rising from the kitchens, 
 portending breakfast and a general awakening. Kirk was 
 exhilarated by the freshness of the morning, the strange bril- 
 
 161 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 liancy and charm of the scene, the thought of wonder- 
 ful things to come. He was in a glow of content. His 
 forebodings vanished. The ship would surely sail, and 
 he would sail with her, and it was a great old world 
 after all! 
 
 The camp square began to cluster with figures. Tent 
 after tent emptied its quota. Little groups formed and 
 straggled toward the ship. They were all dressed in over- 
 alls, and the prevailing note of dirty khaki gave them the 
 appearance of prisoners put out to work. Kirk counted 
 upward of seventy men advancing toward him. He de- 
 scended the ratlines, curious indeed to meet his new com- 
 panions, and eager to fraternize with them. By the time 
 he reached the ground he was face to face with the vanguard, 
 who greeted him good-naturedly. 
 
 " Hello, Bill," said one. 
 
 "What's your name, old fellow?" asked another. 
 
 "Ain't he a toff!" exclaimed the third. "I say, boys, 
 they've sent us a blooming dook ! " 
 
 Others thronged about him. Kirk felt like a new boy 
 at school. He was embarrassed under the stare of so many 
 eyes. He was relieved by a little man bustling up who 
 had an unmistakable air of authority, and yet withal so 
 kind and smiling a look that Kirk was instantly drawn 
 to him. He was about thirty, thin, boyish, and alert, with 
 gold spectacles through which danced a pair of bright brown 
 eyes. 
 
 " How do you do? " he said, putting out a hand as small 
 as a girl's. " I'm Crawshaw Lionel Crawshaw and you 
 are the new chap that arrived last night? Glad to see you. 
 Hope we'll be friends. Now then, fellows, go on ! " His 
 tone was almost pleading, but Kirk noticed that he was 
 obeyed promptly. He was an Englishman of a modern and 
 
 162 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 little known type, the product of polytechnical schools and 
 cheap higher education, a highly trained, highly specialized 
 man who had never seen the inside of a college. 
 
 " You must go back and report to Captain Jackson," he 
 said. " His office is in the big tent there in the center. I'm 
 in charge of the engineering squad. Is it in your line at all ? 
 Hope it is, for we are frightfully short-handed. Oh, you've 
 had a little experience with steam engines ! Well, every little 
 bit counts, you know and you tell him I'll be glad to have 
 you. If a chap has any aptitude in that direction I can 
 always make him useful. American, eh? That's good. 
 You'll take to it like a duck to water. You fellows always 
 do you and the colonials. Kirkpatrick is that it? Lewis 
 Kirkpatrick! Well, I must be off. Good-by. Don't let 
 the carpenters nab you ! " 
 
 With this final warning he turned away and scurried for 
 the stairs. By this time the ship was reverberating like a 
 factory. Hammers were flying, metal clanging, and the 
 decks were in an uproar which gradually grew deafening. 
 Seventy men were hard at work with a swing and a vigor 
 that knew no union restrictions. There was none of that 
 dawdling, systematized into a science, that preoccupies the 
 main energies of the ordinary laborer. The ship was as 
 animated as an ant-hill, and every ant was busy. It was 
 a stirring spectacle, and Kirk lingered for a while, too ab- 
 sorbed by it to turn away. 
 
 But recalling Crawshaw's instructions he at length 
 walked back to the camp, and directed himself to the center 
 tent. The front had been rolled up, and seated at a soli- 
 tary breakfast within was a tall, thin, baldish man in white 
 clothes. There was something very stiff and formidable in 
 his appearance. Martinet was stamped all over him, and 
 his gray mustache and side whiskers fairly bristled with 
 
 163 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 authority. Even his manner of devouring a banana was 
 provocative and insulting, and he drank his coffee in angry 
 little sips. 
 
 " Captain Jackson? " inquired Kirk. 
 
 He got a scowling look in reply. 
 
 " Mr. Crawshaw told me to report to you." 
 
 " Sir," added the captain, with a click of his teeth. 
 
 It was a moment before Kirk realized that he had been 
 corrected. 
 
 " To report to you, sir" he repeated. 
 
 The captain looked him up and down, and then thawed 
 somewhat. 
 
 " Come in," he said. 
 
 Kirk obeyed. 
 
 "Don't slouch like that! Haven't you a back? Stand 
 up straight and salute ! " 
 
 Kirk flushed, but he determined not to begin his first day 
 in Felicidad with a quarrel. He gulped down his resentment 
 and saluted. 
 
 " Now, my man," said the captain, " I want you to get 
 one thing in your head before we go any further. I am Cap- 
 tain Horatio H. B. Jackson, late of the United States Army 
 Transport Service, and I'm in command of this expedition. 
 However little you may like it, you will have to submit 
 to man-of-war discipline. Superior officers are to be saluted 
 whenever addressed, and I will not tolerate slackness or dis- 
 respect. There is only one way to run any organization of 
 men, and that is with an iron hand ! " 
 
 He raised it the iron hand and twirled his mustache 
 fiercely. 
 
 " Yes, sir," said Kirk. 
 
 "What's your name?" 
 
 " Lewis Kirkpatrick, sir." 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " You are the man that arrived last night in the 
 MoltM" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 "Had any sea experience?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Box the compass." 
 
 Kirk boxed it successfully. North, north by east, nor- 
 nor-east, etc. 
 
 "Navigate?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 Captain Jackson made a note of it in a little book. Kirk's 
 deferential demeanor had plainly made a good impression. 
 
 " We're busy just now in getting the ship to rights. Fit- 
 ting her up and all that. There's hardly any trade that we 
 don't need and need badly. We want to use every man to 
 the best advantage. How can you best help us? " 
 
 "Mr. Crawshaw wished to have me in the engineering 
 squad, sir." 
 
 " Ah, very good. Then report to him for duty after 
 breakfast. If you need anything from the paymaster's de- 
 partment, Mr. Crawshaw will make out the necessary requi- 
 sitions. You will mess at tent number four, and they will 
 see that you get a cot. You can go." 
 
 Kirk was glad to be dismissed. The captain's arrogance 
 irritated him, and it had only been by considerable self- 
 control that he had refrained from some sharp answers. But 
 he was an old campaigner, and he knew how foolish it would 
 be to start with the ill-will of his commanding officer. He 
 would do what he was told, and do it smiling, however much 
 it rubbed him the wrong way. Without being all things 
 to all men, he would try to earn a reputation for willing- 
 ness and good nature, and put a guard on both his temper 
 and his tongue. These last are responsible for most of the 
 
 165 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 world's failures. An ambitious man regards them as luxu- 
 ries that he is too poor to afford. There was promotion 
 ahead for somebody, and Kirk was resolved to be in line for it. 
 
 He had not the faintest idea of where to find mess tent 
 number four. Some of the tents were numbered, and some 
 were not, and there was not a soul in sight to ask. He 
 sought the tent where he had slept, found it empty, and tak- 
 ing it as a starting point, walked along the canvas street, 
 looking into every tent as he passed. He had not gone very 
 far when he discovered one that was occupied. Seated on a 
 wooden box was a fair, broad-shouldered young man in a 
 nightshirt, engaged in patching the seat of a pair of trousers. 
 In his right eye was a single eyeglass, so ludicrously out of 
 keeping with his single scanty garment that Kirk could not 
 restrain his laughter. 
 
 "Hello! "he said. 
 
 " Hello yourself," said the young man, in the pleasant 
 and unmistakable accents of a gentleman. There was some- 
 thing so frank, manly, and engaging in his address that Kirk 
 warmed to him at once. 
 
 " I'm looking for tent number four," he exclaimed. 
 
 " This is the very spot," said the young man. " Come 
 in and I'll get you a cup of coffee." 
 
 " Oh, I don't want to disturb you," protested Kirk. 
 
 " No bother," said the young man, putting down the 
 trousers. " The doctor has laid me off for a couple of days, 
 but I'm glad to lend a hand and make myself useful, you 
 know." He retired through the rear of the tent, and Kirk 
 heard the rattle of crockery and the sound of a fire being 
 poked up. A little later he returned, bearing a bowl of cof- 
 fee, some lumps of sugar, and a big slice of bread and butter. 
 
 " You'll get a real breakfast at eight o'clock," he said. 
 " But this will carry you on in the meanwhile." He laid 
 
 166 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the things on the board table, and impassively resumed his 
 tailoring. " You're new, of course? " he asked. 
 
 "Arrived last night," said Kirk. 
 
 "How many?" 
 
 " How many what? " 
 
 " Weren't there any others? " 
 
 " Oh, no that is just myself." Kirk hesitated to 
 name Vera Westbrook. 
 
 " How do you like Crazy-town ? " 
 
 " It it seems all right," said Kirk. " I haven't got my 
 bearings yet." 
 
 The young man sewed steadily. Kirk drank his coffee, 
 and took bites of bread and butter. There was something 
 pleasantly homelike, almost domestic, in the scene. 
 
 The young man was the first to break the silence. 
 
 " You look a good sort," he said. 
 
 " I am," said Kirk, smiling. 
 
 " My chum died two weeks ago of fever," went on the 
 young man, stitching hard. " It's pretty hard to have no 
 chum, and all the best fellows have been snapped up. Why 
 shouldn't you and I hit it off? " 
 
 " Love to," said Kirk. 
 
 " I'm St. Aubyn." 
 
 " I'm Kirkpatrick though everybody calls me Kirk." 
 
 They shook hands on it. 
 
 " Now, chum," said Kirk, leaning his elbows on the 
 table, " tell me all about this thing here who are the people, 
 and what's the ship, and what sort of tomfoolery is it, any- 
 how?" 
 
 167 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 'T. AUBYN settled his eyeglass, laid the trou- 
 sers on one side, and reached for a pipe that 
 was stuck in a pocket of the canvas. He 
 filled and lit it deliberately. 
 
 " Kirk," he said, " that's a pretty big 
 order. Let's begin with what I can't tell you the object 
 of the whole business the question that a fellow naturally 
 asks first. The idea is to sail away somewhere after some- 
 thing. Nobody knows exactly what it is none of us, at 
 least though the wiseacres say that it is an Inca's tomb, 
 or an ancient gold mine, or an extinct mint. Whatever it 
 is, it is situated in the No Man's Land to the southward 
 a country with hardly any game, not enough water to brush 
 your teeth with, and a million savages aching to fight us. 
 To penetrate such a region in the ordinary way is an im- 
 possibility." 
 
 " But what do the million savages drink? " inquired Kirk. 
 "Beer, or what?" 
 
 " Oh, there's water, of course," replied St. Aubyn, " but 
 the trouble is to find it. It's scattered about in dirty little 
 holes that you can pass within thirty feet of and never see. 
 Those fellows know where they are, and we don't. The 
 only way is to carry your own supply, and that's why we 
 are putting four thousand gallons into the Fortuna" 
 " So that's her name, is it ? " 
 
 " Yes, the Fortuna. Well, you see, to get down there, 
 lugging every pound of water and every pound of food 
 
 1 68 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and all this, mind you, with a big enough party to fight its 
 way through is a job that couldn't be done with horses or 
 oxen. A small party might make a dash at it, and trust to 
 luck, but the risk would be frightful. It would be ten to 
 one that they'd either die of thirst or hunger, or else be 
 massacred to a man. Besides, even if they got through, how 
 could they bring the stuff back? It must have seemed an 
 insurmountable problem till some one hit on the idea of a 
 ship. Here we have mobility, ample food and water, and 
 cargo space for all the gold in the Bank of England. Kirk, 
 it was a conception of genius ! " 
 
 " If it will work," assented the latter. " But this busi- 
 ness of putting sails to a traction engine, however brilliant 
 it may be in theory, has a practical side that makes a fellow 
 skeptical. Load her up with your food and water, put 
 aboard your crew and then, what if she sticks ? " 
 
 " Oh, we've seen her do it," exclaimed St. Aubyn. 
 " Gad, I never saw such a sight in my life. We tried her 
 out a week ago, and she sailed like a bird. She was a bit 
 sulky at first, but the moment she got moving there was 
 no holding her. By Jove, chum, I wish you had been 
 there! Nobody dreamed she would do it. I didn't my- 
 self. We all expected a fizzle, and the croakers were 
 knocked silly. She went off like an arrow, with a rattle 
 and a bang and a bumpty-bump that nearly jounced the 
 heads off us ! " 
 
 "How far did she go?" 
 
 " About a quarter of a mile." 
 
 "A quarter of a mile!" exclaimed Kirk. "Why, I 
 thought you were going to say sixty ! " 
 
 " One of the steering chains broke. It was too light for 
 the work, and it snapped like a piece of string. We had to 
 lower the sails in double-quick time, and just saved her from 
 
 169 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 going over. But it was a great success. She can sail all 
 right." 
 
 "Was she tried again?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " Oh, it showed that she could do it. Once that was 
 settled what was the good of wasting time? In fact, there 
 was a big row at headquarters over it, but Westbrook was 
 satisfied, and he carried the day. We are terribly behind- 
 hand as it is, what with the sickness we've had nineteen 
 deaths in two months and all sorts of heartbreaking delays 
 and bothers. The truth is, old fellow" (here St. Aubyn 
 lowered his voice to a deeply confidential key) "the whole 
 affair is only held together by one man. He's the plank 
 between us and eternity, and not much of a plank at that. 
 It's my belief that the expedition may collapse at any mo- 
 ment, and that if Westbrook died we might as well pack 
 up and call it all off." 
 
 " Westbrook ? Who's Westbrook ? " 
 
 " Oh, chum, a splendid old fellow. You must have 
 heard his name. He's the great gunman the Yankee in- 
 ventor who's been settled in England and making guns for 
 the British Government for the last twelve years. Ezra 
 Westbrook and Company Limited. The Fortuna was his 
 idea, his invention, and he's the only one of our bosses who 
 has any sense or any manners. A fine old chap, with a 
 splendid energy that overrides everything even his ill health. 
 He was the first to get the fever, and has never really shaken 
 it off. Poor old fellow, it's all he can do to totter about, 
 and two months ago we thought he was going to die. But 
 ill as he is, he is the master mind of the enterprise, and the 
 one that holds things together. Without him it would all 
 tumble like a card house." 
 
 170 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Who are the rest of them? " 
 
 " Well, there's Jackson. You had a little talk with him, 
 didn't you? That was enough, wasn't it? They say he was 
 dropped from the transport service because of insanity. This 
 was about his sole qualification to be put in charge of us at 
 least, nobody can see any other. He's a great big overbear- 
 ing, domineering ass, with a genius for making mischief and 
 inventing trouble. Not incompetent he knows his business 
 he's all right when it comes to ships but childishly vain, 
 childishly pretentious always looking for slights, and find- 
 ing them. And worst of all he isn't loyal. He's been dead 
 against the affair since the beginning. He makes hardly any 
 secret of his incredulity. You can imagine how depressing 
 that is for us fellows under him. It may be the most idiotic 
 folly, but it doesn't become him to assert it. Not that he 
 does so in words, but his whole attitude is one of hopeless- 
 ness, and I-told-you-so. He made you salute him, didn't 
 he? Well, we've had more rumpus over that saluting than 
 in building the Fortuna, and there you have the man's char- 
 acter in a nutshell." 
 
 " Why doesn't Westbrook get rid of him? " 
 
 " Can't." 
 
 "Why can't he?" 
 
 " Because there you run against the widow? " 
 
 "Who's the widow?" 
 
 St. Aubyn laughed, and taking the pipe from his mouth, 
 blew out a cloud of smoke. 
 
 " She's an old lady," he went on mirthfully, " a wonder- 
 ful old lady, as rich as Croesus, and as cracked as a March 
 hare, who has put up all the money. Mrs. Poulteney Hitch- 
 cock! By Jove, Kirk, it's a rum world and no mistake! 
 There she was living in Paris, a rich old American with a 
 million a minute, when somehow or other she met Dr. Von 
 12 171 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Zedtwitz, and got this bee in her bonnet. Heaven knows 
 what it has cost her already, or what it may let her in for 
 though that's the least of it. She's a thoroughbred with her 
 money, and never counts the change. Anyhow, she took up 
 the scheme with volcanic enthusiasm, and never rested a sec- 
 ond till it was in shape and moving. They say she went to 
 Westbrook, sent in her card, and laid the problem before 
 him. ' You're an inventor,' she said. ' You have brains, 
 I have money. Is a land-ship feasible and if it is, will you 
 build it ? I don't mind what it costs, but you must guarantee 
 to have it work.' Westbrook tried to dissuade her. He 
 told me himself that at first he regarded her as a lunatic 
 and attempted to get rid of her. But she wouldn't be got 
 rid of. She hung on. He took a week to think it over, and 
 then began to get excited himself and see possibilities. At 
 first he went into it more as a joke than anything else a 
 sort of scientific escapade, you know. But his interest soon 
 changed into downright seriousness. 
 
 " You know the Fortuna is built of aluminum and you 
 know also that aluminum is the lightest metal that exists? 
 Haven't you ever wondered why it is not used more? I 
 mean in general engineering? Well, I will tell you. No- 
 body has ever been able to braze it properly solder it to- 
 gether, you know. Oh, yes, it's done after a fashion, of 
 course, as with airships and saucepan handles and such 
 things but not really practically. So far it has been like 
 building wooden houses with tacks instead of nails. Well, 
 Westbrook got that missing solder. Took him a year, but 
 he got it. Ran it down and bagged it. It's a conglomeration 
 of silver, copper, gold, and platinum, and the secret of it all 
 will be worth a fortune. Crawshaw says it will put alu- 
 minum second to steel. 
 
 " Expensive? Well, I should say it was! But, for that 
 172 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 matter, so is balloon silk for sails in place of canvas. You 
 noticed that, didn't you? Oh, yes, to save weight. Every- 
 thing to save weight. Hickory, bamboo, silk rope, nickel 
 steel, Norwegian iron wire every pound is counted. They 
 even say that fat men will be discriminated against! Why, 
 even our blankets were specially manufactured of the finest 
 and lightest wool the same idea, you see. Not even boots 
 only slippers! Light marching order, and nothing carried 
 that can possibly be felt." 
 
 St. Aubyn stopped and puffed vigorously at his pipe. 
 
 " Now you know all I do," he remarked. 
 
 "Not quite," said Kirk. "Let's get along to Dr. Von 
 Zedtwitz. You haven't told me about him yet. In the 
 who's who of this business where does he come in ? " 
 
 " Oh, he's our Columbus," returned St. Aubyn. " A 
 Prussian Columbus with a Viking beard. A man about fifty 
 big, thickset, and paunchy. He's had charge of the trans- 
 portation, and consequently till lately we've seen but little 
 of him. The steamers are in his department, and the mails, 
 and the whole task of getting things up here. It must be 
 said that he has done it magnificently. ' My yob,' he calls 
 it. He not only speaks Spanish, which none of the rest can 
 do, but he has a smattering of Indian dialects. He knows all 
 this country like the palm of his hand, and is one of those 
 indefatigable, cast-iron, shove-it-along chaps that go at a 
 thing like a bull. I take my hat off to Zeddy. He's a Teu- 
 tonic whirlwind of capacity and enterprise. A bit coarse 
 and rough, and often tipsy, but, by Jove, chum, he shines 
 out in the general muddle like a diamond. If the Fortuna 
 ever does sail it will be due to him and Westbrook." 
 
 "So those are our leaders?" said Kirk. "Westbrook, 
 Von Zedtwitz, Mrs. Poulteney Hitchcock, and Jackson is 
 that right ? " 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Yes," returned St. Aubyn. " They constitute a sort of 
 board of directors, with Jackson as the mouthpiece. There 
 are a couple of more at headquarters, but they don't count 
 particularly McCann, the paymaster, and Phillips, the 
 doctor. But those you name are the Big Four, as we call 
 them. Though if Westbrook could manage it, it would 
 boil down to a Big Three. He can't hide his dislike of Jack- 
 son, and has moved heaven and earth to get him out. But 
 the captain is on the soft side of the old lady, and as she has 
 put up all the money or the best part of it the brute sticks, 
 and nothing can budge him. A shame, isn't it? The crazy 
 ass will end by ruining everything, if he hasn't done so 
 already. It makes me hot to think of it, because, on the 
 whole, we've shown a pretty fine spirit, and have worked like 
 Turks, and deserve to get some kind of a run for our money. 
 To break up now, on the very eve of success, would be pretty 
 hard, wouldn't it ? " 
 
 Kirk nodded his head in silent assent. 
 
 An alarm clock went off in the rear quarter somewhere. 
 St. Aubyn jumped to his feet, and even as he did so a flap 
 was raised, revealing a very bronzed countenance, seamed 
 and weatherbeaten, together with one hairy hand. 
 
 " Time to set the table," said the apparition. 
 
 " Come in, Hildebrand," cried St. Aubyn. " Here's a 
 new chap want you to meet him ! " 
 
 The newcomer obeyed. He was a short, dark man with 
 piercing black eyes, clothed in pyjamas, and with a cook's 
 apron round his waist. 
 
 " Major Hildebrand, late of the Austrian army," said 
 St. Aubyn, by way of introduction, " and the best cook in 
 camp. Sad to see a cavalryman so reduced, but we've all 
 come down a peg in Felicidad. Major Hildebrand, this is 
 Mr. Lewis Kirkpatrick! " 
 
 174 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 The pair shook hands. 
 
 " Welcome to camp," said the ex-cavalryman. " Hope 
 you've brought some potatoes with you ? " 
 
 " I don't remember seeing any." 
 
 Hildebrand went through with a boisterous pantomime 
 of despair. 
 
 " I have a reputation to keep up," he said, " but how can 
 I do it with nothing but can, can, can! That De Ruyter 
 is a Dutch thief, and pilfers everything on the way. I will 
 go down and pull his nose after breakfast. Potatoes or blood ! 
 I was promised sixteen crates, and if one is missing, I will 
 call him out and shoot him, Austrian fashion." 
 
 The little officer looked quite capable of doing it, and 
 he was expatiating further on the subject, with much noise 
 and gesticulation, when a hissing in the kitchen caused him 
 to dart out. St. Aubyn began to spread the table with tin 
 cups and plates which he brought in on a huge tray. Kirk 
 insisted on helping him, and together they soon had the table 
 spread for twenty-two men. They were in the midst of 
 these domesticities when the major popped his head in and 
 wanted to know the latest news of the " crisis in Hungary." 
 
 Kirk did not know that there had been a crisis in Hun- 
 gary, and for the moment was nonplussed. But he hastened 
 to assure Hildebrand that it had passed. 
 
 " And Kossuth ? " cried the little major. " What is the 
 last intelligence of Kossuth ? " 
 
 " Busy as ever," said Kirk solemnly. It seemed a safe 
 statement, and committed him to nothing. 
 
 " He's a dirty dog," exclaimed the major, and forthwith 
 disappeared. 
 
 A few minutes later they were invaded by a swarm 
 of men who tramped in noisily and crowded the benches 
 like a parcel of schoolboys, shoving and joking, as each one 
 
 175 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 sought his accustomed place. St. Aubyn put Kirk between 
 a six-foot-three Australian and a long-nosed Cockney Jew, 
 and then bustled off to get an immense coffee pot with which 
 he began to fill the cups. The major appeared with a platter 
 of corned-beef hash and a capacious sea pie, both of which 
 he served from an adjoining table with a celerity and dash 
 that spoke of long practice. Above the clatter of knives and 
 forks voices could be heard demanding: "After you with 
 the milk! Here, Bobby, coffee! Say, old man, fill her up 
 again, will you ! " Bobby, as St. Aubyn was familiarly called, 
 was kept on the rush, while the major circled about the 
 table, grabbing empty tin plates and refilling them from the 
 sideboard. It was a vigorous performance, interspersed with 
 laughter and chaff, and if anyone were overlooked he yelled 
 out the fact at the top of his lungs. There were twenty-two 
 hungry men to be fed, and for fifteen minutes Bobby and 
 the major had to dance. Then things gradually quieted 
 down. Pipes, cigarettes, and cigars appeared. Plates were 
 pushed back. Elbows settled contentedly on the table. 
 Breakfast, except in the case of two or three, was over, and 
 tobacco and lethargy was now the order of the day. 
 
 Kirk thought he had never seen such a remarkable col- 
 lection of men. Individuality, character, resolution, stood 
 written on every face. Aquiline features predominated big 
 noses and strong jaws. The majority were of a superior 
 class, and many had the unmistakable accents of gentle- 
 men. Anglo-Saxons predominated Englishmen, Americans, 
 Scotchmen, Irishmen, Australians, Canadians all in the 
 prime of life. Broad shoulders and deep chests were the 
 rule, and the average of good looks was high. They were a 
 handsome, fearless, reckless-looking set, superb rebels from 
 the countinghouse and office, with none of the grocer in- 
 stincts of civilization. The noble savages of their generation, 
 
 176 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 who, after a more or less futile attempt to adjust themselves 
 to money getting, threw up a struggle for which they were 
 so little fitted, and hied themselves to the other end of the 
 earth. There, at any rate, they found others like themselves, 
 and congenial company, hardships, and dangers. 
 
 " Who's that chap over there ? " inquired Kirk of the 
 Australian beside him, and indicating a striking looking man 
 with a scar across his cheek. 
 
 " Moulson," returned the Australian shortly. 
 
 " No, I don't mean his name. Where does he come from ? 
 What's his history?" 
 
 The Australian laid down his knife and fork. 
 
 " See here," he said quietly, " you're new to the camp. 
 Take a word of advice. Don't concern yourself with what 
 other fellows were back home. Savvy? " 
 
 " Oh, I didn't mean any harm. I I " 
 
 " It's the unwritten law, you know. Live and let live 
 that's our motter. And a bally good one, too." 
 
 Kirk expressed contrition. 
 
 The Australian looked mollified, and added, not un- 
 kindly: " What if you were to be put through your facings? " 
 
 Kirk judged it wiser not to say that he would not have 
 shrunk from the ordeal. The Australian's air implied too 
 plainly that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. 
 
 " I was a rotten bad egg myself," said the latter, shoveling 
 in a mouthful of hash. " But what business is that of yours, 
 or anybody's? " 
 
 " No offense," said Kirk. 
 
 " Won't mind my mentioning it? " 
 
 " Why, certainly not. Glad you did." 
 
 " It makes everybody feel more comfortable, you know. 
 You'll find it so yourself. We don't ask any questions. We 
 take a man as he is. It's the only way." 
 
 177 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Yes, indeed," assented Kirk. 
 
 Then the man on the other side of him bore in the 
 long-nosed Jew. He was an agreeable fellow, with unex- 
 pected humor and refinement. He was a violinist, and ex- 
 pressed the hope that Kirk had some musical abilities. He 
 had managed to get a little orchestra together, he said, and 
 was always on the lookout for fresh recruits. Kirk, con- 
 fessed, with some embarrassment, that he " sang a little." 
 Cohen was delighted to hear it, and still more when he 
 brought out the fact that Kirk had been the second tenor 
 in a quartet. Kirk blushed at the recollection. 
 
 " It was only in Uncle Tom's Cabin," he said. " I was 
 blacked up, and used to help out little Eva's deathbed with 
 nigger melodies the slave quartet, you know. We were 
 supposed to be quite a feature of the show, and the audience 
 when there was any certainly used to snuffle whenever 
 we got a good whack at them. We'd tremolo the pathos, 
 while a transparency revealed pink angels, and Uncle Tom 
 being assisted into heaven ! " 
 
 The ice thus broken contributed to further confidences 
 on each side. Others gathered about them, and there was a 
 general introducing and handshaking. Had it not been for 
 the overalls, the rolled-up sleeves, the horny, calloused hands, 
 Kirk might have thought himself in some pleasant club. 
 There was the same good-fellowship, the same easy and 
 cordial manners. Kirk liked his new companions, and they 
 e adently liked him, and a pleasant fraternization made him 
 soon feel at home. Apparently the land-ship and the object 
 of the enterprise had probably become stale subjects. At 
 least, neither was touched upon in their talk, which turned 
 more on the trivialities of their every-day existence, with 
 jokes and personalities that left Kirk somewhat in the dark. 
 But he learned two things. " He " always referred to Cap- 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 tain Jackson, and " she " to Mrs. Poulteney Hitchcock. 
 " He " was the butt of everyone's scorn, and the laughter 
 and derision was always the loudest when anything was told 
 to his disadvantage. " She " was let off more lightly, and 
 did not lack for defenders. The attitude of the mess toward 
 her was kindly and humorous, and the shafts of their ridi- 
 cule were not barbed. But the captain was the common 
 enemy, the detested tyrant, whose vagaries, affectations, and 
 domineering ways were bitterly assailed. 
 
 At nine o'clock, as they trooped back to work, Cohen 
 enlightened Kirk as to the relations existing between " he " 
 and " she." 
 
 " Jackson is playing a double game," he said. " The only 
 treasure he is after is the old lady's money, and if he could 
 persuade her to marry him he would drop all this like a hot 
 potato. He's a schemer and a funker, and deliberately makes 
 every difficulty that he can in order to discourage us and 
 keep us back. Of course, he dares not show his hand too 
 openly for fear of scaring his bird, who, to do her justice, is 
 the keenest of us all to pull the thing off. But drops of 
 water will wear away a stone, you know, and as she is very 
 smitten with him it is impossible to tell what may not happen. 
 Can't you see how it all works out? His worrying about her 
 dear, darling, precious health, and her worrying about his? 
 He's afraid to make the great coup of getting the fever 
 pretending to, I mean lest he might be deposed from the 
 command and put out of harm's way. He can't count too 
 confidently on the old lady, so he lets it go at rolling up 
 his eyes and doing suffering martyr, the beast besides set- 
 ting everybody by the ears, and hampering us in a thou- 
 sand underhanded ways. He's a low, calculating scoun- 
 drel, and we shall never move a yard if he can possibly 
 
 prevent it! " 
 
 179 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " But can't anybody undeceive her about him ? Show him 
 up? Expose him?" 
 
 " Yes, Westbrook has tried to, and so did old Zeddy, but 
 they were both too worked up to have the necessary tact 
 Westbrook never had much, and Zeddy never had any. It 
 was rather insulting to the old lady to be told that nobody 
 could care for her except for her money and I fancy that 
 was about how they put it. Their interference only did us 
 more harm, for as they are now hardly on speaking terms 
 with the captain this has doubled his chances of being alone 
 with her. She's a queer old person, and rather likes being 
 the storm center. The right way would have been to make 
 much of her, and have hoisted the captain on his own petard. 
 But they weren't Machiavellian enough for that." 
 
 Cohen sighed. 
 
 " Frankly," said Kirk, " what's your opinion of it all? " 
 
 " I haven't any." 
 
 " But will this contrivance actually sail ? " 
 
 " It did once." 
 
 " And what are we going for? " 
 
 " God knows." 
 
 " It is a treasure-hunting business of some kind surely." 
 
 " That's the general impression." 
 
 " But what do you think? " 
 
 " I don't think. I just go on from day to day and 
 wonder." 
 
 "Wonder at what?" 
 
 "At every thing!" 
 
 180 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 S he drew near the Fortuna again Kirk's amaze- 
 ment was even greater than before. The 
 audacity of such a conception struck him 
 dumb. Her towering masts, her gigantic 
 wheels, her lofty superstructure, at once 
 daunted and fascinated him. The boldness of the idea, and 
 the boldness of its accomplishment took his breath away. 
 She seemed to have grown bigger, longer, more colossal in 
 the interval of his absence. His mind had unconsciously 
 dwarfed her in recollection, unable to retain the vastness 
 of her bulk. The enormous fabric, looming high above him, 
 stirred him as it might some runaway country boy at the 
 first sight of a deep-water ship. He had something of the 
 same surprise, the same awe, the same delighted bewilder- 
 ment. 
 
 But he was given no time to fully satisfy these sensations. 
 He followed his party aboard, and hastened to report himself 
 to Mr. Crawshaw. The little engineer, in the center of a 
 busy throng, was hard at work on his gas engine. The eight 
 cylinders were in position, together with the drums, ratio 
 gears, clutches, and other more important parts of a powerful 
 gasoline winch. But the lesser details and .adjustments had 
 yet to be seen to, and these were claiming the energies of the 
 mechanics. Kirk got a smile, an encouraging word, and 
 then found himself on his knees with a pair of pliers in his 
 hand, and the job before him of making fast a number of 
 hose connections. Crawshaw himself was installing the mag- 
 
 181 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 nets, but his eyes were everywhere, and nothing escaped him. 
 No one had a chance to blunder. He seemed to see through 
 the back of his head. His perky voice forestalled all 
 questions. 
 
 " You've forgotten the shim, Joe ! No, no, the other 
 end, Charlie! Where's your washer, Bill? See that she 
 seats right first hammering's no good ! Here, I'll show you, 
 Kirkpatrick ! " And so it went with an unvarying good 
 nature that nothing could ruffle. 
 
 All about them was the clang of hammers, the tramp of 
 feet, the ringing of metal, and the hoarse, confused buzz of 
 seventy men hard at work shouts, orders, sullen reverbera- 
 tions, the sound of tackles clattering, banging, forges roar- 
 ing, anvils reechoing musically under the sledge, drills 
 crunching an exhilarating pandemonium of vigorous and 
 well-directed effort, not a blow wasted, and every man eager 
 to do his best. 
 
 As the sun mounted toward the zenith the heat grew 
 intense. A spare topsail was triced up by way of an awning, 
 and roughly guyed out to protect the mechanics, but it served 
 little to mitigate the ovenlike rays. Everyone worked in a 
 bath of perspiration. The metal deck was roasting. The 
 eyes were blinded by a persistent trickle of sweat. But still 
 the work went on with the same determination. There was 
 a breaker of lukewarm water mixed with oatmeal. The 
 combination was supposed to be good for allaying thirst. 
 But the men emptied it entirely, and called for another, and 
 then another. The tinkle of the tin cup and chain was con- 
 tinuous. Some one was always drinking, and there was usu- 
 ally another waiting to take the utensil from his hand. 
 
 'By eleven o'clock the forward winch was not only fin- 
 ished, but was in active operation. The lower-deck gangs 
 had no longer to hoist up their material with a yeo-heave- 
 
 182 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 yeo. The winch did it for them the first load being received 
 with cheers. Then work was begun on the after winch the 
 exact duplicate of the other and by noon the bedplate was 
 laid and securely locked. 
 
 There was a brass bell on the bridge, and it was rung 
 loudly as a signal for knocking off. To Kirk it seemed the 
 most welcome sound he had ever heard in his life. He was 
 dizzy and faint with the unaccustomed labor, performed 
 under such trying conditions, and his voice rose with the 
 rest in a yell of satisfaction. This was one of the time- 
 honored customs of the camp, and it was a point of pride 
 with everyone to make all the hullabaloo possible at the first 
 stroke of the bell. It had for them the added zest of some- 
 thing forbidden by the detested Jackson. It jarred on his 
 rigid naval notions, and he had done his utmost to suppress 
 it. But in spite of all his efforts he was met by a tacit rebel- 
 lion, and twice a day his ears were affronted by that mighty 
 shout. 
 
 Kirk followed his companions back to camp, where St. 
 Aubyn and the major had a capital dinner awaiting them. 
 The circumstances were much the same as at breakfast. The 
 tin plates, the clatter, the languor, the smoke. The interval 
 was longer, however, being from twelve to two. These were 
 the most sweltering hours of the day. There was less talk 
 and laughter, fewer stories. Many of the men stretched 
 out on the floor and dozed off to sleep. Some even had 
 places that had grown to be regarded as their own, and 
 which it was bad form for others to annex. St. Aubyn, clear- 
 ing the table, stepped carefully between the recumbent fig- 
 ures. The mutual consideration, the good-fellowship, the 
 kindness of it all, struck Kirk very pleasantly. It was Lib- 
 erty Hall, and everyone was allowed to do as he pleased. 
 You could sleep on your head if you wanted to, and if you 
 
 183 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 fancied some special corner it speedily became your own. 
 You could borrow anything you wanted, and take it almost 
 as a right. Men of the right stamp those who have trav- 
 eled and roughed it fall very naturally into community life, 
 and shed all the ordinary little meannesses and selfishnesses 
 as readily as they do their good clothes. Such an association 
 engenders the primitive virtues, and submission to public 
 opinion becomes instinctive. 
 
 At two o'clock the order was given to turn to again. 
 They straggled out into the blazing sunlight, and took the 
 track for the Fortuna. It was a sleepy, yawning, listless 
 procession, and none of them became really wide awake till 
 the foremen marshaled them to their respective tasks. Then, 
 as the clang and uproar recommenced they threw off their 
 lethargy, and bent to work with a will. 
 
 The after winch was the rendezvous for Crawshaw's 
 men. They assembled about it with their tools while the 
 little engineer assigned them their various jobs. Kirk had 
 grown more adept since the morning. He had got the prin- 
 ciple of the thing into his head, and was consequently much 
 better able to carry out his instructions. Crawshaw noticed 
 his improvement and commended him. The praise did Kirk 
 good. He felt less at a disadvantage with the others, and 
 forgot the heat, the flies, and the dead stifling air. The 
 approbation spurred him on, and he laughed and joked with 
 his comrades, unmindful of anything but the task in hand. 
 He learned incidentally that the engine they were assembling 
 had been especially built in France, weighed but seven hun- 
 dred pounds, and was capable of producing one hundred and 
 twenty horse-power, a marvel of lightness and strength. 
 With the aid of the drums and a wire cable the Fortuna, 
 if necessary, could extricate herself from any difficult place, 
 and proceed, after a fashion, under her own power at a 
 
 184 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 snail's pace, of course, and at an unwarrantable expense of 
 gasoline, but it was expected to save her, at any rate, from 
 actually being stuck anywhere. In the event of a capsize the 
 winches could be removed to the ground, anchored, and 
 used to right her. The sails, too, could be hoisted by this 
 means, and the men saved much heavy labor. Indeed, these 
 two compact, economical engines were regarded as the most 
 important parts of the outfit, and represented a wealth of 
 potential energy. 
 
 By half-past three the Trades began to blow, and the 
 worst of the day was over. A delicious coolness revived the 
 weary and drooping men, and they bared their heads, and 
 breathed in deep inhalations as the wind made the awnings 
 flap and swept the decks with a welcome boisterousness. 
 Ah, the wind in days to come Kirk learned to wait for it 
 with consuming eagerness. It brought life, strength, and 
 courage. It divided the day from hell into heaven. Even 
 in the most oppressive hours it gave something to look for- 
 ward to, and therefore, like mercy, was twice blessed. The 
 boys called it " the corpse-reviver," and some of the topers 
 even went the length of comparing it favorably with beer. 
 
 Shortly after the wind sprang up the noise on the lower 
 deck ceased, and the ship became strangely quiet. Kirk won- 
 dered what had happened, and was on the point of inquiring 
 of his companions when he was electrified to see a pink para- 
 sol emerging from the companion. He knew in a moment 
 whose it was, and his heart gave a leap. Miss Westbrook 
 appeared on the arm of an oldish, distinguished-looking man, 
 whose pale face and thin, frail figure betrayed considerable 
 physical weakness. He had a shawl pinned about his shoul- 
 ders, and walked with the painful deliberation of an invalid. 
 He rested at the head of the companion, holding to the coam- 
 ing of the hatch as though to steady himself. With the pair 
 
 185 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 was a third person, a woman of about sixty. She was of 
 medium height, somewhat stout, with a dark, sallow, viva- 
 cious face, all puckered up with smiles. There was something 
 mannish in the cut of her costume, and the bright feather 
 run through her felt hat added a note of elderly skittishness. 
 She had a tough, robust, weatherbeaten look that contrasted 
 with the old man's evident languor and the girl's delicate 
 and flowerlike beauty, and her incessant smiling, giggling, 
 and grimacing affected Kirk somewhat unpleasantly. 
 
 There was a general stir at the sight of the newcomers. 
 Work slackened, and everyone straightened up as though for 
 inspection. None of the men had seen Miss Westbrook be- 
 fore, and there were subdued murmurs of admiration, and 
 much covert curiosity as they gazed at her. Crawshaw came 
 forward, cap in hand, and was introduced, blushing under 
 the ordeal like a self-conscious boy. The others watched him 
 enviously, and craned their necks to listen as the old gentle- 
 man said: "Crawshaw, this is my daughter Vera, Mr. 
 Crawshaw, my right-hand man." The old lady tittered 
 genially, and made some jeering remarks that were inaudible. 
 Crawshaw led them to the winch, and forthwith plunged 
 into a technical discussion with his superior, while Mrs. 
 Poulteney Hitchcock for it was she herself listened with 
 a poll-parrot expression and a mischievous gleam in her crazy 
 eyes. 
 
 Vera, demure and silent, seemed unaware of the atten- 
 tion she excited. She held to her father's arm, and looked 
 about shyly, her face lighting as she beheld Kirk. He had 
 been waiting for that glance of recognition, and wondering 
 how he ought to receive it. He was unprepared for her 
 coming over to him and extending her hand. He took it a 
 little sheepishly, very conscious of their altered positions and 
 of the astonishment of his companions. He was embarrassed 
 
 186 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 at thus being singled out before them, and found some dif- 
 ficulty in answering her greeting in the same gay and cordial 
 tone. But she had hardly more than said his name when 
 Mr. Westbrook caught it, and turning away from Craw- 
 shaw, he also came over to Kirk. 
 
 " I am very glad to meet you," he said, a little con- 
 strainedly. " I feel under a great obligation to you, Mr. 
 Kirkpatrick. Very much in your debt, sir very much in 
 your debt. If you could make it convenient I should be happy 
 to have you call on us this evening. After eight ? Very 
 good, very good I shall look forward to it." 
 
 Then Mrs. Hitchcock bustled up. 
 
 " So you are Mr. Kirkpatrick, hee-hee! I'm the mother 
 of the ship, you know, and you are the new baby, hee-hee! 
 Over a hundred of them like the old lady that lived in a 
 shoe! What do you think of sailing over the land? But 
 we'll do it in spite of the croakers! If only every man will 
 do his duty, hee-hee! And we'll go home rich and live hap- 
 pily ever afterwards. Live in Paris, you know. No place 
 like Paris. Don't you like Paris best I do ? Tres gai f ires 
 gai always something for every minute of the day! And 
 how they'll lionize us! We'll be invited everywhere to tell 
 about it. Afterwards I'm going to get Mr. Crawshaw to 
 make me a model of the Fortuna hee-hee in miniature, you 
 know and put it in a special room all by itself! " 
 
 She rattled on in this queer, familiar, scatter-brain sort 
 of way, never waiting for an answer, and incessantly nod- 
 ding and grinning like a marionette. Kirk did not know 
 what to make of her, and he was greatly relieved when the 
 party passed on and mounted the bridge. Vera smiled to him 
 in farewell, and her face expressed something of his own 
 perplexity and surprise. The old lady seemed hardly better 
 than half-witted, and it was disturbing to think of her being 
 13 187 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the mainspring of the enterprise. It took on a more ominous 
 aspect, too, and he could not but marvel at the acquiescence 
 of his companion in trusting their fate to a mad woman. 
 He timidly expressed himself on the subject, but only got 
 laughed at. 
 
 " Of course, she's crazy," said Crawshaw. " But her 
 money's good, isn't it? And it's only crazy people, anyhow, 
 who can take up revolutionary ideas and work them out. It 
 takes a tomfool, mad-hatter sort of courage to back any new 
 invention. Those hard-headed men you read about are 
 always the last to get into line. They see all the difficulties, 
 and are still discussing them while the idiot is romping home 
 with his submarine, or wireless, or land-ship, or whatever 
 it is. Then the hard-headed men begin to brag about the 
 wonders of the twentieth century, and forget how they re- 
 sisted them tooth and nail ! " 
 
 This was received with a hearty chorus of approval. 
 There was no doubt of Mrs. Poulteney Hitchcock's popu- 
 larity. Her readiness to buttonhole anyone indefinitely was 
 regarded as a proof of democratic spirit. She was generous, 
 too, in righting any little injustices. She would always come 
 and see you if you were ill. If you died she would cry over 
 you. The universal judgment was that she was a " gay old 
 bird " and a " brick." 
 
 At half past five work was knocked off for the day. As 
 Kirk descended to the lower deck he was pleased to notice 
 how much was being accomplished. It was possible to see 
 something of the scheme of cabins, saloon, and passageways. 
 The draughty oblong was being floored, screened, and di- 
 vided. It was assuming a ship look, and the spidery frame- 
 work was disappearing behind stretches of sheet aluminum 
 as thin as paper. There were gaps for doors and windows, 
 for ventilator shafts and skylights. On the ground below 
 
 188 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the ship, and raised on jacks, were two shallow water tanks 
 in process of being built into the fabric one forward, one 
 aft, their weight being thus divided, and the strain carried 
 near the trucks. Altogether a very respectable progress had 
 been made for the day, and if it were to be maintained things 
 would soon be in shape for the start. 
 
 Kirk went back to camp exceedingly content. 
 
 At supper, however, he had to endure a disagreeable 
 amount of questioning and innuendo. Vera Westbrook was 
 the sole topic at table, and though the talk was always within 
 bounds, it vexed Kirk to hear her discussed so freely. The 
 whole camp was buzzing with her arrival. It was- the 
 sensation of the moment, and a big one, and Kirk, as her 
 fellow-passenger, came in for an uncomfortable amount of 
 attention. He put on a stupid, artless air, and parried with 
 a skillful bluntness inquiries that he could not well refuse 
 to answer. To speak for her, to seem to champion her he 
 instinctively felt would imply a friendship that might do her 
 harm. She had kept much to herself, he said. He had not 
 presumed to do more than offer her the ordinary courtesies. 
 She was a very nice young lady. It pleased him to see that 
 he rather lost ground with his companions. He was plainly 
 a dull fellow who had lacked the audacity to make good 
 use of his opportunities. A chump, in fact. 
 
 The chump was very glad to be relegated to this de- 
 spised class. He disliked to hear her name on those men's 
 lips, and resented more than anything insinuations of the 
 lucky-dog order. Yet to show anger would be to put the 
 cap on his head. He was oversensitive, because he was much 
 in love. He hated even to have his divinity admired, to 
 hear her called a " stunner," to listen to all their extrava- 
 gant speculations about her. The arrival of a young and 
 exceedingly pretty woman in a camp full of men was calcu- 
 
 189 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 lated to cause a stir. The mess could talk of nothing else, 
 and Kirk was relieved, indeed, when he managed to get 
 away and smoke a cigar under the stars. 
 
 At eight o'clock, dressed and shaved, he started off to 
 make his call. He found Mr. Westbrook and Vera in their 
 sitting-room tent, the latter reading an English newspaper 
 aloud to her father. Kirk was greeted cordially, although a 
 little formally, and was asked to sit down. He felt nervous 
 under the old man's penetrating gaze, and his heart sank at 
 the rather stereotyped expression of thanks that he was con- 
 demned to listen to for the second time that day. Every 
 word seemed to widen the social distance. He replied as best 
 he could, and grew acutely unhappy. There was no real 
 warmth in the old man's manner. But he was an honest old 
 man, and paid his debts. He wrote out Kirk a social check. 
 The latter had a melancholy feeling that he ought to pocket 
 it and go home. Vera was very grave and silent, though her 
 eyes often sought Kirk's in a lingering glance. A conversa- 
 tion was with difficulty kept alive. Mr. Westbrook de- 
 scribed the various experiments he had made to determine 
 ground resistance in designing the Fortuna. It was all very 
 abstruse and difficult to follow. The old gentleman got 
 rather indignant at his stupidity. Kirk was given a paper 
 full of curves, and had to effect an intelligence that was 
 almost feverish. Altogether it was most depressing. He 
 could not get the curves into his head. He answered every 
 question wrong. He mixed up the coefficients of one thing 
 with the coefficients of something entirely different. He sat 
 there hot with shame, wondering what Vera could think of 
 him. 
 
 She had never seemed so beautiful to him as she did that 
 night. Never so remote, so utterly beyond those preposterous 
 hopes he had cherished so guiltily in his heart of hearts. She 
 
 190 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 was dressed in a kimono, dark blue in color, and richly em- 
 broidered with gold, which was open at the neck, displaying 
 to perfection her round, white throat, and the classic model- 
 ing of her mouth and chin. It tormented Kirk to look at 
 her, and yet he could not keep his eyes away. He ought to 
 have concentrated every faculty in making himself agreeable 
 to her father in understanding curves, in brightening up 
 at coefficients but instead he sat there like a clod, with a 
 funereal expression that not only wrote him down an ass, 
 but a boor. It was the Waterloo of all his day dreams. He 
 went down in his own estimation. Smarting with defeat, 
 he would gladly have gone away to hide his diminished head 
 forever. 
 
 Fortunately there was a diversion at the moment he least 
 expected it. The flap of the tent was unceremoniously lifted, 
 and a bulky, square-shouldered Teutonic individual, with 
 enormous whiskers jutting from his chin like tusks, and a 
 face contorted with passion, put himself half in, and beck- 
 oned vigorously to Westbrook. 
 
 " Why, come in, Zedtwitz," said the old man cheerfully. 
 
 " No, you gome out," cried the German darkly. " It is 
 not a matter for other ears. I have been again insulted by 
 that infamous Jagson. He is blaying with me he is blay- 
 ing with all of us ! Every day he thinks of some fresh means 
 to thward us. Hunh! You know him you know the 
 peeg you know what he is after! But the time has come 
 to strige to chegmate him to end his interference and 
 treachery. Gome, friend Westbrook, and let us take gounsel 
 together, you and I, for else assuredly I will get my pistol 
 and put a pullet through him." 
 
 Von Zedtwitz looked quite capable of carrying out his 
 threat. His eyes were smouldering, and his broad, rugged 
 face was crimson with anger. Standing there in the lamp- 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 light he presented a formidable figure, with his sturdy legs 
 apart and his open shirt displaying the hair on his breast. A 
 German of the Viking species, of the Bismarckian generation 
 arrogant, brave, and loyal a volcano of energy, and an ill 
 man to cross. Westbrook hastened to him. There was a 
 whispered colloquy. The still, small voice of common sense 
 on one side subsiding Teutonic thunders on the other. 
 Then the two men passed out into the night, and noth- 
 ing more was heard of them save their retreating foot- 
 steps. 
 
 Vera rose and ran over to Kirk with outstretched hands. 
 She had appreciated his mortification, his forlornness, his de- 
 jection. It was an impulsive moment of sympathy, of girlish 
 tenderness, of sweet concern, for her poor lover. Kirk took 
 her hands, and their touch transported them into a seventh 
 heaven. He forgot the curves, the coefficients, even the in- 
 terruption that had made a tete-a-tete possible. He drew 
 her down beside him on the sofa. He bent over and kissed 
 her warm, plump arm, kissed it and nuzzled it against his 
 cheek in an ecstasy. She tried to free herself, but he clung 
 to her hands and kissed them passionately, only stopping when 
 she threatened to go back to her former place. 
 
 " No, you must be good," she said, glowing and trembling 
 in an exquisite distress. " I didn't mean that at all only 
 I felt so sorry for you, and wanted you to forget. What a 
 poor, silly stupid you are. Besides, I wanted to be pitied, too. 
 I'm in disgrace! " 
 
 "Disgrace?" 
 
 " Papa is furious with me! I've had an awful time. I've 
 been crying all day! " 
 
 " My poor darling." 
 
 " Hush, you mustn't say that. You mustn't even think 
 it to yourself. Don't you see how terrible my eyes are all 
 
 192 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 swelled up and red? I was embarrassed every time you 
 looked at me. I kept my head sideways all I could." 
 
 " And your adorable little nose in the air," added Kirk. 
 " I thought it was pride. Disdain, you know. Aristo- 
 cratic 
 
 " Oh, but listen I want to tell you no, no, I'll shut 
 them I won't have you look. Please, I don't like it you 
 mustn't! " 
 
 Kirk said she had exaggerated. That they were the 
 prettiest, brightest, starriest eyes 
 
 " But, no, listen." 
 
 " I'm listening." 
 
 " I've done a dreadful thing in coming out. Papa's at 
 his wits' ends. He can't send me back, and he can't leave 
 me here, and he swears he won't take me along. I'm a little 
 white elephant and and I'm glad of it. Oh, Mr. Kirk- 
 patrick, he is so ill, so changed that it breaks my heart. I 
 am trying to persuade him to throw it all up, and go home 
 at once. But he is so obstinate, so willful. In England he 
 didn't take it so seriously. He used to laugh at it even when 
 he was working at the plans. It was a sort of toy to him, 
 a relaxation, an amusing mechanical problem. He and I 
 used to play for hours in the attic, fanning little land-ships 
 along the floor, and laughing like children. 'But now it's 
 all different. He's absolutely absorbed in the idea. It domi- 
 nates everything. You can see yourself how ill he is. I was 
 shocked at the change in him. This awful climate is terrible. 
 Yet he won't listen to a word of reason. I've been pleading 
 with him all day. I can't tell you what I've gone through 
 how I've begged and implored him to give it up. But he's 
 unshakable. He is going to sail in that ship if it kills him. 
 That's where the inventor comes in, I suppose. His pride, 
 his honor, everything and an insane jealousy that grudges 
 
 193 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the glory to anybody else. He invented it, he built it and he 
 has to go, too! He says that's his reward. That he would 
 not forfeit it for anything in the world. That it would 
 look a coward to turn back now, as though he had not the 
 courage of his own convictions." 
 
 She broke off and began to cry, rolling her handkerchief 
 in a little ball and dabbing her eyes with it. Kirk tried to 
 say something comforting. But the situation was too insol- 
 uble to be relieved by vague endearments, however softly they 
 might be uttered. 
 
 " It's just this," she went on. " Either I go with him, 
 sharing the risks and taking care of him, or we go home 
 together directly. I have told him that a million times, and 
 I'm going to stick to it. I don't care whether I'm a little 
 white elephant or not. He's the only father I have, and I 
 think he owes it to me to take care of himself. Don't you 
 think he does? Surely your only child is more important 
 than a ship? But it's terrible to argue with him when he 
 is so ill and broken. Yet I have to. I must. For his own 
 sake I must. Nag, nag, nag till I'm sick at myself, and all 
 I accomplish is to make him absolutely furious. He has 
 always been the kindest and dearest father a girl ever had. 
 We have always been chums. This is the first time in my life 
 that he has ever said a cross word to me." 
 
 " Can't you get the others to help you? " 
 
 " The others ! That's the worst of it. They would be 
 only too glad to get rid of him Captain Jackson and Mrs. 
 Hitchcock, that is. They are the most impossible people. 
 The captain's only idea is to marry the old lady and return 
 home while on her part she is so fussy and dictatorial that 
 there is a constant clash between her and papa. The captain, 
 for his own purposes, makes all the mischief he can, and uses 
 her as a cat's paw to drive papa frantic. She interferes in 
 
 194 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 everything, and demands all sorts of impossibilities in spite 
 of the agreement that papa was responsible for the ship, and 
 was to have a free hand. But papa is too shrewd to be 
 tricked, and he fights every inch of his ground, though it 
 tells on him horribly, and jangles his nerves all to pieces." 
 
 " But there is Von Zedtwitz." 
 
 " The doctor ! It's all papa can do to keep him tractable 
 under the constant deviling he gets from those two. He 
 isn't any help at all. And he's the most important man of 
 all, you know, as he is the originator of the expedition and 
 holds the secret. If we lost him we would not know where 
 to sail to. And that's what Captain Jackson wants to goad 
 him and insult him till he finally throws it all up in disgust. 
 Oh, it's an awful tangle, and if papa wasn't papa, I'd want 
 him to stick right here and force it through. But being my 
 father, his health comes first, and I would willingly see 
 everything go to pieces gladly see it just to get him away. 
 But he can't see it in that light. In some ways I can hardly 
 blame him. It is hard to have got as far as this, and then 
 sacrifice it all to let that tricky Captain Jackson triumph 
 and leave it to fizzle out. I can see papa's side of it only 
 he can't see mine. It's such a handicap, isn't it? I have to 
 admit this, and this, and this while he admits nothing. Oh, 
 dear, oh, dear, I'm the most miserable person in the whole 
 world!" 
 
 " God knows, I wish I could help you," said Kirk. 
 
 She looked at him, her eyes shining with tears. 
 
 " I know you would," she exclaimed, with a gratitude he 
 felt was undeserved. " You are a great consolation to me. 
 I haven't anyone but you. You you can understand." 
 
 They drew apart as they heard Mr. Westb rook's step 
 outside. He entered, looking very white and perturbed, and 
 threw himself wearily into a chair. He answered Vera's 
 
 195 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 questioning glance in a voice that he attempted to make easy 
 and unconcerned. 
 
 "It's all right all right my dear," he said. "I 
 smoothed him down. I made him laugh at himself. He 
 won't murder anybody to-night. He is a great, big, honest 
 child, with all of a child's resentment of chicanery and injus- 
 tice. But if they go on treating him like a dog somebody 
 will end by getting bitten." 
 
 Kirk rose and said he ought to be going, but to his sur- 
 prise Mr. Westbrook demurred, and pressed him, with some 
 insistence, to stay a little longer. 
 
 " I'd like to show you the plans of the Fortuna" he 
 said. " Vera, get them out of the other tent; they are in 
 the long cannister beside my bed." Kirk sat down again, 
 complimented, and not a little surprised. 
 
 He was in a state of exultation, his head whirling with 
 intoxicating recollections that he tried to piece together into 
 some coherency. He hardly knew how much he had gained. 
 He was dizzy with wonder, with rapture, with what it all 
 implied. The touch of her hands something of her fra- 
 grance and beauty even the caressing tones of her voice 
 all came back to him in the retrospect, and in the tumult 
 of his senses he seemed to float away in dreams, his only 
 formulated thought a passionate thankfulness. Mr. West- 
 brook spoke to him, and he spoke to Mr. Westbrook. What 
 about he scarcely knew. He saw the old man through a 
 sort of mist, benignant and courteous, and he only awoke 
 to reality when Vera returned. 
 
 The cannister was opened and a roll of blue prints was 
 taken from it. The prints were large and unwieldy and 
 smelled of mothballs. It was not easy to spread them out, 
 and the corners had to be weighed down with books. The ta- 
 ble was not big enough, and so the floor had to be used, Mr. 
 
 196 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Westbrook leaning forward in his chair while Kirk and Vera 
 knelt at his feet. Their hands met more than once, and 
 parted reluctantly. Kirk's interest in the plans were genu- 
 inely unaffected. There was the Fortuna as she was going 
 to be, and for the first time he appreciated the design as a 
 whole. Everything was carried out to the last detail with 
 a precision and foresight that delighted him. There was 
 something very reassuring to him in the sight of those plans, 
 elevations, and working drawings. They embodied innu- 
 merable experiments and long and careful calculations. The 
 Fortuna was not the child of a haphazard enthusiasm, built 
 conjecturally, and with anything left to chance. She had 
 been evolved by a man of a trained mechanical mind, whose 
 name in itself was a guarantee of scientific perfection. Kirk 
 realized, more fully than before, how intolerable it must be 
 to Westbrook to think of abandoning the enterprise on the 
 eve of its fruition to see all his labor and thought go for 
 nothing, and his ship derided as a failure before it was even 
 tried. It was too bold and superb a conception to be bick- 
 ered out of existence, and he sympathized most heartily with 
 the old man's determination to remain in Felicidad even at 
 the hazard of his life. 
 
 Kirk was outspoken in his admiration. He had no inten- 
 tion of flattering Westbrook, and his sincerity was too trans- 
 parent to be questioned. But the old man was very alive to 
 his praise, and his manner thawed and grew increasingly cor- 
 dial as Kirk pored over the plans and expressed his extreme 
 satisfaction with them. When at last they were rolled up 
 and put back in the cannister, Kirk could not but feel the 
 advance he had made. No fond mother is more eager to have 
 her child praised than an inventor the creation of his mind. 
 On the engrossing topic of the Fortuna one was free to talk 
 to Mr. Westbrook forever. He welcomed criticism so that 
 
 197 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 he might confute it with figures and formulas. He was like 
 a boxer who tells the pupil to hit him if he can! Such a 
 frail, gracious, excited old boxer, with his mellow voice and 
 shaking forefinger, so patient, so earnest, so triumphant! 
 
 Kirk shook hands and said good night. Mr. Westbrook 
 got his hat, and said that he would come, too part of the 
 way. 
 
 " I'd like to have a little talk with you," he said. " I 
 may not have another opportunity. There are several things, 
 Mr. Kirkpatrick, that that " He did not finish the sen- 
 tence. He seemed confused and at a loss how to proceed, 
 fumbling at the shawl Vera placed about his shoulders. He 
 led the way out in silence, while Vera, standing in the shadow 
 of the threshold, looked after them both until they disap- 
 peared in the darkness. 
 
 198 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 HERE are several things I wish to tell you," 
 said the old man, " and the first is that I 
 think you are an uncommonly nice fellow." 
 " Thank you," returned Kirk, not with- 
 out misgiving at so strange and unexpected 
 a preface. 
 
 " That is a very reassuring fact," continued Westbrook. 
 " It makes it much easier for us to come to an under- 
 standing." 
 
 Kirk wondered what he meant, but forebore to ask. 
 " My daughter has done a very foolish thing in coming 
 out here. It was a wild and impulsive action, which was to 
 some extent justified by the news of my illness reaching her. 
 I had not meant it to reach her, and therefore I feel myself 
 partly to blame. I am horrified, less at what she has done 
 than at what she has escaped. It was a most reckless and 
 desperate proceeding, and it makes my blood run cold even 
 to think of it. She has told me a great deal about yourself 
 about your kindness, your extreme consideration, your vigi- 
 lance and chivalry. But, as a man of the world, probably 
 I appreciate it even more than she does. You have put me 
 under a great obligation. Mr. Kirkpatrick, I thank you." 
 Kirk murmured the appropriate things. 
 " This sense of obligation, this gratitude which I feel 
 most sincerely, makes it difficult for me to go on. I hesitate 
 to offend a man for whom I have so strong a regard. You 
 will forgive me if I speak plainly ? " 
 
 199 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Why, certainly," said Kirk, not a little mystified. 
 " Proceed, by all means." 
 
 " My daughter has placed herself in a very ambiguous 
 position a very cruel position, Mr. Kirkpatrick, though, 
 of course, I have kept the knowledge from her. It is largely 
 in your hands to stop gossip and chatter, and in appealing 
 to you I feel I am appealing to a man of honor. By your 
 conduct she will be judged. Do you understand ? " 
 
 " Well, no," said Kirk. " I don't. Frankly, I don't." 
 
 "Well, it is just this, Mr. Kirkpatrick. These people 
 here will have you both under a microscope. They will mis- 
 construe you and your friendship. Malice and envy are rife 
 here, as they're everywhere. Does it not suggest itself to 
 you to make some sacrifice for my daughter's sake? To so 
 govern yourself as to offset all criticism? " 
 
 " By what by doing what? " 
 
 " I mean by staying away from us by not calling by 
 losing yourself among the others and tacitly adopting their 
 attitude. In this way the gossip will soon be silenced, espe- 
 cially if you are reserved and careful in your speech. Is it 
 too much to ask ? " 
 
 Kirk's fairy castle was tumbling about his ears. 
 
 " Does Miss Westbrook know? " he asked. " Is this her 
 wish?" 
 
 The old man hesitated. 
 
 " I desire to be entirely frank," he said at last. " Of 
 course she does not know, nor do I want her to. She is a 
 highspirited woman, with all the courage and defiance of 
 one who knows nothing of the world, and is consequently 
 ready to disregard its venom. She has a great regard for 
 you. She is artless enough to take it for granted that your 
 friendship may continue. But, my dear fellow, it cannot. 
 Surely, you can see that for yourself? When this is over 
 
 200 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 yes. But here, in this hotbed of tittle-tattle and slander, it 
 is absolutely essential for her sake, Mr. Kirkpatrick, for 
 her sake to acquiesce in what I am telling you." 
 
 Kirk sighed. 
 
 " You will lose nothing by it," continued the old gentle- 
 man significantly. " I am a man of my word. If this affair 
 breaks up, you need not fear about your future. I shall count 
 it a privilege to put you in the way of bettering yourself. 
 When I said gratitude, I meant it." 
 
 " Does it not occur to you that her Miss Westbrook's 
 feelings may be wounded? That she may feel slighted by 
 the course you have outlined for me? Are you not making 
 me appear very rude? You are good enough to put the 
 favor on my side but it is really the other way about. I've 
 led a rough life, Mr. Westbrook, and her kindness and con- 
 descension has meant a great deal to me. I value it exces- 
 sively. I cannot do anything that would lose me her good 
 opinion." 
 
 " Do you think that I ought to tell her? " 
 
 "Oh, you must!" 
 
 " Then the other is agreed? " 
 
 Kirk assented sadly. 
 
 " I should prefer to have it come from me," he said. " It 
 really does, you know, for it is I that will suffer. I would 
 do anything for her, Mr. Westbrook anything except to 
 seem to wound her. It is a great blow to me. I was foolish 
 enough to to " He broke off. Westbrook pretended not 
 to notice his agitation. The old fellow had a pretty good 
 idea of how matters stood, and was more than displeased. 
 Had he failed to carry his point he had fully determined to 
 throw over everything and return with his daughter to Eng- 
 land. It was a hateful alternative, but he felt that he had no 
 other choice. This affair had to be nipped in the bud, and 
 
 201 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 if Kirk had proved recalcitrant, the Moltke would have 
 slipped her moorings on the morrow with the Westbrooks 
 on board. Dear as the Fortuna was to the old man, his 
 daughter was dearer. He knew the folly of temporizing. 
 
 " I am trusting a great deal to your word," he said at 
 last. " You appreciate that, I hope. You have an honest 
 face an honest voice do not let me find myself mistaken." 
 
 His tone took off the edge of this remark. It had a 
 deprecatory quality that purged it of offense. 
 
 " There is such a thing as keeping the letter of an agree- 
 ment and violating the spirit. But I am taking it for granted 
 that you're too sincere, and too manly to be unworthy of my 
 confidence." 
 
 " Yes, yes, that's all right," said Kirk. " You've con- 
 vinced me. I was a fool ever to think otherwise. It's the 
 only thing to do and, and I'll do it! " 
 
 They shook hands under the starlight and then sepa- 
 rated. Westbrook slowly returned to his tent, not a little 
 relieved at the success of his endeavors. Kirk dejectedly 
 sought his cot, and lay half the night with wide-open eyes, 
 in such a turmoil of longing and wretchedness that sleep 
 was out of the question. He had won and he had lost and 
 now it was all over. He had chained himself with promises, 
 and the future was black indeed. 
 
 The succeeding days were too uneventful to be described 
 in detail. Hard and exhausting work, periodically relieved. 
 Glare, heat, clang, and sweat noisy meals and long silent 
 evenings that he preferred to pass alone, far out on the 
 prairie with no companionship but the stars. He saw Vera 
 often, but had never spoken to her since that night in her 
 father's tent. Every day she visited the ship, and would 
 smile at him as she passed on her rounds with her father. 
 
 202 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 It was a tender smile, full of vague messages for him, com- 
 passionate and beautiful, and mutely appealing. She had 
 grown paler, more subdued, and her eyes, as they sought his, 
 possessed a curious pathos that haunted him long after she 
 had gone. Her father's prohibition had been hard to bear, 
 and Kirk felt a somber satisfaction in the thought that he 
 was not the only one to suffer. 
 
 The ship was progressing rapidly toward completion. 
 The main deck was almost habitable. Doors and windows 
 were in. Bunks, shelves, tables, lockers, racks, etc., were 
 taxing the energies of the mechanical staff ; aluminum where- 
 ever it could be used, and the only woods bamboo and hick- 
 ory. The commissary department, under the direction of 
 Mr. McCann, the paymaster, was arranging for the ship's 
 equipment, and was accumulating mountains of stores be- 
 side her. Cabin matting was being sewed and measured, 
 curtains run off on sewing machines, lamps unpacked and 
 installed, a dozen men were at work on a suit of spare, bal- 
 loon, silk sails. The upper deck was now trim and smart. 
 Four Westbrook quick-firers, using .303 service ammunition, 
 were in position, two forward and two aft, in steel shields. 
 The chart room below the bridge was a miniature arsenal, 
 the walls lined with Martini-Henrys and pasteboard boxes 
 containing twenty thousand pounds of ammunition visible 
 through wire screens. The galley was being finished and 
 painted, a light, white rail was in process of construction 
 around the ship, the companion ways, accommodation lad- 
 ders, etc., were receiving their finishing touches. An aston- 
 ishing number of trifling matters, however, had yet to be 
 attended to multitudinous refinements and conveniences, all 
 exacting time and care ventilators, pumps, a three-thousand 
 candle-power acetylene searchlight in the foretop ; water butts, 
 cooks' range, and boiler; monkey-rail for the bridge; hawse 
 14 203 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 holes ; a cat-head for the kedge anchor ; waterproof silk covers 
 to protect the winches ; hatches ; a flagstaff in the stern, and 
 a jack forward; and with these and other tasks came an 
 unending sandpapering, varnishing, priming, and painting 
 a rubbing and scraping and polishing that was wearisome 
 and tedious to the last degree. 
 
 But everyone was animated with the thought that sailing 
 day was fast approaching. The Fortuna was almost ready 
 for crew, freight, and passengers. The talk ran constantly 
 on the absorbing theme of how many men were to be taken 
 and how many left at Felicidad. It got about that the num- 
 ber to embark would be about fifty-five. Including the sick, 
 there were more than twice as many in camp, and there was 
 bound to be a weeding-out process that caused no little 
 anxiety and commotion. Nobody wanted to stay behind. 
 St. Aubyn managed to fool the doctor and get back on the 
 active list. He was very shaky and ill, and had shivering 
 spells when his teeth would chatter like castanets, but with 
 indomitable courage he stuck to work, in the hope that his 
 ill health would be overlooked. 
 
 There were many conjectures as to the appointment of 
 officers and petty officers. Everyone was in the dark as to 
 the selection, and the matter became one of constant bicker- 
 ing. The men with some sea knowledge arrogated these 
 positions to themselves, loudly declaring that it took a sailor 
 to sail a ship. This was stoutly denied, it being contended 
 that the Fortuna was not a ship, that the problem of her 
 management lay outside of sailorizing that nerve and cool- 
 ness and resource were the qualities demanded. Some even 
 went the length of declaring that salt-water men would 
 prove themselves the worst of all, and would positively 
 be hampered by their previous training. It was often 
 suggested, with much intemperance of language, that it 
 
 204 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ought to be put to the vote, and the question of leaders 
 left to the men who furnished the bone and sinew of the 
 expedition. 
 
 Indeed, it did not escape Kirk that there was a very wide- 
 spread feeling of unrest and dissatisfaction in the ranks of 
 the Fortunas men. A fault-finding spirit was engendered 
 by Jackson's dictatorial manners and exasperating, petty 
 tyrannies, and, as in all mobs, demagogues arose to organize 
 personal parties and fan the flames. The most noticeable 
 of these was a fellow named Beale, a lanky Australian, with 
 a most wonderful vocabulary of vituperation. But he was a 
 past master in his nefarious business, and got together a very 
 substantial following. It was he who suggested the vote, 
 with the evident intention of heading the ticket. This under- 
 current of politics and wire pulling was very distasteful to 
 Kirk. He foresaw fresh difficulties and fresh complications. 
 When all, as he knew, was trembling in the balance, it 
 seemed a shame to provoke further troubles that, so far from 
 thwarting Jackson, were likely to aid him in his desire to 
 wreck the expedition in port. 
 
 Kirk told this to Beale very plainly when one day the 
 plausible Australian drew him to one side, and attempted to 
 enlist him in the ranks of the rebels. Beale was no fool, in 
 spite of his officiousness and conceit, and Kirk was surprised 
 at the impression he managed to make on him. In fact, Kirk 
 turned the tables completely, and in a quiet way lectured 
 Beale severely. 
 
 " What do you want to do ? " he demanded. " Kill the 
 expedition and send us all home with our tails between our 
 legs ? That's a fine idea, isn't it because you don't like the 
 coffee, and have discovered Jackson to be forty different kinds 
 of a wild ass? See here, Beale, we fellows on the lower 
 deck ought to pull together and show a good spirit. It's to 
 
 205 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 our interest to do it. What are we to gain by upsetting the 
 apple cart ? " 
 
 "But don't you think we ought to know where we are 
 going to? Or what we are going /or? By George, Kirk- 
 patrick, we might be a lot of children on a picnic for all they 
 tell us. Now, man to man, I ask you, do you call it fair? " 
 
 " That has nothing to do with it." 
 
 " I don't agree with you. That's flat, and you may take 
 it or lump it ! " 
 
 " Slow up, old man. The boys all look up to you, and go 
 a good deal by what you say. This is a mighty critical mo- 
 ment in our affairs, and it rests with you more than you 
 think to make or mar the whole expedition." 
 
 Beale, like all sea lawyers, was as susceptible to flattery 
 as a schoolgirl. Kirk was willing to play him to the top of 
 his bent. The fellow had a tremendous potentiality for mis- 
 chief, and Kirk had to cajole him into good behavior. The 
 occasion seemed to justify dissimulation. 
 
 " The great thing is to get started," Kirk continued. 
 " Let's subordinate everything to that, old man. A rumpus 
 just now would be fatal. We couldn't spite Jackson more 
 than by acting like lambs. Don't you see, old boy, that 
 he would jump at the chance of backing out would welcome 
 it! Mrs. Hitchcock would side with him and then where 
 would we be ? " 
 
 " There's old Westbrook," said Beale. " Westbrook and 
 Zedtwitz. Why shouldn't they carry it on the pair of 
 them?" 
 
 " It's the old lady's money, you know." 
 
 " Westbrook has barrels of his own." 
 
 " But I doubt whether he would consent to take over 
 the arrears of the money already sunk. Think what all this 
 must have cost ! She would be too vindictive to make him a 
 
 206 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 present of it. The ship's her property, Beale. Don't forget 
 that." 
 
 "Oh, property!" exclaimed Beale contemptuously. 
 " The deuce what do we care! Who's to stop us? " 
 
 " You would find Westbrook would not put himself in 
 such a box. He's pretty downhearted already, and the pros- 
 pect of a lawsuit isn't likely to cheer him particularly. I 
 know him well enough to say that. If the old lady made 
 him a present of the ship and stores, I don't doubt but what 
 he'd go on. But mark my words, she'll take her cue from 
 Jackson, and will be so baffled and angry and disappointed 
 that she'll probably blow the Fortuna to pieces with dyna- 
 mite. That is, if you don't use your influence and I know 
 how much you have to get the boys to hold back." 
 
 " There's something in that," assented Beale. " But my 
 stars, Kirk, it galls me to have him put in all his little 
 pets to strut the quarter-deck and domineer over us. There's 
 Haines now, that sore-eyed son of a sea cook, bragging as 
 how he's to be first officer. The pasty-faced little squit, I'd 
 like to take him by the scruff of the neck and break his back ! 
 And the other favorites and toadies, all promoted and brass- 
 bound, while we'll have to pulley-haul their dirty ropes, and 
 ' sir ' them, and take their tomfool orders ! " 
 
 Kirk knew Haines, and disliked him profoundly. He 
 was an ex-yacht officer of the flunkey species, who aped the 
 supercilious manners of the class he had served. A drawling, 
 red-headed nincompoop, with irritating airs and graces. 
 Kirk's face showed his disgust at such a creature being put 
 over them. 
 
 " You don't look so well pleased yourself," exclaimed 
 Beale, with malignant satisfaction. " That comes home to 
 you, don't it? Haines oh, my Aunt Maria! No, sir; yes, 
 sir; ay, ay, sir and his grinning at you in stinking lace? 
 
 207 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 You back me up, Kirkpatrick, and I'll see that you and all 
 of you get your rights. First, to be let into the secret; sec- 
 ond, to elect our own officers; third, to put it to them, fair 
 and square, man to man " 
 
 " Not I," cried Kirk, interrupting him. " I won't do 
 a hand's turn to make trouble or interfere. It's not only 
 disloyal, but it's bad policy. I care for Haines as little as 
 you do, but the only right thing is to obey orders, and go 
 ahead." 
 
 "Perhaps you are expecting to move aft yourself?" 
 sneered Beale. 
 
 Kirk flushed under the insinuation, but contrived to keep 
 his temper. 
 
 " I don't want to come the little saint over you," he said. 
 " There's a lot to criticise and complain of, but we'd be a 
 pack of fools to engineer a smash. It's too high a price to 
 pay, Beale. For Heaven's sake, let's make the best of it, and 
 pull together." 
 
 The Australian ruminated. 
 
 " Well, go slow, anyhow," he said, with unexpected sub- 
 mission. " That's the sense of talking things over before- 
 hand. They aren't all as cool as you are, Kirkpatrick. But 
 you are right you are right. It's no good burning down 
 the factory to spite the owners, is it ! " 
 
 " Not a bit," said Kirk, " and our own jobs, too." 
 
 " Wait till we get the factory out there," exclaimed 
 Beale, with a sweep of his arm toward the southward. 
 " Then we'll have things more our own way, eh, Kirk? " 
 
 " I don't know what you mean," returned Kirk. " I'm 
 on the law and order side myself. That's my contract and 
 I'm going to live up to it." 
 
 Beale lifted his hat mockingly. 
 
 " Ta-ta," he said, " you've made me feel a better man 
 208 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and a sincerer Christian. Ah, there is our true treasure 
 if we only knew it ! " He pointed to the sky in clumsy 
 parody of a clergyman, and then walked off, chuckling to 
 himself. 
 
 But apparently he had taken part of Kirk's warning to 
 heart. There was less whispering and muttering in corners ; 
 and the latter, in many ways, became conscious that the 
 wave of dissatisfaction was subsiding. Beale, at least, seemed 
 to drop out of view, and his name was more seldom men- 
 tioned. 
 
 But Kirk was uneasy, nevertheless, and debated with him- 
 self whether he ought not to report the conversation to West- 
 brook. But he hesitated to add this new weight of trouble 
 to that already overburdened man. He determined that 
 later on he would put him on his guard. Forewarned is 
 forearmed. 
 
 During these concluding days of the Fortunas making 
 ready, there occurred another matter that demands attention. 
 Occasionally in the course of their work, questions arose that 
 required a reference to Captain Jackson. This was the more 
 necessary as the captain kept away and seldom visited the 
 ship, except in after hours. The disinclination of the crew 
 to rise and stand at attention as he passed was the reason 
 for his keeping aloof. He attached an inordinate value to 
 this formality, and after repeated failures to enforce it with 
 man-of-war rigidity, he had at length retired from the con- 
 test in disgust. There was a general tendency, from Craw- 
 shaw down, to shirk the task of carrying him messages and 
 undergoing his overbearing and insulting manners. Kirk, 
 as a newcomer, was slyly victimized by the little engineer; 
 and, as the former made no objection, he gradually became 
 the go-between and messenger between the mechanical staff 
 and their majestic commander. Often he had to beard the 
 
 209 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 lion in his den three or four times in the course of the 
 same day. 
 
 Now Kirk was as little in love with Jackson as with 
 anybody, but he was free from the vanity of considering 
 himself degraded by obeying his superior's orders. He was 
 quite willing to salute, and say " sir," and bring his heels 
 together and found no mortification in the act. Privately, 
 he thought it was silly to make such mountains of fuss over 
 trifles; but, as far as he was concerned, he made no demur. 
 It cost him no loss of self-respect to perform these mechanical 
 acts. He was a man of the world, and used to taking it as 
 he found it. He was there to do what he was told, and for 
 the time being to subordinate himself to the will of others. 
 Besides that, being a gentleman, it was natural for him to 
 be polite; polite even to people he did not like; polite even 
 to Jackson. 
 
 It all led to the extraordinary result of the captain's 
 taking a fancy to him. His Majesty unbent. His Majesty, 
 accustomed to a great deal of veiled insolence and a very 
 perfunctory deference, appreciated the genuineness of Kirk's 
 courtesy. He was insufferably vain and arrogant but very 
 human. He grew to like Kirk's open face, his agreeable 
 voice, and his alert, respectful manner. Here was his man- 
 of-war ideal, and as Kirk was the only one of a hundred 
 and eighteen who in the least way satisfied it except Haines 
 and a few other particular pets the swollen old fellow 
 warmed to him mightily. It made Kirk feel a good deal 
 of a hypocrite. But he was human, too, and he slightly 
 modified some of his first opinions. 
 
 He little realized to what it was all tending. One day, 
 as he stood at attention in front of Jackson's desk, the latter 
 laid his hand on a closely written list of names with a 
 humorous pretense of screening them from view. 
 
 210 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "No peeking!" he exclaimed. "This is a state 
 paper!" 
 
 Kirk smiled vaguely. He did not know what the joke 
 was, but it was discipline to look amused. 
 
 " You might happen to see your own name," went on the 
 captain, pompously jocular. " Oh, yes and in a good place, 
 I can tell you. I am making up the list of officers, petty 
 officers, and leading seamen ! " 
 
 Kirk's heart gave a bound. He could tell by the cap- 
 tain's air that he had been marked out for promotion. For 
 the first time he appreciated that Jackson's good will might 
 mean substantial favors. Strange to say, it had not occurred 
 to him before that he was a " pet." 
 
 " You're very good, sir," he said. " I I had no antici- 
 pation of this. I looked for nothing better than not being 
 left behind." 
 
 " Kirkpatrick," said the captain sententiously, " the man 
 who learns to take orders is qualifying himself to give 
 them. When this is made public I fancy you will be 
 surprised." 
 
 " Thank you, sir," said Kirk. 
 
 " And very agreeably surprised," added the captain. 
 
 Kirk kept this wonderful piece of intelligence to himself. 
 It revived his drooping spirits, and consoled his lonely and 
 aching heart. In his dreams he read that fateful list, and 
 searched for his name with feverish pertinacity. He hardly 
 knew what to hope for. He shrank from setting his ambition 
 too high, dreading to disappoint himself. What he wanted, 
 of course, was to be near Vera. To have the privilege of 
 addressing her. To share, however humbly, the life of the 
 afterguard. Quartermaster, gunner, boatswain, storekeeper 
 he ran over all the possibilities with an anxious particular- 
 
 211 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ity. Cook? No, thank Heaven, Major Hildebrand was sure 
 of that rating. Hildebrand and Gaston Le Fevre. To deny 
 either would cause a mutiny. Doubtless there were other 
 positions? He racked his brains to think what they might 
 be. Second engineer ? Crawshaw would be chief, of course, 
 with a seat in the cabin. Lucky Crawshaw! Second engi- 
 neer would do capitally. The only trouble was that Hen- 
 derson could not very well be overlooked. He had not a 
 chance against Henderson. Henderson was not a " pet," 
 but still the rawboned Scotchman was too competent to be 
 disrated. 
 
 At length the time came for all these teasing speculations 
 to be set at rest. One blazing noon, as they were tramping 
 back to dinner, they were diverted by a great paper poster, 
 six feet by four, that had made an unexpected appearance 
 in front of the headquarters tent. Here was the list for 
 all to read, in big black letters an inch high. It was in- 
 stantly surrounded by a jostling throng, pushing and shoving 
 to get close to it. There was a confused hum of voices, of 
 ejaculations, jeers, protests, slaps on the back, and growling 
 notes of disappointment and chagrin. Kirk elbowed his 
 way in. It was a tantalizing and terrible moment. He was 
 in the throes of an overmastering excitement. He dared not 
 ask what he had been given. He expected every instant for 
 some one to tell him, " Say, Kirk, you're one of the quarter- 
 masters," or whatever it was. On some of the returning 
 faces he seemed to detect a savage resentment against him- 
 self envy, anger, contempt. But perhaps that was only 
 fancy. He got closer and closer. The letters were swim- 
 ming before him, obscured by shoulders and heads. What 
 if his name was not there at all? No, that was incredible 
 had not Jackson said ? 
 
 Ah, here it was ! 
 
 212 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 LAND-SHIP FORTUNA. 
 
 Directing Council: MRS. POULTENEY HITCHCOCK, MR. 
 EZRA H. WESTBROOK, DR. C. VON ZEDTWITZ. 
 
 Captain, 
 HORATIO H. B. JACKSON. 
 
 First Officer, 
 PERCY HAINES. 
 Second Officer, 
 
 LEWIS KlRKPATRICK. 
 
 Kirk got no further. " Second officer, Lewis Kirkpat- 
 rick. Second officer, Lewis Kirkpatrick" In his wildest 
 imagining he had never soared so high. It put him in the 
 cabin in the aristocracy of the afterguard made him one 
 of those glorified beings who might mix on terms of almost 
 equality with Vera Westbrook, sit by her side, speak to 
 her without reproach, share her radiant companionship. 
 Kirk was dazed with delight. He was only aroused by the 
 sight of St. Aubyn's thin, screwed-up, woebegone face. 
 
 " Oh, chum," he exclaimed, " they've gone and left me 
 out! I'm not to go at all. I've got to stay in this rotten 
 hole and kick my heels while you fellows sail away ! " 
 
 Kirk attempted to comfort him, but there was not much 
 that could be said. St. Aubyn was pitiably upset. For days 
 he had fought down his weakness, and by sheer grit had kept 
 out of hospital and stuck to work. It had cost him agony to 
 do so, but there was heroic stuff in the fellow, and he had 
 been sustained by the hope of being taken. He had counted 
 on it with all of a sick man's stubbornness and irrationality. 
 And now the decree had gone forth, and he was condemned 
 to remain behind ! 
 
 213 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Kirk was still trying to soften the blow, when Haines 
 came up and tapped him on the shoulder. 
 
 " Officers and petty officers are to report at the big tent 
 to-night at eight," he said in his drawling, irritating voice, 
 " to greet the Presence, and kiss hands. Ta-ta! " 
 
 214 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 HREE days later the Fortuna was ready to 
 start. Her enormous and varied cargo was 
 all on board. Her water tanks were full. 
 Her accommodations were complete for the 
 fifty-five human beings who comprised her 
 officers, passengers, and crew. On the upper deck, lashed 
 securely in place, were a pair of spare wheels, spare axles, 
 and a dozen spare springs of gigantic proportions all by 
 way of reserve in case of accident to the trucks on which 
 the fabric of the ship was supported. In addition to this 
 unwieldy mass were forty specially constructed bamboo 
 cages, compactly and powerfully built, which were intended, 
 in conjunction with jacks, to be used in making repairs to 
 the sustaining mechanism. The weight of the ship could be 
 thrown on these hollow dice while axles and wheels were 
 removed or broken springs replaced. Abaft the foremast 
 were two large automobiles, similarly lashed to the deck, 
 about which there was more conjecture and chatter than 
 even the mysterious purpose of the expedition itself. They 
 were big French cars, with an unusually high clearance, and 
 racing bodies. They presented an incongruous sight in a 
 scene so wild and strange so emphatic an emblem of civili- 
 zation, in a landscape as savage and trackless as the sea. 
 What was their purpose? Was it to be by way of lifeboats 
 in case of need? The means of getting news back in the 
 event of disaster? 
 
 215 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 These perplexing questions were answered by a phrase 
 that was fast becoming a commonplace. 
 " Well, we shall soon know now! " 
 
 Tuesday, the day set for their departure, broke stormy 
 and threatening. The barometer had been steadily going 
 down, and the prolonged spell of good weather had come to 
 a sudden end. The wind was whistling through the rigging 
 of the Fortuna with the strength of a rising gale, and the 
 loosened sails bellied and thundered in the blast. It had 
 been intended to make something of a gala of that momentous 
 morning with speeches, the firing of salutes, the dressing 
 of the ship in flags, etc. At the right moment, amid cheers 
 and salvos, she was majestically to move away, dipping her 
 ensign in a stately farewell as she rolled south on her perilous 
 voyage. 
 
 The reality, however, was miserably different. The wind 
 had veered into the north and was blowing great guns. 
 Squall after squall rose black to windward, and burst over 
 the ship with torrential downpours of rain. Everything was 
 wet and cold and dripping, and the lash of the storm fell 
 mercilessly on the oilskinned figures clustered about the 
 decks. Felicidad was half under water, and a dozen tents 
 had been blown down, with the promise of more to follow. 
 To leeward there was an incessant flash of sheet lightning, 
 zigzagging the horizon with streaks of fire. Everything 
 was in confusion. Inevitable things cropped up at the last 
 moment to delay the start. No one was very sure, indeed, 
 whether the attempt would be made at all. The captain 
 sulked in his cabin, his dignity insulted by some unguarded 
 word of Westbrook's. Emissaries of peace moved back and 
 forth, arguing, explaining, smoothing down. Kirk, in rain- 
 coat and sou-wester, paced up and down the bridge, waiting; 
 
 216 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 impatiently for orders. The gale was in their favor, and he 
 grudged every minute that held them back. He was angered 
 beyond expression at the lack of authority, the indecision, 
 the precious time wasted in bickering and apologizing. 
 
 Beside the ship was the melancholy, bedraggled group 
 of those who had to remain behind. Soaked to the skin, 
 bunched together for protection, the sick and ailing sitting 
 on packing cases in sullen defiance of the doctor's orders to 
 remain in camp they presented a picture of misery and 
 desolation not easily to be described. In vain they were told 
 to go back and try to keep their town from blowing into 
 space. They listened apathetically and shook their heads. 
 The only luxury that remained to them was disobedience. 
 They stuck together like sheep, and passively defied the 
 speaking trumpet. No amount of roaring could make them 
 budge. They were determined to see the last of the For- 
 tuna, and share at least in her departure. They were not 
 going to be robbed of that, even if Felicidad were laid flat. 
 The general sentiment was, that for all they cared, it might 
 blow to Hades. 
 
 A quartermaster mounted the bridge, bearing a paper in 
 his hand. 
 
 " Captain's orders, sir you're to call the roll, hoist in 
 the gangway, and see all clear forward." 
 
 Kirk went forward and roused the forecastle. The men 
 came pouring up and grouped themselves about him, joined 
 by the cooks and stewards from the ship's waist. 
 
 "J. Henshawl" 
 
 "Here!" 
 
 "Thomas Mackay!" 
 
 "Here!" 
 
 "C. T. Hildebrand!" 
 
 "Here!" 
 
 217 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 And so it proceeded, amid the rush and thunder of the 
 gale, the ship shaking under the repeated buffets, and the 
 men steadying themselves by the shrouds and backstays. It 
 was a stirring sight the storm-tossed hair, the brawny arms 
 folded across Herculean chests, the bronzed and bearded 
 faces, the unflinching eyes the universal look of hardihood, 
 recklessness, and courage. Here were no boys, no gray- 
 beards, no weaklings. All were tried and seasoned men in 
 the very flower of their age broad-shouldered, deep-chested, 
 muscular, and stalwart the pick of ten thousand. No ship 
 afloat had ever carried such a crew. The pride of leader- 
 ship surged within Kirk. He vowed that he would show 
 himself worthy of his promotion, and earn the respect and 
 confidence of his erstwhile comrades. He realized for the 
 first time the extent of the responsibility he had taken upon 
 himself. It rested with him to show that he could bear it. 
 
 The captain was on the bridge, speaking trumpet in hand. 
 At his right stood Haines. Behind them, well out of the 
 way, were Westbrook, Mrs. Hitchcock, Vera, McCann, Dr. 
 Phillips, and Von Zedtwitz six black, clinging figures in 
 mackintoshes. There was expectancy on every face anx- 
 iety, excitement, foreboding. At last the Fortuna was to be 
 tried, and that under adverse and dangerous conditions. 
 Was she, after all, a gigantic folly, a preposterous concep- 
 tion, doomed to the most mortifying of failures? A few min- 
 utes would show. Theory and hope were now to bear the 
 crucial test of fact. 
 
 " I have to report that the roll is called, sir, and that all 
 hands answered their names." 
 
 " Very good, Mr. Kirkpatrick. Get the gangway up, 
 and lash it." 
 
 " Very good, sir." 
 
 For the first time Jackson was beginning to show to 
 218 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 advantage. His commanding figure, his harsh and incisive 
 voice, his cool, resourceful air all inspired confidence, and 
 compelled some of his bitterest enemies to an unwilling ad- 
 miration. He seemed to put by that meaner self that 
 touchy, cross-grained, half-hearted Jackson they had learned 
 to know and hate and asserted a side of his nature that 
 had hitherto been unsuspected. Standing there on the bridge, 
 conspicuous and masterful, he dominated the situation, and 
 roared his orders with the authority of a man who had 
 trod the quarter-deck for twenty years. His eyes were 
 everywhere. He never vacillated for an instant. He knew 
 exactly what he meant to do, and how he meant to do it. 
 In the all-pervading confusion his undaunted mien and superb 
 self-confidence were reassuring in the highest degree. The 
 despised martinet, in the hour of stress, was vindicating his 
 right to rule, and triumphing over his detractors. 
 
 The Fortuna lay in a fairly good position for the start. 
 It had not been thought necessary to kedge her round to make 
 a fair wind of the gale. It was blowing enough abaft the 
 beam to insure her against capsizing, and once she was mov- 
 ing she could easily be set on a better course. That is, if 
 she did move. As to this, nobody was very sure except West- 
 brook and Jackson. 
 
 Seven men were sent after the wheel six to steer, and 
 the seventh to be in speaking-tube communication with the 
 foretop and the bridge. Haines was dispatched aloft with 
 a couple of hands to con the ship. Kirk was engaged in 
 taking treble reefs in the foresail and lower fore-topsail 
 no easy matter, as the loosened sails were caught by the 
 gale and beat furiously as the men struggled and clung to 
 them. The silk was new and coarse, and the wet had made 
 it like sheet steel. It was only by taking advantage of every 
 lull that the task was at last accomplished. The captain 
 15 219 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 again and again through his speaking trumpet bellowed to 
 them to make haste. The windward sky was blackening 
 with another squall, and he was jumping to get away before 
 it could burst. 
 
 "All ready, sir!" yelled Kirk. 
 
 "Man the fore-topsail halliards!" 
 
 " Sheet home! Hoist away! " 
 
 The sails shook and thundered. 
 
 "Tend the braces! 'Vast hoisting belay! Man the 
 jib halliards! Clear away the downhaul! Hoist away! 
 Belay!" 
 
 The topsail threatened to blow itself out of the bolt- 
 ropes. It seemed incredible that it could withstand the ter- 
 rific strain. The Fortuna did not move an inch, but her 
 wheels, deeply rutted in the soft earth, quivered with a sort of 
 life. The vast fabric creaked and the backstays tautened omi- 
 nously. It was a moment of suspense, of agony. Something 
 had to give. Kirk held his breath and waited for the top- 
 sail to split to ribbons. 
 
 "Quick with the foresail! Up with her, Mr. Kirk- 
 patrick!" 
 
 Thirty men laid hold of the throat and peak halliards 
 and hoisted the sail with a rush. The boom crashed to lee- 
 ward. The sail reverberated deafeningly, drowning for a 
 time even the gale itself. Up, up it went, with a lusty yeo- 
 heave-yeo. The throat halliards were belayed. The loose 
 peak was lashing to and fro, spilling and filling with a furi- 
 ous noise. It was stubbornly conquered, and got into position. 
 
 "Haul aft the foresheet!" 
 
 The sail resisted, giving way only inch by inch. It car- 
 ried the weight of the storm, and was likely to rip free and 
 fly away. At every gust Kirk thought to see the last of it. 
 But it was new and stout, and held grimly to the bolt ropes. 
 
 220 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Then to his amazement the deck beneath him began to 
 shake and pitch. By George, they were moving! Bump, 
 bump, bump with men slipping and staggering all about 
 him. But he had no time to look over the weather rail. 
 His eyes were fixed on the captain. He steadied himself 
 against the mast. 
 
 " Pull, you beggars, pull," he roared, as the long queue 
 of men flopped over, and the sheet slackened in their hands. 
 He ran in among them himself, and laid his own weight 
 to the rope. Four or five others jumped to help him. Every- 
 one was shouting and laughing with exultation. He had a 
 momentary view of the flat, wet prairie speeding by pools 
 of muddy water the diminishing crowd behind, waving 
 their caps. 
 
 "That will do, Mr. Kirkpatrick! " 
 
 " Make her fast, boys ! Now, you lubbers, what are you 
 doing with that sheet ? Here, like this ! " 
 
 Then, at last, he was at liberty to see what was going on. 
 
 Reeling across the deck he attained the shrouds and 
 sprang up the ratlines. Yes, indeed, she was moving! Her 
 ponderous wheels were sending up a spray of mud and earth, 
 and every time the great hull dipped by the head there was a 
 slish as of some mighty automobile magnified by a thousand. 
 Under that press of sail the Fortuna pounded on with a wild 
 and lumbering velocity that brought the heart to the mouth. 
 Lurching, groaning, discordantly protesting from every part 
 of her fabric, and with a full gale behind her, she flew on- 
 ward with an indescribable jarring and bumping that seemed 
 at every instant to threaten her destruction. Braced against 
 the rigging, holding on for dear life, Kirk had the startling 
 sensation of scudding over the prairie. As the squall burst 
 the Fortuna freshened her pace and dashed before it, amid 
 rain and lightning, at a speed so terrific that there went 
 
 221 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 up a cry to shorten sail. But the captain, swaying on the 
 bridge, and searching the lee horizon ahead with his glass, 
 held on undismayed. 
 
 Behind them were the tents of Felicidad, fitfully seen and 
 half lost again in the murk and gloom. The poor, deserted 
 fellows had shrunk to mere specks. One of them was waving 
 a tiny flag on a stick the only attempt to celebrate in any 
 way the departure of the Fortuna. A pitiful leavetaking 
 that widow's mite of bunting, hardly more than a striped 
 and gaudy handkerchief. 
 
 But the sight of it struck a responsive chord in the cap- 
 tain's bosom. He raised the speaking trumpet to his lips. 
 
 "Mr. Kirkpatrick?" 
 
 "Yes, sir!" 
 
 " Break out the ensign at the main ! " 
 
 Kirk bellowed a repetition of the order. A quarter- 
 master staggered aft to get the flag from the chart-room 
 rack. Another cleared the signal halliards. The little ball 
 went up swiftly and jerkily, all eyes watching it. Then, as 
 it reached the truck, it was broken and blew out its vivid 
 colors to the storm. It may be that it was not seen by those 
 they were leaving, but the sight of the stars and stripes to 
 the Fortunes themselves was salutary and inspiring. In a 
 time of danger the assertion of coolness and discipline is 
 always beneficial. This trifling act gave new courage to all 
 on board. If Jackson could bother about a mere flag why 
 should they be in such a sweat for their lives? There was 
 no longer any mutinous outcry to shorten sail. A pipe or 
 two made its appearance. There was a scramble to find shel- 
 tered places. Men grinned at one another, and even laughed 
 outright as they were slung hither and thither by the violent 
 and sudden movements of the ship. 
 
 And all the while she held on her way, four men strug- 
 222 
 
"Lurching, groaning, discordantly protesting . 
 onward. " 
 
 she flew 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 gling at the wheel, the sails straining madly, the wind howl- 
 ing, the indefatigable wheels racing and plunging as they 
 cut into the sodden earth and tore a path to the southward. 
 The ship yawed wildly. Kirk mounted halfway up the mast. 
 His first feeling of dread had given way to a strange elation. 
 It was magnificent thus to be borne along. Danger was 
 forgotten in the exhilaration, the excitement, the thrilling 
 delight of that mighty rush before the gale. Fear had dis- 
 appeared. Life seemed as nothing in the balance. Standing 
 there between earth and sky he gave himself up to the enjoy- 
 ment of a sublime and extraordinary spectacle. Below him 
 the crouching figures of his companions, the careening decks, 
 the whirl of those steelshod wheels. Before him the vast 
 emptiness of the plains, rimmed only by the sky. Behind 
 him the fierce alternations of haze, gloom, and driving 
 squalls, with rifts of wintry light and bleak, passing vistas 
 of a tempestuous horizon. 
 
 Lightning forked and flashed with ear-splitting detona- 
 tions. The heavens opened. The close-reefed sails strained 
 furiously in the bolt-ropes with a menacing note of disaster 
 a hoarse and fitful murmur as though any moment they 
 might tear themselves to shreds. Jackson, with the speaking 
 trumpet to his lips, attempted in vain to make himself heard 
 above the storm. Hardly a word could be understood. But 
 his convulsed face and gesticulating hand showed that some- 
 thing was amiss. He gave the trumpet to one of the men 
 clinging to the rail beside him, and made unmistakable ges- 
 tures to take in sail. 
 
 Kirk slipped down the rigging, and routed out his men 
 from the nooks where they had taken shelter. The captain's 
 motions were so peremptory that he judged it advisable to 
 let everything go with a run, cost what it might. He let 
 fly the fore-topsail halliards, and allowed the sail to beat 
 
 223 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and thunder while he applied himself to getting down the 
 foresail. He put every man he could muster on the clew 
 rope, and soon had the great sail on deck, where it gave them 
 a lively tussle as it bellied and floundered ; the forecastle men 
 hauled down and stowed the jib. The Fortuna came to a 
 gentle standstill. Her deck became solid underfoot, and 
 the relief after the peculiar, jarring movement that baffled 
 every attempt to walk, was indescribably welcome. Even 
 at her smoothest running one could only move in little rushes, 
 catching at a fresh support at the instant of letting go the 
 old. A crablike progress, ludicrous to see, both irksome and 
 dangerous, making the handling of the ship excessively dif- 
 ficult. 
 
 Kirk strode aft to see what was the matter, after first 
 clewing up the fore-topsail with a dozen hands, and then 
 ordering them aloft to furl it. 
 
 The captain met him at the break of the poop. 
 
 " Very smartly done," he said approvingly. 
 
 " Has anything happened, sir? " 
 
 " No, it's only those speaking tubes. Crawshaw will 
 have to do something with them. Haines tells me that half 
 the time he can't get the helmsmen to listen can't attract 
 their attention." 
 
 " Could you hear Mr. Haines yourself, sir? " 
 
 " Why, the thing only gives a little squeak. He might 
 be yelling blue murder for all I'd know about it. What if 
 we ran into a hummock or struck a gulley ! Haines up there 
 is no more use to me than if he were in a balloon. Find 
 Crawshaw, and send him to me." 
 
 Kirk turned away, only to meet the little engineer him- 
 self. He was beaming from ear to ear. And this in spite 
 of the fact that he looked half drowned, and the coat was 
 half ripped off his back. 
 
 224 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "Isn't she splendid!" he cried. "Sails like a witch, 
 and as smooth as a phaeton. Hardly know that you weren't 
 on the water. I've been logging her, and would you believe 
 it, she's been doing seventeen ! " 
 
 The captain grimly brought him back to earth. 
 
 " We've been running blindfolded," he said. " Heaven 
 only knows what we've escaped! More luck than good 
 guidance, I can tell you. See here, Crawshaw, you've got 
 to fix those speaking tubes better. I insist on it. We can't 
 trust our lives to a tin squeal. Call them up aft, and see 
 for yourself how rotten bad they are ! " 
 
 Jackson's scornful and fault-finding tone angered Craw- 
 shaw. He pursed his lips together, and without another 
 word went over to the apparatus. In their moment of tri- 
 umph, of signal and assured success, it seemed hard to him 
 that there should be no general congratulations, no hand- 
 shaking, no exuberant jubilation over the wonderful feat they 
 had already achieved. But the captain's sour face precluded 
 anything of the kind, and even overawed the little party that 
 were huddled together on the after part of the bridge. Be- 
 sides, they were cold and dazed, and only just beginning to 
 recover from the frightful jolting they had undergone. 
 
 " How long will it take you? " demanded the captain. 
 
 Crawshaw reflected. 
 
 "I'll have to rig up a sort of telephone harness," he re- 
 turned at length. " One for a man here, one for the foretop, 
 and another for the wheel. Say an hour. Yes, all of an 
 hour." 
 
 "Mr. Kirkpatrick?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Tell the cook to start his fire, and serve out hot coffee 
 and biscuits to all hands. And " 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 225 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "Get that storm trysail out of the sail-locker, bend it, 
 and be ready to run it up ! " 
 
 " Very good, sir." 
 
 " Oh, I say," put in Crawshaw, " I wish you'd tell Gibbs 
 and Henderson to look over the trucks and see how the 
 springs are standing it. Tell them also to examine the jour- 
 nals, and make sure they're lubricating." 
 
 " Yes, you see to that, too, Mr. Kirkpatrick," added the 
 captain with jealous authority. 
 
 Kirk darted down the ladder, and hastened about giving 
 orders. The galley stovepipe began to smoke. The storm- 
 sail was broken out and bent. Kirk moved hither and thither, 
 doing energetic second mate routing out skulkers, directing 
 gear to be coiled, tarpaulins lashed, and the disordered decks 
 straightened up. His eyes were everywhere, and he allowed 
 nothing to escape him. He called up the lamplighter and 
 set him to work. The binnacle lamps had not been filled, 
 nor any of the companion-way lanterns. One of the scuttle 
 butts had sprung a leak. He put a man to caulk it. He 
 asked and obtained the captain's permission to run life lines 
 fore and aft, so that when they were again under way the 
 men might be able to move the length of the ship without 
 being spilled into the scuppers. He sent one of the mechanics 
 to report on the chains of the stearing gear, and find out 
 how they were standing the strain that had been put upon 
 them. He overhauled the chicken coops, gave them an 
 additional tarpaulin, and had the chickens fed. Found a 
 fresh egg, miraculously unbroken, which he told Hildebrand 
 to keep apart for Miss Westbrook's breakfast. Busied with 
 these and innumerable other details, the hour passed swiftly 
 by, and he was almost surprised when the orders came down 
 to again make sail. 
 
 The gale was still raging, but their second start was 
 226 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 less beset with terrors than the first. They knew now for 
 certain what the Fortuna was capable of. The storm trysail, 
 which was sent up first (the wind being now on the port 
 quarter), steadied the ship, and as she gathered way relieved 
 the two other sails that followed. The sickening, jouncing, 
 teeth-chattering motion recommenced. The Fortuna plunged 
 forward with an increasing acceleration, bumping and quiv- 
 ering, lunging, rolling, and sending up a spray of clods and 
 dirt. Once more she was off, and everyone on board braced 
 and settled himself for the nerve-racking ordeal that had to 
 endure till sundown. 
 
 Eight bells were struck. 
 
 Kirk, gazing aloft, perceived Haines waving his hand to 
 him. They had now to change places. Kirk, with the port- 
 watch, was now to relieve the starboard. He sent his two 
 quartermasters, together with five other hands, to take the 
 wheel, two more to the bridge, while he, with Phelps and 
 Haggitty, both dependable men with some sea experience, 
 laid aloft to keep their watch in the foretop. 
 
 Haines and his two companions were very glad to come 
 down. They were wet to the bone, and so chilled and 
 cramped that their hands could hardly hold to the ratlines. 
 To make matters worse they were all more or less seasick 
 with the violent, whipping movement of the mast. Kirk 
 watched them descend with some anxiety, and breathed a 
 sigh of relief when they safely reached the deck. Phelps was 
 put into the harness that Crawshaw had improvised. Kirk 
 spoke through him. 
 
 " Quartermaster, do you hear me ? " 
 
 11 Yes, sir." 
 
 "Quite plainly?" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 "What's your course?" 
 
 227 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Sou-sou-east." 
 
 " Is she hard to hold?" 
 
 " Very difficult, sir. Bucks like a broncho. Jerks the 
 fellows off their pins, sir." 
 
 " Shall I send you two more hands? " 
 
 " We'd be very glad to get them. Could do with four, 
 I think, sir." 
 
 " All right I'll see to it." 
 
 Then he called up the bridge. 
 
 " Hello! Bridge! Can you hear me plainly?" 
 
 " Every word, sir." 
 
 " Tell Captain Jackson that the helmsmen are short- 
 handed, and that they need four more hands." 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 Kirk took up the binoculars that Haines had left him, and 
 swept the horizon. 
 
 From that great altitude the limitless, desolate plains 
 seemed as flat as a billiard board. It required very close in- 
 spection to pick out hollows and inequalities of surface. But 
 by dint of searching, and aided by Haggitty, whose eyes were 
 sharper than the glass, Kirk gradually learned to detect bad 
 places and avoid them. Haines simply allowed the ship to 
 roll over everything, lickety-split, bump, bump, bump, with 
 a slavish adherence to his course as though any deviation 
 from it were a crime. But Kirk tried to ease the running 
 all he could. Under his direction the vessel yawed to the 
 right and left, with not only some increase of speed, but 
 with a most noticeable improvement in her motion. 
 
 " Foretop, there ! " 
 
 " Ay, ay, captain." 
 
 "I'm going below, and turn over the command to the 
 second officer." 
 
 " Very good, sir." 
 
 228 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " You are to call me if the gale freshens." 
 
 " Shall do so, sir." 
 
 " Is it letting up at all ? " 
 
 " No, sir seems not, sir." 
 
 " How's it to windward ? " 
 
 " Seems all clear, sir." 
 
 " Well, keep her going." 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 Kirk, leaning over his dizzy perch, watched the captain 
 disappear. It gave him a strange sense of loneliness of 
 paralyzing helplessness verging on fear. The whole respon- 
 sibility of the ship was now upon his shoulders, and he had 
 no one to rely on but himself. He took a deep breath and 
 pulled himself together. But if command had its terrors, it 
 had also its delights. Swaying there in the sky, with one 
 arm clasped about the mast, he was thrilled to think that 
 his will was now supreme. On his skill, judgment, and 
 caution was staked the safety of all. He redoubled his vigi- 
 lance, and kept his eyes fixed on the unrolling savannas 
 before him. 
 
 "Starboard a little!" 
 
 " Starboard it is, sir." 
 
 " Give her another point." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 "Steady! Meet her!" 
 
 " Steady it is, sir." 
 
 229 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Y four o'clock his watch was over. It was 
 blowing as hard as ever, and the bleak, wild 
 day was darkening fast. But the captain's 
 orders were to press her to the utmost, and 
 take every advantage of the favoring gale. 
 The searchlight was lit, and its dazzling rays were projected 
 far ahead, opening before them a path of weird and startling 
 brilliancy. Kirk worked his way along the life lines to 
 the aftercompanion, and staggered below to the cabin he 
 had been allotted to share with Haines. He managed to 
 change his clothing, and then all dressed, except for his 
 stockinged feet, he wedged himself in his bunk. Sleep, of 
 course, he could not. The motion was too racking, too 
 violent for even the pretense. But he could close his eyes, 
 and alleviate to some degree the fatigue of nerves and body 
 so long kept at tension. 
 
 The day's work was practically over, for, although it 
 would fall to him to stand the second dogwatch from six to 
 eight, and then the middle anchorwatch from midnight to 
 four, it would not be under the same arduous circumstances. 
 The ship blessed thought would be still, and there would 
 be no course to watch, no sails to worry over, and, best of 
 all, an end to that cruel jolting that was the very acme of 
 physical discomfort. Though he had eaten little breakfast 
 and less lunch, he was not hungry at all. He was too tired 
 to be hungry too utterly worn out. 
 
 After a while a long while he heard the tramp of 
 230 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 feet overhead, hoarse, inarticulate cries, the pounding of 
 blocks, the fury of loosened sails thundering in the wind. 
 The heavy, lurching, exasperating movement abruptly ceased. 
 A heavenly peace took its place. The wind was still shrilling 
 through the rigging, and blast after blast shook the ship, 
 but in comparison with the miseries of the Fortuna under 
 sail, the change was astounding. Kirk flung himself out at 
 full length, his tormented frame free at last to lie at ease. 
 Oh, the satisfaction of it! Oh, the glorious relaxation of 
 weary muscles ! How soothing the pillow that supported his 
 tired head. His eyes closed. Respite had come at last. The 
 long, long day was over. 
 
 He was awakened a little later by Haines. He sat up 
 and rubbed his sleepy eyes. Where was he? He blinked 
 under the light of Haines's lantern, wondering dully at the 
 unfamiliarity of the cabin. Then his recollection returned, 
 and he jumped out, getting down on his knees to search for 
 his rubber boots. Haines was divesting himself of his oil- 
 skins, and was raining water all over the floor. He was 
 surly and uncommunicative, growling out that it was a 
 beastly dirty night as Kirk asked him how it was on deck. 
 
 Kirk went up the bridge, and added his hearty agreement 
 to the description. The storm was blowing with unabated 
 strength, with now and then a lull when rain would drown 
 the decks and overflow the scuppers. A black, wild night 
 indeed, wet and raw, with a deafening note of menace as 
 the great gusts burst against the ship. The watch was 
 cowering for shelter under the lee of deckhouses and 
 freight. Most of them were new to sea routine, and their 
 faces showed sullenness and resentment at being so un- 
 necessarily exposed to the onslaught of the elements. Kirk 
 was inclined to agree with them. But, of course, it was 
 not for him to alter Captain Jackson's regulations. They 
 
 231 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 were in an unknown and unexplored country, roved over by 
 hostile Indians, and there was something to be said for 
 always having twenty men within reach of the rifle racks. 
 Though on such a night as that it was inconceivable that 
 anyone should care to molest them. 
 
 Pacing up and down the bridge, Kirk gradually wore out 
 the two hours of his dogwatch. Eight bells were struck, 
 and he went below, happy to think that dinner was awaiting 
 him. The main cabin was brightly lit, and in contrast with 
 the desolation he had just quitted, it appeared extraordinarily 
 comfortable, cosy, and homelike. The long center table had 
 been cleared, except for a solitary place that had been set 
 apart for him. At the end an American flag had been laid 
 crosswise as though in preparation for a religious service, 
 and about it were gathered Jackson, Westbrook, Mrs. 
 Hitchcock, and Dr. Von Zedtwitz, all with their heads 
 together, and talking in low and anxious tones. In their 
 absorption they took no notice of Kirk, who gazed at them 
 queerly, beginning to understand that some very disagreeable 
 matter was under discussion. Their excitement, their height- 
 ened color, their angry and emphatic gestures, filled Kirk 
 with vague misgivings. Westbrook held a crumpled paper 
 in his hand to which he several times referred with flashing 
 eyes and fierce, ambiguous whispering. 
 
 In a corner McCann and Phillips were pretending to 
 play a game of chess, but it was evident that they were cov- 
 ertly watching the others. They, too, looked perturbed 
 and ill at ease. Near them was Crawshaw, hunched over a 
 book, in so intense a preoccupation that he seemed oblivious 
 to the general appearance of alarm and mystery. Vera was 
 absent, and Kirk's heart fell a little as he looked about for 
 her in vain. 
 
 The steward brought him a plate of soup. Kirk swal- 
 232 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 lowed it ravenously. He had forgotten until then how fam- 
 ished he was. The soup was followed by a curry of mutton 
 and some admirably cooked rice. Hildebrand had served in 
 the Chinese military service, and in some particulars had not 
 altogether wasted his time in the Heavenly Kingdom. He 
 had come away with the secret of preparing rice, together 
 with a claim against the Heavenly Government for an untold 
 number of thousands of dollars. Of the two the former had 
 turned out the more profitable. 
 
 Kirk was busily getting away with his curry when he 
 heard a rustle behind him. It was Vera, gliding to the seat 
 beside him. She was very pale, and she leaned her chin on 
 her hand as she turned and looked at him. She was smiling, 
 and her soft lustrous eyes did not drop as they met his own. 
 It was Kirk who faltered under that tender scrutiny, op- 
 pressed as he often was, and somehow hurt within, by the 
 spell of her beauty. It was ever a fresh revelation, a fresh 
 torment, filling him with a jealous rapture that grudged 
 even the sight of her to another. 
 
 " Have you heard the news ? " she asked, in a voice so 
 low that it was almost a whisper. 
 
 "News? What news?" 
 
 "There's trouble forward." 
 
 " Trouble " 
 
 " Hush not so loud. The men have sent in a round- 
 robin. A deputation brought it in at dinner time four of 
 them that's what papa has in his hand. Wasn't it too 
 bad, when we were all so happy, so delighted and the whole 
 thing so tremendously successful ? " 
 
 " But I don't understand. What do they want? " 
 
 " They insist on knowing where we are going to. If 
 they are not told they threaten to put back the ship. The 
 whole conspiracy was hatched in Felicidad before we 
 
 233 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 started. Treacherous of them, wasn't it and so disloyal 
 and underhanded! And the horrid things want to know 
 what they are to be paid." 
 
 " It's that fellow Beale," cried Kirk. " He sounded me 
 himself only a week ago, the rascally sea lawyer. I might 
 have known that he was going to spring something on us. 
 If I was Jackson I'd put him in irons, and by George, if 
 they want volunteers to do it, I'll " 
 
 " There's more listen. They say that Jackson and Mr. 
 Haines have to resign, and that they will elect their own 
 officers." 
 
 " Their own officers, eh ? Oh, I see Captain Beale ! 
 A nice thing that would be! Well, I hope they gave them 
 a stiff answer." 
 
 " No, they did not give them anything. We can't fight 
 them, Mr. Kirkpatrick. How can we? There were thirty- 
 seven names signed to it in a big round circle. Papa has asked 
 them to come in and talk it over. He is only waiting for 
 you to finish your dinner to have them all in here. I don't 
 know what he has decided to do. He would not tell me 
 when I asked him." 
 
 Kirk pushed away his plate. 
 
 " I'm done," he said. " I can't sit here and eat with half 
 a mutiny on our hands. Steward, take away Ought I 
 to go over and speak to them ? Would it be wrong, do you 
 think?" 
 
 " No, no, let them alone. They're having an awful 
 quarrel. I believe the captain is secretly pleased at the dead- 
 lock. He has always hung back, you know, and done every- 
 thing he could to thwart us. He wants to do the talking, 
 but papa won't let him. Papa is for compromise and reason- 
 ableness, and I believe he suspects that Jackson would inten- 
 tionally try to make things impossible. The old lady taunts 
 
 234 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 papa with being weak, and seems to think all that's necessary 
 is for her to get up and give everybody a good scolding. 
 Too bad, isn't it!" 
 
 " Hadn't we better get out of the way? " said Kirk. " It 
 makes me fidgety to sit here and feel that I am prolonging the 
 suspense." 
 
 Vera assented, and they both rose and went over to the 
 side of the cabin, seating themselves near the chess players. 
 It was the signal for the others to arrange themselves for- 
 mally at the head of the table, a grim little party, with the 
 light of battle in their eyes. The steward was sent on deck 
 with a message. He had hardly been gone a minute before 
 the bell began to toll on the bridge. It had an alarming, 
 apprehensive sound. All talk and whispering ceased. There 
 was a general air of inquietude. Then the men filed in, 
 silently, as though daunted by the brilliancy of the great 
 cabin and at their own presumption in invading it. An in- 
 stinctive respect kept them standing. They massed together 
 about the mainmast, some with folded arms, others with their 
 hands in their pockets, others lounging carelessly against the 
 bulkheads with an affected bravado. A formidable crowd, 
 filling nearly half the cabin brawny, muscular, and defiant. 
 
 Mr. Westbrook rose to his feet. His manner was that 
 of a director at some shareholders' meeting dignified, calm, 
 courteous. 
 
 " Gentlemen," he began, in a deep, resonant voice, " I 
 have here a petition signed by thirty-seven members of this 
 expedition. It asks for some things that are possible, and 
 others that are impossible. We trust your good sense and 
 forbearance to hit on some kind of a compromise. You 
 cannot go on without us we cannot go on without you. 
 There must be concessions on either side. It is incon- 
 ceivable that a scheme so boldly projected, so laboriously 
 16 235 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 carried out, so auspiciously begun, should be permitted to 
 perish in ignominy. You wish to know the object of our 
 search? Well, you shall be told! " 
 
 There was a hum of eager expectancy. Heads craned 
 forward. The loungers straightened up. 
 
 " But on one condition." 
 
 Westbrook stopped and regarded them steadily. 
 
 " We will brook no interference with the control of this 
 vessel. Captain Jackson will remain in command, Mr. 
 Haines will remain first officer. We expect from every man 
 of you his individual word of honor to obey them loyally and 
 unquestioningly. If you are not prepared to concede this, 
 the expedition is at an end, and we shall return to Felicidad 
 and disband." 
 
 " Hold on a minute! " cried Beale, pressing belligerently 
 to the front, and raising his hand for attention. " We don't 
 think that Jackson is a fit and suitable person to have charge 
 of us. Not only is he no seaman, but his inflated and over- 
 bearing ways " 
 
 " Silence! " cried Westbrook. " Captain Jackson is not 
 to be discussed. Another word, and I'll wash my hands of 
 the whole affair." 
 
 " But " expostulated Beale. 
 
 " I'll leave the speaker to the good sense of you men," 
 interrupted Westbrook fiercely. " Such language is intol- 
 erable, and can only make matters worse. This is no time 
 for personalities and insults. You have submitted a pro- 
 posal well, we meet it with a counter-proposal. That's the 
 question for the meeting and the only one." 
 
 Beale tried to speak, but was dragged back by his com- 
 rades, struggling and expostulating. There were shouts of: 
 " Shut up, Beale ! " " Put a stopper on him ! " " What Mr. 
 Westbrook says is right ! " The big Australian subsided as 
 
 236 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 he saw his men turning against him, and folded his arms 
 across his breast in an aggressive submission. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen," continued Westbrook. " We shall 
 tell you everything, if in return you pledge yourselves to sup- 
 port our officers willingly and cheerfully. Yes or no, if you 
 please." 
 
 There was a shout of assent that swelled into cheers. 
 The cabin rang with hurrahs. Beale, flushed and scowling, 
 seemed alone in withholding his consent. He stirred un- 
 easily on his feet, and his lips tightened as though in mute 
 protest. 
 
 " Let us hear from the nays," exclaimed Westbrook, fix- 
 ing a withering glance on him. " I have not heard Mr. 
 Beale's decision. Considering that he is our principal critic 
 his answer is important." 
 
 " I'm with the crowd," returned the Australian inso- 
 lently. " If they are ready to put up with ' 
 
 " You're getting away from the point," cried Westbrook 
 interrupting him. " You mean that you give your word of 
 honor without any reservation whatever, to obey Captain 
 Jackson and the other officers we have appointed? Is 
 that so?" 
 
 " It is, if you carry out your part of the bargain." 
 
 " We are ready to do that now ! " 
 
 " All right then," said Beale, in a choking sort of 
 voice. 
 
 11 Then, gentlemen, I shall call on Dr. Von Zedtwitz to 
 put you in possession of the facts that induced us to embark 
 on this costly and hazardous undertaking." 
 
 Amid a profound silence, broken only by the droning of 
 the gale above, Dr. Von Zedtwitz rose, and solemnly regarded 
 the assembled crew of the Fortuna a bulky, impressive 
 figure; his blond beard forking into tusks; his eyes deep set 
 
 237 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and piercing; his strong, harsh features suggestive of a mind 
 as rugged as his face. 
 
 " Gentlemen," he began, " I shall make no apology for 
 my English, which is bad, nor for my lack of descriptive 
 power, which is, and always has been peetiful. Sufficient 
 let it be that you may understand the actual facts of this 
 extraordinary, and never-before-heard-of enterprise. Four- 
 teen years ago, under instructions from the Imperial Scien- 
 tific Society of Heidelberg, I had the honor of guiding a 
 party from the city of Quito into that unexplored region of 
 the southern llanos. After many hardships and misadven- 
 tures, we were one day set upon by a band of those savage 
 aboriginals that had made this country the dread of the 
 explorer, and the despair of those ardent thirsters after 
 geographical, anthropological, and etymological knowledge, 
 to whose efforts, in every clime, we owe so sincere a debt of 
 scientific gratitude. They stripped us of everything, though 
 they spared our lives, and treated us in other ways not 
 unkindly. Unfortunately, thinking to beguile them and 
 win their friendship I exerted myself to amuse them with my 
 flute. It was a fatal action. I succeeded only too well. My 
 companions they left, but me they carried with them away. 
 Professors Engelhardt and Blumm contrived to retrace their 
 steps, and reach the outposts of civilization. But I, on the 
 bare back of a horse, was led by my captors into the recesses 
 of their unchartered and unknown country, fluting for them 
 to dance when we rested from the chase, or camped at night 
 on the naked prairie. 
 
 " These nomad bands, during the dry season, roam at will 
 over the vast stretches of the llanos. The multiplication of 
 the domestic horse run wild, and breeding in incredible num- 
 bers, affords the aboriginal the means of rapid locomotion. 
 Herds of deer, antelope, and cattle similarly escaped from the 
 
 238 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 haciendas of the Guaviare give him the wherewithal to live. 
 But when it comes the wet season, both man and game seek 
 shelter in the hills, eager both to fly from this veritable 
 marsh miasmic and deadly as a campagna of inordinate 
 extent. 
 
 " I was carried, in the course of time, to a place called 
 Cassaquiari, situated on rising ground to the southeast at 
 the first break of the prairie into low hills, that by gradations 
 assume the character of mountains. Imagine my sensations 
 to find here the remains of one of those vast and mysterious 
 cities that ante-date the Christian era, and were possibly 
 contemporaneous with Babylon and Tyre. Yes, my friends 
 enormous buildings of an antique epoch, moldering in 
 decay, overgrown with jungle, in many cases mere, shapeless 
 ruins lost to all form the wreck of a perished and forgotten 
 civilization. One could not move in those great courtyards, 
 or view those fronts of fantastic carving and embellishment 
 without an archaeological thrill those colossal erections of 
 vanished hands the work of artists and architects of no 
 mean order, who had labored in the dim past to raise what 
 was, perhaps, the capital of an empire. 
 
 " For three years I was captive with these savages, roam- 
 ing the llanos in the dry season, returning periodically to 
 Cassaquiari in the wet but busy always, as you may be 
 sure, to turn my personal misfortunes to a scientific account. 
 I early recovered some of my instruments, a few of my books, 
 my chronometer watch. I was enabled to make observa- 
 tions thereby, greatly to their astonishment, and my own 
 satisfaction. I laid them for safe keeping in the only secure 
 place I had my head, gentlemen. I made systematic ex- 
 ploration of this ancient and half-buried city. I labored 
 persistently, my determination unshaken, my curiosity ever 
 on fire. 
 
 239 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " There was one building in particular, of prodigious 
 extent, and of notable and gloomy splendor, on which I 
 concentrated the major part of my efforts. Deep below in 
 the ground was a labyrinth of subterranean chambers, empty, 
 dark, and given over to bats and reptiles. They had so 
 long been exposed to the ravages of my friends, the Piapocos, 
 that naught remained of their primitive occupancy. Then 
 it occurred to me to chart these carefully, in the expectation 
 that, being laid out in a mathematical form of remarkable 
 strictness and regularity, I might in this manner recover the 
 architectural scheme, and know where to look for other 
 chambers that possibly had been hidden and lost for forty 
 centuries. 
 
 " I was rewarded beyond my hopes. This seeming laby- 
 rinth, when measured and drawn to scale, showed precision 
 and exactness. I had now in my hand the key to the whole ; 
 and there only remained the almost insurmountable difficulty 
 of moving debris, and tunneling to where I was confident of 
 striking the continuation of a certain passage. Ah, gentle- 
 men, it was an undertaking such as few men would have 
 ever attempted! I had no tools but my hands, no helper 
 save a female. But I was sustained by the conviction of 
 ultimate success. I was as positive as though I stood before 
 a door, and had only to achieve its opening. So I toiled 
 and toiled, undismayed. 
 
 " We broke through. It was as I had thought, a replica 
 of the side already open. With torch in hand, I pene- 
 trated those cavernous interiors, and trod beneath my feet 
 the dust of bygone treasures. Ranged about me were great 
 chests that crumbled as I touched them; great rolls, pre- 
 sumably of cloth, that fell to nothingness under the breath 
 of the outside air; enormous earthenware jars, rilling gal- 
 leries a hundred and ten meters long, in some of which was 
 
 240 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 honey as sweet and palatable as any I have ever tasted. I 
 was in an ancient storehouse of enormous extent an arsenal 
 a commissariat depot. In one chamber I afterwards 
 counted over seven thousand bronze axes. In another, I 
 calculated there could not be less than four hundred thousand 
 arrowheads. And so it was with everything the equip- 
 ment of an Inca's army for thousands, many thousands, of 
 men. 
 
 " Do not think this examination was the matter of an 
 hour. I was confronted with many difficulties poisonous 
 gases, lack of illuminating means above all, what I might 
 call my professional engagements that made irritating de- 
 mands on my time. Constantly I had to play the flute. 
 They were insatiable for my humble efforts. Once, to my 
 horror, a passing tribe attempted to purchase me. Modesty 
 forbids me to tell you the exorbitant price that tempted 
 the cupidity of my captors. Rifles and young virgins the 
 currency of the llanos were offered to a staggering amount. 
 I was seated on a rock, and made to perform while the hag- 
 gling went on. I did so as poorly as I could, but all to no 
 effect. The bargain was clinched, and I was carried away. 
 But my former friends, with a treachery I cannot too highly 
 commend with a commercial instinct quite in accordance 
 with the civilized traditions of to-day waylaid us two 
 nights afterwards; and with the aid of the rifles thus dis- 
 honorably obtained, fusilladed my purchasers, and recovered 
 my possession. So narrow was thus the margin by which I 
 am free to stand before you to-night! 
 
 " I resumed my explorations. I shall not weary you with 
 the details of them. I will come to that extraordinary mo- 
 ment when I attained a high and vaulted chamber, and 
 found myself in the actual strong-room of the citadel. Here 
 were ingots of metal, compactly stacked in serried rows that 
 
 241 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 reached the ceiling. I took one up. Gentlemen, it was a 
 bar of gold!" 
 
 The doctor paused as though to enjoy the sensation of 
 his announcement. Nor was he disappointed. The company, 
 breathless and silent, had been standing like statues under 
 the spell of a dawning comprehension. Now, with a sudden, 
 ungovernable impulse, they broke into cheers. Again and 
 again there arose a mighty shout that deafened the cabin 
 and shook the skylights overhead. 
 
 " Zeddy, forever! Hurrah for Zeddy! Now, boys, all 
 together, hip, hip ! " 
 
 The uproar was quelled by the doctor's upraised hand. 
 
 " To resume," he said. " Yes, gentlemen, a bar of gold ! 
 Even with my imperfect means of verification, I soon satisfied 
 myself of its integrity. Then I set myself painstakingly to 
 determine the value of my discovery. It was at best but a 
 crude estimate; but, with scientific conservatism, I erred, if 
 at all, on the side of caution. In that vault there lies to-day 
 between four and five hundred ingots of gold of a minimum 
 value of forty millions of marks, or, in American money, 
 almost ten millions of dollars ! 
 
 " In the succeeding year, beginning the fourth of my 
 captivity, there was a season of such excessive drought that 
 we were threatened with starvation. Game, formerly so 
 plentiful, had all but disappeared. The parched savannas 
 were whitened with the bones of those immense herds that 
 had fallen and died in uncounted thousands. We had split 
 up into small parties, the better to subsist, and some, includ- 
 ing my own, boldly penetrated to the northward, hoping to do 
 better on the banks of the rivers. We reached the Inirida. 
 Here at last was my opportunity, desperate and full of peril 
 though it was. One night I fled and proceeded to follow 
 down the river. I lived on what fish I caught, and at night 
 
 242 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 slept in trees to guard myself from tigers. Ten days I existed 
 thus, with diminishing strength and many sad reflections on 
 my foolhardiness. Then, in my last extremity, I was so 
 fortunate as to fall in with a party of Mitua Indians, who 
 were descending the stream in a canoe. These brought me 
 to San Fernando de Anabapo, from whence in due course, and 
 after many tedious delays, I returned to my native Heidel- 
 berg. 
 
 " As to the treasure I said nothing. I cherished dreams 
 of some day returning, and in the intervals of my professorial 
 duties at Heidelberg where I became assistant lecturer on 
 the prehistoric races of South America I turned over many 
 projects, which one by one I had to give up as unfeasible. 
 The problem of transporting such a mass of metal through 
 a hostile, almost waterless desert, appeared insurmountable. 
 This colossal weight, requiring four hundred pack horses to 
 bear it, and an attendant army to defend it, defied every 
 endeavor of my imagination. No means suggested itself to 
 me by which success might be achieved. Yet I said nothing. 
 I kept my secret buried in my bosom. But I pondered in- 
 cessantly and in vain. 
 
 " One day in Paris, at the house of our mutual friend, 
 the justly celebrated and world-famed Max Nordau, I had 
 the great honor and good fortune to be presented to Mrs. 
 Poulteney Hitchcock. This gracious lady put many ques- 
 tions to me about Cassaquiari, and betrayed an interest so 
 eager, so sympathetic, that after repeated visits to her charm- 
 ing salon, I at last unfolded to her my perplexities and 
 besought her aid. 
 
 " From there, gentlemen, I need go no further. You 
 stand here to-night the living witnesses of what was next to 
 happen. Thanks to this noble lady's energy and money, to 
 Mr. Westb rook's inventive genius, and to my own humble 
 
 243 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 though ardent cooperation, this daring and audacious scheme 
 was successfully incepted. It rests with you to carry it to 
 a triumphant conclusion, and, God willing, we shall soon re- 
 turn to Felicidad like a galleon of old Spain, deep-laden with 
 the plundered treasures of the Incas! " 
 
 He took his seat amid the new outbursts of cheering. 
 The men, in their enthusiasm, pressed forward and crowded 
 about him clapping him on the back, shaking his hands, 
 and lustily vociferating their good will with lungs of brass. 
 It was some time before Westbrook, beating his fist on the 
 table for silence, was at last able to make his voice heard 
 above the din. 
 
 " Please, please," he protested. " Gentlemen, come to 
 order!" 
 
 The noise subsided. The men scrambled back to their 
 former positions about the mainmast, laughing and sky- 
 larking with boisterous good nature. They were bubbling 
 over with high spirits, and were as unruly as a pack of 
 schoolboys. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen," continued Westbrook, " let us pro- 
 ceed to financial details. Doubtless you will be interested in 
 the proposed division of our profits. If Mr. Allen would 
 kindly stop talking to Mr. 'Brice, I think my labors would 
 be facilitated. That's all right, Mr. Allen ! And those other 
 gentlemen at the back ! Thank you. Well, I shall now out- 
 line roughly what we consider an equitable arrangement for 
 all parties. First, there is a royalty of five per cent due, by 
 special arrangement, to the government of Venezuela. Strict- 
 ly speaking, President Castro is not entitled to a penny, 
 as Cassaquiari lies outside the Venezuelan frontiers, in a 
 debatable territory claimed also by Brazil and Colombia. 
 But the Venezuelans have shown us great consideration, and 
 have afforded us, besides, the free and unhampered passage 
 
 244 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 of our material. Second, the cost of the expedition must be 
 charged against the capital account. That is an immense 
 sum, not yet accurately defined, but it cannot be much under 
 half a million dollars. Deducting these two items, we shall 
 give twenty-five per cent of the residue to Mrs. Poulteney 
 Hitchcock, twenty-five per cent to Dr. Von Zedtwitz, and 
 apportion the remaining fifty per cent as follows: To my- 
 self, fifty shares; to Captain Jackson, fifteen shares; to the 
 first officer, Mr. Haines, and Mr. Crawshaw, chief engi- 
 neer, each five shares; to the second officer, Mr. Kirkpatrick, 
 three shares; Mr. McCann and Dr. Phillips, each three 
 shares; all petty officers one and a half shares; to every one 
 else, one share. We shall give to the heirs of those who have 
 died, or who may die, before the expiration of the expedition, 
 one half of the share they would otherwise be credited with. 
 Should any officer, or petty officer be disrated, he will re- 
 ceive the share due to his lower rank. We shall add to- 
 gether the total of the shares, and with this number 
 divide the general sum at our disposal. In the event of 
 our safe return, I propose, before the accounts accurately 
 be worked out, to advance from my private purse ten per 
 cent of the amount approximately due to each man. In 
 conclusion, let me say that I shall be happy to answer any 
 questions." 
 
 " About them fellows in Felicidad ? " piped up Johnny 
 Tyrell. " What is there in it for them, mister? " 
 
 " Oh, they will share just as we do! Did I not make that 
 plain ? It surely would not be right to penalize them, and we 
 don't propose to do so. Any other question? " 
 
 "May I speak?" said Beale. 
 
 " Why, certainly go ahead." 
 
 " What's our protection that this arrangement is lived 
 up to? A verbal agreement don't count for a row of pins. 
 
 245 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Speaking for the lower deck, I think it ought to be put on 
 paper, hard and fast." 
 
 " I neglected to say that of course this will be done," said 
 Westbrook, again rising to his feet. " Mr. McCann will 
 take the matter in hand, and draw up the whole thing in the 
 form of a contract. Copies of this, each one properly signed 
 and witnessed, will be given to every individual on board. 
 Nothing could be more businesslike than that, surely ? " 
 
 There was a loud murmur of approval. 
 
 " Well, it depends how soon it is done," exclaimed Beale. 
 " Mr. McCann has no watch to keep why shouldn't he set 
 to to-night ? " 
 
 "That's unreasonable," replied Westbrook. "It will 
 be done as soon as possible." 
 
 " Speaking for the lower deck," resumed Beale, " I " 
 
 But Westbrook angrily cut him short. 
 
 "You're only speaking for yourself!" he cried. "I 
 guess the men will take my word for it, and show a little 
 patience. Am I not right, gentlemen ? " 
 
 He was answered by a friendly roar that completely dis- 
 comfited Beale. 
 
 "Anybody else?" inquired Westbrook. 
 
 " Only me," came a voice at the back. 
 
 " Well, speak up, only me!" 
 
 A little pale man elbowed his way to the front. He was 
 an ex-jockey named Weaver, a silent, melancholy creature, 
 who used to snuffle audibly at the evening sing-songs when- 
 ever there were allusions to home and foam, or the letter 
 that never came, or such kindred tender subjects. 
 
 " There's one thing that's been overlooked 'ere," he said, 
 in a high, squeaking voice. " We 'ave one person on board 
 who ain't to get nothink, and I think it's a sin and a shame. 
 It would be an everlasting reflection on our manhood if Miss 
 
 246 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Vera Westbrook was left out. I propose she share and share 
 with us, and have her pretty name down with the rest. What 
 say, mates ? " 
 
 It was carried by hearty acclamation. 
 
 " In the capacity as mascot to the ship ! " exclaimed Von 
 Zedtwitz, his burly form shaking with merriment. "If the 
 presence of a young and beautiful woman will not bring us 
 luck, I know not (lacking the conventional goat) how we 
 could do better. Gome, my dear, and bow your acknowl- 
 edgment to these good friends of yours! " 
 
 He went over to Vera, and offering her his arm brought 
 her to the head of the table. Blushing furiously, and yet 
 delighted and complimented, she stood there beside the stal- 
 wart German, inclining her head to the storm of applause 
 that greeted her. 
 
 And thus in harmony and good will the great meeting 
 terminated. 
 
 " But we must keep an eye on that fellow Beale," said 
 Westbrook. 
 
 247 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 T was a bleak prospect that met their eyes the 
 next day. The gale had blown itself half 
 out, but the weather sky was still dark and 
 lowering, and over the prairie were expanses 
 of dirty-yellow water that promised a hard 
 going for the day. It was a scene of acute loneliness and 
 desolation, depressing to spirits not yet recovered from the 
 discomforts of the previous day. Everyone was tired and 
 sore and disinclined for another jolting. But the wind was 
 too good to lose, and the orders were to get away promptly 
 at eight o'clock. 
 
 It was drawing toward this hour, and the after guard 
 were all assembled on the after deck to view the start, when 
 a seaman came aft and tipped his cap to Jackson. 
 " Stowaway on board, sir! " he said, grinning. 
 "Stowaway!" roared the captain. "What do you 
 mean?" 
 
 " He's just come out of the hold, sir." 
 "Send him aft at once!" 
 
 There was a stir forward, and pretty well the whole 
 crew advanced in a body, escorting in their midst the most 
 woe-begone figure imaginable. It was St. Aubyn, dirty and 
 disheveled, with his monocle forlornly stuck in his eye. But 
 weak as he was he bore himself with bravado, and joined 
 shamefacedly in the laughter that broke out at the sight of 
 him. 
 
 "What's the meaning of this insubordination, sir?" 
 248 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Oh, piffle! " returned St. Aubyn, with the most ingrati- 
 ating impudence. " I wasn't going to be left behind, cap- 
 tain. I crawled in between some barrels and had a pretty 
 nasty time, I can tell you ! The filthy stuff ran out all over 
 me and cases dropped on my head." 
 
 "And so we are to be burdened with a sick man? " ex- 
 claimed the captain. " You are in no state to stand all this, 
 and you know it. A nice fix you've got us all into with 
 your thoughtless selfishness! " 
 
 " Oh, don't be hard on me! " pleaded St. Aubyn. " I'm 
 not going to be any trouble to anybody and and I feel 
 better already." 
 
 His white, drawn face gave the lie to his assertion. 
 
 " And what if you die? " bellowed Jackson. " I ask you 
 that, sir. I ask you that ! And what if you die ! " 
 
 " Oh, that's all right! " said St. Aubyn. " I'll take my 
 chances. I don't want any fuss made over me even if I do. 
 Throw me overboard and keep on." 
 
 The quiet sincerity of his speech made even the captain 
 relent. Such pluck compelled admiration. 
 
 " All right, go forward. I'll send the doctor to you." 
 
 The poor fellow saluted and walked away. 
 
 The winches were both set in action, relieving the men 
 of the hard labor of hoisting the sails. The reefs were shaken 
 out, and the Fortuna was soon slowly moving under both 
 fore-topsails and the foresail. Indeed, she acted so slug- 
 gishly that the mainsail was next hoisted, with a considerable 
 improvement of her speed. But her wheels sank deeply 
 into the miry ground, and she toiled and floundered along at 
 ' a bare eight miles an hour. Later on, as the sun came out 
 and the going hardened, she picked up a little, but this was 
 in turn offset by the wind declining. But with less speed 
 
 249 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 there was less motion, and the violent gyrations of the day 
 before gave place to a lumbering unsteadiness that was easier 
 on the nerves. 
 
 At six bells they hove to to take the sun, using an arti- 
 ficial horizon, and at noon another stop gave them their exact 
 position. They had run a hundred and eighty-four miles, or, 
 as the crow flies, more than half the way to Cassaquiari 
 a wonderful performance, all things considered. But at four 
 bells of the afternoon watch their fine progress was suddenly 
 cut short. A shallow, dried-up watercourse caused them to 
 haul their wind, and skirt it for several miles, looking for 
 a passageway. At length, finding none they dared to attempt, 
 and reluctant to put the Fortuna about after all this wasted 
 distance, they squared away again, and stopped short at the 
 likeliest looking place. Sail was taken in and preparations 
 made to kedge across. This was a most tedious operation. 
 As there were no rocks to make the kedge fast to, a pair of 
 giant crowbars had to be driven into the ground to afford 
 the necessary purchase. To these a wire cable was carried 
 from the forward winch, and when all was ready, with men 
 stationed at the brakes to guard the descent, the enormous 
 hull worked forward foot by foot. In this manner the For- 
 tuna was laboriously drawn across the declivity and piloted 
 through the lumpy ground beyond length by length the 
 crowbars driven in and dug out again eight separate times. 
 Once she stuck hard and fast, mired up to the hubs of the 
 after wheels, and was only extricated by doubling up on the 
 other winch. For those not actively engaged in the task, it 
 was most agreeable to escape from the confinement of the 
 ship and stroll about, watching the strange spectacle. Mrs. 
 Hitchcock flitted here and there with a camera, taking snap- 
 shots, and Vera, escorted by Dr. Von Zedtwitz and the pay- 
 master an animated little party of three boldly walked on 
 
 250 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 in advance, with something of the sensation of abandoning 
 a steamer in midocean. 
 
 By half past four they were under sail again and on their 
 course. With the extraordinary aptitude of human beings 
 to adjust themselves to circumstances, they were beginning 
 to feel at home on the Fortuna, and in some degree to make 
 themselves comfortable. Fear had disappeared. Attempts 
 were made to read, to play cards, to talk, to take naps. A 
 concertina started up forward. Clothes were hung out to 
 dry. Hildebrand, with his sleeves rolled up, was valiantly 
 tackling a mountain of dough and filling innumerable little 
 tin coffins with what was to become bread. Crawshaw, on 
 orders from the captain, was getting the covers off the auto- 
 matic guns and having them polished and oiled. Order was 
 slowly emerging out of chaos. The routine of ship life was 
 asserting itself. There was a noticeable cheerfulness. Every- 
 body was " shaking down." 
 
 Late in the afternoon there was a rush to the side to 
 watch a herd of antelope. They were at a considerable dis- 
 tance a blurred, dark mass, tailing out to mere specks 
 and as their ways diverged the Fortuna soon lost them over 
 the horizon. Later still, the lookout reported smoke to the 
 southwest a significant reminder that they were in a coun- 
 try of wild men as well as of wild animals. It was only 
 a thin, faint spiral of blue, but it caused a great stir on the 
 Fortuna. Rifles and cartridge belts were served out to the 
 watch. The hoppers of the machine guns were filled with 
 ammunition. Each officer received a revolver with instruc- 
 tions to carry it constantly, night and day, strapped to his 
 waist. Extreme vigilance was enjoined, and at a council 
 of war, held subsequently in the main cabin, a rough scheme 
 was drawn up for fighting the ship, should the necessity 
 unfortunately arise. Guns' crews were appointed, marksmen 
 17 251 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 were told off to the fore and maintops, every man on board 
 was to know exactly what he was to do, and where he was 
 to go at the call to general quarters. 
 
 At this meeting something of a clash took place between 
 Mr. Westbrook and Dr. Von Zedtwitz. The latter turned 
 out to be a regular fire eater, and the memory of his three 
 years' captivity made him merciless. Shoot to kill was his 
 motto, and he derided, with clumsy sarcasm, Westbrook's 
 plea for forbearance. But the inventor stood his ground, 
 and insisted hotly that not a life should be taken unless in 
 absolute self-defense. Kirk had never seen the old man so 
 roused. The order to fire was only to be given at the last 
 extremity. It would be to their everlasting disgrace, he 
 declared with flashing eyes and shaking hands, to massacre 
 these wretched savages on mere suspicion. After a heated 
 debate in which the doctor, with the dreary monotony of 
 another Cato, kept reiterating, " Mow dem down ! Mow 
 dem down ! " it was finally decided to offer the enemy the 
 Fontenoy privilege of the first shot. 
 
 " In that case their blood will be on their own heads," 
 said Westbrook. 
 
 Afterwards, on deck, the German drew Kirk to one side. 
 
 " My dear poy," he said, " make not the mistake of 
 underestimating these fine people Mr. Westbrook considers 
 so highly. I have refrained with care from dwelling on their 
 numbers and ferocity, lest our friends might have hesitated 
 at blunging into such a hornet's nest. But if the pinch ever 
 comes, remember (and here he lowered his voice) self- 
 preservation is the first law. You have more to lose than 
 any of us. Ach, I am not blind there are other prizes than 
 bars of gold Kirgpatrick, you listen to nothing, but open 
 on them with everything you have. And I say this par- 
 ticularly to you, because " 
 
 252 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 The guttural voice sank still lower. 
 " Did you notice Jackson's face when we were talking 
 there below? " 
 
 -Why, I " 
 
 " Kirgpatrick, he's a coward." 
 
 Thursday, the third day out, found them becalmed. 
 The gale had blown itself out, and there was every indica- 
 tion of settled and seasonable weather. The sky was blue 
 and without a cloud ; the air sweltering ; the sun, as it slowly 
 rose into the zenith, was as oppressive as a furnace. The 
 morning passed without even the whisper of wind. Under 
 rough awnings, fore and aft, the Fortunas lay or sat in 
 lethargic discontent. It was intolerably hot; the horizon 
 shimmered with heat; the metal deck blistered the feet and 
 reflected the glare of the heavens above. The whole ship 
 seemed to glow like an oven. Toward half past three a few 
 cat's-paws rustled through the awnings. The Fortuna began 
 to come to life. Then a light breeze sprang up, fitful and 
 refreshing the lightest of Trades. It gradually strength- 
 ened, encouraged to do so by the sibilant shi-i-i-i of the 
 seafaring contingent. The ensign fluttered out bravely at 
 the main as the captain mounted the bridge. The men 
 eagerly sought their stations. The shattering grumble of the 
 winches was heard, and the creaking of gear and blocks. Sail 
 was made. Outer jib and flying jib were both set for the 
 first time. The square sails were hoisted and braced. The 
 great fore and aft sails filled and bellied. But all to no 
 purpose. The Fortuna would not budge a foot. Staysails 
 were run up, and the club maintopsail but still she stuck. 
 
 It was Kirk who discovered the cause. He ran aft and 
 found that one of the brakes was set. Hurriedly releasing 
 it he had the satisfaction of feeling the ship begin to move. 
 
 253 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 But it was at a snail's pace a bare three miles an hour. In 
 lumpy places it dwindled to even less. The Fortuna was 
 a very poor sailer in light airs. She rolled along ponder- 
 ously, threatening again and again to come to an absolute 
 standstill. By easing the sheets and bearing up a point or 
 two she was made to pick up somewhat, but the gain thus 
 achieved was hardly counterbalanced by the loss of direction. 
 She traveled faster, but added little to her southing. By 
 sundown, when the wind sank, the dead reckoning showed 
 she had made about seven miles a pitiful advance when 
 compared to the actual amount of ground covered. 
 
 Friday was better. The wind was fresher, and she was 
 enabled to lie up closer to it. During the morning she aver- 
 aged five knots, with occasional spurts of seven and eight. 
 She was pressed to the utmost, and was given every stitch 
 they could raise. The Trades were almost due east, and 
 seldom veered more than half a point into the south. The 
 helmsmen were told to steal every bit they could to wind- 
 ward, and as there was no leeway to contend with every yard 
 counted. But it was anxious work, for she was very cranky, 
 and had to be carefully nursed. She acted well in stays, 
 however, and swung around smartly as the helm was put 
 down. A good place had always to be chosen for this ma- 
 neuver, for it would never have done to risk her in the hum- 
 mocks. They were learning her ways now, and could fore- 
 cast her behavior with some certainty. The labor of sailing 
 her was consequently less harassing, though it was still ardu- 
 ous enough. 
 
 Saturday was remarkable for their first sight of the 
 savages Dr. Von Zedtwitz feared so profoundly. At dawn 
 the watch had been alarmed by the tramping of horses be- 
 neath the ship, and with a couple of pistol shots had dis- 
 lodged a band of nine naked Indians, who had forthwith 
 
 254 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 scampered out of range. But they halted within a mile of 
 the Fortuna, and in fancied security boldly gazed at the mon- 
 ster who had invaded their fastnesses. They were mounted 
 on scrubby little horses, and two of them carried rifles, 
 which, however, they showed no inclination to use. Few 
 though they were, there was something formidable in the 
 sight of them. Their glistening bodies, their matted hair, 
 their bows and arrows, their dark, sullen mien all were 
 disquieting. The doctor declared they were a patrol from a 
 larger body, and urged the utmost circumspection. Indeed, 
 if he had had his way, he would have turned one of the 
 machine guns on the nine. 
 
 His conviction was borne out by their behavior. As the 
 ship got under way they trailed after her persistently, re- 
 fusing to be shaken off. Whether at a walk, a canter, or a 
 gallop, they kept doggedly behind her, altering their pace 
 and their direction to suit hers. At noon, when the wind 
 died down, they made no attempt to come closer, but dis- 
 mounted and huddled together on the ground. As the breeze 
 sprang up again they resumed the pursuit, tirelessly following 
 the Fortuna as she tacked across the prairie. Late in the 
 afternoon, when the wind had again failed and the Fortuna 
 lay becalmed for the night, they circled around her several 
 times, and then galloping away to the southward finally dis- 
 appeared over the horizon. 
 
 " Mark my words," said the doctor, " to-morrow there 
 will be drouble!" 
 
 But his forebodings seemed unlikely to be borne out. 
 The breaking day showed the vast expanse as lonely as 
 the sea. From the crow's nest the searching glasses revealed 
 not a sign of life nothing but desolate immensity, rimmed 
 by sky. By ten they were zigzagging to the south with a 
 stiffish breeze, and logging a good nine. There was every 
 
 255 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 prospect of a splendid run, and a general exhilaration ani- 
 mated the ship. She bowled along with a dip and a swing 
 that made it impossible to keep one's feet without support; 
 but little thought was taken of such discomfort, since it was 
 always in proportion to the speed attained. The harder she 
 was pressed, the bumpier and more violent was the motion. 
 It was all the helmsmen could do to hold her on her course, 
 and at times the backlash of the wheels flung them off their 
 feet. 
 
 Five bells had hardly struck when Haines, who was 
 conning the ship from the foretop, reported : " Horsemen on 
 the port bow! " 
 
 This electrifying intelligence caused a great commotion. 
 The men ran to quarters; the covers were stripped off the 
 guns; rifles were served out from the charthouse. The cap- 
 tain sent aft for Westbrook, Mrs. Hitchcock, Dr. Von Zedt- 
 witz, and Kirk, and a hurried consultation was held on the 
 bridge. The question was eagerly debated as to what they 
 ought to do. It was decided to hold on, and ascertain the 
 number of savages before going about. In the meanwhile, 
 Haines kept the speaking tube busy. 
 
 " Raising them fast." 
 
 " They're separating into two bodies, as though to inter- 
 cept us." 
 
 " Can't say how many but there must be hundreds." 
 
 " They're opening out into a fan." 
 
 " Yes rifles lots of them. Can see them quite plainly." 
 
 Even from the bridge a dim, dark line was becoming 
 visible in front. Then specks tumultuously moving like a 
 herd of wild animals. Then unmistakable horses with naked 
 riders walling the horizon. 
 
 Westbrook sent word to Vera to go below, and then 
 coolly descended the ladder to take charge of the forward 
 
 256 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 port gun. His last words to Jackson were, " Don't fire un- 
 less you have to." 
 
 The captain was looking very pale and helpless, and he 
 only nodded in reply. Mrs. Hitchcock, with an old bonnet 
 tilted on one side of her head, was almost dancing with 
 excitement, and loudly pooh-poohed the notion of seeking 
 safety. Von Zedtwitz, with a very grim air, was examining 
 the sights of a rifle that had been handed up to him. He 
 had a three years' account to settle with the Piapocos, and 
 he wore a look of somber satisfaction. Kirk was holding 
 to the weather rail, watching the swarming savages through 
 his glass. He distrusted Jackson and distrusted Haines, and 
 was silently considering the situation. The danger steadied 
 him, and gave him an uplifting sense of responsibility. At 
 any moment he might become answerable for the safety and 
 lives of all on board. He could see the men looking up at 
 him, as men always will when their leaders are to be 
 tested, and he tried to bear himself with resolution and 
 nonchalance. 
 
 The Fortuna was coming up hand over hand, as though 
 to drive right through the wide array before her. There 
 were at least eight hundred horsemen wheeling across her 
 track, and on her port bow was another mob, compactly 
 massed, and plunging on their wild ponies as though ready 
 to dart on her flank. Cries, yells, and the pounding of hoofs 
 vied with the clatter and bang of the enormous hull as she 
 swept on with an earthshaking rush. Kirk felt his hair rising 
 beneath his cap ; he seemed to have forgotten how to breathe ; 
 it was frightful to think of plunging through all that flesh 
 and blood. As in all moments of excessive tension, the eye 
 took in some pictures with an extraordinary vividness 
 Westbrook, with his white hair all awry, crouching over his 
 gun the captain's face, withering with terror a couple of 
 
 257 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 men scrambling for cartridges that had spilled from a canvas 
 bucket. 
 
 The savages scattered pell-mell to open a lane for the 
 Fortuna to pass. The ship drove through a sea of rearing 
 horses and naked, shrieking humanity an avalanche of can- 
 vas and metal, bristling with death. There was a flit-flit of 
 little arrows. Kirk, with wonder, saw some sticking in the 
 mast. He pulled one out of his coat. He felt the whiz of 
 others past his ears. The man beside him fell on his knees, 
 and then rolled over twitching convulsively. But there was 
 no time to think of him. On either hand the savages in 
 hundreds were galloping beside the ship, and straining to 
 keep pace with her. Patter, patter, patter, came the little 
 arrows. Then shots, fewer, but more deadly, the fellows 
 rising in their saddles and aiming with deliberation. Till 
 then the Fortuna had made no reply, but now Westbrook's 
 gun opened with an earsplitting crash. The others followed, 
 belching flame. The deck shook with reverberations, and 
 an acrid smell of powder filled the air. Fore and aft, every 
 rifle was cracking furiously. It seemed as though nothing 
 human could long withstand such a fusillade, and Kirk, look- 
 ing back, saw their wake dotted with horses and men lying 
 limp and bloody on the receding ground. But yet there was 
 no sign of the pursuit being abandoned. The torn ranks 
 filled up. The great horde clung on like wolves to either 
 flank, and volleyed arrows and bullets with ferocity. 
 
 Jackson stood there as though he were made of stone. 
 He did not answer when Kirk spoke to him. He did not 
 even turn his head. He gazed straight before him into 
 vacancy, and nothing could rouse him from a sort of pa- 
 ralysis of fear. Kirk snatched the speaking trumpet from his 
 unresisting hand. The men were firing wildly, and, except 
 for Westbrook's gun, and some of the sharpshooters like Von 
 
 258 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Zedtwitz and Bob St. Aubyn, a terrific amount of ammuni- 
 tion was being wasted. 
 
 " Starboard gun, ahoy! Starboard gun, there! " 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir!" 
 
 "Lower, lower! Aim lower! Lower, I tell you!" 
 
 " What's the matter down there, Beale ? Why aren't 
 you firing? Port gun aft, why aren't you firing?" 
 
 A man came running up to say it was jammed. 
 
 " Then pass the word for Crawshaw. Get Crawshaw ! 
 Hold on!" 
 
 "Yes, sir!" 
 
 " Stop that jackass in the red shirt from shooting in the 
 air." 
 
 "Very good, sir!" 
 
 It was hard to make the speaking trumpet heard above 
 the din. There was a great deal of confusion of purpose- 
 less running to and fro of conflicting orders from those 
 who had no right to give any. For a few minutes the ship 
 was utterly out of hand. But Kirk rapidly brought back 
 some degree of control. Above the pandemonium his reso- 
 nant voice, magnified by the speaking trumpet, thundered 
 forth his orders. He sent three men to the wheel to replace 
 those that had fallen. He eased the sheets to try and out- 
 distance the pursuit, and finding that of no avail, ran up the 
 club topsail and a couple of other kites. He ordered the 
 wounded and dying to be carried amidships, where the doctor 
 could best serve them. He suppressed much random firing 
 from those who did not know one end of a rifle from an- 
 other, and whose crazy antics were a menace to every soul 
 on board. 
 
 Crowded with every yard she could carry the Fortuna 
 gradually forged ahead of the foam-flecked horses and their 
 panting riders. The few that managed to keep her pace were 
 
 259 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 shot down. The rest, straggling out for a mile, were little 
 by little dropped behind. Then, altogether losing heart, they 
 drew rein and sullenly watched their prey escape. 
 
 But Kirk's elation was shortlived. Amid the cheering 
 and congratulations that celebrated their deliverance his face 
 alone failed to reflect the universal joy. He knew they 
 were soon bound to lose the wind, and even by squaring away 
 to the westward, the best that could be hoped for was a run 
 of a dozen miles. The battle would have to be begun again 
 under circumstances a thousandfold more disadvantageous 
 than before. Under sail the Fortuna was a formidable an- 
 tagonist, but becalmed what was she but a rather rickety 
 fort? The Indians had not been beaten. In spite of their 
 losses they had hung on with desperation, and were as full 
 of fight as ever. In a couple of hours the ship, stationary 
 as a rock, would be again attacked. With no wind to move 
 her she would have to bear a terrific onslaught with every 
 point in the enemy's favor. Machine guns and all, she 
 would be hard put to it, with less than fifty men, to with- 
 stand a horde of nigh a thousand. No, the wind was the 
 biggest weapon they possessed, and the poorest use they could 
 put it to was to fly. 
 
 " Stand by to go about! " shouted Kirk. 
 
 The cheering ceased. Men stared at him with open 
 mouths, unable to believe that he could mean to renew the 
 combat. Such apparent foolhardiness struck them dumb. 
 
 " All hands to your stations! " 
 
 His voice was so decisive that after an instant of hesita- 
 tion there was a general movement to obey. The note of 
 resolution and self-confidence was irresistible. 
 
 "Ready about!" 
 
 " Round in the weather braces. Flatten in the main- 
 sheet there! Tend the jib sheets! " 
 
 260 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Helms a-lee!" 
 
 The great hull swung round with a bump and a crash, 
 and paid off on the other tack. 
 
 " Flatten in the head sheets. Lively, boys, lively ! Belay 
 the lee braces haul taut the weather braces, trim in the 
 main sheet ! " 
 
 " All hands to quarters! " 
 
 The enemy was about half a mile distant, and it could be 
 seen that this unexpected maneuver of the Fortuna had 
 thrown them into confusion. A hoarse, low humming rose 
 from their midst, and for a moment Kirk hoped that this 
 was a signal for their flight. But on the contrary, they stood 
 their ground, and opposed a defiant front to the oncoming 
 ship. Kirk aimed her at the place where they seemed thickest, 
 at the same time ordering his men to hold their fire till every 
 shot could be made to tell. 
 
 Tense and breathless the gun crews stood ready to open 
 with their hail of death. A file of men were passing up 
 ammunition from below the supply in the chart room be- 
 ginning to run short. Here and there the sharpshooters, 
 braced against the rigging, were covering living targets with 
 their rifles. Such of the wounded as had the strength to do 
 so were standing up, holding to what they could. One, 
 too weak even for this, managed to roll himself to the scup- 
 pers, and was seeing what he could through a hawse hole. 
 Lurching and plunging, her great wheels spinning like those 
 of a locomotive, the Fortuna sped forward with ponderous 
 velocity. The savages scattered to open a way for her as 
 they had done before, but this time Kirk did not shrink from 
 harming them. Within fifty feet of the lane he put up his 
 helm, and sent the Fortuna crashing through a mob of men 
 and horses. With her enormous headway she ground 
 through them with unimpaired speed, jolting violently and 
 
 261 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 reddening her wheels with blood. Even as she did so, the 
 guns opened with murderous uproar, and from stem to 
 stern every rifle was spitting flame. 
 
 But in the instant of her passage arrows flew thick and 
 fast, and from a hundred guns or more repeated volleys swept 
 over her deck. St. Aubyn fell, shot through the neck. A 
 couple of men in the forerigging dropped like sacks of coal. 
 One poor fellow ran screaming the length of the ship, hold- 
 ing his shattered jaw to his face. 
 
 With her guns detonating, her crew cheering, her cord- 
 age groaning and creaking, the Fortuna tore through the 
 screeching, yelling throng and raced into the comparative 
 security of the prairie beyond. Many still clung to her 
 flanks like lapping dogs, but the main body, disorganized and 
 appalled, made no attempt to follow, shrinking together in 
 a panicstricken crowd. When Kirk again went about, and 
 flung the Fortuna at their very center, they broke and fled. 
 At first, even in flight, they kept some cohesion. But as the 
 ship plowed through their frenzied ranks, her huge wheels 
 striking down dozens at a time and crushing them into 
 unrecognizable fragments of flesh, the survivors scattered in 
 every direction like autumn leaves in the wind. 
 
 Thinking that the slaughter had gone far enough, Kirk 
 gave the order to cease firing, and applied himself to break- 
 ing up the smaller parties, that in tens and twenties still 
 kept together. Circling like some monstrous vulture, he in 
 turn cut these off and scattered them to the four winds, till 
 the savanna, as far as the eye could reach, was dotted with 
 escaping figures. In these maneuvers he refrained as far 
 as he could from taking more lives, being content to harass 
 and terrorize the fugitives till he was satisfied they were 
 utterly routed. 
 
 Then, setting the vessel once more on her course, he 
 262 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 thankfully drew away from such scenes of carnage, and 
 let them sink behind him in the blue of the horizon. Un- 
 nerved and shaken by the terrible ordeal, it was with pro- 
 found relief that he saw the battleground fade and disap- 
 pear. Though they might now have counted themselves 
 secure from molestation, and could have camped in security 
 where they were, there was in every heart on board a con- 
 suming eagerness to escape to another air. 
 
 The captain, whose corpselike face had never moved a 
 muscle throughout the action, and who had stood there as 
 speechless and inert as a wooden figure, now slowly recov- 
 ered his benumbed faculties. 
 
 " Kirkpatrick," he said, with pitiful bravado, in which 
 there was a note of entreaty, " I think we may congratulate 
 ourselves on the way we fought the ship! " 
 
 263 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 'IRK did not know, until he descended from 
 the bridge to assure himself of Vera's safety 
 and learn the extent of their losses, that in 
 one brief hour he had become a hero. This 
 fact, quite unsuspected on his part was borne 
 in on him by the tumultuous cheering that greeted his 
 appearance. There was a rush to acclaim him, to shake his 
 hands, to overwhelm him with vociferous admiration. Pow- 
 der-blackened men, naked to the waist, with disheveled hair 
 and splashed with blood and dirt, surged about him with 
 mad enthusiasm. It was all he could do to force his way 
 amidships, struggling in the most undignified manner with 
 those who would have raised him on their shoulders and 
 borne him aloft in triumph. 
 
 Tasting for the first time in his life the most intoxicating 
 pleasure the world can give, his bewilderment was only 
 equaled by his surprise. It had not dawned on him before 
 that he had done anything so extraordinary, and he had even 
 feared that his assumption of command might later on be 
 resented. But here he was the hero of the ship, with great 
 bearded fellows exalting him to the skies and huzzaing like 
 so many lunatics. Amidships he was acclaimed with similar 
 outbursts. Wounded men raised themselves to call out 
 faintly : " Well done, Kirkpatrick ! Good for you, old 
 man ! " Old Zeddy had one arm around him like a bear. 
 Mrs. Hitchcock was covering his hand with kisses and cry- 
 ing hysterically. He was pushed and jostled and almost 
 
 264 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 torn to pieces. As in a dream he looked for Vera. He was 
 too human not to long that she was there to see him at this 
 wonderful moment. 
 
 Ah ! there she was, kneeling beside St. Aubyn, and gazing 
 up at him with eyes like stars. Huddled about her on blan- 
 kets and mattresses were the wounded men she had been 
 tending, hemming her in so closely that she could not rise 
 without disturbing them. But there was something in her 
 glance Kirk thought he had never seen before something 
 that stirred him inexpressibly, and rilled him with a sudden 
 and wild delight. 
 
 But disturbing duties crowded on him fast and robbed 
 him of those ecstatic moments. It was extraordinary how 
 everyone deferred to him, and made him at once the arbiter 
 of all their destinies. It was as though he had suddenly been 
 elected king. His will was supreme, and authority was posi- 
 tively forced upon him. The poor, disgraced captain had 
 hidden himself out of sight, and Haines had similarly disap- 
 peared. It seemed that the latter had lain throughout the 
 battle on the floor of the top in a state of abject terror. The 
 news had run round the ship, and he had been hooted and 
 hissed as he made his appearance on deck. Fortune as usual 
 had favored the brave, and in the time of stress the true 
 leader had arisen. The cravenness of Jackson and Haines 
 had been the means of exalting Kirk. 
 
 Their loss had been frightful, eleven killed and wounded 
 out of a complement of fifty-six. Bence, Farquer, and 
 McCann killed ; St. Aubyn dying ; Weaver, the little jockey, 
 hanging between life and death, his only chance a difficult 
 operation that would have to be carried out under the most 
 trying and unfavorable circumstances ; Johnson, Wickersham, 
 Stubbs, Forsyth, Niedringhaus, and Stanley all more or less 
 seriously hurt. 
 
 265 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 It was hard to decide as to what was best to do. To ex- 
 pose these unfortunate men to the cruel buffeting of the ship 
 was manifestly, for a while at least, impossible. The condi- 
 tion of St. Aubyn and Weaver absolutely precluded it. Yet 
 time was precious, and the ship could not be tied up indefi- 
 nitely. Westbrook and Zeddy were for going on at once 
 at any hazard. They were sustained by the wishes of the 
 injured men themselves, who, with magnificent courage, were 
 unanimous in their desire not to hamper the expedition. Mrs. 
 Hitchcock was in no state to take part in the discussion, and 
 had locked herself in her cabin, sobbing and moaning on the 
 floor. 
 
 Kirk was for temporizing, and with his new-found 
 authority he had little difficulty in carrying his point. They 
 were all tired out, he said, and neither cool nor collected 
 enough to settle such a vital matter offhand. He wrung a 
 reluctant consent from Von Zedtwitz and Westbrook that 
 any decision should be postponed for twenty-four hours. 
 
 He himself was utterly exhausted by the strain of the 
 battle. The reaction had left him as limp as a rag. In 
 return for their concession he consented to seek his bunk 
 and get a little repose. Not, however, until he had made 
 the round of the ship, put her in trim to renew the fight, 
 if need be, and stationed some of his trustiest men on guard. 
 Even then, it was only at the most urgent insistence of his 
 two friends that he allowed himself to be ordered below. 
 But they promised that he should be called at the first sign 
 of danger, and with this he had to be satisfied. 
 
 " See here, Kirkpatrick," said Westbrook bluntly, 
 " you've shown us that you are the best man on board, and 
 it's only common sense to take good care of you. Now shut 
 up, and go below! " 
 
 Kirk obeyed. The old man's paternal tone touched him. 
 266 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Praise from Vera's father was praise indeed, however roughly 
 it might be uttered. He threw himself on his bunk, and 
 turning his face to the wall, fell fast asleep. He had 
 been up the bigger part of the night before, and this had 
 added to his fatigue. Body and brain were both weary, and 
 he nestled his face to the pillow like a child to its mother's 
 breast. 
 
 He had no idea how long he had slept when he felt his 
 shoulder roughly shaken, and looked up to see his cabin 
 crowded with men. He sprang up instantly in a sweat of 
 apprehension, thinking that the Fortuna was again in danger. 
 
 "Good Heavens! what's the matter?" 
 
 " It's all right. Don't worry. We've come to have a 
 talk with you." 
 
 It was Westbrook who spoke, and Kirk's alarm vanished 
 as he regarded that grave, kind face. But his surprise rose 
 by leaps and bounds at the unexpected sight of a dozen of 
 the crew invading his room and peering in at him through 
 the doorway. What did it mean? 
 
 " We've just come from a big meeting in the forecastle," 
 said Westbrook. " These gentlemen are a committee who 
 have been appointed to bring you the news." 
 
 "News?" 
 
 " You have been elected captain." 
 
 Kirk hardly knew what to say. He was still half asleep. 
 The committee solemnly regarded him, while he drowsily 
 regarded the committee. The silence was broken by Hilde- 
 brand. 
 
 " There's been the deuce to pay," he said. 
 
 Then the situation was gradually explained. 
 
 Mrs. Hitchcock, egged on by Jackson, had flatly an- 
 nounced her determination to throw up the expedition. The 
 disasters of the day had completely cowed her, and she was 
 18 267 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 frantic to turn back. She and Jackson had been among the 
 crew, promising enormous sums of money to those that would 
 side with her. Unfortunately, there were only too many who 
 themselves had lost heart. The pair had secured at least 
 sixteen adherents, and had it not been for the drastic action 
 of Westbrook and the cooler heads, the conspiracy would 
 have soon assumed dangerous proportions. As it was, it was 
 bad enough, though the bolder spirits had rallied, and had 
 defied the cowardly minority. Taking the bull by the horns, 
 they had deposed Jackson and Haines, placed staunch men 
 in charge of the arms, and had asserted their determination 
 to proceed at any cost. But they were now confronted by 
 three powerful enemies Beale, Jackson, and the old lady's 
 money. It was said that she had offered the Australian fifty 
 thousand dollars and the command if he could head the ship 
 back again to Felicidad, together with ten thousand to every 
 recruit. This price put upon timidity threatened to under- 
 mine the resistance of those who otherwise would have re- 
 mained firm. Why should they risk their skins for proble- 
 matical treasures while safety and an assured competence 
 could be so pleasantly combined? 
 
 Kirk inquired the names of his two other officers. 
 
 " Wicks and Goltz." 
 
 He could not have asked for better. Wicks was a middle- 
 aged, merchant-service man holding a captain's papers. A 
 bit of Devonshire granite, burly, slow of speech, with un- 
 flinching blue eyes a fellow to be relied on to his last breath. 
 Goltz was an ex-Uhlan, a bitter, brilliant, irascible creature, 
 who in his palmy days had been a fop and bon vivant, and 
 whose broken fortunes had left him nothing but a daredevil 
 courage. He held his life cheap, and loved danger for its 
 own sake. 
 
 Kirk buckled on his pistol and went on deck. It was 
 268 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 nearly five o'clock, and the breeze still held. He regretted 
 the necessity for losing the mileage they might so easily have 
 made had it not been for the wounded. But this was in 
 passing; there were more peremptory things to claim his 
 attention. Grouping himself with his two officers on the 
 bridge, he sent word for Beale. The Australian came swag- 
 gering aft, and mounted the ladder with a jaunty air. 
 
 " Hello, Kirk ! " he said. " What's up ? " 
 
 " Don't call me that again," exclaimed Kirk. " I'm the 
 captain of this ship, and the sooner you know it the better." 
 
 Kirk's hand was on his revolver, and he looked so ready 
 to use it that Beale's little ironical speech died stillborn at 
 the first syllable. 
 
 " I haven't much to say to you, 'Beale," he went on, " ex- 
 cept to tell you that if you don't toe the line I'll clap you 
 in irons and keep you there. Do you understand ? No tam- 
 pering with the men, no dickering with Mrs. Hitchcock, no 
 hole-and-corner politics. If I hear another word about turn- 
 ing back, I'll know who's at the root of it, and will give you 
 short shrift. You can go forward." 
 
 Beale hesitated as though to argue the matter, but the 
 row of resolute faces daunted him, and he turned on his heel 
 without a word. It was no little victory for Kirk, and saved 
 him from the disagreeable course of putting his threat into 
 execution. 
 
 Then he sent for Jackson and Haines. 
 
 The latter appeared first. He was a sad-looking object; 
 his features swollen up with weeping, and every line of his 
 body articulate with dejection and shame. He acquiesced 
 humbly in his disrating, and took his lecture in a snuffling 
 silence. When he was told he had to shift his things for- 
 ward, and take up his quarters in the forecastle, he broke 
 down completely, and went away crying like a baby. 
 
 269 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "Well, where's Jackson?" 
 
 " Won't come, captain ! " 
 
 " Won't come, eh ? What did he say ? " 
 
 The answer was unprintable. 
 
 " Take four hands with you and bring him." 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 Alas, for the fall of the mighty. Was this the erstwhile 
 magnificent being who had lorded it in the high places his 
 coat ripped down his back, his face purple with passion, his 
 shapely legs kicking and struggling like a recreant school- 
 boy's in the grasp of the usher? A cursing, reviling maniac, 
 fighting every inch of his enforced progress, bellowing, biting, 
 scratching with superhuman fury. Dragged in front, boosted 
 from behind, the late ornament of the transport service was 
 ingloriously hoisted into view. 
 
 Kirk was alive to the fact that he owed his own pro- 
 motion, in the first instance, to the liking Jackson had taken 
 for him, and he was consequently desirous to be as easy 
 with his former commander as he possibly could. Yet at the 
 same time he had to assert, in no equivocal fashion, the power 
 that had been invested in him. Swift and decisive action was 
 needed to stem the incipient mutiny before it could gather 
 greater headway. The ringleaders had to be taught, and 
 taught promptly, that any attempt to turn back the ship 
 would not be tolerated. Any paltering with the situation 
 would assuredly result in disaster. As in every assembly 
 of men, the mass were on the fence ready to side with the 
 winner. It was a case of taking time by the forelock and 
 striking hard. 
 
 Kirk made no effort to check Jackson's tirade. He pa- 
 tiently endured insults, threats, and vituperation that grew 
 louder and more incoherent as the man's fury seemed to 
 burst all bounds. Storming and raving he was fairly beside 
 
 270 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 himself, frothing at the mouth, shaking his fist in the air, 
 defying everything and everybody with a hoarse, spluttering 
 torrent of invective that stopped at nothing. Kirk let him 
 roar himself out, and when at last, spent and breathless, he 
 paused from sheer exhaustion, he himself bore in. 
 
 " You've had your turn, Mr. Jackson," he said, " and 
 now, I guess, it's mine. All this noise won't do you any 
 good. I've stood it once, but I don't intend to stand it again. 
 You've got to make up your mind either to take your medi- 
 cine quietly, or, by George, I'll bundle you forward and keep 
 you there. You're nothing now on this ship but a passenger 
 do you hear? a passenger! " 
 
 Jackson was plainly working himself up for a fresh ex- 
 plosion. 
 
 " I I I " he began in a choking voice. 
 
 " Silence! " thundered Kirk, advancing on him, and mo- 
 tioning to Goltz for the handcuffs. 
 
 The jingle of steel unmanned Jackson. He gazed wildly 
 about him, and jerked his hands to his breast as though to 
 save them from profanation. His bold front gave way to 
 a cringing and pitiable submission. 
 
 " Hold on, boys," he pleaded in a broken voice. " For 
 God's sake, don't put those things on me. I I couldn't 
 stand it. I'll try and do what you think best." 
 
 Kirk ordered Goltz back. 
 
 " Very well," he said. " We don't want to humiliate you 
 if we can help it. If you will make it easy for us, we'll 
 make it easy for you, and let bygones be bygones all round. 
 Only remember this you have more influence with Mrs. 
 Hitchcock than any of us that if I learn of any more bribes 
 being offered to our men, I shall hold you personally respon^ 
 sible. That kind of thing has to stop. You must make it 
 your duty to see that it does. We are determined to push 
 
 271 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the expedition through, and croakers and hangersback will 
 get no mercy. Everybody went into this with their eyes 
 open and now that they're in, they'll have to stay in. That 
 will do. You may go below." 
 
 " He's whipped," said Westbrook, as they watched the 
 ex-captain descend the ladder with forlorn deliberation. 
 
 " Hope so," assented Kirk. " But the ship's full of loose 
 powder, and a spark may set it off." 
 
 " Well, we have two of our firebrands in list slippers 
 Beale and Jackson." 
 
 " And the hose ready," added Wicks with a grin. 
 
 " If poor St. Aubyn goes it will have a very bad effect," 
 said Kirk. "How is he?" 
 
 " Very low." 
 
 "And Weaver?" 
 
 " No better." 
 
 Kirk shuddered as his eyes swept the limitless expanse 
 about them. 
 
 " What a place to leave your bones in! " 
 
 " Take care, my friend," said Westbrook, tapping him 
 affectionately on the back. " If you lose heart, what shall 
 become of us? " 
 
 " I'd give half my share to be under way again," ex- 
 claimed Kirk somberly. " This inaction is killing. We are 
 going to be tied up here for days and days. Gentlemen, the 
 coming weeks will prove a greater strain than our fight to- 
 day, and it will test our courage a good deal more." 
 
 Dinner that night was the gloomiest of rites. No one 
 could eat, and McCann's empty place stared at them like a 
 specter. The worthy, jolly fellow, with his hackneyed jokes 
 and unending prattle, was now still forever. In life he had 
 been an amiable bore, full of puns and quips, and clumsy, 
 
 272 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 good-humored chaff. It was hard to associate him with 
 death, or to think that he lay stiff and stark with a sheet 
 drawn over his livid face. Mrs. Hitchcock kept to her 
 cabin, but Jackson took his accustomed seat, and in a crushed, 
 stricken manner showed a sort of gratefulness at rinding he 
 was not to be sent to Coventry. They were all at some pains 
 to ease his fall, and treat him with consideration and respect. 
 Vera sat beside her father, but she was downcast and silent, 
 and soon excused herself and slipped away. It was altogether 
 a hushed, melancholy performance, and everyone was re- 
 lieved when it was over. 
 
 Kirk made his rounds, ordered the searchlight lit, sta- 
 tioned a couple of men at each of the machine guns, and then, 
 turning over the command to Wicks, buried himself in a 
 dark corner to smoke a cigar. So many things had hap- 
 pened that he wished to draw on one side and think them 
 over wanted to have a talk with himself alone and un- 
 disturbed. It was very hard for him to realize the topsy- 
 turvy changes of the last twelve hours the battle, the depo- 
 sition of Jackson and Haines, his own unexpected elevation, 
 the unforeseen and alarming stand taken by the old lady to 
 break up the expedition. Through all the random pictures 
 thus counted up there persisted always a vivid, girlish face, 
 with haunting eyes, and a look so troubled and strange that 
 he trembled at his own presumption of its meaning. Did it 
 not reflect something of his own heartsickness ? Of his own 
 wild longing? 
 
 Ah, this love that was supposed to be so sweet, it was 
 the crudest thing in the world ! 
 
 Voices drew near him two shadowy figures in close 
 and confidential talk Vera and the tall, thin, boyish 
 doctor. 
 
 " It will be an hour before I dare to try perhaps two. 
 273 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 I can do nothing until he rallies a little. It's what's called 
 a capital operation." 
 
 " But he has a strong constitution." 
 
 " That's almost a drawback, Miss Westbrook. A vital- 
 ity lowered by long illness is preferable to that of a strong, 
 hearty fellow struck down in the full tide of health and 
 strength. The violent arrest is equivalent to wrecking an 
 express train with its own brakes. 
 
 " You will call me when I'm wanted? " 
 
 " Oh, yes That is, if you think you're brave enough 
 toto " 
 
 " I'm not afraid, doctor. I'd despise myself if I allowed 
 my squeamishness to stand in the poor fellow's way. I may 
 faint afterwards, but until the operation is over you can 
 rely on me." 
 
 " Miss Westbrook, you are a thoroughbred." 
 
 " No just a woman." 
 
 " And shaming the men, as your sex always does. Those 
 chaps mean well, but you can see yourself how stupid and 
 useless they are. I'd rather have you in the sick bay than 
 a dozen of them." 
 
 " Thank you, doctor." 
 
 " Get a little air, then come back. I want to put Weaver 
 on the table and get out that arrowhead. I'm sure it's in 
 there." 
 
 " Very well. I'll stay here till I'm wanted." 
 
 Phillips turned and left her standing there alone. Kirk 
 called to her softly. She started, and then came toward him 
 in the darkness. In an instant she was in his arms, her face 
 burning under his kisses, her little, hot hands clinging to his. 
 He pressed her to him in a fever of delight and exultation. 
 She was his. He had snatched her from all the fates, and 
 would never let her go again. He had no thought of her 
 
 274 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 distress, her shame, her panting whispers to be released. He 
 kissed her until she forgot everything in an ecstasy of love, 
 till her lips were as eager as his, till in that resistless torrent 
 of emotion she was swept headlong, powerless to save her- 
 self. He told her that he loved her. Oh, how he loved 
 her! He had loved her from the first day loved and hated 
 her both. Hated her for her beauty that had tortured 
 him without ceasing. But she was his now. He extorted 
 the admission from her. He put the most endearing 
 words into her mouth, and crushed her until she repeated 
 them repeated them again and again, with tender, 
 mocking variations. The primitive woman in her wanted 
 to be coerced, to flutter in the bonds of an irresistible 
 strength, to rouse to frenzy that most savage of all ego- 
 isms. To submit was rapture to believe that one had no 
 choice to feel a delicious helplessness, and swoon in an iron 
 grasp. 
 
 "Kirk, darling?" 
 
 "Yes, sweetheart." 
 
 " You would do anything for me, wouldn't you ? " 
 
 " Of course, I would." 
 
 " Even if it were very disagreeable ? " 
 
 "What do you mean, Vera? I don't understand." 
 
 " Kirk, Captain Jackson is right ! " 
 
 "Right!" 
 
 " It's crazy for us to go on. Oh, don't hate me for say- 
 ing it ! But, Kirk, please, for my sake. No, you must listen 
 you must, you must. It is too dangerous and terrible to 
 go on. Think of all those poor fellows lying there. Nothing 
 is worth such a price no, not all the treasure in the world ! 
 It was all very well before. It was delightful then. It was 
 inspiriting and splendid. But now it would be wicked 
 
 275 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 criminal, Kirk. If it were in a better cause I'd say nothing. 
 But what is it all for just money." 
 
 " But that's everything." 
 
 "No, it isn't!" 
 
 " It is to me. Otherwise it would mean losing you. I 
 must have it." 
 
 " Oh, Kirk, papa is worth ever so much ! He will take 
 care of us." 
 
 " Oh, that's impossible. You would not have me a 
 dependent." 
 
 " I thought you wanted me so much." 
 
 "But a beggar?" 
 
 "But he'll make you something find you something 
 to do." 
 
 " Besides, Vera, I couldn't be so disloyal. It's more even 
 than the money lots more. I'd be a cur to back out now. 
 What could be more treacherous, more ignominious! As 
 long as your father and Von Zedtwitz wish to go on, don't 
 you see I have no other course ? " 
 
 " But talk it over with them. Explain it to them. I 
 know they will listen to you. Papa defers all the time to 
 your judgment. You are the one person he would yield to." 
 
 " I simply couldn't." 
 
 " Oh, Kirk, you could you could! " 
 
 " Besides, we are more than halfway there, much 
 more than halfway. It would be cowardly to turn tail 
 now." 
 
 " And if we meet more savages? " 
 
 "Fight them!" 
 
 "And if I were hurt? Suppose I had to have my foot 
 cut off like poor Stanley? " 
 
 " Next time I'll see that you're out of harm's way. 
 We're going to armor one of the cabins for you and Mrs. 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Hitchcock, and make certain that you both stay there. It 
 was frightful how you exposed yourself to-day." 
 
 " And if the ship were carried? You know the horrors 
 that a woman is exposed to? I should have thought that 
 that might have weighed with you. Think of my " 
 
 " Stop Vera, stop! I I " 
 
 " Is it not true? " 
 
 " No, I'd kill you first." 
 
 " And if you were dead ? " 
 
 " They've learned their lesson. They won't touch us 
 again. Zedtwitz is positive of it." 
 
 " He'd be positive of anything to go on." 
 
 " No, no." 
 
 " It's my first favor. The only thing I've ever asked of 
 you and you refuse it." 
 
 " I have to. Good Heavens, I have no choice! " 
 
 "Even after all I've said?" 
 
 " Oh, my darling, try and put yourself in my place ! The 
 disgrace of it the disloyalty! The decision must rest abso- 
 lutely with your father." 
 
 " Nothing can shake him. He's incredibly obstinate. 
 His whole heart's bound up with this wretched ship and his 
 childish pride in it. You're just the same. I count for 
 nothing with either of you." 
 
 " That isn't true. It's a question of honor." 
 
 " And what of love? Is that not more? " 
 
 "Don't put it like that!" 
 
 " But I do." 
 
 " Then I'm helpless." 
 
 "Yes or no, Kirk?" 
 
 "Oh, you know I can't!" 
 
 " So that's the test of your love for me ? Well, I shall 
 plead no longer. I have some pride, too, and you have 
 
 277 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 trampled it under foot. It's a bitter thing to find that you 
 have given your heart to a man who is unworthy of it. 
 No, no, don't that's all over ! " 
 
 She gently freed herself, and left him before he could 
 realize the full significance of their quarrel. Then he fol- 
 lowed her, begging incoherently for her forgiveness. 
 
 " There's nothing to forgive," she said in a sad little 
 voice. " You've disappointed me that's all. I I thought 
 you cared, Kirk." 
 
 "But I do, I do!" 
 
 " I don't wish to talk about it any more. It's too heart- 
 breaking. But if to-morrow you don't change your mind, 
 I'll never speak to you again." 
 
 With that she was gone. 
 
 278 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 HE next day at dawn the mournful prepara- 
 tions had to be made to inter the dead. St. 
 Aubyn had passed away during the night, and 
 four graves had to be dug a little way from 
 the ship. All hands were assembled to pay 
 the last honors to their fallen comrades, and the four bodies, 
 sewed in hammocks, were reverently borne to their last rest. 
 The flag was half-masted, and from the Fortunas lofty deck, 
 and grouped about her guns, the little handful of the guard 
 looked down at the slow procession wending its way across 
 the prairie. Westbrook read the burial service, and to none 
 of his hearers had it ever sounded more beautiful or im- 
 pressive. The vastness and desolation of the scene, the 
 rugged figures of the men leaning on their rifles, the stately 
 measure of the words all conjured up a picture that could 
 never be forgotten. 
 
 It was not a sight to strengthen hearts already faint, and 
 on their return a council of war was held in the chart room 
 to discuss the very serious situation that now confronted them. 
 Phillips, previously the least considered of the party a 
 gawky, boyish, diffident fellow, fresh from the medical schools 
 of Edinburgh had now become a powerful factor in their 
 plans. He was listened to with respect, and his proposals 
 were attentively considered. 
 
 He expatiated on the harm to their morale that would 
 result from their remaining where they were. The constant 
 sight of those graves, he said, would have a depressing effect 
 
 279 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 on everyone on board, and sickness would indubitably fol- 
 low. He was for putting in another day's sail, and then 
 forming a comfortable camp beside the ship where the 
 wounded might have the necessary space so lacking on the 
 Fortuna itself, and at least two weeks for recuperation. The 
 one difficulty in the way was Weaver's extremely precarious 
 condition. 
 
 " I cannot assume the responsibility single-handed of 
 moving him," went on the young doctor. " Even a few hours 
 of jolting and racking might cost him his life. But it seems 
 to me that this is a case of considering the greater good of 
 the greater number." 
 
 " When do you think he would be in a state to safely 
 endure it? " It was Westbrook who asked. 
 
 " Gentlemen, not under two months." 
 
 This was a thunderclap. 
 
 The question of a temporary camp a few miles to the 
 southward was lost in the greater one of perhaps condemning 
 an unfortunate man to death. Besides, the two months 
 would trespass seriously on their reserves of provisions 
 and water, not to speak of bringing them perilously near 
 the wet season when the flooded savanna would turn to 
 bog. 
 
 " It is a peety," said Von Zedtwitz. " Weaver was a fine 
 man, but " 
 
 His pause spoke volumes. 
 
 " And the others, doctor? " 
 
 " Oh, I'll have them fit to travel in a fortnight! " 
 
 Weaver was indeed a dilemma. 
 
 "And he may die after all?" said Crawshaw. 
 
 "Oh, certainly," assented Phillips. "He has hardly 
 three chances in ten." 
 
 There followed a prolonged discussion that brought mat- 
 280 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ters no nearer a climax. Kirk, who had held back and said 
 little, was the first to resolve their perplexities. 
 
 " Gentlemen," he said, " it seems to me not a matter for 
 us, but for the poor fellow himself. Let it be laid before him 
 quite frankly, we pledging ourselves to abide by his wishes. 
 We will stay here, or go on, or go back to Felicidad, just 
 as he desires. This is the only way to evade a responsibility 
 that I, for one, will not take on my shoulders." 
 
 " The captain's right," put in Wicks. 
 
 " Is he in any condition to consider it ? " inquired Goltz. 
 
 " Oh, he is conscious," said the doctor. " This morning 
 he dictated a letter to his mother." 
 
 " Then in that case I think we are unanimous," ex- 
 claimed Westbrook. "Has anyone an objection?" 
 
 His question, though including them all, was more par- 
 ticularly addressed to Von Zedtwitz. The German was tug- 
 ging at his whiskers in a sullen, fidgety manner. The plan 
 did not suit him at all. To put the expedition in jeopardy 
 for the sake of one man irritated him profoundly. It struck 
 him as a bit of silly sentimentalism. This made his answer 
 all the more unexpected. 
 
 " I bow to the majority," he said grimly. 
 
 Phillips was sent away to submit the matter to Weaver. 
 
 A little later he returned. 
 
 " You're not to consider him at all ! " he cried. " By 
 George, I take my hat off to that fellow ! If that isn't pluck 
 for you, I'll eat my hat! " 
 
 " He consents to go on? " inquired Westbrook. 
 
 " Insists on it. I had to tell him the risk. ' Hang the 
 risk,' he said, ' a man can only die once only keep me alive 
 as long as you can, doctor, and when my time's come, let me 
 go easy ! ' ' 
 
 There were exclamations of approval, of admiration. 
 281 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 The dilemma no longer existed. Weaver had freed them 
 from a terrible responsibility. 
 
 " After all, it's only what any of us would have done," 
 said Crawshaw simply. 
 
 By ten o'clock the Fortuna was under way again, lying 
 up closehauled against a stiff breeze. Cots had been slung 
 for the wounded, alleviating in some slight measure the 
 trying motion of the ship. The hatches were off the main 
 hold, and tents and other paraphernalia were being hoisted 
 out in readiness for the camp. All was bustle and animation, 
 and it was apparent that the men's spirits rose with every 
 mile which separated them from those four lonely mounds 
 behind them. Kirk alone betrayed none of the buoyancy 
 that was everywhere so manifest. He was in a bitter and 
 dejected humor. Vera had been true to her word, and had 
 cut him to the quick by her coldness and disdain. He had 
 tried to reinstate himself, hoping that on second thoughts 
 she would show some relenting. But she had listened to him 
 in silence, and then had turned away. He was no match 
 for her in such a contest. He could not affect a similar 
 attitude. His face could not hide how cruelly he had been 
 hurt. For him it was the end of the world, the end of 
 everything, and he went about his duties with a benumbing 
 sense of despair. 
 
 But there was too much on his shoulders to allow him for 
 long to dwell on his misery. Orders had to be given, a 
 hundred things seen to, and the ship vigilantly watched to 
 coax every yard out of her. He pressed her as hard as he 
 dared, finding a certain pleasure in scaring his command out 
 of their seven wits. Never before had the Fortuna been so 
 audaciously handled. Again and again her weather wheels 
 lifted, and the whole enormous fabric careened over with a 
 
 282 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 sickening lurch that brought the heart to the mouth. With 
 every stitch drawing, a mountain of humming, bellying, 
 straining yellow silk, he kept her racing at a breakneck pace, 
 with a rush and thunder in consonance with his own harsh 
 thoughts. He had learned every trick of her now. He knew 
 to a hair what she could stand. He could feel and trust 
 her like his own body. But to the others, who had no such 
 assurance, it was as though they had given themselves over 
 to a madman. 
 
 Toward noon the declining wind left them becalmed. 
 There was the usual long, sultry interval, to be borne with 
 what patience they might. The good news was passed 
 around the ship that Weaver was better positively better. 
 He had suddenly become a very important personage, and 
 the desperate fight he was making to keep death at bay, as 
 well as the courage and good humor with which he bore 
 his frightful sufferings, stirred his companions with a limit- 
 less compassion. The new camp was to be named Weaver 
 Camp Weaver and the poor, stricken, little jockey de- 
 rived much satisfaction from the honor. 
 
 "How good you boys are!" he whispered. "Camp 
 Weaver! I say, that's the sort of thing to make a chap 
 feel proud!" 
 
 Mrs. Hitchcock appeared at table that day for the first 
 time since Jackson's deposition. She was very subdued, 
 though there was a gleam in her sunken black eyes that 
 betokened mischief. But she was civil to everybody, in- 
 quired the day's run, and comported herself with a sort of 
 stiff dignity that became her very well. Westbrook thought 
 to patch up peace with her, and mistook her carefully cal- 
 culated manner as an overture of friendship. But he was 
 quickly undeceived. 
 
 " You fail to appreciate my position," she said coolly. 
 19 283 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " You have everything your own way just now, and I am 
 powerless. But I'll find a means to assert my rights long 
 before you ever reach Cassaquiari." 
 
 "My dear Mrs. Hitchcock," cried Westbrook, "it is 
 most painful to hear you speak like that ! May I not appeal 
 to your good sense, your generosity, to set at rest this miser- 
 able misunderstanding? This is a time for us all to stand 
 together, shoulder to shoulder, and drop all our differences 
 for the common good." 
 
 He rose, and came over to her, holding out his hand. 
 
 "For Heaven's sake, let us be friends!" he exclaimed. 
 
 Her sallow face hardened, and two little spots of red 
 showed in her cheeks. 
 
 " We are not friends," she said, " and we never can be 
 again. This vessel is my property; the food you are eating 
 was bought with my money; I have the legal right to de- 
 mand our return to Felicidad. You choose to defy me 
 well, I will make no threats, but I warn you I am submit- 
 ting to compulsion, and will seize the first opportunity to 
 turn the tables on you." 
 
 Westbrook went back to his place and sat down again. 
 
 It was an unfortunate moment for Jackson to remark 
 that he himself intended to sue him for a quarter of a million 
 damages. " For abduction," he said, " not to speak of bar- 
 ratry, piracy, and wrongful dismissal." 
 
 At this Westbrook's temper leaped all bounds. 
 
 "Then sue away!" he roared. "Sue, sue, sue! And 
 I'll show you up in court for the coward you are! Yester- 
 day we took your measure, Jackson, and if you ever say sue 
 again, or as much as raise your little finger against us, we'll 
 give you the swiftest trial a man ever got, and a frog-march 
 forward! Sue, indeed! By Heavens, we'll give you some- 
 thing to sue for ! " 
 
 284 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Jackson bent his head before the storm his cheeks, his 
 ears, the back of his head slowly turned to crimson. Mrs. 
 Hitchcock took up the challenge he dared not accept, and 
 trembling with passion, let fly the lash of her tongue. 
 
 The party broke up in disorder. The old woman's on- 
 slaught could only be evaded by flight. There ensued a gen- 
 eral sauve qui pent, her strident voice pursuing them as they 
 hurried up the companion. All compromises had become im- 
 possible. It was to be war war to the knife. 
 
 Later in the day the wind sprang up as brisk as before. 
 Sail was again made, and the Fortuna resumed her course. 
 It seemed too bad, when the weather conditions were so 
 favorable, that they should be condemned to a tedious period 
 of inaction. By sundown the dead reckoning showed them 
 to be within a hundred and ten miles of Cassaquiari, or 
 hardly more than three days distant. But there was no help 
 for it, and the only thing to do was to be philosophical and 
 patient. 
 
 The camp was begun at once beside the ship, and though 
 it was not completed before dark, a comfortable shelter was 
 raised for the wounded, and the men lowered under the 
 supervision of the doctor. There was some disagreement as 
 to whether the camp should be fortified or not. One idea was 
 to intrench it, and dismount the machine guns from the For- 
 tuna. But after much consideration it was decided that the 
 mobility of the ship was too precious to lose, and that in case 
 of emergency it would be wiser to get on board of her and 
 repeat, if they could, the tactics of the previous battle. Un- 
 der sail she was a terrible antagonist, and offered them, be- 
 sides, the advantage of flight. Even standing she was a 
 better fort than any they could build, and afforded them an 
 incomparably securer refuge. 
 
 285 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 A strict routine was outlined, and the petty officers, after 
 being assembled, were cautioned to use the greatest vigilance, 
 and see to it that discipline was not slackened. In idleness 
 there is always a disintegrating leaven to contend with, and 
 a considerable body of men is more apt to suffer from doing 
 nothing than from doubled tasks. Little injustices assume 
 the proportions of mountains, grumblers get together and 
 contaminate the rest. The food, the commonest cause of 
 all discontent, becomes the subject of furious criticism. 
 Satan, if he does not actually find mischief for idle hands, 
 suggests that the coffee is dishwater, that the flour is musty, 
 that an infamous cook is victimizing them with rotten stores 
 while the after guard is fattening with every luxury. Kirk 
 was so well aware of this that he proposed that they should 
 all fare and fare alike, fore and aft, and evenly divide such 
 little delicacies as jam and butter and canned fruit. A 
 rigorous and impartial allowance, without favoritism to any 
 but the sick, would go far to keep the malcontents in order. 
 
 They all foresaw Westbrook, Von Zedtwitz, Crawshaw, 
 Wicks, Goltz, and Kirk himself that Camp Weaver was 
 likely to become a hotbed of treachery and disloyalty. With 
 every safeguard it would be impossible to prevent Jackson 
 and Mrs. Hitchcock from carrying on a propaganda for re- 
 treat. With the dazzling inducements the latter could offer 
 so tangible and sure in comparison to a treasure that was 
 conceivably a myth this period of delay was fraught with ex- 
 treme danger. To many of these needy adventurers a sum of 
 five or ten thousand dollars was a veritable fortune in itself, 
 and the bait was likely to be greedily taken. The situation 
 had to be faced with all the coolness and resolution they could 
 muster, and it was determined to keep a close watch on the 
 pair, and nip anything in the nature of a conspiracy in the 
 bud. Beale especially was to be under surveillance, though 
 
 286 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Wicks told them that the fellow had lost much of his au- 
 thority among the crew, and that they were overrating his 
 capacity for evil. 
 
 For Kirk the trying and deadly monotony of the days 
 that followed had the added bitterness of his estrangement 
 from Vera. He had apparently affronted her too deeply for 
 forgiveness. She steadfastly refused his advances, kept all 
 she could out of his way, and did not even pay him the 
 compliment of betraying either anger or chagrin. In public 
 and he never saw her at any other time her manner 
 toward him was undistinguishable from that she showed the 
 others. She did not pointedly avoid him, she addressed him 
 just enough to give the rest no chance for remark or con- 
 jecture, and yet her girlish armor was impenetrable. 
 
 Kirk grew moody and silent, and kept much to himself. 
 He dreaded the moments that brought them together, and 
 was always the first to slip away. He had no similar armor 
 no means of hiding his dejection and he shrank from 
 those enforced meetings that brought home to him the reali- 
 zation of all that he had lost. The days, once so short, 
 seemed now never to end, and he would pace for hours be- 
 fore his tent, up and down, up and down, in a blank pre- 
 occupation. Time, for that matter, hung heavily on every- 
 one. This little handful of human beings was hemmed in 
 by the confines of their camp as though it were a rock in the 
 sea. No one was permitted to pass the lines, and in that 
 illimitable solitude they actually suffered from confinement. 
 
 This stern rule was found necessary by the frequent sight 
 of Indians. Once a party of twenty galloped boldly round 
 the camp, and were only driven off by a shot fired over their 
 heads. The lookout constantly reported the presence of the 
 enemy on the horizon, and more than once all hands were 
 called to arms. At night the great searchlight moved rest- 
 
 287 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 lessly in its orbit, flooding in turn, with a startling brilliancy, 
 every segment of a vast circle. No precaution was omitted 
 to guard the camp, and at regular intervals Kirk made the 
 rounds to see that every sentinel was in his place. 
 
 The irksomeness of it all was intensified by the lack of 
 improvement in Weaver. His condition remained unchanged. 
 While the others grew daily better, he hovered between life 
 and death, and gave no promise of ever releasing them from 
 their predicament. The doctor said he might linger on for 
 months, and only shook his head when questioned as to his 
 ultimate recovery. The uncertainty told on everyone's spir- 
 its. It seemed as though they were stuck there forever. The 
 nervous tension showed itself in many disagreeable ways 
 growling, fault-finding, quarrels, and fights. Kirk's author- 
 ity was taxed to the utmost, and he found it increasingly 
 difficult to preserve order. He had to overlook many little 
 derelictions, and exert all his tact to keep down turbulence 
 and broils. Discipline slowly crumbled, and grievances mul- 
 tiplied. To add to the general exasperation the weather was 
 perfect, and twice a day they were tantalized by a gusty 
 Trade that under happier circumstances might have so fleetly 
 carried them on. 
 
 One afternoon there was a heavy squall of rain. Kirk 
 took advantage of it to fill his water tanks, which were 
 already seriously depleted. He had put all hands on a rigid 
 half allowance, and this alleviation was most welcome. The 
 squabbling and heartburning over water came near to assum- 
 ing the proportions of a mutiny. The niggardly pint that 
 had been allowed for ablutions he had had to cut in half. 
 His economy had been bitterly criticised, for of all hardships 
 that of being dirty is the worst. The rain was a Godsend, 
 relieving him as it did from those restrictions he had deemed 
 it imperative to impose. Incidentally the squall drowned out 
 
 288 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the camp, blew down several tents including his own 
 and incited everyone to laundry work. There was a scramble 
 for soap, for buckets, pans, basins. Big fellows, stripped to 
 the waist, floundered in soapsuds, rubbing and scrubbing 
 under the downpour with the glee of children. It was the 
 first washday in Camp Weaver and the fact that it was 
 possibly the last as well drove everyone into the open with 
 his arms full. 
 
 As soon as the sun came out, Kirk had the winches going 
 on board the Fortuna, and all her sails hoisted. He was 
 afraid of their mildewing on the booms and yards, and wished 
 to dry them thoroughly. Every sailor knows what havoc 
 damp plays on board a ship, especially in the tropics, and how 
 dearly neglect is punished. It cost Kirk a pang to hear the 
 slatting of the booms, and watch the straining, uneasy sails 
 as though the old ship herself was fretting to be off. He was 
 fretting, too, and it seemed more unendurable than ever to 
 be doomed to remain there, anchored to a dying man, while 
 the precious wind was blowing itself to waste, together with 
 all their hopes and plans. 
 
 He sighed, and went back to his tent, where it lay col- 
 lapsed in a good-sized puddle. He got it up anew, pinned 
 his soaking and bedraggled wardrobe to the guy ropes, and 
 wondered if the world would ever be dry again. The air 
 of comfortlessness everywhere, the yellow mud, the cigar 
 that would not keep alight, his slopping feet, the disagreeable 
 sensation of water trickling down his back all were depress- 
 ing to the spirit, and hard to bear with equanimity. He 
 returned to the Fortuna, and swinging himself up the spidery 
 spokes of her front wheels, ensconced himself on 'the truck. 
 This was a favorite place of his. For an undisturbed nap 
 it had no equal. Here he had dreamed away many a hot 
 hour, snugly hidden out of sight. It was cool, silent, and 
 
 289 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 peaceful, though a trifle hard to lie on. On this occasion 
 it had the added advantage of being dry. 
 
 He took off his shoes and socks, unloosened his belt, and 
 bundling up his coat into a pillow, fell into a doze. The 
 camp, with all its cares and discords melted away. Basalt 
 islands rose out of the mist, rimmed with palms, and set in a 
 pellucid sea. His boat was grating on the shingle, and the 
 natives were coming down to welcome him. What a pity 
 they had brought all those pigs. He appreciated the com- 
 pliment, of course but what should he do with them? 
 Dozens of pigs, borne on poles, and screaming only as pigs 
 can. He could not hear a word that Peau was saying 
 nothing but pig, pig, pig. Then the boat began to rock. 
 The fools were letting it slip back into the swell. If they 
 weren't careful the next comber would roll them over! 
 
 He opened his eyes. Pigs, no but men, distractedly 
 shouting and yelling. Through the rapidly revolving spokes 
 of the wheels he saw Wicks with a rifle at his shoulder, 
 deliberately aiming at the ship. With this one exception the 
 whole camp seemed to be in pursuit, as they might after 
 a runaway, straggling out for a couple of hundred yards in 
 breathless and panicstricken confusion. For a moment Kirk 
 thought the Fortuna had broken away of herself, but he was 
 quickly undeceived by the explosion of Wicks's rifle the 
 threatening gestures of the pursuers the cries, the execra- 
 tions more than all by the hoarse rattle of the steering 
 chains as he watched them tauten and slacken in obedience 
 to the helm above. 
 
 Then it was no unlucky accident ? A directing brain was 
 guiding the mighty fabric, and he could feel her speed quicken 
 as the sheets were paid out and she was put dead before the 
 wind. Doubled up on the journals, and holding on with 
 a convulsive clutch, Kirk slowly began to recover possession 
 
 290 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 of his faculties. Ah, he understood now those sly glances 
 Beale's unexpected willingness and good humor in getting 
 the gaskets off the readiness of some other of the mal- 
 contents to bear a hand for the common good while better 
 men held back, intent on rescuing their sodden belongings. 
 It was as plain as daylight now. 
 
 Jackson and Beale had run away with the ship! 
 
 291 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 HE pursuing figures dwindled. The camp 
 shrank to a few melancholy bits of white 
 silhouetted far behind on the edge of the 
 sky. The Fortuna was held on an undevi- 
 ating course to the westward, her booms 
 guyed out, her towering sails singing as she plunged and 
 rocked before the wind. There is something extraordinarily 
 disconcerting in the treachery of one's mechanical slaves 
 to be guillotined by one's own guillotine to be shot by one's 
 own pistol. It was almost incredible to Kirk that their good 
 old ship, so long their home, which had borne them so 
 bravely and so well into these untrodden wilds, could now 
 be used so effectively against them. 
 
 At first he was convinced that the vessel would soon 
 heave to. The miscreants could impose their own terms, 
 and he never doubted but what there would be a parley 
 and a surrender. Though consumed with anger, he had 
 to admit that Jackson had the whip hand of them, and 
 he tried to bring himself to the mortification of submission. 
 It would be a hard pill to swallow, but what else was 
 there for them. The possession of the ship, the guns, the 
 stores, and water precluded any argument. The only alter- 
 native was to perish miserably like castaway sailors on a 
 raft. 
 
 No, Jackson had it all his own way, and the best that 
 could be made of defeat was to accept it gracefully. But he 
 ground his teeth all the same, and in his heart cherished a 
 
 292 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 wild plan of retribution, even if it had to be put by till they 
 reached Felicidad. 
 
 But there was no sign of shortening sail. The camp had 
 faded from view and still the ship was kept at a terrific 
 pace. The situation began to assume a more ominous and 
 sinister aspect. Was there to be no parley then? Were 
 these fellows above coldbloodedly deserting the party be- 
 hind ? It looked more and more like it. Revenge had to give 
 way to the more practical consideration of what he was to 
 do. Do! What could he do? He had his sixshooter, but 
 much good it was to him, crouched there on the journals 
 and holding on like a buckjumper. Should he drop, and 
 take his chances of rejoining the camp? Risky and worse 
 still profitless. Should he wait till night, and then, in 
 some way, disable the vessel? Excellent if he but knew 
 how. But how? He racked his head for ways. Almost 
 any harm within his power to inflict could be readily re- 
 paired. It would take a stick of dynamite to do anything 
 irreparable but he had no dynamite. He knew there was 
 some in the hold, but what likelihood had he of finding it? 
 None. 
 
 The machine guns ? It would be easy to put them out of 
 commission. Easy, too, to get at the rockets and blue lights 
 in the chart room and signal the position of the ship to the 
 desperate men behind. But the distance was prohibitive. 
 She was making all of eight knots, and it would be a long 
 time yet before the wind would die down. They would make 
 twenty miles, if a yard and maybe thirty. The futility 
 of signaling was apparent, even if he sneaked in the crow's 
 nest and lashed a couple of lanterns, the one above the other 
 even if he helped them out with rockets and blue lights. 
 He might be safe enough till morning, but they'd shoot the 
 lanterns to flinders. It was impossible, hopeless, crazy. 
 
 293 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 There loomed up before him a much less glorious role. 
 To boldly come out at sundown and appeal to the men's 
 humanity. None of them was really bad. At least, he 
 would have said so the day before. Beale himself was not 
 at all one's idea of an absolutely heartless brute. He was 
 blatant and vindictive, and swollen with ideas of his own 
 importance but it was impossible to believe he would not 
 listen to reason. No sane man would care to blacken his 
 soul with so terrible a crime. As he studied the matter from 
 this side Kirk realized how grossly he had exaggerated his 
 fear, and the more he was relieved the angrier he grew at 
 such triumphant treachery. It was on the cards that the 
 mutineers would themselves signal blue lights and all to 
 take the heart out of the majority by exposing them to a 
 frightful tramp across twenty miles of prairie. Kirk's blood 
 boiled at the thought of it. Not if he could help it, by 
 George. He would gladly have given his life to circumvent 
 such deliberate villainy, which, as he considered it, grew 
 more and more probable. The poor wretches, ready to drop 
 with exhaustion and thirst, would be gathered in by twos 
 and threes, without even the strength to reproach the scoun- 
 drels who had inflicted this suffering upon them. The pic- 
 ture of Vera on this all-night march roused Kirk to des- 
 peration. 
 
 He was a powerful man, in the prime of vigor and health. 
 Better still, he had a revolver with six forty-four cartridges. 
 Surely he could do something surely surely! Such dev- 
 iltry ought not to be permitted to go unpunished. By Heav- 
 ens, he would find a way ! He had to. He must. 
 
 He crept out on one of the axles, warily, holding tight, 
 watching the play of those terrible spiral springs through 
 which he had to pass. They would crush together as the ves- 
 sel dipped, and then rebound again with disconcerting sudden- 
 
 294 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ness. To be caught here was to have one's body ground to 
 pulp it was a mouth, with snapping fangs of steel, holding 
 one at bay with unutterable horrors. The motion of the 
 vessel was so irregular and violent that it was impossible to 
 forecast it. Kirk nerved himself for the ordeal, and wait- 
 ing for the moment of rebound dragged himself through 
 with feverish agility. The fangs closed behind him with a 
 discordant grating and creaking that made him shudder. 
 But he was safe. His head swam, he saw a dizzy world 
 through the whir of wheels, the flesh seemed to cringe on 
 his bones but he was safe. 
 
 He crawled out till he could see the channels above him, 
 and the black, impending rigging where it was made fast 
 below. He undid his holster, placed his pistol in his trousers' 
 pocket, and, with the grim resolve to shoot first, pulled him- 
 self up the shrouds. Here he rested to get his breath, to toss 
 away his cap, to draw out his revolver and cock it. Then 
 with stealthy deliberation, foot by foot, he mounted till his 
 eyes were on a level with the deck. 
 
 At the steering wheels were four men clinging to the 
 spokes, and swaying with every movement of the ship 
 Beale, Harding, Gibbs, and Mackay so near that he could 
 see the whites of their eyes. The big Australian had a pipe 
 in his mouth, and his bare, sinewy arms, tattooed in a dozen 
 places, sprawled over his wheel as though, as usual, he was 
 letting the others do all the work. Forward on the bridge 
 Kirk could make out some figures, one of them a woman. 
 From the crow's nest protruded two tiny heads. As far as 
 he could gather this completed the complement of the muti- 
 neers. The galley was shut, the long deck apparently empty, 
 and the fight seemed to resolve itself into one against four. 
 If he could manage to land the first shot the rest would be 
 child's play. 
 
 295 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 He scrambled over the rail, and even as he did so, Beale 
 saw him, and with a yell whipped out a revolver from his 
 hip pocket, and fired at him point blank. Kirk was so un- 
 prepared for the fellow's quickness that three shots whistled 
 by his head before he could reply. He had never been in 
 a pistol duel before, and to make a target of a man was a 
 paralyzing sensation. His weapon seemed to go off of itself. 
 The explosion was terrific. There was a flash of flame, and 
 agonized faces seen through the smoke. It went off again 
 and again bang, bang, bang, like a cannon. Where was 
 'Beale ? Was that he lying on the deck, face down, kicking ? 
 Shamming, maybe. Well, here was one more. The bead 
 of the pistol danced over the huddled mass. The flame 
 leaped again. Was there another cartridge left? He 
 couldn't remember. Oh, he wished to Heaven he could 
 remember! Why weren't the other fellows shooting? 
 Their hands were all on the spokes. They did not dare to 
 let go they couldn't without Beale to help them the 
 backlash was almost unmasterable, and they were repeatedly 
 lifted off their feet. The vessel was yawing, and the wind 
 was spilling out of the mainsail. Kirk had a vision of Haines 
 on the weather end of the bridge, leveling a rifle at him. It 
 was now or never. He would be killed like a dog. His 
 voice was uncontrollable. It was all he could do to speak, 
 and then it sounded strange and cracked. 
 
 " Down with your helm ! " 
 
 The men gaped at him in consternation. He flourished 
 his revolver at their quailing faces. Haines began pumping 
 viciously with the rifle. Bullets were spattering everywhere. 
 
 " Down with your helm. Down ! Down \ " 
 
 The spokes were shot to starboard. The main boom 
 jibed, snapping the guy ropes like pack thread. Kirk low- 
 ered his revolver, and running aft, bent his own strength 
 
 296 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 to putting the helm hard down hard down as far as it 
 would go. The Fortuna turned in her own length, and with 
 a crash like the end of the world rolled completely over. 
 
 When Kirk came to himself he was lying in a tangle 
 of gear. He felt sleepy and cold, and the full extent of the 
 disaster only dawned on him by degrees. There was a dull, 
 grinding pain in his right shoulder, and the arm itself was 
 numb. He put his left hand to his head, and drew it away 
 all wet with blood. He regarded it stupidly, and then in the 
 same bewildered way pinched his legs to see whether they 
 had suffered. No, his legs seemed all right. He twiddled his 
 toes, and was gratified to find that they could do it. He felt 
 himself all over, prepared for horrifying surprises, and find- 
 ing none returned to the consideration of his arm. It seemed 
 to be broken. It was as lifeless as a piece of wood. He 
 pulled up his sleeve and touched the flesh gingerly. It had 
 a livid look he did not like, and ugly, crimson streaks. Felt 
 his head again, and came to the conclusion that it wasn't 
 much hurt, though his hair was matted with blood, and there 
 was a persistent warm trickle down one ear. 
 
 He extricated himself and staggered to his feet. The 
 wreck about him was frightful. The deck of the Fortuna 
 rose before him, sheer as a wall. He was standing in a chaos 
 of sails, ropes, splintered booms and yards, crates, barrels 
 from which he heard groans and faint cries for help. 
 Crushed under the main boom he perceived the figure of a 
 man. He went over to it. It was Beale or what had once 
 been Beale for the body was mangled out of all recognition 
 save for one tattooed arm. Farther on he pulled a lot of 
 stuff off Haines and helped him up. The catastrophe had set- 
 tled all their differences. He was quite glad to find Haines 
 unhurt childishly glad effusive. This sullen, red-headed 
 
 297 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 fellow, who a few moments before had been doing his utmost 
 to kill him, got out a handkerchief and carefully wound it 
 around Kirk's wound. 
 
 " Let's try to find the old lady," he said. " She's about 
 here somewhere. I thought I heard her voice under that 
 sail." 
 
 Together they started off to search for her. As they 
 were doing so they were joined by Gibbs and Mackay. The 
 newcomers brought news of Jackson. 
 
 " I guess he's done for," said Mackay. " He was still 
 breathing when we reached him in the foretop, but anybody 
 could see he was a goner. Charley was lying stone dead be- 
 side him." 
 
 "Who's unaccounted for?" asked Kirk. His tone took 
 on its usual authority. He was reminded that it was time 
 to assert it. 
 
 " Beale." 
 
 " You can pass him," said Kirk grimly. " He's lying 
 under the main boom, and it will take a jack to get his body 
 out. Who else?" 
 
 " Matthews and Harding." 
 
 " Gibbs, you try to break your way into the doctor's 
 cabin and find us a little whisky, and anything else you can see 
 in the way of medicines and bandages. Smash open the 
 lockers with one of the fire-axes. And some water if you 
 can find any there'll still be some in the butts." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 " The thing for the rest of us to do is to find Matthews 
 and Mrs. Hitchcock and Harding." 
 
 They began searching again, scattering so as to cover 
 the largest field. A cry from Mackay brought them all 
 together as fast as they could run. He had discovered Hard- 
 ing and Matthews where they had been flung beneath the 
 
 298 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 mainsail. The canvas was ripped open, and Matthews crawled 
 slowly out, none the worse apparently for his temporary 
 imprisonment. His companion, however, was insensible, and 
 it was no easy matter to drag him through the wreckage to 
 the unencumbered ground beyond. They were all very 
 shaky and bruised and exhausted. Kirk's shoulder throbbed 
 mercilessly, and at times it was all he could do to stand. 
 Never was anything more welcome than the sight of Gibbs 
 with a bottle of whisky and half a pail of water. Some of 
 the raw spirits was forced down Harding's throat, and he 
 was gradually revived. He opened his eyes, asked where he 
 was, swore feebly, and then sat up. The others made cups 
 of their hands, and greedily drank the allowance Kirk served 
 out. It was a scanty one, and Kirk refused their request for 
 more. They could easily have obtained the bottle by force, 
 and they eyed it longingly as he kept it close beside him 
 but no one stirred a hand. The swift retribution which had 
 overtaken their mutiny, and the desperate part Kirk had 
 played in it, had cowed them into servile obedience. Each 
 was eager to ingratiate himself in the captain's favor, and 
 forestall the day of reckoning. 
 
 Kirk sent them back to look for Mrs. Hitchcock, while 
 he made his way, painfully, and dragging every step, to where 
 Jackson and Charley Nesbit were lying, still within the top. 
 The great searchlight, with its complicated apparatus of 
 lenses, generators, tubing, and valves had burst all over 
 them, and was emitting an overwhelming stench of gas. 
 The two men were locked in each other's arms, the one dead, 
 the other dying. In Nesbit's face there was a look of un- 
 utterable horror. His eyeballs protruded, his mouth was 
 open and distorted, he had seen and understood the death 
 he was to die. 
 
 Jackson presented a less repulsive spectacle. He had the 
 20 299 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 air of being asleep. His withered cheeks, his bald head, his 
 benignant mutton-chop whiskers, had miraculously escaped 
 the pollution of blood. They drew out his lifeless body and 
 laid it on the ground, buttoning his uniform coat together 
 to hide his crushed and bleeding chest. Kirk was in the 
 act of covering his face with a handkerchief when he heard 
 Haines running toward him. The man was so unstrung that 
 he could hardly speak. He stood there in hysterical agitation, 
 endeavoring to compose himself. 
 
 "Found her?" asked Kirk. 
 
 Haines's answer was lost in the convulsive movement of 
 his lips. Kirk turned to him and hastened toward the little 
 group that was signaling to him wildly. But the fellow 
 caught him by the arm, and suddenly recovering speech, broke 
 into a frenzy of self-exculpation. He had never wanted to 
 desert the party. The others had forced him literally 
 forced him might he be struck dead that minute if he wasn't 
 telling the absolute truth! Beale had held a knife to his 
 throat. Beale was a black-hearted villain. Both Jackson 
 and Mrs. Hitchcock had wanted to heave to and make terms 
 to get back was all they wanted to get back to Felicidad. 
 With all hands, of course with all hands. But Beale ! 
 If Kirk turned against him now he was a dead man. Would 
 Kirk accept his diamond pin? It was worth twenty pounds. 
 And he had a mother and two sisters dependent on him. 
 Kirk must think of them. An old mother and two sisters! 
 He was too young to die. He ought not to be punished for 
 what Beale had done. It would be monstrous if he were 
 punished for what Beale had done. Kirk must stand by him. 
 Kirk must save him from the vengeance of the others. 
 
 Kirk looked him squarely in the face, and said he would 
 make no promises. 
 
 " You fellows can do your own saving/' he said. " I 
 300 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 won't lift my little finger to befriend any of you. But if you 
 are given any sort of trial, I'll bear witness as to how you 
 acted now, and it will probably count a good deal for or 
 against you. If you pitch in with a will and do everything 
 you are told, I'll go as far as to stand up and tell them so." 
 
 Haines thanked him incoherently, trying again to force 
 his trumpery pin on him. In the midst of that indescribable 
 havoc, with the dead lying about them, and confronted by 
 an ominous and terrible future, the irony of such a bribe made 
 Kirk's lip curl. Finally, goaded to fury by the fellow's 
 beggarlike insistence, he cast the pin to the earth and ground 
 it under his heel. 
 
 " Whining won't help you," he cried. " Get to work, 
 you dog, get to work ! " 
 
 He had no more time to waste on the creature, and 
 stumbled forward without giving him another thought, 
 Haines sticking to his heels like a whipped cur, and officiously 
 attempting to assist him over the obstacles in their path. 
 Together they reached Mackay and Gibbs, who were bending 
 over Mrs. Hitchcock in bewildered astonishment. The old 
 woman was sitting huddled up on the ground, giggling and 
 grimacing as though it were all an excellent joke. As the 
 ship capsized she had been flung against a canvas ventilator 
 and carried down on a veritable bed. " Like shooting the 
 chutes," she explained, bubbling over with hysterical merri- 
 ment, " and then splashing through eternity at the bottom ! " 
 
 " I am thankful you are alive," said Kirk. 
 
 " So am I, young man," she returned with unimpaired 
 sprightliness. " Moi aussij je vous assure/ " 
 
 He wondered whether he ought to tell her of Jackson's 
 death, and on second thoughts refrained. She would find it 
 out fast enough as it was. But her crazy gayety, so dis- 
 cordant amid the universal ruin, seemed at the moment 
 
 301 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 proof against all misfortunes. Babbling, nodding, energetic- 
 ally gesticulating with her hands, she persisted in a vivacity 
 that under the circumstances was hardly believable. 
 
 " Have any of you gentlemen seen my little black bag? " 
 she inquired with a sudden anxiety, the first she had shown. 
 " Can't afford to lose that, you know. Must find it. Must 
 find it. Hee-hee! Has my letter of credit, you know, and 
 my keys, and my beauty box. Hee-hee, my little black bag! 
 You all know my little black bag! I was holding it in my 
 hand as the ship rolled over! " 
 
 The four men obediently took up the search, and groped 
 about in the litter and wreckage. At such a time it seemed 
 a piece of fantastic childishness to be looking for a little 
 black bag containing nothing more valuable than a letter of 
 credit. A sandwich would have been of infinitely greater 
 worth. But the old lady shrilly urged them on, and it was 
 plain they would get no peace till the little black bag were 
 found. They might have been looking for it yet had not 
 Gibbs been lucky enough to find it under a tangle of gear. 
 Mrs. Hitchcock clutched it from his hands, and uttering 
 joyful exclamations of gratitude, hastened to assure herself 
 as to the safety of its contents. This done, she turned to 
 Kirk. 
 
 " Captain," she cried, " I put myself at your orders. It's 
 your business to tell us what to do, and it's ours to do it 
 hee-hee isn't it, Gibbs ? " 
 
 " My idea is to find a mirror somewhere, and keep flash- 
 ing our position back to camp," said Kirk. " It will give 
 them the general direction to reach us, and if night falls 
 before they arrive, we'll build a fire, and send up rockets 
 at intervals." 
 
 " I am sure Captain Jackson would approve of that," she 
 said. " Hadn't we better go and tell him? " 
 
 302 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 For a space no one answered. It was Gibbs who was the 
 first brave enough to answer. 
 
 " Why, ma'am," he faltered, " the poor gentleman was 
 in the foretop when she " 
 
 Mrs. Hitchcock turned very pale, trembled, and pressed 
 her hand to her heart. Gibbs would have said more, but she 
 stopped him. 
 
 " I I think I'll sit down here a little while, and and 
 rest," she said at last. " No, don't stay with me; I would 
 rather be alone. That is, if there is nothing I can do for 
 him?" 
 
 " There's nothing," said Kirk. " Nothing that you or 
 anyone can do for him now." 
 
 They left her sitting on a spar, and when they turned and 
 looked back, she was seen on her knees, praying. 
 
 " She allus thought a lot of Jackson," said Mackay. 
 
 " More than I ever did, the domineering, overbearing 
 be" began Gibbs. 
 
 " Hush," exclaimed Kirk. " He's dead now, and has 
 passed beyond criticism. The thing for us to do is to dig 
 the reflector out of the searchlight and rig up an apparatus 
 to swing it on." 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir," said Gibbs deferentially. 
 
 " It can't be more'n twenty miles to camp," put in 
 Mackay, " and in clear weather like this the flash ought to 
 carry all of sixty." 
 
 Haines shuddered. 
 
 " And you won't let them be too hard on us, sir, will you, 
 sir?" he pleaded. "I have a mother, sir, and two young 
 sisters that " 
 
 " I've told you it all depends on yourself, Haines," in- 
 terrupted Kirk sternly. " You fellows will have to earn 
 your forgiveness, and earn it in the next few hours. Do you 
 
 303 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 understand? Earn it by hard work and rigid obedience to 
 orders!" 
 
 Heartily protesting their intention of doing so, the three 
 mutineers followed Kirk to the battered, blood-splashed top, 
 and applied themselves with a will to the extrication of the 
 reflector. 
 
 Half an hour later an improvised heliograph was sending 
 its dazzling message across the prairie, and with blinding 
 flashes incessantly cut the arc of the eastern sky. 
 
 It was midnight. 
 
 The survivors were gathered about a fire, whose beams 
 lit up their shadowy figures drowsing beside their rifles, 
 ready at a word to spring to their feet and defend the wreck 
 from Indian marauders. Here one sprawled his length on 
 the ground, his upturned face gray and careworn in the fitful 
 light, as though sleep itself had brought no respite, and 
 memory was retelling in troubled dreams the desperate 
 doings of the day. There, another, his sinewy hand relaxed 
 on the handle of his Mauser, breathing heavily, and mum- 
 bling interminably to himself. And all about them rose a 
 wild tangle of masts, spars, and rigging, seen and lost and 
 seen again as the fire flickered or fell; to one side the im- 
 penetrable night, on the other the dim mountain of the 
 Fortunas hull and her wall-like deck, sheerly perpendicular, 
 at once so familiar and fantastic in its altered relation to the 
 ground. 
 
 Harding lay on a blanket, moaning faintly, and occasion- 
 ally calling out in a husky voice for water. Mrs. Hitchcock, 
 spectral and grim, hovered over him, ministering to his wants 
 and whispering encouragement. The old woman, in the hour 
 of disaster, was showing good qualities hitherto unsuspected, 
 and the finer side of her irresponsible and contradictory na- 
 
 304 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ture. In the presence of death and suffering she seemed to 
 rise superior to the inveterate triviality that Kirk had always 
 associated with her. The incorrigible giggler, the scatter- 
 brained monologist, for once stood awestricken before the 
 eternities. 
 
 At intervals Kirk put a match to a rocket, and would 
 watch it shoot skyward in a streak of fire, till, halting in the 
 dome of night, it exploded its little galaxy of stars. Here 
 for an instant they would hang, sparkling brilliantly crim- 
 sons, blues, greens, all intermixed in a vivid confusion to 
 vanish in the twinkling of an eye, the blackness blacker for 
 their having been. 
 
 It was then, it seemed to Kirk, that the poignancy of the 
 disaster most fully came home to him. These fiery signals, 
 so identified with the distress of ships, so long the appeal of 
 castaway and perishing seamen, forced upon his mind an 
 analogy of similar hopelessness and despair. 
 
 He asked himself how this vast mass was ever to be 
 righted again. What if those gigantic masts were sprung, 
 the mighty axles twisted, the water tanks burst asunder by 
 the frightful impact with which the Fortuna had struck the 
 ground? In the universal ruin about him he saw no means 
 of their ever extricating themselves again. Were they 
 doomed to perish miserably of starvation and lack of water 
 or, more appalling still, fall slaves to the savages? No, not 
 that, assuredly, for they would die fighting first. Turn as 
 they might, there was but one way of escape, and that was by 
 the Fortuna. Their lives depended on their power to right 
 her, to repair her shattered fabric, to spread her torn sails 
 on those splintered booms and yards, and once more entrust 
 their fate to the willing winds. 
 
 And if they failed? 
 
 He felt within him a welling envy of the dead. In his 
 305 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 weariness, pain, and desperation theirs seemed the happier 
 fate. Was it not better to go like that swiftly, suddenly 
 than to strive day after day against the impossible, with an 
 increasing realization of the futility of all effort? A crush- 
 ing sense that he was to blame for it all oppressed his heart. 
 Not for having capsized the vessel. That he gloried in. 
 Better to have the wreck of the Fortuna than no Fortuna 
 at all. It was some satisfaction that Jackson's villainy had 
 been so appropriately punished. He had not a particle of 
 pity for him, or Beale, or Nesbit. They had only got 
 what they deserved. His remorse went farther back. Had 
 he only listened to Vera's pleadings, to her reiterated and 
 passionate appeals, what an incalculable amount of misery 
 would have been avoided. In the retrospect his own stub- 
 bornness appeared inexplicable. He cursed the stupid pride 
 that had worked so great an evil. She loved him ; she would 
 have appreciated at its full the sacrifice had he made it for 
 her. Westbrook, who on many occasions had shown such 
 marked and unmistakable regard for him, would have been 
 won over. They would have returned the happiest two 
 people in the world. 
 
 And now? 
 
 Oh, what a fool he had been ! What a fool he had been ! 
 
 There was a shout in the darkness, the sound of stum- 
 bling feet, faint far-away voices calling. Von Zedtwitz 
 strode into the firelight, revolver in hand, a formidable, 
 broad-shouldered figure, full of energy and ire. 
 
 Kirk sprang up to meet him. 
 
 "Doctor!" 
 
 "Kirgpatrick!" 
 
 Explanations hurriedly passed. The German was in a 
 steaming cloud of sweat, and his voice was vibrant and gut- 
 
 306 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 tural from long running. His delight in finding Kirkpat- 
 rick alive seemed to outweigh every other aspect of the 
 disaster, and he grasped him in the embrace of a bear. 
 Though less effusive, Kirk's heart, too, was full, and it 
 brimmed over with affection for the honest old German. 
 With Von Zedtwitz there seemed to come an atmosphere 
 of resolution, sturdy courage, and superb self-confidence. 
 The latter declared that he was pleased to find the situation 
 no worse. It was pad, of course. It was a very seerious 
 madder. Ach, but the relief to find his poy all right his 
 hero poy, who had risked everything for them and saved 
 the day! 
 
 They were still excitedly talking as some of the others 
 began to straggle in. Dusty, travel-worn, limping their tired 
 feet, they presented a sad and disheartened aspect. For 
 twenty odd miles, guided by Kirk's signals, they had toiled 
 across the llano like an army in precipitate retreat. Guns, 
 blankets, water bottles had been thrown away. Those who 
 had dropped out were left where they fell. All cohesion had 
 disappeared. It had degenerated into a mad scramble for 
 every man to save himself. 
 
 Kirk was half crazy to learn news of Vera. She, too, 
 had started out with the rest. Only the wounded had been 
 left behind. He eagerly questioned the weary throng as they 
 arrived in twos and threes and threw themselves on the 
 ground. They could tell him nothing more of her, nor of 
 her father. Spiritless and apathetic, they seemed not to 
 care. All they wanted was water for their parched throats, 
 and once they got it they rolled over on the ground like logs. 
 Von Zedtwitz had disappeared to ascertain as best he could 
 in the dark the probable damage to the ship. The only 
 men Kirk could rouse into action were the recent muti- 
 neers. They knew on which side their bread was but- 
 
 307 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 tered, and showed an almost pitiful alacrity and zeal to 
 serve him. 
 
 Taking two of them with lanterns, Kirk went in search 
 of the missing. The folly of the proceeding struck him 
 before they had gone a quarter of a mile. He himself was 
 so spent and ill that he could scarcely walk. They had no 
 means of carrying water, no compass to guide them, no aid, 
 in fact, to give beyond the little whisky that still remained 
 in the bottle. They stood there helplessly under the stars, 
 fearful of going on lest they should lose the direction, and 
 calling out as loudly as they could. There was an infinite 
 melancholy in the sound. It rose in the void like a wail of 
 anguish. 
 
 "Hallo-o-o-a! Hallo-o-o-a! " 
 
 " Hold on ! " cried Haines suddenly. 
 
 " It's nothing but the echo," said O'Hara. 
 
 "Listen!" exclaimed Kirk. 
 
 From far across the prairie, but clear and distinct in 
 the silent air, they heard what seemed to be an answer to 
 their call. Again their own shout went up. Again it 
 was answered by a silvery note that thrilled on Kirk's 
 ears with startling reassurance. He took hold of Mackay's 
 arm, and began to run. Weariness and pain were for- 
 gotten. 
 
 " Sing out, boys," he panted joyfully. " Keep it going 
 keep it going! " 
 
 " Hallo-o-o-a, there ! Hallo-o-o-a ! " 
 
 Blundering through the darkness, shout answering shout, 
 they at length discerned shadowy figures hastening to meet 
 them. The first was Wicks, who on recognizing Kirk let 
 out a roar like a bull. Devonshire granite wasted no time 
 in greeting, but turned back, eager to pass the good news to 
 his companions. 
 
 308 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " It's Kirk ! " he cried. " It's the captain himself ! Right 
 as a trivet, and no harm done ! " 
 
 There was an outburst of exclamations. Kirk found 
 himself in the center of a little group, who seemed ready to 
 pull him to pieces from excess of thankfulness Wicks, 
 Goltz, Phillips, Crawshaw, Westbrook, and Vera. The 
 upraised lantern lit their pale and haggard faces thronging 
 all about them. Little Crawshaw wept unblushingly. West- 
 brook, in that mellow voice of his, always so sincere and kind, 
 and now tinged with a singular nobility, thanked God that 
 Kirk had been spared to them. 
 
 " I never thought to see you again," he said. " It's like 
 meeting one risen from the grave ! " 
 
 Kirk felt a little, soft hand feeling for his own, and an 
 insinuating girlish body nestling beside him. Vera had not 
 spoken a word, but her eyes, luminous with a strange and 
 tender light, had never left his face. She perceived what 
 had escaped the others. 
 
 "Kirk," she said suddenly, "you're hurt!" 
 
 "Oh, it's nothing!" he returned. "Arm's a bit dicky, 
 that's all." 
 
 And with that he fainted. 
 
 309 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 days that followed were hardly more than 
 a blank to him. Looking back on that misty 
 period, his most pronounced memory was that 
 of lying with a clinical thermometer in his 
 mouth. It had a peculiarly flat taste, and he 
 recalled the inordinate amount of coaxing that it took to 
 make him keep it there. There were also intervals of whisky 
 in teaspoons, and nauseating messes of a gray, sticky com- 
 plexion that he had to be persuaded, with extreme difficulty, 
 to get outside of. There was a bitter taste always in his 
 mouth that even water could not allay. He used to long 
 for it for water piteously, and wondered at the hardness 
 of heart that refused him any beyond a meager spoonful. 
 Occasionally he was given fruit the most luscious looking 
 peaches that disappointed him beyond measure by their 
 bitterness. Everything was bitter, or mawkish, or dis- 
 tasteful. 
 
 It had become the most natural thing in the world to 
 have Vera about. When he opened his eyes and did not see 
 her, he felt a vague sense of indignation. He felt that he 
 was being neglected. He would complain peevishly to the 
 empty air, and the ache in his bones grew worse. There was 
 Phillips, too. He hated Phillips. Phillips and the ther- 
 mometer seemed to go together. To see Phillips was to 
 know that the glass-testing process was to recommence. 
 Once he chewed it in good earnest, and, oh, dear, wasn't 
 there a commotion ! 
 
 310 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 As he grew better he used to lie for hours watching Vera. 
 Her graceful head, the turn of her rounded chin, her fair 
 hair, so glossy and thick and soft, was an unending delight 
 to him. He had no idea what a tyrant he was what an 
 overgrown and exacting baby. When he wanted anything 
 he roared for it as loudly as he could. It was her place to 
 love him, to caress him, to throw over him the mantle of 
 an exquisite maternity. He took it all for granted. He 
 was neither grateful nor ungrateful. But when she was out 
 of his sight he mourned and fretted for her without cessation. 
 
 One afternoon he awoke from a long sleep. His drowsy 
 eyes took her in with a strange and new understanding. He 
 motioned her to come over, and he faltered as she knelt 
 beside the cot and took his wasted hand. 
 
 " Vera," he said, " I think I must be better." 
 
 He noticed her pallor, the dark rings under her eyes, her 
 worn, wan face, beautiful even after days and nights of 
 watching. 
 
 " How long have I been here? " 
 
 " Let me think. Eight days." 
 
 "And you have been nursing me?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "Why didn't you leave it to somebody else?" 
 
 " Because I love you, silly boy! " 
 
 A delicious contentment stole over him. He felt his hand 
 fondled against her hand, her cheek, her lips. It was sweet 
 to lie there, in a languor of weakness, and be petted. 
 
 " I must be a sight! " 
 
 She cooed over him. 
 
 " With a hideous stubble of a beard." 
 
 More coos. 
 
 "And yellow?" 
 
 "No, no!" 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " And generally disgusting? " 
 
 " You have been very ill." 
 
 " It was my arm, of course ? " 
 
 " Compound fracture, with fever and delirium." 
 
 "What did the doctor say?" 
 
 " That you must obey everything you are told, like a 
 good boy." 
 
 " No but will it be all right? " 
 
 "Oh, yes!" 
 
 "Soon?" 
 
 "Pretty soon!" 
 
 "What's going on outside?" 
 
 " Heaps of things." 
 
 "And all that clanging and banging?" 
 
 " That's papa and Mr. Crawshaw does it bother your 
 poor head ? " 
 
 " No, I like it. What are they doing? " 
 
 " Working at the forge." 
 
 "Then they still have hopes of getting her to rights? 
 The Fortuna? " 
 
 " Hopes! Why, they've done it! " 
 
 " Done it, Vera? Do you really mean ? " 
 
 " You mustn't get excited." 
 
 " Oh, but my darling, you are keeping me on tenter- 
 hooks. She was not damaged ? " 
 
 " Not irreparably. The forward truck was badly 
 smashed. The mainmast was sprung, too, but they repaired 
 the place by shrinking on hoops of red-hot iron. The 
 maintopmast couldn't be saved, but the foretopmast was 
 doctored into shape. It looks awfully patchy, but Mr. 
 Wicks is sure it will stand. Oh, they've been so busy, 
 Kirk!" 
 
 " And the water tanks ? " 
 
 312 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "What about them?" 
 
 "They held?" 
 
 " I suppose so. Nobody has ever said a word about them. 
 But we're getting the same old skimpy allowance." 
 
 "Thank God!" 
 
 " Now you must stop talking and shut your eyes." 
 
 " But you'll stay close to me, won't you? " 
 
 " Right here." 
 
 " I would have died if it hadn't been for you. I know I 
 would." 
 
 "Pooh! Go to sleep!" 
 
 "Mayn't I be grateful?" 
 
 "Not till you are well?" 
 
 "And it is all true about the Fortuna? You 
 weren't humoring me, were you? It isn't a fairy tale, 
 Vera?" 
 
 "No, indeed!" 
 
 " And it's true that you love me? " 
 
 " Yes, dearest." 
 
 " For always and always? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And nothing shall ever come between us again ? " 
 
 "Never, Kirk, never!" 
 
 " I wonder if " 
 
 The rest of the sentence was never said. His hand re- 
 laxed. He was asleep. 
 
 The girl rose and bent over him with anxious solicitude. 
 The doctor, tiptoeing in, discovered her gently smoothing the 
 sick man's pillow. 
 
 "How is he?" 
 
 "Oh, so much better!" 
 
 " Any temperature ? " 
 
 " I think not. He has been talking quite coherently." 
 313 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Phillips himself looked down at the thin, handsome face, 
 studying it intently. 
 
 " I fancy he is out of the woods," he said. 
 
 It was indeed the turning point in Kirk's illness. He 
 improved rapidly. Little by little he gradually learned all 
 that had happened since the night of the wreck. Harding had 
 lingered a few days and then had passed away, never having 
 regained complete consciousness. Strange to say, Weaver 
 himself was on the high road to recovery. The little jockey 
 said it was the doctor. The doctor, more modestly, ascribed 
 it to a miracle. But whoever was responsible, the fact re- 
 mained that Weaver was limping about the camp, ready to 
 play pinocle or checkers with anybody who had a spare 
 moment for such diversions. 
 
 The mutineers had been left off scot free, although there 
 had been some wild talk of making an example of them. 
 But every man was precious, and it was policy, as well as 
 mercy, to deal easily with them. The fellows had buckled 
 down with such a will, and had shown such energy and 
 good spirit, that at last by universal consent they were re- 
 instated and forgiven. Bygones were to be bygones, and the 
 past was to be ignored. 
 
 As for Mrs. Hitchcock, she had exhibited an astounding 
 capacity to rebound from the grief and contrition that had 
 so recently oppressed her. For a couple of days the dead 
 captain had received the tribute of her broken heart. On 
 the third she announced the dedication of her declining years 
 to works of charity and mercy. On the fourth she began 
 to darn her way into Von Zedtwitz's good graces through his 
 socks, which, it must be said, offered an admirable field for 
 philanthropic effort. On the fifth she was heard to say that 
 such a rugged and noble nature needed but a woman the 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 right woman to soften and round it out. On the sixth 
 this thought took tangible shape, and was seen in active 
 operation. On the seventh the doctor, presumably softened 
 and rounded out and certainly ponderously surprised at the 
 swiftness of the performance was duly captured, tagged, 
 and attached to the Hitchcock string. 
 
 It was a wonderful day for Kirk when, leaning on 
 Vera's arm, he was permitted to leave his tent and see with 
 his own eyes the progress that had been made. The camp 
 was humming like a factory. Anvils were thundering, bel- 
 lows blowing, and the Fortuna, now on an even keel, was 
 overrun with men. The different gangs cheered him as he 
 moved along, and crowded about him with handshakes and 
 hearty congratulations. It gave him an inexpressible pleasure 
 to find how little he had been forgotten. It made him proud 
 before Vera to receive the homage of these rough fellows, 
 and see their faces gladden at his approach. It seemed to 
 raise him in his own estimation. It was no small achievement 
 to have earned such affection and good will. How good 
 they were how good and kind and generous! 
 
 And, by George, how they had worked! It was almost 
 unbelievable. One might almost think, to look at her, that 
 the Fortuna had never turned turtle at all. There were big 
 jacks under her forward, and the missing maintopmast gave 
 her an unfamiliar look, but once on deck she was to all 
 appearance the same old ship, and not particularly changed. 
 Kirk examined the mainmast attentively, and was most 
 pleased with the job they had made of it. 
 
 " What do you think of her, captain ? " asked Craw- 
 shaw. 
 
 " Good as ever," returned Kirk, " and if she doesn't 
 stand up like a Trojan, I'll buy you a new hat." 
 21 315 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " My number is seven and three quarters," exclaimed the 
 little man, grinning broadly. 
 
 "I'll make a note of it on my cuff," said Kirk. 
 
 " And so you two children are engaged? " 
 
 " Yes, papa." 
 
 " And friends are to accept this, the only intimation ? " 
 
 " Yes, papa." 
 
 " And the other high-contracting party can't he speak? " 
 
 " It was Vera's idea to do all the talking, sir." 
 
 " And what am I to do? Faint with surprise? " 
 
 " Yes, papa." 
 
 " Do you suppose I haven't seen it all along? Why, I've 
 had you two under a microscope, and kept awake more nights 
 thinking it over than you would believe ! " 
 
 " It kept me awake, too, papa." 
 
 " Worrying about your old dad, and wondering what 
 was to become of him in the shuffle ? " 
 
 " Partly." 
 
 " Mr. Westbrook," said Kirk, " I know very well that 
 your daughter's choice is bound to be a disappointment to 
 you. She is throwing herself away in marrying a man like 
 me but I love her, and she loves me." 
 
 " Disappointment humph ! How do you know it's a 
 disappointment, young man? " 
 
 " She has the world at her feet." 
 
 " That usually means an earl." 
 
 " Oh, papa, do be serious! It's a life and death matter 
 to us." 
 
 " Well, you two, listen to me. When I first saw this 
 thing beginning it made me feel mortal bad, I can tell you. 
 I hardly knew what sort of man I wanted for you, but 
 frankly it wasn't Kirkpatrick. But I was a man of the 
 
 316 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 world. I was too wise to show any marked disapproval. 
 The stern parent is answerable for half the unhappy mar- 
 riages. He supplies an element of romance, and helps to 
 keep the little darlings in a flutter. That wasn't my idea at 
 all. Mine was to wait for the varnish to wear off, and let 
 my little girl see her admirer in his true light. Character 
 was sure to come out. It couldn't be hidden. We are what 
 we are and sooner or later we show ourselves. Well, the 
 result of all my waiting and watching was to discover that 
 Kirk here was one of the finest, truest, noblest fellows I've 
 ever known. He may not be much on looks " 
 
 "Oh, papa !" 
 
 " But he's a man, every inch of him, and pure gold all 
 the way through and there's nothing he could ask for that 
 I wouldn't give him. There! I've made it plain, I hope? 
 Tried to, anyhow. And God bless both of you ! " 
 
 " I don't know how to thank you," said Kirk. " I was 
 not prepared for for It means so much to me. It it 
 means everything." 
 
 " And I'm going to love you more than ever," said Vera, 
 throwing her arms around her father's neck. " You mustn't 
 think it's going to make the least difference because it 
 shan't!" 
 
 " But we haven't finished with the thing yet," said West- 
 brook with dry humor. " I am interested in the young man's 
 prospects. A bit hazy, aren't they ? " 
 
 " I've been thinking over that. You are going to put him 
 in charge of the new plant in Jersey City." 
 
 " Oh, I am, am I ? A post requiring every technical 
 qualification, and employing eight hundred men ! " 
 
 " Kirk can do anything! " 
 
 " Ah, no doubt ! Big-gun construction being one of those 
 simple things that anybody can pick up twelve-inch rifles 
 
 317 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 made while you wait, and delivered daily in our special van ! 
 Pom-poms and three-o-threes left on your doorstep with the 
 milk!" 
 
 " Papa, you're mortifying Kirk." 
 
 " God forbid ! Only let us get down to earth. Falling 
 back on the old man isn't my notion at all. Silly, too, when 
 there is a tidy little independence just over the horizon." 
 
 " Papa, you promised me that awful night that if we 
 pulled through you would go straight home." 
 
 " That's what I'm getting to." 
 
 " No, I am going to hold you to your word. It's all too 
 dreadful and dangerous. I won't let you beg off." 
 
 "Who's begging off?" 
 
 " You gave your solemn word of honor! " 
 
 " I admit it. It was one of those impulsive occasions 
 when the best of us stumble. I lost my nerve temporarily." 
 
 " Kirk has promised me, too." 
 
 " So we are both tied up? " 
 
 " Yes, papa." 
 
 " And so the expedition has to be abandoned ? " 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 "And Zeddy?" 
 
 " He can't very well help himself." 
 
 " It's just as easy to go on now as to go back. Ask 
 Kirk." 
 
 " Are you going to break your word? " 
 
 " No-o." 
 
 " I hold you to it, papa." 
 
 " What about a compromise ? " 
 
 "Won't listen to any!" 
 
 " And condemn Kirk to the bread of dependence, eh ? 
 Bitter bread, my girl. He has his hand on a fortune, and 
 you will not let him reach out for it? " 
 
 318 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " It may be all a myth." 
 
 " Hundred thousand pounds all his own ! Half a million 
 dollars, Vera! At four per cent " 
 
 " It's no good talking, papa. I won't, I won't! " 
 
 " Isn't Kirk allowed to open his mouth on the subject? " 
 
 " We're both of the same mind." 
 
 " Now see here, Kirk, if you hadn't been tied hand and 
 foot in pink ribbon, what would your vote be? " 
 
 Poor Kirk hesitated. He tried manfully to lie but 
 couldn't. 
 
 " I I'd see the thing through," he said. 
 
 " How does this going back strike you ? " 
 
 " Well, sir, if Vera insists " 
 
 " Now, own up it's a frightful disappointment to you, 
 isn't it?" 
 
 " I'd sacrifice more than that for her, sir." 
 
 " Sacrifice ah, that's the word ! Frankly, isn't it a great 
 pity to throw up the sponge when we are on the very 
 threshold of the place? " 
 
 " Yes, I have to admit it." 
 
 " Did you hear that, Vera? " 
 
 " Yes, papa." 
 
 " Doesn't it count with you at all ? " 
 
 "But the risk?" 
 
 " There's no risk." 
 
 " It's because I love you both so much." 
 
 " Didn't you tell me at Felicidad that the hardships 
 would surely kill me? Why, I have fattened on them. 
 Never felt so well in my life ! It seems to show that you are 
 not always right, doesn't it? " 
 
 " I want to go home and live happily ever afterwards." 
 
 " Postpone it a few weeks. Oh, my dearie, the game is 
 in your hands ! Be a little thoroughbred ! " 
 
 319 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "Oh, papa!" 
 
 " Please." 
 
 "You really and truly like Kirk, don't you?" 
 
 " Love him like a son ! " 
 
 "And believe in him?" 
 
 " Absolutely." 
 
 "And he is handsome, isn't he? " 
 
 " My own image at his age! " 
 
 " And when we get back you will let me ride Toby? " 
 
 " All day long." 
 
 "And jump?" 
 
 " If Kirk will let you." 
 
 " And you will be grateful for my giving in so beauti- 
 fully?" 
 
 " Will prove it by a lifetime of devotion." 
 
 " Don't laugh about it it's awfully serious. I haven't 
 said I would yet." 
 
 " Then hurry up and say it." 
 
 " Papa, I let you off your promise ! " 
 
 "Hurrah, Kirk! Southward ho, for Cassaquiari!" 
 
 " By Jove, sir, we'll make it this time! " 
 
 " You won't mind if I run round and tell Zeddy? The 
 poor chap has been eating his heart out. He thought it was all 
 off. The tent door closes at ten o'clock sharp, young lady." 
 
 " Just a minute, papa." 
 
 "Another string to that agreement? You ought to be 
 ashamed " 
 
 " No, you darling old daddy, I want to give you a hug." 
 
 "My lamb!" 
 
 " Because, after all (hug) I think I love you (hug) 
 the best! (Showers of kisses.) Now, run away and play, 
 and keep out of mischief, and don't fight anybody bigger than 
 yourself!" 
 
 320 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 INE days later the Fortuna, with her sails 
 furled, lay awaiting Von Zedtwitz's return. 
 To port were some low, reddish hills, rising 
 tier upon tier, till the red melted in the blue 
 and purple of a distant mountain chain. To 
 starboard was the prairie, shimmering like the sea, and as 
 illimitable. Beneath awnings, fore and aft, the crew and 
 officers of the ship were whiling away their time as best 
 they could, and trying to keep the suspense from becoming 
 unendurable. Through the winding gap in the nearmost 
 hills Von Zedtwitz had disappeared three days before, lead- 
 ing a party of ten well-armed volunteers. Sixteen miles 
 beyond, as the crow flies, was Cassaquiari. The doctor had 
 been positive of it; had pointed triumphantly at the land- 
 marks in proof; had resented, with fiery impatience, the 
 least doubt being cast on a memory that went back so many 
 years. Unfortunately, the two observations had not agreed. 
 They varied by sixty-odd miles nearly a whole degree of 
 latitude. 
 
 But there were the hills; there was the gap; there the 
 doctor, jubilant and vocif erative ; every assurance, in fact, 
 that they had struck the right place. They had manned the 
 side, and sent him forth with ringing cheers. That had 
 been at dawn on a Tuesday morning. By Wednesday night 
 they had fully expected the party to return. By Thursday 
 they grew anxious and apprehensive. Friday found them 
 very gloomy indeed. 
 
 321 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "Foretop, ahoy!" 
 
 " Yes, sir." 
 
 " Did you see a flash just now a couple of points off 
 that cliff?" 
 
 " No, captain." 
 
 " Make out anything? " 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " Keep a sharp lookout ! " 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 This colloquy roused the ship. Dozing men awakened 
 and inquired what was the matter. Glasses were leveled at 
 the place Kirk pointed out. But nothing could be detected. 
 The air, quivering with heat, gave a strange unsteadiness 
 to the bare and crimson hills. They might have been painted 
 on some theatrical drop scene, and wobbling in the draught. 
 
 "On deck, there!" 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " They're coming, sir !" 
 
 There was a hoarse buzz of satisfaction, followed by a 
 rush up the rigging. Men who had never trusted themselves 
 before beyond a score of ratlines now valiantly assailed the 
 sky itself, racing one another to the tops. Some stuck mid- 
 way, but yelling lustily and swelling the hubbub that on 
 every side greeted the good news. 
 
 "Are they all there?" 
 
 "All there, captain." 
 
 "Eleven?" 
 
 "That's right, sir." 
 
 " Any sign of trouble? " 
 
 " No, sir." 
 
 " Not carrying anybody?" 
 
 " No sign of it, captain." 
 
 "Who's leading?" 
 
 322 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Dr. Von Zedtwitz himself, sir." 
 
 "What's he doing?" 
 
 " Seems to be waving his shirt." 
 
 "In distress?" 
 
 " Can't say more like he was dancing, sir." 
 
 These meager details were passed on with excited com- 
 ment. Glasses were focused on the place where at any 
 moment the little party might be expected to emerge. 
 
 A tiny speck shot into view. Behind it, in single file, 
 gradually appeared ten other tiny specks. 
 
 The sight of them was the signal for a mighty cheer. 
 
 Then faces were picked out, with eager and noisy dis- 
 agreement. It became a burning question whether the fifth 
 speck was Wicks or Jack Cohen whether the ninth was 
 Henderson or Crandall. To some of the hands these ques- 
 tions assumed a greater importance than the success or fail- 
 ure of the expedition itself. 
 
 " It's Wicks, you wall-eyed goat." 
 
 " Cohen, or I'll eat my hat! Tell him in a million." 
 
 " It's Wicks, just the same." 
 
 " Wicks, nothing it's Jack! " 
 
 And so on, and so on. 
 
 The human monkey must chatter. 
 
 The specks grew bigger now toy soldiers in size, step- 
 ping out briskly. Red, sweaty faces bobbed into the glass 
 Von Zedtwitz's tawny whiskers rifles, cartridge belts, water 
 bottles, dazzling bits of metal work. It was exasperating 
 to have to wait; to know nothing; to search vainly for any 
 indication of how things had fared with them. Why had 
 they not arranged on a signal? Von Zedtwitz, bare to the 
 waist, continued energetically to wave his shirt. But that 
 might mean anything. You could take your choice. To 
 some it seemed a good omen. Kirk answered it by breaking 
 
 323 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 out the ensign at the main. It satisfied his crying need for 
 action to do something to relieve in any way the tension 
 that grew every instant more insupportable. The bright 
 bunting drooped lifelessly at the masthead, refusing to flut- 
 ter. The sun beat down with an increasing fierceness. 
 The toy soldiers were running now, at a heavy jogtrot, 
 like a troop of boys on a paper chase, but keeping together 
 a string of shaggy, overburdened men dirty as tramps 
 their wicked-looking rifles giving them the aspect of 
 desperadoes. 
 
 Von Zedtwitz put both hands to his mouth, speaking- 
 trumpet fashion. 
 
 The ship hushed. 
 
 Tense and breathless, everyone waited in a fever of im- 
 patience to learn the news. 
 
 Was the treasure still there? Or had others got in 
 before them? Or were they, after all, sixty miles out of 
 the true position? 
 
 " CRAWSHAW " 
 
 Every ear was strained. Crawshaw! Had the doctor 
 gone crazy? 
 
 " WAS BITTEN " 
 
 But there was the little man himself, spectacles and all, 
 skipping like a colt ! 
 
 "BY A SNAKE!" 
 
 This extraordinary piece of intelligence, so remote from 
 the subject that was desperately agitating them, overwhelmed 
 them with an astonishment verging on dismay. What of 
 Cassaquiari? Of the treasure? Of all those ardent hopes 
 for which so much had been already sacrificed ? They stared 
 at the doctor in amazement, expecting him to bellow, in 
 his resounding voice, the yes or no on which everything 
 turned. But he seemed to consider that he had set all their 
 
 324 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 curiosity at rest, and resumed his ponderous double at the 
 head of his men. 
 
 The ship broke into a wild uproar. Discipline was for- 
 gotten. The gun crews deserted their stations, to which 
 Kirk, ever mindful of danger, had assigned them at the 
 first ambiguous gesticulations of the old German. It had 
 flashed across his mind that possibly the little party was 
 being pursued, and that they had roused a hornet's nest 
 in that hollow of the hills. But the men raced pell-mell 
 for the gangway and, with shouts and huzzas, streamed over 
 the prairie toward their comrades. Kirk, too, caught the 
 contagion and darted down. He grudged every moment that 
 kept him in ignorance. The ship might take care of itself. 
 The point was to reach Zeddy, and reach him quick. 
 
 The old fellow stood panting in the center of a 
 mob. 
 
 " A wiper," he was saying, " no longer than that, but 
 flat-headed and wicious, and it stung him just above the 
 ankle. Ah, but it was what you call a close shave! Many 
 times I said : ' He will die. Assuredly he will die ! ' And 
 ach, how he screamed ! You wouldn't think so little a fel- 
 low could scream so big. Had I not some potash permanga- 
 nate, and most carefully rubbed it in, you would never have 
 seen him again ! " 
 
 "But Cassaquiari?" demanded Kirk, beside himself. 
 " What we want to know is whether you found Cas- 
 saquiari ? " 
 
 " Of gourse we found Cassaquiari," returned Von Zedt- 
 witz, irritated at the interruption. " Was I not sure? Did 
 I not say it with positiveness ? " 
 
 " And the treasure ? The gold ? " 
 
 " It was there where the snake was. I thought I heard 
 
 a hiss, and so, bromptly, I said " 
 
 325 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 "Oh, hang the snake! Good Heavens, man, is the 
 treasure actually, positively, there? " 
 
 " Of gourse." 
 
 " Just as you left it all those years ago ? Just as you 
 described it to us? " 
 
 " Why, certainly, captain." 
 
 "Bars and bars of it?" 
 
 "Hundreds! Ask Wicks." 
 
 " Ay, that's a fact, sir," said the first officer. " Lord ! 
 but I never saw such a mountain of metal in all my days, 
 and stacked so nice and tidy that it might have been the 
 Bank of England. It made a fellow blink to think that 
 every ingot of it was virgin gold, and enough to buy a row 
 of cottages in the High Street of Appledore." 
 
 Crawshaw came bustling up to shake hands. He looked 
 not a penny the worse for his bite, and was in uproarious 
 spirits. 
 
 " Captain," he cried, his eyes shining through his spec- 
 tacles, " the treasure was the least of it! But the crumbling 
 buildings, acres big, all covered with figures and hiero- 
 glyphs the courts the triumphal arches, lopsided and top- 
 pling the mystery and gloom and vastness of it beggars 
 all description. Imagine the grave of a vanished civiliza- 
 tion a London of forty centuries ago a forgotten Rome. 
 It seemed to catch a fellow by the throat. You were over- 
 awed in spite of yourself. You stood in the middle of it 
 all " 
 
 He paused, at a loss for words to go on. The colossal 
 picture in his mind could not be translated. Speech was 
 inadequate. 
 
 " Corking! " said Wicks solemnly, filling the breach. 
 
 326 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 N the first flush of enthusiasm and joy it 
 seemed as though the object of their voyage 
 were as good as already gained, and little 
 thought was given to the obstacles that yet 
 had to be overcome before the Inca treas- 
 ure might in reality be called their own. To have reached 
 the limits of the llano was one thing; to transport fifteen 
 tons of metal thirty-one miles or more from its mountain 
 stronghold was quite another. 
 
 A tentative effort, made with one of the automobiles, 
 showed in a very disheartening fashion the impossibility of 
 carrying out their original plan. The powerful car, stripped 
 like a racer, and lightened of every superfluous ounce, 
 attempted in vain to force the passage of the hills. The 
 direction was constantly lost; rocks and declivities inter- 
 vened ; a day was spent in arduously accomplishing nothing. 
 It became evident that such haphazard dashes were a 
 mere waste of time. In going forward the circuitous road 
 behind was forgotten. It was as hard to get the car back 
 the dozen miles it had covered as it had been to push it on. 
 That night, in a council of war, it was determined to survey 
 a track to Cassaquiari, mark the way with guide posts, blast 
 and level what bad places were encountered, and, if necessary, 
 build some light bridges. It was a formidable undertaking 
 for so small a party, hampered besides by the need of guard- 
 ing the ship, and having always to keep on board of her 
 a sufficient crew to resist attack. 
 
 327 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 But they had come too far, and had endured too much, 
 to shrink now before this last colossal task. The knowl- 
 edge that the treasure was indubitably there, and had actu- 
 ally been seen and touched by some of the more fortunate, 
 animated all hands with an heroic resolution. Men hardly 
 ever learn the limit of their physical power, having, in 
 ordinary life, so small an occasion to exert it to the breaking 
 point. But once rouse their imagination, and dangle before 
 them the prize of all others that incites human effort to the 
 supreme degree, and you call into being a race of giants. 
 
 For five weeks the dogged work went on. Shift by 
 shift every hour of daylight was utilized. Axes rang, felling 
 trees on the scantily wooded uplands; blasts detonated, 
 hurling bowlders in the air; backs bent to shovel, crowbar, 
 and pick; and the dusty cars, bearing tools, dynamite, food, 
 water, and encouragement, incessantly passed and repassed, 
 honking good will, and at times even proffering their strength 
 to drag out a loosened rock, or to tug some timber into place. 
 
 With indomitable energy, mile was added to mile, and 
 the rough track carried steadily forward to Cassaquiari. 
 Every day the cars penetrated farther, skirting chasms, shak- 
 ing the flimsy, newly built bridges, cautiously rounding 
 curves where there was scarcely an inch to spare impatient 
 monsters, reverberating hoarsely, and demanding their prom- 
 ised loads of gold. 
 
 Though his arm was out of splints Kirk had been for- 
 bidden by the doctor to use it overmuch, and the poor fellow 
 chafed at the idleness that was thus forced upon him. He 
 was condemned to stay by the Fortuna, where though he 
 found plenty of things to occupy his leisure, he grudged to 
 the others the inspiriting work he was not permitted to share. 
 From the foretop, whose dizzy terrors he had taught Vera 
 to despise, the pair would sweep the hills with their glasses, 
 
 328 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and pick out, as far as their eyes could discern, the tortuous 
 road that was to open the way to the golden city. 
 
 It was a matter of some bitterness to them both that 
 they were never to see Cassaquiari. Westbrook had flatly 
 said so in one of his rare moments of asserted authority. 
 Their divided forces kept him in a constant flutter of alarm, 
 and he, alone of the whole party, had Indian on the brain. 
 A few of the aborigines had once been seen to the southeast, 
 darkening the horizon for an hour and then sinking over it. 
 But the memory of them had remained to torment the old 
 man with visions of attack and massacre, and he re- 
 peatedly declared that neither Kirk nor Vera should ever 
 leave the ship. 
 
 It was hard, during those long, hot and interminable days, 
 to be so closely confined on board. In the general sense of 
 security engendered by the profound peace about them, West- 
 brook's nervousness appeared more and more absurd and 
 unreasonable. He was always insisting on vigilance, in 
 season and out; with his own hands he tended the machine 
 guns daily, and saw that the working parts were oiled and 
 bright; the rifles in the chart room were likewise a constant 
 preoccupation to him, and he kept them ready and loaded for 
 the first call to quarters. At night he was out of his bunk 
 a dozen times to see that the anchor watch was awake, the 
 station lanterns lit, and the officer of the deck alert and 
 at his post of duty. 
 
 In fact, he caused not a little grumbling and irritation 
 by the strictness of the precautions he took on himself to 
 impose. The anchor watch, dozing here and there under 
 improvised shelters, resented his nocturnal toe feeling for 
 their anatomies in the dark and the bull's-eye lantern shot 
 suddenly into their sleepy faces. Caution was all right; 
 in the abstract everyone believed in it; but as instilled by 
 
 329 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 a savage old gentleman at two in the morning, it was uni- 
 versally abhorred. 
 
 Even Kirk and Vera grew a little impatient under his 
 restrictions. They pleaded and argued with him in vain 
 to be allowed to see Cassaquiari before they left the place 
 forever. They derided the thought of Indians; hotly denied 
 that there was the least risk in the world; pointed out the 
 injustice of this wonderful sight being withheld from them 
 when it would be so freely accorded to the others. But the 
 old fellow would not give way an inch. His daughter was 
 his daughter, he would say uncontravertibly ; and Kirk 
 was needed to sail the ship. He could not afford to let 
 either out of his sight. Nor, to satisfy this objection, would 
 he consent to go with them. The very idea appalled him. 
 Cool and courageous in the face of real danger, he was a 
 veritable poltroon before that of his own imagining. Phillips 
 ascribed it to the reaction following extreme mental excite- 
 ment; said it was common in soldiers after a battle; gave 
 it a Latin name. 
 
 All this while, day in, day out, the work in hand went 
 on indefatigably. Dawn saw the cars leaving the ship, loaded 
 with men and material. Dusk saw them returning with 
 the exciting report of what had been accomplished. In the 
 stifling galley Hildebrand stirred his great pots, scanned his 
 bursting ovens, brewed his huge coppers of coffee against 
 that mighty supper when all hands reassembled on board. 
 No Vikings in the past ever did better justice to a board 
 than the weary and voracious Fortunas after their day of 
 toil. Even under a torrid sky the white man can dig his 
 black brother under, but he makes up for it by an onslaught 
 on meat and vegetables, on coffee, marmalade, and pudding, 
 that is truly terrific. Kirk was inclined to view with mis- 
 giving this frightful inroad on their provisions, but Von 
 
 330 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Zedtwitz declared with his deep laugh, that it would lighten 
 the ship for the gold to come; and Westbrook affirmed the 
 old truth that the human engine responds in proportion 
 to its fuel. 
 
 " Feed them up now even if it means short rations after- 
 wards," he said. " To stint the boys now would be fatal." 
 
 And the " boys " not stinted gobbled up whole bar- 
 rels of salt pork and beef, whole cases of marmalade, jam, 
 and honey, immense crocks of butter, mountains of new-made 
 bread; rough, homely fare, but good for muscle, for en- 
 durance, for prolonged and heavy labor under the fiercest 
 sun that ever shone; with tobacco always following, of 
 course old-fashioned niggerhead as black as the ace of 
 spades no molasses here, but all leaf solid, hydraulically 
 compressed to the hardness of stone, the very anthracite of 
 the weed, one charge of which would keep a pipe going for 
 hours. Good days not to be recalled in after years with- 
 out a pang of sentiment for the honest fellows who had 
 shared them. 
 
 The track crept up and up. The ten-mile post was 
 planted the twenty-mile post the thirty. The excitement 
 grew fast and furious as the end loomed near. One night 
 but one car returned ; the other was in Cassaquiari ! Yes, in 
 Cassaquiari, its crew camping beside it, and eager for the 
 honor of bringing down the first load of treasure! The 
 news sent the ship wild with delight. Cheers rose on cheers. 
 Bearded men hugged one another, and capered on the deck 
 like children. Pistols were fired in the air. Everybody 
 yelled himself hoarse as though in duty bound to make all 
 the noise possible. Tin cans were beaten; pots, barrels. 
 One brazen-lunged individual got hold of the speaking 
 trumpet and, in deafening tones, demanded cheers for West- 
 brook, for Kirk, for Mrs. Hitchcock, for Zeddy, till ex- 
 23 331 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 hausted nature could no longer respond to the ear-splitting 
 invitation. Ten minutes of pandemonium; of frantic, un- 
 controllable joy; of boisterous abandonment of all restraint. 
 Ten million dollars was theirs to divide on the capstan head. 
 Ten million dollars, hip, hip, hurrah! Everyone of them 
 was rich, rich for life, and in a few short days they would 
 all be homeward bound ! No wonder they cheered and yelled 
 and danced till the forecastle shook. The prize was gained ! 
 It lay over there in the darkness, guarded by their trusty 
 mates. It was as good as already aboard. Ten million 
 dollars, by George! Ten million dollars! And nothing 
 to do now but to bring it down and stow it, and then 
 bear away home, with every stitch drawing alow and 
 aloft! 
 
 At daybreak Crawshaw, Von Zedtwitz, and Henderson 
 got away, inaugurating a regular schedule that it was in- 
 tended to maintain till the last ingot was under hatches. 
 At four bells of the morning watch the other car appeared 
 in sight, swiftly darting over the prairie, three men on the 
 seat, five more clinging as best they could to the long narrow 
 deck behind. Honking furiously, the car drew up under 
 the Fortuna, and as the newcomers sprang up the gangway 
 they were received with outbursts no less loud and jubilant 
 than had welcomed Crawshaw the night before. But the 
 excitement was suddenly hushed to a breathless suspense as 
 Goltz, at the head of his little party, marched aft, clicked 
 heels, and saluted Kirk with German punctilio. 
 
 " Have the honor to report our arrival on board, cap- 
 tain." 
 
 " Very good, Mr. Goltz." 
 
 " Was too overloaded with men to bring down more 
 than forty bars, sir." 
 
 "Where are they?" 
 
 332 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Alongside, sir." 
 
 "Mr. Wicks?" 
 
 "Sir!" 
 
 " You have rigged a block and tackle to the fore- 
 yard?" 
 
 " It's all in shape, sir." 
 
 " Then hoist in the stuff, and stow it in the lazarette." 
 
 " Very good, captain." 
 
 A few moments later, as the first batch of ingots dangled 
 in the air, there rose shout upon shout that swelled to thun- 
 der, followed by a rush to see and actually touch the won- 
 derful prize that at last was within their grasp. The sling 
 was opened on the deck, disclosing forty small, dark, flattish 
 bars, uniform in size, and deeply pitted with the corrosion 
 of time and damp and mold. A centipede scurried out of 
 the heap, and was forthwith trampled on. There was a 
 minute of tumultuous exclamations, of crowding in, of rub- 
 bing the dirty metal with wet fingers, of horseplay and 
 boisterousness. Then routine asserted itself. 
 
 " Stand back, there! Stand back! " 
 
 "Mr. Wicks?" 
 
 "Sir!" 
 
 " The officer of the deck will tally off the loads as 
 they come, and will make a note of the bars in duplicate. 
 One he is to keep; the other he will file with Mr. West- 
 brook." 
 
 " I understand, captain." 
 
 " You, too, Mr. Goltz, will follow the same instruc- 
 tions." 
 
 " Quite so, sir." 
 
 " There will be no deviation from this system on any 
 account." 
 
 " Very good, sir." 
 
 333 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Afterwards we'll shift enough cabin stores for'rard to 
 trim ship." 
 "Ay, ay!" 
 
 Westbrook, at the lazarette door, saw the treasure safely 
 deposited within its dim interior. All but one bar, which he 
 retained and carried to the table, laying it carefully on a 
 towel to prevent it smirching the cloth. The afterguard 
 silently and intently watched him file a small surface clean, 
 and drop a few globules of acid on the glittering place. 
 
 " It's gold, all right," he murmured. " Yes, it's un- 
 mistakably gold." 
 
 Then he heaped a little mass of filings on a watch glass. 
 
 " I will assay these," he continued, looking up. " I sus- 
 pect silver, and perhaps a little lead. The color is a bit light 
 you can all see that, gentlemen too light for absolute 
 purity. But I hazard the opinion that it will work out to 
 about nineteen carats fine." 
 
 334 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 'OR the succeeding period everything was sub- 
 ordinated to the task of bringing down the 
 treasure. Each car was able to make two 
 round trips daily, covering a distance of a 
 hundred and twenty-odd miles, and averag- 
 ing a thousand pounds to a load. Crawshaw, Henderson, 
 Goltz, and Weaver were the chauffeurs one on, one off 
 each when on duty accompanied by a helper drawn in turn 
 from the crew, who vied with one another for the oppor- 
 tunity. Goltz and Weaver owed this honor to their knowl- 
 edge of cars, each having behind him a wild and spendthrift 
 past, in which their respective motors had been the most 
 innocent of their extravagances Weaver, twice winner of 
 the Oaks, once of the Derby, and for an hour the most 
 courted little man in England and Von der Goltz, the 
 dashing Uhlan, who had flung two fortunes to the wind 
 inside a year, and had been broken for an escapade that was 
 the nine-days wonder of Berlin. 
 
 How Kirk envied these four their skill, as day after day 
 they came and went, while he himself was condemned to a 
 grinding inaction. It was unbearable to watch the great, 
 gaunt cars leave the ship, and blithely fly across the prairie 
 in exhilarating freedom ; more bitter still to see them return, 
 dusty, panting, sluggish with gold, the grimy pair on the 
 racing seat fresh from wonders he was never to be allowed 
 to behold. Vera was as chagrined as he, and hotly declaimed 
 against her father's restriction. It was absurd. There was 
 
 335 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 not the faintest risk. They were being sacrificed to a whim 
 singled out, alone of all the ship, for what was tanta- 
 mount to punishment. 
 
 Their indignation was increased by the fact that West- 
 brook, in spite of all he had said, himself went up twice, 
 and returned with the most glowing account of his ex- 
 periences. His assumption that he was immune from danger, 
 while they would be sure to attract the thunderbolts was 
 made the subject of a fierce and unanswerable argument. 
 But the old man was inflexible. Vera should not go. 
 Neither should Kirk. Beauty might storm and clench her 
 little fists and half cry with vexation, but it was no, always 
 no. The climax was reached when Mrs. Hitchcock, au- 
 daciously ignoring Westbrook's prohibition, choo-chooed off 
 with Goltz, and spent a rapturous day in the mountains. 
 This was the last straw. It was unendurable that the old 
 lady should achieve this while they remained fettered. For 
 nearly seven weeks, remember, the pair had been confined 
 to the narrow deck of the Fortuna, wistfully eyeing the hills, 
 and longing as only prisoners can long for freedom. The 
 exacting old man would not allow them to stray from the 
 ship, nor even walk up and down beside it. To defy him, 
 in his nervous and highly worked-up condition, would have 
 been to cause a scene from which they both shrank. 
 But 
 
 The conspiracy dated from Mrs. Hitchcock's return. 
 It was hatched that very evening after Westbrook had turned 
 in. There was no lack of confederates. The sympathy 
 of the whole ship was with Kirk and Vera in their enforced 
 imprisonment aboard. If they were to see Cassaquiari at 
 all, time had to be taken by the forelock, as there was already 
 nearly twenty-four thousand pounds' weight of treasure 
 stacked, tier upon tier, in the depths of the lazarette. The 
 
 336 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 afterguard entered whole heartedly into the plan of screening 
 Kirk's and Vera's absence from Mr. Westbrook. The pair 
 were to get away secretly with Crawshaw after the midday 
 meal the best time, it was judged, for undetected flight 
 and the others were pledged to distract the old man, and 
 allay, on his part, any possible suspicions of the truth. 
 
 Indeed, his whole afternoon was mapped out for him in 
 advance: chess with Von Zedtwitz developing photographs 
 with Phillips a descent into the hold with Wicks for a 
 rough stock-taking of the provisions. It seemed a stroke of 
 luck that this last-named matter had been fretting West- 
 brook for some little time. It was but another example of 
 his increasing fidgetiness, since Kirk had trained Hildebrand 
 into an exact system of bookkeeping, by which an account 
 was kept of every pound used, and the store list nightly 
 posted like a ledger. But at this juncture the proposed ex- 
 amination, so long opposed as unnecessary, now appeared 
 most fortunate. 
 
 Luncheon was just over. The afterguard, under an 
 awning, and with both quarters of the ship screened from the 
 glare without, sat drinking their black coffee on deck, and 
 lazily smoking and talking. Westbrook was deep in a game 
 of chess with Von Zedtwitz. Phillips, his long thin legs 
 curled up, half lay in a hammock, humming contentedly to 
 himself, and occasionally reaching out a hand to feel for his 
 cup. Mrs. Hitchcock, her bonnet awry and her eyes dan- 
 cing with mischief, was pretending to tell Wicks's fortune 
 by his hand. The air was somnolent with heat. The drone 
 of a concertina was wafted from the forecastle. Under the 
 lee of the galley, his bread marshaled and about to rise, 
 Hildebrand was sleeping the sleep of the just, and snoring 
 melodiously. A profound peace had settled on the ship. 
 The moment for flight had come. 
 
 332 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Kirk slipped away first. As Vera, a minute later, rose 
 quietly to follow, her father fixed her with his gaze. It was 
 so formidable that she faltered and stood still. But ab- 
 sorbed in his game it was questionable if he had even seen 
 her. It was a stare of preoccupation, blind and introspective. 
 
 " Check king," he said. 
 
 She waited till the doctor moved, and then, as her father 
 again bent his head to the board, frowning thoughtfully and 
 tugging at his mustache, she mustered up all her courage 
 and walked away. 
 
 Kirk was waiting for her a dozen steps down the gang- 
 way. Below him were Crawshaw and Henderson beside 
 the car, looking up expectantly, and smiling from ear to ear. 
 Vera was hurriedly assisted into the seat beside the former. 
 Kirk clambered up behind. Henderson turned over the en- 
 gine, and jumped in beside him. There was a grinding sound 
 of gears, a leap forward, and they were off. 
 
 They sped over the plain like an arrow. The air beat 
 deliciously against their faces and roared loudly past their 
 ears. The powerful car, vibrating with an untamed vigor, 
 flung itself forward with an impetuosity that brought the 
 heart to the mouth. At times, intoxicated with motion, 
 Crawshaw opened the throttle and seemed to shoot them into 
 space easing down again in sudden terror for his springs. 
 Behind him, holding on for dear life, Kirk snatched fleeting 
 glimpses of the Fortuna, and watched her diminish in their 
 wake. There was no sign of animation on board of her. 
 All was lifeless and still. Her slanting masts quivered in 
 the heat, and her long awnings drooped over the recumbent 
 figures below. Westbrook had not detected their escape. 
 
 But as he looked back he could not resist a certain un- 
 easiness as to his own conduct in the matter. He almost 
 regretted that he had not faced up to Westbrook and boldly 
 
 338 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 demanded as a right that which he was now taking by sub- 
 terfuge. But such a course, successful as it was sure to be, 
 would have been at the sacrifice of Vera. And after all 
 her longing to see Cassaquiari was not a whit behind his own. 
 He was not the first man who had paltered with his con- 
 science and put his honor in jeopardy to please the woman 
 he loved. Not that he put the blame on her God forbid 
 but he had a sudden, piercing realization that they were 
 doing wrong, and might have to pay too bitter a penalty for 
 their escapade. 
 
 He tried to nerve himself to stop Crawshaw. He felt 
 a singular tremor of alarm to see the ship dwindling so fast 
 behind him. The immensity and loneliness of the scene scared 
 him with a sense of an evaded responsibility. What was he 
 doing? What was he risking? Good Heavens! his rash 
 project verged on the disloyal, the dishonorable. But shame 
 the thought of Vera's disappointment a sort of embar- 
 rassment at showing indecision before his subordinates all 
 withheld the order on his lips. Well, he was in for it now. 
 It was too late to draw back. And 
 
 All qualms vanished in the exhilaration of the ride. 
 Crawshaw handled the car superbly and knew the track 
 like the palm of his hand. Just as one's toes crinkled with 
 the expectation of landing the next instant in eternity, the 
 brakes would squeal, the chassis would seem to bulge up in 
 the middle, and presto, they were past the obstruction and 
 again flying like the wind. 
 
 Little by little the gradients increased; turns multiplied; 
 the backward view showed how swiftly they were mounting. 
 The Fortuna was lost altogether. A scrubby vegetation ap- 
 peared ; an occasional cactus ; a clump of bluish aloes. The 
 fifteen-mile post whizzed by. 
 
 "Halfway!" ejaculated Crawshaw, sizzling round a 
 339 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 precipice that hardly allowed them a foot to the good. It 
 was hair-raising to have him talk when he ought to have 
 concentrated all his attention on his steering. But he would 
 insist on exhaling information in abrupt sentences, turning 
 his head to make sure that Kirk heard him. " This was all 
 blasted, captain. See that rock? Dislodged from up there 
 and came down like an express train! This was the hard- 
 est bridge of all. Yes, my idea to build it out and strut it 
 from beneath. Oh, it's solid, don't worry! Wait till you 
 see it from up there, and it'll make you dizzy, though! I 
 was let down on a rope, Miss Westbrook. Yes, swinging 
 in the air with a mallet and cold chisel. Well, somebody 
 had to do it, you know." 
 
 And all the while, at a pace that hardly ever relaxed, 
 they twisted and turned on their upward way. Before long 
 they met Weaver and Haines, who, in the second car, had 
 been waiting for them at a sort of siding. The engineer ex- 
 plained that this was the regular point for the cars to pass, 
 thus insuring to each a clear road in either direction. Here 
 there was a short parley to take the newcomers into the 
 secret. They were to be sure and keep their mouths shut 
 about seeing Kirk and Miss Westbrook. The ex-jockey 
 grinned indulgently. He was a perky little man with a puck- 
 ered, fox-terrier expression, and an appearance of withered 
 youthfulness. 
 
 " I don't blyme you," he said, in his chipped Cockneyese. 
 " It's a plyce to see, and no mistyke about it. It's like hav- 
 ing the British Museum set out in the grass, and the first 
 time I was up I felt like arsking for a check for my um- 
 brella! " 
 
 Haines gave a little shiver. 
 
 " Anybody may have it for me, captain," he exclaimed. 
 " Gad, a fellow's all the time turning his head like a Zulu 
 
 340 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 was going to jump out at him with an assegai, and as for 
 this gold business, it's about as gay as passing coal on the 
 orlop deck." 
 
 " There's human nature for you," said Crawshaw con- 
 temptuously, as the two cars parted with a mutual honk- 
 honk of farewell. ' Weaver, he has to have his cheap little 
 joke and make game of the place with his umbrella and all 
 that the sort of chap who would snigger in heaven and 
 talk about the clouds being damp to sit on and Haines is 
 growling because the gold is too heavy, and making it out a 
 grievance that we have so much of it ! Has it ever occurred 
 to you, Miss Westbrook, how little poetry or noble feeling 
 there is in the average man ? " 
 
 With a roguish glance at Kirk, Vera expressed her pleas- 
 ure in Crawshaw's implied superiority. 
 
 " I can't tell you how I love all this," he went on simply. 
 " I try not to let it become common to me. It's so easy to 
 get used to things the familiarity that breeds contempt, 
 you know. It makes me glad that you are to see Cassaquiari, 
 too, and be a part of the wonderful memory of it. What 
 a picture you will make in all that grayness and oldness and 
 silence, so young and charming in " 
 
 It was a sad come-down to be poked in the back and told 
 to keep his eyes on the road. 
 
 " You will sentimentalize us over the edge if you aren't 
 careful," cried Kirk. " One thing at a time, old fellow." 
 
 " And a little slower on the curves, if you wouldn't 
 mind, Mr. Crawshaw," pleaded Vera. 
 
 The man of sentiment looked hurt and relapsed into tac- 
 iturnity. It is hard to be a poet, embryo, or otherwise. The 
 bourgeois mind is always so nervous for its skin, and is ca- 
 pable of shutting up Shakespeare rather than take chances on 
 a cliff. They had run a good many miles before the engineer 
 
 341 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 recovered his usual buoyancy and good humor, and began to 
 expatiate enthusiastically about a place they were nearing. 
 
 " We call it the lookout," he said, " though the Inca's 
 Chair is also one of our names for it. From there we can 
 look straight down to the Fortuna, and open out a big part 
 of the road we have been coming over. If it isn't the finest 
 view you ever saw, I'd like to hear the name of any that 
 can beat it ! " 
 
 They were soon able to judge for themselves, emerging 
 from the shadow of rocks and trees, to attain, with delight- 
 ful unexpectedness, the high, bare shoulder of the moun- 
 tain. Here there opened before them an unimpeded view of 
 the hills and valleys that separated them from the Fortuna, 
 which, far below on the carpet of the plain, lay like a toy 
 at their feet. Crawshaw stopped the engine and allowed 
 them to gaze without interruption at the panorama unrolled 
 before them. The little party drew together, as though in 
 the desolation and immensity of the scene they felt an in- 
 stinctive need of close human companionship. Kirk, before 
 in his life, had stood on higher altitudes and looked down 
 on scenes no less spacious and noble; but these had been in 
 countries where other men lived, where a roof, a terrace, 
 or some sinuous line of rails had softened the wild and un- 
 tamed face of nature. Here, however, in the untrodden sol- 
 itudes of a continent, the spirit had no such solace. A vast 
 loneliness oppressed him, a profound and daunting peace, a 
 crushing sense of abandonment. 
 
 For the first time he appreciated and understood how 
 Westbrook, more imaginative than himself, perhaps than any 
 of them, had allowed a not unreasonable fear to devour him. 
 For a moment he quailed himself, and his hand on Vera's 
 turned cold. Thoughtlessness, he reflected, is the commonest 
 masquerade of courage. Yes, he had been thoughtless; he 
 
 342 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 had not before realized the precariousness of their situation ; 
 hundreds of miles of scorched and waterless desert divided 
 them from all help; the smallest disaster to the Fortuna 
 might easily cost them all their lives. He had a vision of 
 bones bleaching in the sun; of sand drifting over skulls and 
 skeletons; of a fate as mysterious and unknown to the living 
 world beyond as that of Ross or La Perouse. 
 
 He exerted himself to throw off this somber humor, and 
 so far succeeded that he was soon laughing and talking in 
 complete forgetfulness of his obsession. He made fun of 
 Henderson's patched trousers; had a gay altercation with 
 Crawshaw as to the difference between troy and avoirdu- 
 pois weights; and with many a little jest and home thrust, 
 too trivial to be repeated, reasserted a nature that could not 
 long remain clouded. They got on board the car again and, 
 in the best of spirits, proceeded on their way. 
 
 " Only three miles more," said Crawshaw. " I say, Miss 
 Westbrook, if you'll lean over a bit you can get a peep at 
 the Arc de Triomphe. We call it that just to give it a name, 
 you know. Can't make it out ? There, follow my finger ! " 
 
 Kirk followed the finger, too. 
 
 Both he and Vera cried out with a simultaneous exclama- 
 tion. 
 
 Rising buttresslike against the sky was a mighty arch, 
 the first outpost of the dead city beyond. 
 
 343 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 URMURS of astonishment rose to their lips 
 as the great arch loomed into closer view. 
 Colossal and solitary, fantastically carved 
 with hieroglyphs whose meaning had been lost 
 for hundreds, possibly thousands of years, it 
 towered toward the sky, mysterious, savage, awe-inspiring. To 
 the left was a building of vast extent, and of the same 
 crumbling, grayish stone, its proportions undiscernible and 
 lost in the jungle that everywhere hemmed it in; that broke 
 through massive walls ; that with snakelike roots pried enor- 
 mous blocks of masonry asunder, and toppled giant pillars 
 off their pediments. One hardly knew whether more to 
 wonder at the persistency of the attack, or the enduring 
 obstinacy of the defense. The latter was the weaker no 
 doubt, but those stupendous frontages of stone were des- 
 tined to resist for many a century yet to come, and by sheer 
 immensity defy the inroads of all-destroying nature. 
 
 Above them could be seen a richly carved fagade, its bold 
 and primitive design of a singular beauty, ennobled as it was 
 by the hugeness of its size, and the inordinate amount of 
 labor that had been lavished on its execution. The eye caught 
 glimpses of interminable galleries, pillared and ghostly; of 
 terracelike projections tottering crazily in the azure; of shat- 
 tered, undistinguishable masses of stone, tumbled headlong 
 into debris. There were other buildings frowning down at 
 them, as enormous, as crumbling, as weird as the one they 
 skirted. These, too, teased the imagination with what was 
 
 344 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 left unseen. There seemed no ordered arrangement at all 
 no coherency. They rose as capriciously as rocks from the 
 sea, fortlike and grim, in a wild confusion of ruin, but 
 always with the tantalizing suggestion that much was with- 
 held, was hidden; that further mysteries lay beyond; that 
 the most wonderful of all was awaiting to be discovered. 
 On a distant hill stood a pyramid, flatter than any Egyptian, 
 and with a roadway spirally creeping around its sides. The 
 feet tingled to mount it, to stand on the top. One longed 
 to plant a flag there and leave a letter in a bottle. It was 
 surprising to hear Crawshaw say that none had reached it, 
 though many had tried. They had no time for that sort of 
 thing. It would take a day at least, so dense was the jungle, 
 so frightful the thorns and lianas. No time, though it was 
 hardly more than a mile away. 
 
 Vera and Kirk had talked of " seeing " Cassaquiari ! See 
 it, indeed! Why, to do that one would need an army of 
 laborers machetes, dynamite, ladders, a permanent camp, 
 and months of time. Von Zedtwitz, perhaps, in the years 
 of his captivity, had got some comprehension of the place in 
 his head. But even he must have groped like a man in the 
 dark. In no more than a few hours what could one do ex- 
 cept gaze at several of the fagades, peer into some cavernous 
 interiors, trail through the dense undergrowth on a search 
 for fresh wonders, with the possibility of getting lost beyond 
 all finding. 
 
 As the automobile impudently broke the quiet, its exhaust 
 echoing with startling distinctness and shivering the stagnant 
 air with an incongruous modernity, Kirk perceived he had 
 come on an impossible errand. He would carry away with 
 him no more than a blurred memory of gloom, grandeur, 
 and decay ; a haunting recollection of cliff-like f agades, mossy, 
 bulging, grotesquely carved, staring down at him over in- 
 
 345 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 tervening jungle; and an undying regret to have to content 
 himself with so little, and be obliged to turn back on the 
 very threshold. 
 
 Guiding the car with a sure, deft hand, Crawshaw drove 
 it forward with the nonchalant air of one who knew every 
 inch of the road. Adroitly picking his way round mounds 
 of tumbled masonry, dipping into gullies, and opening his 
 throttle on the rise, shaving with a fine eye trees and stumps 
 and rocks, he at length reached the entrance of the building, 
 rumbled through its damp and tunnel-like interior, and with 
 much winding and turning, picked a diagonal path across 
 the courtyard beyond, to the arches of a gray and devastated 
 wing. 
 
 Here, as they came to a stop, were seen some mean evi- 
 dences of the invasion. A twentieth-century litter lay scat- 
 tered on a stone floor whose slabs had been hewn and set, as 
 like as not, some centuries before our Saviour's birth: picks 
 and axes, an array of smoky lanterns, coils of line and rope, 
 a can of kerosene, some broken packages of dynamite, sulphur 
 matches, an old overcoat, a tin basin, towel and cake of soap, 
 a smeary drum of cylinder oil stoppered with a small funnel, 
 dirty gunny sacks, a bucket of water. Crawshaw and Hen- 
 derson jumped down, and without waste of time, and as 
 though following an invariable routine began to light some 
 of the lanterns, shaking them to see if they were full. 
 
 " Of course you will want to come down with me, cap- 
 tain," said Crawshaw, picking up a sack, and eyeing Vera 
 doubtfully. " But if it is too much for Miss Westbrook to 
 attempt we'll leave Henderson behind to stay with her." 
 
 "Oh, I don't want to be left out!" cried Vera. "I 
 wouldn't miss it for anything ! " 
 
 The engineer demurred. 
 
 " I don't think you ought to do it," he said. 
 346 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " And them bats " put in Henderson, not unwilling to 
 pile up the terrors. 
 
 The girl screwed up her courage. 
 
 " I'm not afraid of b-bats," she protested. " They 
 don't do anything to you, do they? Bite or ? " 
 
 " Only flop," said Crawshaw reassuringly. 
 
 " Flop, that's all," said Kirk. 
 
 " Just flop," explained Henderson. 
 
 " Well, let them flop," exclaimed Vera bravely, " and if 
 they s-stick to me, you'll pull them off quick, won't you, Kirk, 
 dear?" 
 
 " Indeed, I will." 
 
 " But they don't stick," said Crawshaw. 
 
 " Never heard of them sticking," added Henderson. 
 
 " Mayn't I have a sack ? " inquired Kirk. " No reason 
 why I shouldn't bear a hand, too, is there? Don't make 
 company of me, boys! " 
 
 " All right, take that one, captain." 
 
 " And I, too ! " cried Vera, her eyes dancing with pleas- 
 ure. "Sacks of treasure just think of it! Crammed full 
 of bars of gold like a person in a melodrama! Oh, Kirk, 
 isn't it wonderful? " 
 
 " Banks will seem tame after this," he replied gayly. 
 " You don't have to be identified here, and you draw what 
 you can carry! " 
 
 Now that Cassaquiari was no longer a name, but an 
 astonishing and fascinating fact, and the full perception of 
 their extraordinary good fortune came home to him, he was 
 hardly able to contain himself. He seized the lantern Craw- 
 shaw had given him, threw the sack over one shoulder, and 
 impatiently demanded to be led on. 
 
 They proceeded in single file, Crawshaw leading, Hen- 
 derson and Kirk in the center, Vera last entering a dim cor- 
 23 347 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ridor whose twilight gradually turned to darkness as they 
 advanced. Behind them, through the jagged aperture Von 
 Zedtwitz had discovered and broken open so many years 
 before, the streaming sunlight diminished to a speck of fire. 
 The lanterns, at first so feeble, grew steadily brighter. The 
 pin point of day vanished as the gallery turned, narrowed, and 
 sank deeper into the rocky depths. The footfalls of the little 
 party reverberated with a hollow, mournful sound, giving 
 the sense of hundreds softly marching before and after them 
 in an unending tramp. 
 
 The air was peculiarly lifeless, as though scant of oxygen 
 and contaminated with poisonous exhalations. It was hard 
 to resist the conviction that the vaulted roof might at any 
 moment give way either to crush them beneath untold tons 
 of rock, or, falling behind them, block their exit forever. 
 That this dread was not altogether chimerical was proved 
 by several places where they had to crawl on their hands 
 and knees over masses of fallen rubble, or squeeze past dis- 
 lodged bowlders, leaving between them and their retreat 
 obstacles that in retrospect grew increasingly formidable and 
 terrifying, as though door after door had closed behind them, 
 and the bolts drawn on a living tomb. 
 
 The gallery ended in a lofty chamber of vague and un- 
 known extent. The upraised hand touched nothing, and 
 the voice reechoed with richer vibrations. Crawshaw warned 
 them to walk carefully, and led them to a sort of square well 
 in the center. Here some steps descended into a void of 
 impenetrable blackness narrow, slimy, stone steps, not two 
 feet across, on one side hugging the wall, on the other un- 
 protected by rope or railing. Kirk peered into the gloom 
 over Crawshaw's shoulder. The little engineer started 
 briskly to descend, but was suddenly arrested by an iron grip 
 on his arm. 
 
 348 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " For Heaven's sake, hold on a minute! " cried Kirk. " I 
 want to know where this thing stops." 
 
 " At the bottom," returned Crawshaw, grinning at his 
 own repartee, and enjoying the captain's undiluted alarm. 
 
 " Great Scott, and where's that? " 
 
 " Stay here and I'll show you," he said. " It reaches 
 what we call the main level about forty feet below. I'll 
 light you from down there, and Henderson from the top, 
 and then you can see your way without trouble." 
 
 Man and lantern descended into the abyss. At the foot 
 there was a wild flurry of bats, and a vision of flapping 
 black wings, ribbed and skinny, flung hither and thither by 
 the swirl of the engineer's lantern. Its light danced over 
 the cavernous entrances of more underground passages, and 
 was reflected in pools of water that partly concealed the 
 floor. The thought of following cost Kirk a shudder. Vera, 
 too, was clinging to him as though she had reached the limits 
 of her courage, and was on the point of giving way to un- 
 controllable fear. It was Henderson, more than Kirk, who 
 rescued her from a shameful panic. 
 
 " Don't tak' on, young leddy," he said with kindly con- 
 cern. " It's always the way with those new to it to balk 
 here, and wish to gie back as fast as may be. It's but a 
 passing qualm, and ye ought to know we've all felt it, even 
 them that's now so bold and venturesome." 
 
 His voice itself was as reassuring as the words he ut- 
 tered. There was not a shade of nervousness in that broad 
 drawl. Merely a sympathetic matter-of-factness that was 
 infinitely encouraging. 
 
 " Aren't you coming? " cried Crawshaw from the depths. 
 
 " Do you dare ? " whispered Kirk. 
 
 Vera assented tremblingly. 
 
 " If you like we'll " 
 
 349 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " No, no, Kirk ; only hold my hand tight, won't you ? " 
 He went in front of her and cautiously guided her down 
 the treacherous steps. Henderson, hanging over the edge 
 above, slowly swung his lantern to and fro. At the foot was 
 Crawshaw holding up his. The descent was safely made, 
 and they found themselves in an atmosphere of penetrating 
 cold and damp. An unwholesome moisture bedewed the 
 walls, and, oozing from a myriad pores, trickled to the floor 
 where it gathered in dismal pools. The blackness seemed to 
 grow more profound, more intense, and the glimmering lan- 
 terns were shrouded in an inky pall that closed on them like 
 something tangible. Their feet splashed in unseen water 
 and stumbled over obstructions that disconcertingly blocked 
 their way. It was a nightmare of slime and wet and dark- 
 ness; of groping and falling; of sudden starts and terrors. 
 All sense of direction was lost. They mounted. They 
 descended. It was a labyrinth without end or beginning. 
 At times the rocky ceiling almost touched their heads; at 
 others their outstretched hands closed on air, and it was as 
 though they were passing through the vast aisles of a sub- 
 terranean cathedral. Crawshaw would have stopped to eluci- 
 date these mysteries, and perkily show them some of the 
 hidden wonders, but they urged him on with a vehemence 
 that sprang from desperation. His willingness to strike 
 aside, to abandon what was apparently the main thorough- 
 fare, for radiating catacombs, to lose them still further in 
 the horrible maze, froze their blood. The little man was 
 proud of his knowledge, and insistent to put it at their dis- 
 posal. He stepped out as surely as though the sun were 
 shining overhead, and his eyes actually saw the things he 
 described. But Kirk and Vera could not be tempted. They 
 never put foot in the famous arsenal, where in serried thou- 
 sands the primitive arms were said to be ranged. They 
 
 350 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 turned deaf ears likewise to his wish to detain them in the 
 store chambers, and explore their musty recesses. They never 
 tasted the ancient honey, nor shivered, with the pressure of 
 a ringer, those chests that fell to dust at the merest breath. 
 
 Kirk was on fire to finish with the whole adventure. He 
 bitterly took himself to task for ever having led his sweet- 
 heart into it. He was oppressed by the darkness, the chok- 
 ing air, the hideous possibilities of disaster. His heart beat 
 quickly and his brain was in a whirl of apprehension. What 
 would happen if the oil gave out? If Crawshaw were to 
 lose his way, and suddenly confess with horror he knew not 
 how to extricate them? What if they were left, without 
 light or food or water, to face a lingering and dreadful 
 death in those underground caverns? He tried to put these 
 thoughts from him, to affect the tourist-like interest Craw- 
 shaw seemed to demand, but it was in vain. He could do 
 neither. His one consuming desire was for the free air of 
 heaven. 
 
 At length they stopped. 
 
 " Here we are! " cried the engineer, raising his lantern 
 to look at his watch. " How long do you suppose it has 
 taken us, captain ? " 
 
 Kirk hazarded an hour. Vera, on being pressed, faintly 
 guessed a half more. 
 
 Crawshaw burst out laughing. 
 
 " Seventeen minutes," he said. 
 
 Kirk, incredulous, confirmed the extraordinary fact with 
 his own timepiece. 
 
 " It's an illusion," went on Crawshaw. " It's hard to 
 account for. You are closer within the mark than most of 
 them. I've known them to say three hours." 
 
 Snapping his watch shut, and bidding them remain where 
 they were, he took a dozen steps from them, and bending 
 
 351 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 down, was seen to fumble with a small apparatus on a wooden 
 box. Then he struck a match and held it to what was 
 apparently an acetylene gas-burner. There was a tiny flicker, 
 a sound of escaping air, and two dancing specks of flame 
 swelled into one and suddenly rose in a little fan. The 
 effect was dazzling in the extreme to eyes grown accus- 
 tomed to obscurity. They found themselves standing in a 
 high and brilliantly illuminated chamber, some thirty feet 
 square and a dozen high, with every nook and cranny of it 
 bared to view. The first feeling of astonishment gave way 
 to unspeakable relief. The long-drawn tension snapped. 
 They could hardly take in what Crawshaw was saying. He 
 wished to have his improvised generator admired, his in- 
 genuity applauded ; they could see for themselves it consisted 
 of nothing more than an old meat can, with a seepage of 
 water through a core of unglazed earthenware. Buzz, 
 buzz carbide tubing pickle jar capillary attraction 
 and spectacles shining with naive self-satisfaction. 
 
 But there were more exciting things to exclaim over. On 
 one side, methodically stacked against the wall, was an array 
 of dark, moldy, familiar-looking bars, built up in a criss- 
 cross fashion sixteen inches or so above the floor. The in- 
 roads already made upon the treasure were apparent in the 
 moss and discoloration that rose, not unlike a sort of wain- 
 scoting, to a much greater height, clearly defining a recent 
 line of demarcation. But enough still remained, a fraction 
 though it was of the original hoard, to constitute a fortune 
 running into many hundreds of thousands. Crawshaw made 
 an offhand estimate of three quarters of a million dollars, 
 and lifting up one of the bars gloatingly caressed it. 
 
 " It doesn't take many of these to make a fellow happy," 
 he said, in ecstasy; and he rubbed the dirty metal against 
 his cheek, his lips, fondling it like a babe. 
 
 352 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Kirk and Vera, in fascinated silence, gazed at the ingots 
 that had lain thus lost and forgotten for incalculable years. 
 To touch them was as though to bridge the chasm of cen- 
 turies and close hands with the phantoms of the past. Even 
 in that far-off time gold had been the symbol of all that was 
 precious and desirable. Ease could be purchased with it 
 pretty women, luxury, power palaces and slaves. The for- 
 tunate were esteemed those who could find it, who could 
 take it, who could keep it. The ages had rolled over this 
 vanished people, and the mocking emblem for which they 
 had struggled, schemed, and fought alone survived them. 
 At what a cost of human misery it had doubtless been gath- 
 ered together! What countless backs, bleeding under the 
 lash, had won it of mother earth ! What wars, what crimes, 
 what tortures had not the amassing of it involved! Gold! 
 the immemorial curse, the immemorial incentive of all 
 human activity where can you find the least piece of it that 
 is not splashed with blood! 
 
 Crawshaw and Henderson loaded their bags. Kirk, in 
 a sort of maze, followed their example. It all made for him 
 an ineffaceable picture the sunken chamber; the ingots; the 
 white, intent faces ; Vera's slender figure so incongruous and 
 beautiful against the dank stone; the blinding fan of flame 
 fed from a tin can still bearing a Chicago label ineffaceable, 
 indeed, and destined to haunt his dreams for many a night 
 to come. 
 
 Crawshaw extinguished the gas, and as he did so the 
 scene vanished forever. The dull gleam of the lanterns 
 hardly more than sufficed to light their feet, and they were 
 again ingulfed in an all-pervading night. In single file, the 
 men bending under their sacks, they began to retrace their 
 way and follow out the tortuous passages through which 
 they had originally come. 
 
 353 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 It was as eerie a progress as the one before, as ghostly 
 and full of tremors. The rock seemed to crush them in 
 as though with an intolerable weight. They were entombed ; 
 the coffin lid was descending; they were suffocating in a 
 horrible, clammy darkness. Such at least, as nearly as can be 
 put into words, were the sensations that no amount of will- 
 power could altogether dispel. The best that resolution 
 could do was to keep them at bay, and coerce the shrinking 
 flesh with appeals to reason, to sanity. Courage only re- 
 turned as they mounted the side of the well, and found them- 
 selves on the upper level. Instantly their hearts lightened; 
 the air grew less oppressive ; the rays of their lanterns seemed 
 to penetrate a greater distance and bathe the party in an 
 increased effulgence. It became possible for the first time 
 to talk and laugh with unconcern, to throw aside all appre- 
 hensions, to regard the whole adventure as already finished. 
 
 Indeed it almost was. A few minutes more and they 
 might expect to see the crack of sunshine at the end of the 
 last tunnel. They redoubled their pace. It was good to 
 think of the daylight beyond, and of the fresh wonders await- 
 ing them. Crawshaw promised them a stay of two hours 
 more, and was himself to be their guide. They were to 
 climb to the very top of the building, exploring it as they 
 went, and then look down on the entire city. As yet they 
 had only seen a tithe of it had merely guessed at the num- 
 ber and vastness of its ruins. But he would give them a 
 bird's-eye view of the whole; he would lead them out on a 
 certain ledge if they had the daring to follow ; he would 
 
 His eager voice was silenced by a long, low rumble, so 
 faint, so mysterious, that it was impossible to detect from 
 what direction it came. 
 
 The little party halted instinctively and drew closer 
 together. 
 
 354 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " It's thunder," said Crawshaw, straining his ears. " Yes, 
 it's thunder! " 
 
 The rumbling died down. 
 
 They went on, slowly and uneasily, whispering con- 
 jectures. Perhaps it was a landslide. Or could one of the 
 galleries behind them have fallen in? 
 
 " Hush ! " cried Kirk suddenly. " There it goes again." 
 
 The rumbling recommenced, dully and fitfully. 
 
 " It's thunder," persisted the engineer, petulant with mis- 
 giving. 
 
 " Hardly likely on a day like this," said Henderson. 
 " Why, there wasn't a cloud in the sky." 
 
 "Well, it has to be thunder, for there is nothing else 
 it can be," exclaimed Crawshaw sharply. 
 
 " I am not so sure," put in Kirk. " I'm not sure at 
 all that it is thunder." 
 
 Then, raising his lantern, he looked the others squarely 
 in the face. 
 
 " Crawshaw," he cried, " those are the machine guns 
 of the Fortunal " 
 
 355 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 OR a moment they were too stunned to move. 
 Then flinging down their sacks they began 
 to run, urging one another to a frantic haste. 
 The reverberation of their feet on the stony 
 floor drowned all other sound. The consum- 
 ing thought was to reach the open air and verify Kirk's ter- 
 rible surmise. If it were the guns it meant that the ship 
 was beset and fighting for her life. It meant that their own 
 
 retreat was cut off. It meant 
 
 They redoubled their pace, encouraged by the sight of 
 the opening. The twilight made their lanterns no longer 
 necessary, and they dashed them aside to smoke and splinter 
 where they fell. Kirk loosened the revolver in his holster 
 and warned the others to do the same. They knew not 
 what they might find outside, and it was well to be ready 
 for the worst. As they darted into the open, and gathered, 
 panting and breathless, about the car, the boom of the dis- 
 tant guns broke with unmistakable meaning on their ears, 
 rolling and re-rolling with a harsh, furious splutter that 
 told of a desperate battle below. 
 
 No time was lost in taking counsel or making plans. 
 Crawshaw started up his engine and they were off in the 
 twinkling of an eye, with a headlong rush that tossed caution 
 to the winds; Vera beside the engineer; Kirk huddled on 
 the floor at her feet, his long forty-four glistening across 
 his knee; Henderson standing up behind, his tall figure 
 swaying with every lurch of the car, his face set and grim, 
 
 356 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 as he stared unblinkingly in front of him, overtopping 
 them all. 
 
 They shot down the track at a lightning pace, with a 
 grind of brakes at the turns, and skids that threatened to 
 pare the tires off the rims. Crawshaw handled her like a 
 racer, which meant he took his own life in his hands, and 
 forgot that the others had any to lose. But fast as he went 
 the straining hearts he bore wished for faster still, and 
 voices shouted to him madly to let her out. Every second 
 was unendurable that kept them from the lookout point. 
 To get there, and see what was taking place below, was the 
 one dominating thought. No speed was swift enough, and 
 in a delirium of recklessness they called for more, more, 
 more. 
 
 They tore like a whirlwind down the last stretch, and 
 ran out on the shoulder of the mountain as though to bound 
 over the precipice beyond. The brakes, set hard, failed to 
 bring the car to a standstill, and the metal screeched shrilly 
 as she glided, with barely checked momentum, toward the 
 yawning brink. Had not Crawshaw meshed his reverse in 
 the very nick of time they would have all plunged into 
 eternity. But they had no time to commend him, nor to 
 shudder at the narrowness of their escape. Their eyes were 
 fixed on the Fortuna far below, and her plight, now start- 
 lingly visible, engrossed their whole and undivided attention. 
 
 She was bearing away under full sail, hotly pursued on 
 either flank by black, seething masses of mounted savages. 
 Flame was spitting from her sides, and the air was rent by 
 sharp, low detonations that rose and fell irregularly like the 
 popping of distant crackers. The wind, though steady, was 
 far from strong. The horsemen easily kept pace with the 
 ship, and occasionally some even outran her, and attempted 
 to head her off as they might a wild bull. But the Fortuna 
 
 357 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 drove into them with resistless force, and her wheels jolted 
 over human bodies that failed to escape in time, or were 
 shot down from the foremast rigging as they turned to 
 fly. At first sight it seemed a most unequal contest, with 
 everything in favor of the whites. But the pertinacity 
 of the savages, their fanatical resolution, their enormous 
 numbers, unthinned and undismayed by that hail of death 
 all shook the confidence of the onlookers as to the ulti- 
 mate outcome, and conjured up a horrible premonition of 
 disaster. 
 
 These wolves of the llano, individually so harmless, with 
 nothing but bows and arrows, spears, and an occasional flint- 
 lock to oppose to smokeless powder and steel-tipped bullets, 
 were in the mass a most formidable enemy, and terrible to 
 withstand. They were capable of beating down all resistance 
 by sheer weight and intrepidity, even as the Dervishes so 
 nearly turned the day at Omdurman. As Kirk gazed down 
 at that tornado of battle, he was staggered to see how slight 
 an impression, after all, the Fortuna was able to make on the 
 dark sea encompassing her. Her guns mowed down wide 
 swaths of men and horses ; they fell as trimly as grass before 
 a scythe; but the shattered ranks refilled, the scythe cut 
 and cut apparently in vain; the swarming horde neither 
 slackened its pursuit, nor showed, in the aggregate, the 
 smallest lessening of numbers. 
 
 Had the breeze freshened, which, alas! it showed no 
 sign of doing, the tactics of the previous conflict might have 
 been repeated with terrific advantage. The ship might then 
 have been put about, and her vast bulk utilized to tear re- 
 peated pathways through her enemies and grind untold num- 
 bers beneath her wheels. But what wind there was hardly 
 sufficed to keep her moving at more than six or seven knots 
 an hour a speed prohibitive of all such tactics and thus 
 
 358 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 her most powerful weapon, her mobility, was unfortunately 
 unavailable. 
 
 But more alarming than anything was the unaccountable 
 confusion that seemed to reign on board of her. The firing 
 became fitful and unsteady. Several times she yawed wildly, 
 and narrowly escaped gybing. Tiny figures could be seen 
 slipping down the rigging seemingly abandoning their posts 
 in a panic. The machine guns stopped altogether, though 
 a persistent rifle fire could be plainly heard, and with it a 
 faint, muffled sound of undistinguishable import. Could it 
 be cheering? But the wake showed no signs of increased 
 slaughter. On the contrary the dribble of bodies nearly 
 ceased, and the melancholy ribbon of them, stretching far 
 across the plain, began to widen with great gaps significant 
 and ominous portent of an ebbing resistance. 
 
 Suddenly she wore ship, and the maneuver opened her 
 broadside to view. Then was learned the reason of her 
 apparent abandonment of the fight. Her forecastle was 
 black with men, and a hand-to-hand battle was taking place 
 on her forward deck. The savages had gained a foothold 
 on her bow, and were obstinately holding their own, while, 
 with ropes lowered over the side their numbers were con- 
 stantly reenforced from below. Figures could be seen strug- 
 gling frantically to clamber aboard; helping hands were 
 reached out to them; occasionally one would fall back into 
 the boiling, swirling mass from which he had arisen. It 
 was impossible to guess how the fight was going. Axes 
 sparkled in the sun as brawny arms swung them high ; rifles 
 cracked; pistols rained incessant bullets; bayonets stabbed 
 out murderously. But the savages seemed not to give an 
 inch, grappling with the whites like beasts, tearing at their 
 throats, wresting their weapons from them, dragging them 
 down to the blood-stained deck in frenzied efforts to strangle 
 
 359 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 or club them. About the foremast was the deadliest focus 
 of the battle; and the great stick towered like a standard, 
 under which the whites rallied and reformed their broken 
 ranks. On what a pandemonium of noise and horror it 
 looked down! On what convulsed faces, on what writhing, 
 trampled forms, on what a swaying, raging line of black 
 men and white, rolling furiously back and forth in a shambles 
 of blood! 
 
 The battle, like some wild sea squall, drove steadily to 
 leeward. The Fortuna dwindled into the immeasurable ex- 
 panse. The reverberations lessened; her decks grew indis- 
 tinct; the galloping savages shrank to a mere stain on the 
 red-brown earth. The issue was lost on the dark rim of 
 the horizon, from which nothing emerged but the upper 
 spars and the lofty kites still full of wind. Thus she melted 
 into the uttermost haze, a feather against the sky line, a 
 speck, the mystery of her fate still unknown as she passed 
 from sight, perhaps forever. 
 
 In the intensity of his preoccupation Kirk had completely 
 forgotten himself and the others with him. He awoke from 
 a sort of dream and, trembling in every limb, drew his 
 hand across a forehead wet with sweat. For a moment he 
 was absolutely unmanned. Vera had sunk to the ground 
 beside him, and her shoulders shook with an occasional sob- 
 bing breath that quavered like a child's. Crawshaw was 
 seated on the step of the automobile, staring into vacancy 
 with a look of unspeakable despair. Henderson lay on the 
 track, his face hidden by his arm, as though for him the 
 world had ended and he realized the helplessness of any 
 further effort. 
 
 Kirk put his arm about Vera and drew her up. He 
 pressed her close to him with a tragic pity. He kissed her 
 as he might on the edge of the grave with the tenderness 
 
 360 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 and poignancy of an eternal farewell. His warm lips seemed 
 to break the spell that benumbed her. She clung to him, 
 clasping her hands about his neck, and giving way to an un- 
 controllable emotion. His cheeks were wet with her tears ; her 
 slender, girlish body nestled against him, solaced by the sense 
 of his strength and courage and resolution and, as is the 
 way of woman calling them all into being by her very 
 faith in their existence. 
 
 Soothed and comforted she gradually recovered some de- 
 gree of composure; and though still deadly pale, and at 
 times quivering with violent tremors, she managed, with 
 the help of Kirk's supporting arm, to totter over to Craw- 
 shaw and take a seat beside him on the long step. The little 
 engineer made no movement, not even to turn his head. 
 
 "What's to be done?" asked Kirk, breaking the intol- 
 erable silence. 
 
 Receiving no reply, he repeated the question more 
 roughly. 
 
 " I don't know," returned Crawshaw in a listless tone. 
 " We're done for, I suppose. We'll never get out of this." 
 A despondent gesture of his hand confirmed the hopeless- 
 ness of his words. 
 
 Kirk next tried Henderson. He roused him from his 
 stupor of dejection and forced him to get up. 
 
 " Don't lie there like a log," he cried. " If this is the 
 end, meet it like a man." 
 
 Henderson, risen to his feet, glowered stupidly at him. 
 A dull anger animated his coarse, common face. 
 
 " What do you want to bother me for? " he demanded. 
 " Mayn't a chap have a little time to himself before blow- 
 ing his brains out? " 
 
 " Come along and talk things over," said Kirk, ignoring 
 his surly manner. " We're all in the same box, aren't we? 
 
 361 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 There's no use giving up before we have to. Keep your 
 darned brains for a better purpose." 
 
 Henderson laughed mirthlessly. He was a tall, spare, 
 reddish creature of a harsh geniality, who was ordinarily 
 rated one of their best and stanchest men. A bit of a 
 philosopher and satirist, much given to jeering comments on 
 things in general, and shrewd home thrusts that made their 
 victims wince. But always cool, always resourceful, always 
 the first to volunteer for anything disagreeable or dangerous. 
 To have him falter now was to Kirk like a blow in the 
 back. His heart grew heavier than ever as he accompanied 
 him back to Vera and Crawshaw. Together they made a 
 forlorn little group about the car. 
 
 " Now see here, everybody," began Kirk; " I want you 
 all to listen to me and listen hard. We can't go back to 
 Cassaquiari that's plain. No food, no hope, no anything. 
 We certainly can't stay here, waiting like ninnies for angels 
 to descend and help us. I've been in lots of tight places 
 in my life and not an angel ever showed up. Well, what's 
 left? Why, to go ahead to take the gamble to chance 
 the savages and chance picking up the ship." 
 
 " They've got her by this time," said Henderson. 
 
 " How do you know that ? " 
 
 " It's a thousand to one, anyhow." 
 
 "Then you don't know. How can you possibly know? 
 The last we saw of her she was still under control. There 
 was still a white man at that wheel, Henderson. How long 
 could she have laid a course if our fellows had been bested ? 
 Not a minute, by George. The masts would have been out 
 of her before you could say Jack Robinson." 
 
 " And what when the wind falls at sundown? " 
 
 " She may have fought herself clear by that time." 
 
 " Or not." 
 
 362 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Yes or not. That's one of the chances we have to 
 take. We have to go on the supposition that she has pulled 
 through. Admit that she has, for argument isn't it our 
 policy to reach her ? " 
 
 " But we may never pick her up at all," said the engineer, 
 putting in a word for the first time. " We've no compass, 
 no means of letting them know our predicament, no cer- 
 tainty of even following her in the right direction. What's 
 to prevent us getting stuck out there in the middle of no- 
 where?" 
 
 " No worse than this, old fellow." 
 
 Crawshaw shuddered. 
 
 " It's something to die in peace," he said. " There are 
 no Indians here. It's awful to think of being murdered." 
 He half whispered the last word. 
 
 " No great difference in the long run," returned Kirk 
 stoutly. " There will be fewer Indians I'll answer for 
 that. How are we off for cartridges ? " 
 
 There ensued a grim counting. 
 
 Seventy-seven. No, seventy-nine. Crawshaw had an 
 extra two in his trousers' pocket. 
 
 A pitiful supply. 
 
 " These are as good as a thousand," said Henderson, 
 poking the little heap with a stubby finger. " I take it, the 
 captain's idea ain't to fight it's to get through somehow 
 and if we hammer off the exhaust pipes the noise will be 
 worth more to us than any pistol-popping." 
 
 " A good suggestion," cried Kirk. " We can make a 
 frightful racket by stripping off the hood and letting the 
 cylinders exhaust into the open air." 
 
 " And an increased efficiency," exclaimed Crawshaw, 
 awakening to technical interest. " At least fourteen per 
 cent." 
 
 24 363 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 He jumped up as though to set about the task. 
 
 " Oh, not yet ! " protested Kirk in alarm. " We don't 
 want to start off shooting like a cannon. We don't want 
 to attract any more attention than can be avoided. There 
 may be no savages at all, remember; or at such a distance 
 that we may slip through without detection." 
 
 " But the hood can come off directly," said Henderson 
 with eagerness; "and then it will only take a few taps to 
 do the rest when the time comes." 
 
 What a Godsend it was to do something! It is inaction 
 that kills. The task of breaking off the hinges made a wel- 
 come diversion. Crawshaw fumbled in his tool chest and 
 handed out tools with a matter-of-fact air as though he drew 
 confidence from their very touch. Henderson, the would-be 
 suicide of five minutes before, briskly seized the hammer and 
 cold chisel and neatly parted the brass. The two covers 
 were flung away, revealing below the compact and power- 
 ful engine. 
 
 " Be sure it ain't the intakes you smash," he said, gazing 
 into the greasy depths and trying the connections with his 
 pliers. His practiced eyes took in the pump, the magnets, 
 the carburetor, the push rods bathed in oil. All tri- 
 umphantly passed his inspection. Then he took a look at the 
 tires, and gave each one a friendly kick. 
 
 " The auld limmer's ready if you are," he said, smiling 
 at Kirk. " It won't be her fault if we don't make it." 
 
 For a while Kirk stood silent, unable to utter the com- 
 mand to start. The unknown loomed before him, pregnant 
 with terrible possibilities. He paused on the threshold, 
 less from indecision than to pull himself together and steel 
 his nerves for the worst that might befall. Crawshaw's 
 wail returned to him with tempting significance " To die 
 in peace ! To die in peace ! " Ah ! in contrast to the horrors 
 
 364 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 awaiting them below was it not better, after all, to submit 
 to the inevitable, and choose the easier way? To choose 
 their death, instead of having to accept it in some horrible 
 and agonizing form, amid shrieks and powder smoke and 
 raining arrows and thrusting spears? The cowardly flesh 
 would have it that Crawshaw was right. The soul within 
 said No, and again No; a brave man rights to the last, and 
 then falls if he must, with unconquered intrepidity. 
 
 Vera's eyes, so brilliant, so wild, so insatiably fixed on 
 his own, pierced him with indescribable pangs. Her beauty, 
 her youth, her grace and delicacy never seemed to him so 
 precious as at that moment, when, with a breaking heart, 
 he mutely took farewell of her. A tear trickled down his 
 sunburnt cheek. He brushed it away hastily. It angered 
 him to feel his self-control so nearly gone. 
 
 " Boys," he said in a husky voice, " it's time to be off! " 
 The engine, at the throw of the switch, began to explode 
 and roar. Kirk hastily changed places with Vera, making 
 her crouch at his feet while he took her former and more 
 dangerous seat beside Crawshaw. The ponderous car leaped 
 back, leaped forward, and with a sharp turn of the wheel 
 and a clang of gears, sped swiftly down the incline. 
 
 365 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 EVOLVER in hand, Kirk and Henderson 
 each watched the road in front of them like 
 hawks, and, at every turn of its twisting 
 course, drew a breath of relief to find it still 
 unbarred and still uncontested. It was so 
 narrow in places that a single good-sized bowlder could have 
 held them prisoners, while from above a shower of rocks 
 might easily have been dislodged to destroy them. As they 
 skirted crags and precipices they would keep looking above 
 in involuntary terror, lest with crashing fury some unseen 
 enemy might let fly at them with this primitive artillery. But 
 nothing disturbed their downward passage, and the deep 
 silence was unbroken save by the drone of their coils and 
 the sound of their panting engine, echoing and reechoing 
 through the rocky gorges. 
 
 Their courage rose. Their fingers tightened on their 
 weapons with a surer grip. They began to feel a certain 
 exhilaration in their own hardihood and daring. Man and 
 the white man most of all is, indeed, a fighting animal, and 
 once his first tremors are overcome he draws a long breath 
 and is good till he drops. No wonder a general talks of 
 seasoned troops, of the baptism of fire, of the Old Guard. 
 He wants men who have got that second wind, and 
 esteems one of them at tenfold the value of the raw re- 
 cruit. Kirk grew conscious of the change in himself. He 
 seemed to see it, too, in the visage of the gaunt Scotch- 
 man; in little Crawshaw, bent over the wheel, with lips 
 
 366 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 compressing at every jolt, and a new light shining through 
 his spectacles. 
 
 Mile after mile rolled away behind them, and still they 
 were unchallenged. No dark faces peered down at them, 
 no arrows flew from the ambuscades on either hand. They 
 had the solitude to themselves, and seemed to share it with 
 no other living creature. They were ingulfed in a vast lone- 
 liness, which was but intensified by the measured beat of 
 the motor and the rhythmic purring of the chains. 
 
 Of a sudden, shooting around a curve, they were elec- 
 trified by the sight of the other car. It was headed obliquely 
 toward them, its nose was rammed into the hillside, where, 
 its engine racing furiously, the overheated radiator was 
 boiling out torrents of water and steam. The seat was 
 empty, but over the dash, in a limp and dreadful attitude, 
 there hung the ghastly apparition of a man. 
 
 They jumped out and ran to him. The face, as they 
 raised it and looked into the staring, sightless eyes, was that 
 of Weaver, the jockey. His neck had been pierced by a 
 spear; blood was oozing from a dozen other wounds, dis- 
 coloring his shabby khaki suit with great splotches of crim- 
 son; one hand still clutched an arrow he had torn from his 
 living flesh. They gazed at the corpse with awe, gripping 
 their revolvers and asking one another, in hushed voices, 
 the reason of his errand. Had he been coming to warn 
 them ? Had his life been sacrificed to a futile heroism ? Or 
 had he borne a message from the ship of peremptory and 
 vital importance? 
 
 A closer inspection gave the answer. 
 
 At his feet there was a rough package of sailcloth, which, 
 when pulled out and opened on the ground, showed them 
 for what he had died to bring. Here, tumbled together, were 
 biscuits and cartridges, some cans of preserved meat, a demi- 
 
 367. 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 John of water, and four rifles snatched, as one might 
 a life belt, to throw to a drowning man. This bundle 
 had cost poor Weaver his heart's blood. His had been 
 the thought, his had been the devotion, and now, as it 
 were from his dead hands, they reverently received his 
 charge. 
 
 Presumably with a dying effort, he had disengaged the 
 clutch, and pushed both spark and throttle into the last notch, 
 with a view of daunting his pursuers by the ensuing uproar. 
 But whether this had been done either by design or acci- 
 dent, there was little doubt as to its effect. The sixty-horse 
 engine, reverberating with unchecked and terrific velocity, 
 had been left to rack itself to pieces, and to stem, with ear- 
 splitting menace, the final rush of the savages on their prey. 
 Its own destruction was the price of those few minutes, at 
 most not more than an hour, that had filled the tragic in- 
 terval. 
 
 The rifles service Mausers with side clips were hastily 
 loaded; the floor of the car was scattered over with boxes 
 of cartridges; the provisions and demijohn repacked in their 
 original wrapping and carefully stowed in the locker beneath 
 the seat. All this was done in a fever of haste with a con- 
 suming eagerness and impatience the thunder of both en- 
 gines seeming to urge them on with a thrilling reminder 
 that every moment was precious. Crawshaw jumped up 
 beside Weaver's body and, pushing it to one side, backed 
 the car to the edge of the ravine. Then descending, all 
 three men laid hold of the wheels, and with a united effort 
 tumbled it over. It crashed down the steep incline like an 
 avalanche, no one looking to see where it finally landed, 
 nor caring. It was enough that the road was clear, and they 
 were free to proceed. 
 
 One of Crawshaw's hands was wet and gummy. He 
 
 368 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 turned sick as he looked at it, and wiped it furtively on his 
 trousers. 
 
 The momentary delay brought flame to Kirk's eyes, and 
 he cried to him savagely to speed her up. 
 
 "Don't keep us sticking here!" he yelled. "Hurry! 
 Hurry!" 
 
 Crawshaw obeyed, and the engine hummed as he ad- 
 vanced the spark to a twenty-mile clip. The track was too 
 rough to bear more, for they were now on the lower levels 
 where often for considerable lengths the ground was un- 
 touched by either pick or shovel. Jolting and bumping on 
 their doubling springs, they held on their way with fierce 
 vigilance, their rifle barrels covering every rock and bush 
 that enfiladed them. It would almost have relieved the in- 
 tolerable tension had an enemy, indeed, sprung up to attack 
 them. There was something peculiarly trying in the sense 
 of unseen foes surrounding them, of unseen hands bending 
 back venomous bows, of unseen eyes measuring distances and 
 aiming at the heart. If the mind attempted to reassure itself 
 there flitted before it the grisly figure of Weaver, spectral 
 and bloody, the arrow in his dead grasp. Those that had 
 done for him could not be far afield. The wilderness seemed 
 peopled with lurking phantoms, murderous and silent, peep- 
 ing out from a thousand lairs. 
 
 The country grew more open as, with lessening billows, 
 it gradually attained the plain. Rocks and bushes disap- 
 peared and with them the gnawing apprehensions of which 
 they had been the cause. No ambuscade was possible on the 
 sun-baked earth unbroken by even a blade of grass. Here 
 there could be no concealment, no sudden burst of arrows, 
 no lightninglike spear, shot quiveringly home from behind 
 a clump of gorse. What enemy there might be had to show 
 himself a mile or more away. The rifle, in cool hands, was 
 
 369 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 now a hundred times more formidable than it had been. 
 With its long reach it could laugh at the puny arrows 
 brought against it. Though numbers would still tell, of 
 course; the Fortunas desperate and undecided battle had 
 shown that; but it was good to think that it was no longer 
 in the power of the savages to surprise them, and that before 
 succumbing, they could, if need be, sell their lives most 
 dearly. 
 
 At length they drew near the familiar place where for 
 so many weeks the Fortuna had stood, immovable and tower- 
 ing, like a ship becalmed on a glassy sea. They slowed down 
 and gazed, with a sort of disconcerted wonder and a strange 
 feeling of homelessness, at the spot they remembered so well. 
 All about them was the disordered litter of their camp 
 empty melancholy drums of gasoline; bottles; stacks of tin 
 cans; some piles of firewood; a tarpaulin, freshly painted 
 and pegged out to dry ; tools still lying where they had been 
 dropped ; the pit for the automobiles ; spades, picks, mattocks, 
 and crowbars rusting in a heap; and those inevitable scraps 
 of paper, fluttering in the wind, that everywhere seem to 
 accompany civilized man on his wanderings and mark his 
 deserted resting-places. 
 
 'Beyond, they passed the first body, the forerunner of 
 those fallen hundreds that were to guide them so many 
 gruesome miles across the llano. He had been caught beneath 
 one of the Fortunas wheels, and lay crushed and hideous, 
 his outstretched hands clawing the earth as though in a 
 despairing effort to draw himself away. Near him was a 
 horse weltering in blood; and a dozen yards farther on 
 were more naked and prostrate forms huddled thickly to- 
 gether as though the same volley had brought them down. 
 And so it continued, with a horrible monotony, a horrible 
 sameness, till the attention grew callous and the flesh no 
 
 370 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 longer shuddered nor sickened at horror upon horror. Oc- 
 casionally a head lifted itself and snarled at them. Figures 
 were passed, with matted hair and dark gleaming eyes, 
 crouching and nodding in a dismal shambles; others could 
 be seen writhing, crawling, convulsively struggling to extri- 
 cate themselves from the heaped-up dead that smothered 
 them. From one motionless tangle of men and horses a hand 
 moved, its fingers feebly opening and shutting on the empty 
 air. A shattered creature, an eyesore of blood and wretched- 
 ness, staggered toward them, gibbering like a maniac, but 
 whether in appeal or defiance or delirium it was impossible 
 to conjecture. They swerved to avoid him, and looking 
 back saw him stumble and fall, to rise no more. 
 
 There was a grim satisfaction in the havoc in the 
 thought of the diminished numbers to encounter, and of the 
 frightful punishment already inflicted. To the white man, 
 in his extremity, the dead Indian is always the best Indian. 
 The trail of corpses seemed to promise that the Fortuna 
 might yet save herself. Such a dire carnage could not have 
 been without its effect. With such evidences of a deadly 
 resistance it was impossible not to hope for the best. Surely 
 the men who had defended themselves thus valiantly would 
 not go down before that last onslaught they had witnessed 
 on her decks? Surely the savages must have been weak- 
 ened and the mass of them discouraged by so terrible a 
 slaughter? 
 
 There were horses everywhere, and for these, with whom 
 they had no quarrel and entertained no fear, their pity was 
 unbounded. How mournful were their whinnies, how sad 
 and pleading their eyes, too often glazing in death ! Tough, 
 thin, wiry little bronchos filched from the wild herds that 
 roamed at will over the prairie, a fine stock that had re- 
 verted to nature as thrifty as goats, as indomitable as 
 
 371 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Arabs, as tireless and spirited as their far-off sires in Anda- 
 lusia. The car, grinding on its second speed, startled many 
 into floundering and ineffectual attempts to rise. Others, 
 dragging themselves miserably on three legs, snorted, reared, 
 and tried to run, only to fall exhausted before they had 
 covered a dozen yards. One, instead of alarm, showed an 
 unmistakable pleasure in their approach, and cantered after 
 them, neighing and trumpeting. He was a dark chestnut 
 stallion, with every rib showing and his shrunken belly 
 streaming blood. For a few miles he managed to keep up 
 with them, and then, in spite of frantic exertions, he gradually 
 fell behind and disappeared. 
 
 The sun set in a wild and fiery splendor, the warning of 
 heavy weather soon to come. The wake of battle thinned 
 and at last abruptly ended. Before them stretched the plain, 
 as pathless, as illimitable as the sea. They stopped the car 
 and, getting out, put ear to the ground in the hope of some 
 guiding sound. But there was none, leaving them with no 
 alternative but to blunder forward and keep as straight a 
 course as they could the sun their compass till dusk and 
 then the starry firmament of the Cross. But where? To 
 what? The Fortuna lay somewhere in that aching void, but 
 how slender the chance of ever finding her; and if found, 
 might not their success be more terrible, more heartrending 
 than any failure? What if they came upon her, ghostly, 
 gray, and silent in the night, her decks a charnel house, her 
 crew sleeping their last sleep beside her guns? 
 
 They moistened their throats with a draught of the 
 warm vapid water. Eat they could not. They had neither 
 the time nor the inclination to eat. On, on, on that was 
 the impelling instinct. To put, if possible, their awful 
 doubts at rest; or, perhaps, God willing, to find the ship 
 all well and safe, and friendly hands outstretched to grasp 
 
 372 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 their own. They started again, their spirits descending with 
 the sun, the long shadows darkening their souls within. 
 Cramped with long sitting, worn out by devastating emo- 
 tions; body and brain alike spent, dejected, and despairing, 
 they resumed, with gloomy acquiescence, their racking, toil- 
 some way. 
 
 The twilight deepened into dusk. The Cross glimmered 
 in the southern sky. Moving, always moving, yet they 
 seemed to make no progress, the dome above, the flat below, 
 and they themselves remaining in the very center of an un- 
 shifting world. They swept the pitiless horizon in vain 
 for the least break for the faintest gossamer of spars and 
 rigging that somewhere or other lay beyond in the infinite 
 solitude. 'But nothing rewarded their straining sight. They 
 were alone on an ocean. 
 
 The engine began to splutter and gasp. It took no 
 expert to tell that something was seriously wrong with it. 
 The car slowed down. It stopped. Crawshaw made no re- 
 ply to the anxious questions addressed to him. He ran 
 behind, bent down, and then reappeared with a face haggard 
 with bad news. 
 
 " Tank's dry," he explained curtly. " Been leaking for 
 miles. The old wagon has run her last yard ! " 
 
 He leaned both elbows on the dash and looked up at 
 them. The action was articulate of hopelessness, of apathy, 
 of there being nothing left. 
 
 "Run her last yard!" 
 
 They were castaways, indeed. 
 
 The radiator was boiling sullenly. The smell of roast- 
 ing metal and hot oil was wafted back to them. It was 
 hard to realize that their willing giant had given up the 
 struggle and was now no more than an inert mass of steel. 
 They regarded the massive steering knuckles and the huge 
 
 373 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 tires with an exasperated dismay. A leak! What an intol- 
 erable, what a crushing misfortune! 
 
 Kirk was the first to put a good face on the matter 
 the crudest and hardest duty of leadership. 
 
 " I don't know that we need cry about it," he said. 
 " Perhaps we are as well off here as anywhere. The ship 
 is sure to beat back for us to-morrow." 
 
 "If anybody is alive to do it," muttered Henderson in 
 sinister agreement. 
 
 " We're going on that idea," exclaimed Kirk angrily. 
 " If she's gone well, so are we and all the gasoline in the 
 world wouldn't help us ! " 
 
 Crawshaw nodded. 
 
 " Captain's right," he said, pulling out his pipe and 
 lighting it. " That is, if the rest of those beggars aren't too 
 close to us." (Puff, puff.) " If they are " (puff, puff), " we 
 are in a nasty place " (puff, puff), " and no doubt about it." 
 (Puff, puff.) 
 
 Kirk and Henderson followed his example. For sev- 
 eral minutes the talk ran back and forth on the same sub- 
 ject the risk of going on, were such a thing possible; the 
 risk of staying, which now had to be accepted as unavoidable 
 and the likelihood or not of the ship picking them up. It 
 was determined to demolish the deck of the car and keep a 
 small fire burning all next day. Here was another peril, 
 but what other means did they have of signaling their 
 position? A column of smoke would carry twenty miles at 
 least, and though the savages might see it, so might also 
 the ship. 
 
 It was Vera's voice that thrilled on their ears with a 
 startling interruption. 
 
 " Hush ! " she exclaimed. " I am sure I heard some- 
 thing." 
 
 374 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 There was an instant silence. 
 
 "Over there," she whispered. "Listen!" 
 
 From the gathering shades there came the faint and 
 measured tramp of innumerable feet, the sound of horses' 
 hoofs, the clank of metal, and an undistinguishable humming 
 as of a marching host, drawing nearer and ever nearer. 
 
 They sprang to their rifles and waited, with thickly 
 beating hearts, for what was to befall. Cock, cock, cock, 
 back went the triggers. Death was approaching with muffled 
 tread. Teeth clenched and muscles tightened. It was the 
 end at last. 
 
 From out of the night there rose a dark line of men 
 and horses, the foremost ranks of a dim and straggling army 
 behind. The course of the savages was not directly toward 
 the car, but rather as though to pass it within a distance of 
 twenty yards. The breathless little party waited for it to 
 swerve and face about; waited for the yell of exultation 
 that should discover them; waited for the terrific onslaught 
 that would roll up to the very muzzles of their weapons and 
 carry everything before it. 
 
 But to their stupefaction there was no sign of turning. 
 The long and plodding band held on its way in silence. 
 Impassive faces regarded them. A hand was pointed that 
 was all. 
 
 It was only by degrees they penetrated the mystery and 
 understood the reason of that grim, slow and stumbling 
 progress through the dusk. There was hardly a man there 
 who was not wounded, hardly a horse that could more than 
 move out of a walk. This was why those naked figures 
 swayed in their saddles, supported by the upraised arms of 
 others trudging on foot beside them ; why, from every stirrup, 
 some wretched, limping creature held himself from dropping 
 and clung with the tenacity of despair to what for him meant 
 
 375 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 life itself. It was the shattered remnants of the horde that 
 so few hours before had pressed the ship so hard. Spent and 
 broken, maimed, bleeding, and hardly able to drag one foot 
 after another, they passed in slow procession and silently 
 disappeared into the darkness. 
 
 376 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 T was some time before anyone spoke. In 
 spite of the witness of their eyes they could 
 not at once shake off an instinctive feeling of 
 apprehension. Their rifles followed their 
 vanished enemy, and they waited breathlessly 
 for some act of treachery or guile. It was only as the shuf- 
 fling footfalls died entirely away that they were able to 
 comprehend the full extent of their good fortune. Not alone 
 immunity from attack ; that, incredible and surprising though 
 it was, seemed as nothing compared to the assurance of the 
 Fortunas safety. For surely that was what was implied? 
 How otherwise could they explain the forlorn and spectral 
 retreat of those dejected hundreds? The ship had tri- 
 umphed ! The heroic handful on board of her had contrived 
 to save the day, and with supreme exertions had wrested a 
 complete and crushing victory. 
 
 They shook hands on it with the fervor of men reprieved 
 at the foot of the gallows. " She's safe, she's safe ! " they 
 repeated in an ecstasy of delight. They laughed uproariously 
 in a revulsion that verged on delirium. Rescue was close 
 at hand. A few hours, that was all a few hours, and 
 then ! By George, what a shave it had been! Their 
 lives had hung by a hair. And everyone of them had been 
 stanch. Everyone of them might be proud of himself. 
 None had flinched nor faltered. Die hard, that had been 
 the order, and they would have done it, too, and the last 
 man alive would have shot the young lady through the heart I 
 
 377 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 Henderson bragged incoherently of the Anglo-Saxon blood. 
 There wasn't a Dutchman nor a frog eater fit to tie their 
 shoes. He wandered off, with enthusiastic inconsequence, 
 to the combined British and American fleets sweeping the 
 world. He called for this international event to begin forth- 
 with, maudlin with relief and excitement. Crawshaw was 
 scarcely any better, nor Kirk nor Vera. All were intoxicated 
 with a joy that mounted to their heads like wine. 
 
 Before they could get back to earth, and while they were 
 still in the throes of a feverish and almost agonizing elation, 
 their attention was suddenly held spellbound by a flash of 
 light. It shot into the sky before them, a thin, brilliant shaft 
 like that of a far-distant beacon, and moved restlessly to 
 and fro as though scouring the heavens with a tongue of 
 flame. It was the ship calling to her children across the 
 night! It was the Fortuna, questioning the blackness with 
 her vivid searchlight, seeking news and sending it! 
 
 Ah, with what a shout they greeted her, as though no 
 thirty miles lay between, as though the spacious prairie had 
 shrunk to as many yards! Crawshaw was the first to re- 
 cover himself. With trembling fingers he loosened one of 
 the lamps from its bracket, and putting a match to the gas, 
 placed it back at such an angle that ray answered ray, and 
 the two met and crossed each other in the sky above. If 
 good news came, good news also went, and deeply anxious 
 hearts comforted one another in mute communion. 
 
 The first thought was to abandon everything and push 
 forward at any cost. To throw aside guns and food, and 
 defying exhaustion, distance, and danger, reach the ship as 
 fast as their weary limbs could bear them. But on maturer 
 consideration the risk seemed too great, and the chance of 
 success too uncertain. They were utterly worn out and in 
 no condition for a tramp of twenty, thirty, perhaps forty 
 
 378 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 miles. The prospect of sinking on the way, with nothing 
 to sustain them, and no means of making their position 
 known, was too desperate to be hazarded. Here was food, 
 water, weapons, ammunition in abundance; planks with 
 which to make a fire and raise a pillar of smoke when the 
 sun would put out their lamp; here ease and certainty, with 
 nothing to do but wait, with what patience they might, till 
 the ship beat back for them. It was a hard conclusion to 
 come to. The natural craving was for action; to do and 
 to dare; to fling all caution to the winds. The Fortunas 
 light beckoned to them with an almost unendurable insistence, 
 bidding them to hurry, bidding them to come, restlessly de- 
 manding why they hesitated. 
 
 They settled themselves on the ground as comfortably 
 as they could. Three pipes in a row and four heads, the 
 last, with silken cheek and lustrous eyes, snuggled cozily 
 against Kirk's blue shirt and murmuring musically in under- 
 tones; a sleepy head, so small, so shapely, so glad to lie 
 on that pillowing breast, the glossy hair all tumbled, the 
 slim hands imprisoned so contentedly in a warm and tender 
 grasp. The terrible day was over, with all its shuddering 
 horrors. The good old ship, so long given up for lost, was 
 winking and blinking at them with dazzling encouragement. 
 Ah, how good was life, how good was love, how exquisite 
 the thankfulness that welled from overflowing hearts! 
 
 Winking and blinking, indeed. Why was it never still ? 
 What could explain those incessant alternations, so regular, 
 so irregular, so baffling and capricious? Kirk, much tanta- 
 lized, was roused to time the periods with his watch. The 
 short flashes averaged three seconds apart, the blanks ten. 
 He grew immensely excited. 
 
 " Crawshaw," he cried, "they're signaling us!" 
 
 " Of course they are," returned the little engineer in- 
 25 379 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 differently. " I've noticed it all along, only as we haven't 
 the key I thought it would be too disappointing to tell you." 
 
 " You don't know the Morse code? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Nor you, Henderson ? " 
 
 " The dot and dash wig-wag business? No, captain." 
 
 " Who on board the ship does know it? " 
 
 " I can't think of anybody but Mr. Westbrook," said 
 Crawshaw. " It would be just like him, at least, to have 
 it poked away in his head somewhere. There's nothing in 
 applied electricity that he hasn't mastered at one time or 
 another." 
 
 Kirk cried out delightedly. 
 
 " Then he's unhurt ! Vera, your father must be safe ! 
 That's what he is telling us this minute! " 
 
 His words were confirmed by a chorus of enthusiastic 
 agreement. The old man's welfare was most dear to them 
 all. Kirk's deduction was heartily acclaimed. The Morse 
 code, however unintelligible in detail, had yet contrived to 
 pierce the night with one precious bit of news. 
 
 All at once Kirk called for pencil and paper. 
 
 " I've an idea," he exclaimed breathlessly. His voice 
 was vibrant, almost harsh. The others, thrilling with aston- 
 ishment, hurriedly sought their pockets. Henderson had a 
 stub of a pencil. Kirk snatched it from his hand. 
 
 " Paper, paper! " he demanded in an agony of impatience. 
 
 There was no paper; not a scrap anywhere. Hands 
 fumbled and searched in vain. Henderson volunteered to 
 soak off one of the meat labels. 
 
 " Can't wait for that," snapped Kirk. " Good Heav- 
 ens, I must have it, and have it quick! Look again, boys! 
 Look, look!" 
 
 " Would sandpaper do ? " asked Crawshaw doubtfully. 
 
 380 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Yes splendidly!" 
 
 Crawshaw ran to the tool box and got a couple of sheets. 
 
 " And bring one of the lamps," cried Kirk after him. 
 " One of the kerosene lamps." 
 
 The contagion of his excitement had seized them all. 
 They, too, were in a tremble of expectancy and wonder. 
 They watched him take one of the sheets of sandpaper, turn 
 it over, spread it flat on his knee and, lighted by the lamp 
 Crawshaw held beside him, scribble, scribble, scribble as 
 though his life depended on it. Then he stopped, handed the 
 second sheet to Vera together with the pencil, and asked 
 her, with the same mysterious intensity of voice and expres- 
 sion, to write down the numbers he would give her. 
 
 Retaining the first sheet, and mumbling to himself as 
 he slowly counted the flashes, he at intervals called out the 
 following numbers: 
 
 " Nineteen, one, six, five, blank. One, eighteen, five, 
 blank. Twenty-five, fifteen, twenty-one, blank. Nineteen, 
 one, six, five, blank." 
 
 " Now let's see what we've got," he went on, scanning 
 his key. "What was your first number?" 
 
 " Nineteen." 
 
 " S go on." 
 
 " One." 
 
 " A go on." 
 
 " Six." 
 
 " F go on." 
 
 " Five." 
 
 "E that's right!" 
 
 " Blank." 
 
 S-a-f-e safel" 
 
 There was a tumultuous outcry at his ingenuity. 
 
 "No Morse code about it!" he explained rapturously, 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 as they pressed about him. " Just the old alphabet, numbered 
 regularly down the line. A, one ; b, two ; and so on ! Trans- 
 parently simple and obvious. Here, don't bother me. Shut 
 up, Henderson. A little lower with the glim, Crawshaw. 
 What are the next numbers, Vera?" 
 
 " One, eighteen, five." 
 
 "A-r-e are. 
 
 " Twenty-five, fifteen, twenty-one." 
 
 "Y-o-u you. Yes?" 
 
 " Nineteen, one, six, five." 
 
 S-a-f-e safe." 
 
 "Any more?" 
 
 " No, Kirk." 
 
 He read over the four words. 
 
 " Safe are you safe? " 
 
 There was no time to waste in further congratulations. 
 The pressing need was to answer the ship, and so systematize 
 their work that it should be as little cumbersome as pos- 
 sible. The engineer, with a chamois skin that had been 
 used for straining gasoline, was appointed signaler; Vera 
 timer; Henderson, recorder; Kirk, sender and decipherer. 
 By this division the laboriousness of the task was lessened, 
 and though it was impossible to make it anything but tedious 
 and slow, the results were surer, and much confusion 
 eliminated. 
 
 " Twenty-five, five, nineteen," answered Kirk. " Yes." 
 
 The following messages are copied verbatim from 
 Henderson's sheet. It was preserved as among the most 
 highly prized relics of the expedition. The writing is coarse 
 and blurred and very difficult to make out. The paper, 
 originally of a light fawn color, has turned to dirty gray, 
 and is so creased and broken that in some cases the words 
 have been guessed at. The ship's telegrams, if they may so 
 
 382 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 be called, are in each case marked by an X to distinguish 
 them from the others. 
 
 X " Is Vera safe? " 
 
 " Yes who asks? " 
 
 X " Westbrook give casualties" 
 
 " Weaver killed:' 
 
 X " Any wounded? " 
 
 " None." 
 
 X " Ship hard pressed escaped do you need help? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 X " In danger? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 X " Can you hold out till wind rises to-morrow? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 X " Will send relief instantly if required" 
 
 " Not required" 
 
 X " Have you food water? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 X " How can you mark your position? " 
 
 " You mean by daylight? " 
 
 X "Yes daylight." 
 
 " Will make fire to guide." 
 
 X " Very good we will find you" 
 
 " We ask news specially yourself." 
 
 X " Am unharmed phillips killed cohen dying emms 
 ford webster bruce killed." 
 
 " Convey to cohen wounded and all admiration of heroic 
 defense." 
 
 X " Will obey saying good night." 
 
 " Good night." 
 
 The signals ceased on either side, and soon after the ship's 
 light sank, flickered and went out. Their own, too, was 
 extinguished, and with it seemed to go the stars. The all- 
 
 383 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 encompassing darkness resumed its sway, sultry, brooding, 
 and heavy with a sense of impending disturbance. Not that 
 the little party gave these indications more than a passing 
 thought. There were other, and too engrossing matters, to 
 absorb their whole attention. In hushed voices they repeated 
 the roll of death; recalled this one and that; mourned for 
 them all, these comrades now no more. A passionate grat- 
 itude animated them, a passionate relief the inexpressible 
 sensations of a soldier who has emerged from the battle 
 unscathed. So happy, so wretched, tears and laughter equally 
 sincere, succeeding each other in a whirl of conflicting 
 emotions. 
 
 It was long after midnight before they began to nod. 
 Sleep came upon them so stealthily that no watch was set, 
 no precautions taken. The tired eyes closed. The tired 
 limbs relaxed. One Indian might have butchered them all. 
 
 Kirk awoke with warm raindrops pattering in his face. 
 The hoarse note of a squall broke on his ears. He sat up, and 
 even as he did so the heavens detonated with terrific ex- 
 plosions, and flash after flash of lightning lit the slumbering 
 figures about him. They were on their feet in an instant 
 and clustered about him; the rain descended in torrents and 
 the wind whistled and shrieked. Wet to the skin, clinging 
 to one another to withstand the violent gusts, apprehensive 
 every moment of being struck by the lightning that inces- 
 santly played about them, they waited in misery for the 
 squall to pass and vent its rage on the black night beyond. 
 
 But another followed it, and another. The wind fresh- 
 ened to a steady gale. The rain stung their faces as it drove 
 to leeward as though blown from cresting waves. The 
 fear of thunderbolts gave way; to stand longer in the blast 
 grew too acutely uncomfortable to be borne; they sheltered 
 themselves under the lee of the car, willingly accepting the 
 
 384 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 chances of its being struck, all crowding together on the 
 step like shipwrecked sailors on a rock. Here the dawning 
 day found them, the wind blowing harder than ever, the 
 tropic rain sopping their thin clothes, their feet ankle deep 
 in a muddy pond. 
 
 The weather horizon was wild and stormy and part of 
 it hidden by fiercely advancing curtains of rain. Ragged 
 clouds scudded across the sky, dilapidated, fragmentary, 
 lashed to fleecy shreds. Though under the equator the out- 
 look was as bleak and wintry as the North Sea itself, and 
 a penetrating chill froze the little party to the bone. It was 
 idle to talk of fire. Benumbed, cramped, hardly able to 
 move, they were in no state to tear the stout oak deck 
 asunder with the poor tools at their disposal. Nor would 
 it have burned if they had. Everything was soaked and 
 dripping. An attempt was made to obtain a little heat by 
 lighting the lamps, but the heads of the matches rubbed ofE 
 in sodden paste, and they dared not persevere lest their slen- 
 der stock should become exhausted. Even in their extremity 
 they had to take thought of the future of whole days per- 
 haps before the ship could find them of a possible worse 
 to come. 
 
 Famished nature demanded food. Two cans of meat 
 were opened and biscuit handed out; a terrible breakfast, 
 never to be forgotten, devoured under circumstances of in- 
 conceivable discomfort, but sustaining, nevertheless, and re- 
 viving a sorely needed strength and courage. Then, as the 
 only means left in their power to attract attention, they de- 
 cided to fire a rifle in the air at minute intervals. The 
 flash might be seen even if the report were lost in the roar 
 and bluster of the gale. 
 
 The dreary fusillade began, carefully timed by a watch 
 surely the most despondent minute guns ever fired, if not 
 
 385 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 the most hopeless. And as the barrel grew hot with repeated 
 explosions, hands were greedily warmed on it and another 
 rifle taken in its place. Kirk twice shot his revolver empty 
 and gave it, all smoking as it was, to Vera to put in her 
 bosom. There it lay, begriming the hidden beauty of her 
 breast, glowing deliciously in its satin nest. 
 
 Suddenly through the gloom of an on-coming squall, as 
 unexpected and startling as the fabled phantasm that haunts 
 the stormy seas below the Cape, there loomed into view the 
 towering masts and closely reefed sails of the Fortuna, driv- 
 ing mistily on the wings of the gale. Gesticulating figures 
 pointed wildly at them. The boatswain's whistle piped 
 shrilly. Men were rushing to their stations and letting 
 everything fly. The huge brakes screamed as steel was 
 ground to steel, and the enormous fabric slowed and stopped. 
 
 A ladder was thrown over her side. Bearded faces 
 could be seen, cheering and clustering, in a yellow, glistening 
 mass of oilskins and sou'westers. From the bridge others 
 were darting down, their voices lost in the bursting of the 
 squall which at this moment opened with all the roar of 
 heaven's artillery. Lightning flashed and forked. Thunder 
 pealed. The wind swelled to fury and howled through the 
 rigging as though to carry the very masts before it. 
 
 Kirk supported Vera in his arms and, preceded by Craw- 
 shaw and Henderson, the little party struggled against the 
 blast and toiled laboriously across the cable's length that 
 separated them from the ship. They painfully mounted the 
 ladder, their muddy feet slipping on its rungs, their icy 
 hands hardly able to hold the wet and slippery rope. One 
 by one they reached the rail and were drawn aboard, to be 
 swallowed up in a mad hurly-burly of streaming oilskins. 
 Kirk had a confused vision of Vera clinging to her father 
 of the old man's face, pinched with suffering, rapt and trem- 
 
 386 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 ulous with thanksgiving; of Von Zedtwitz forcing his burly 
 way to him, his eyes, beneath their grizzled brows, suffusing 
 with a noble emotion and wet with other moisture than 
 the rain; of Goltz, of Wicks, of Hildebrand, of all those 
 tried and devoted comrades, surging and vociferating about 
 him, as though they would tear him to pieces in the excess 
 of their joy. 
 
 As in a dream he found himself borne aft, jostled, 
 crowded, almost lifted off his feet. Found himself in the great 
 cabin warm, brightly lit, disordered with blankets and cots, 
 and reeking like a hospital. Wounded men called out to him. 
 Feeble hands were raised to clasp his own. It was bewilder- 
 ing, pitiful. He stood there dazed, unable to comprehend 
 the transformation. 
 
 Mrs. Hitchcock emerged from a cabin door with an arm- 
 ful of dripping clothes. She dropped them to the floor as 
 she beheld Kirk, running to him in a whirlwind of giggles 
 and exclamations. The incorrigible old egoist was as talk- 
 ative as ever and just as delighted to pounce on a new 
 victim. 
 
 She was the doctor now, she cried. Hee-hee, Kirk had 
 to obey her now. Everybody had to obey her now. He was 
 to go to bed at once and tuck himself in with a hot bottle. 
 He had to. He must. Everything was ready. Hee-hee, 
 first aid to the drowning! Hot blankets, hot bottles, hot 
 broth ! Hadn't it been sensible of her to see to it ? Hee-hee, 
 not such a fool as she looked! Hee-hee, the old woman who 
 lived in a shoe, with so many children. Oh, Vera was all 
 right! Oh, yes, she'd stake her oath on it! Couldn't have 
 lasted much longer, however. Hee-hee, would have died 
 probably and wouldn't it have been sad ! Hee-hee ! Though 
 she was getting used to people dying. Wasn't it awful? 
 Quite used to it! Collected locks of hair and mixed them 
 
 387 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 up. Didn't know whether it was Phillips's or Ford's, hee- 
 hee! Oh, it was sad the way Phillips cried! He didn't 
 want to die at all. Said as long as he held her hand he 
 held to life and she had to eat her meals with the other. 
 Couldn't bend her fingers back for an hour afterwards. 
 Hee-hee, how she'd tell them about it in Paris! Would 
 make them stare, wouldn't it I'Americaine who had smelled 
 gunpowder and fired a rifle like a man. Hee-hee, through 
 the deck! But Kirk wouldn't give her away, would he? 
 He wouldn't 
 
 Fortunately for Kirk this harangue ricochetted off him to 
 Crawshaw, who had foolishly blundered into the fire zone, 
 and in the momentary confusion that ensued he took to flight. 
 It was strange to find himself again in his little cabin, sur- 
 rounded by the familiar and homely objects of everyday life. 
 What an eternity seemed to have intervened since he had 
 last touched that brush, passed that comb through his hair, 
 shaved himself before that bit of mirror! Wonderful to 
 find his pyjamas still beneath his pillow, as though they had 
 never lost confidence in his return! Wonderful to throw 
 back the coverlet and to think of closing his eyes in serenity 
 and peace ! 
 
 His teeth were chattering as he stripped of? his clothes 
 and hurried into bed. He lay all doubled up for warmth, 
 and tried to overcome the chill that mantled him in ice. 
 There was a tap at the door and Westbrook entered bearing 
 a steaming bowl of soup. He sat down gravely on the edge 
 of the bunk and waited for Kirk to drink it, which the 
 latter did, sip by sip, each one a trickle of delicious fire. The 
 old man looked very frail and ill, but his mouth was as 
 firm as ever and his expression as benignly unconquerable. 
 As Kirk finished he leaned forward and their hands met and 
 clasped. 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " My boy, my boy," he murmured. " I thank God for 
 this I thank God!" 
 
 " We couldn't have stood it much longer, sir." 
 
 Westbrook bowed his head in tragic assent. 
 
 " We'll leave this horrible place as soon as you are 
 rested," he said at length. " When do you think you will 
 be fit to travel ? " 
 
 " This minute," cried Kirk. " That is, if Vera " 
 
 " She has borne it surprisingly well. It all turns on 
 you." 
 
 "On me?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then lay the ship on her course at once. It would be 
 a shame to waste such a gale as this when it is in our favor." 
 
 Westbrook pondered anxiously. 
 
 " We mustn't take any risk," he said. " I fancy you 
 wouldn't know yourself in a glass. It has told on you more 
 than you imagine." 
 
 Kirk laughed feebly. 
 
 "I'm all right," he exclaimed; "and I need no better 
 medicine than to be homeward bound." 
 
 Homeward bound, ah, the magic of those words! 
 
 "ThenlmaytellGoltz?" 
 
 " The sooner the better, sir." 
 
 " Wicks and he are waiting outside for your decision." 
 
 " Bless them though they aren't to carry away any 
 sticks. Tell them to go easy, sir." 
 
 " That foolish girl wants a message. Said I wasn't to 
 come back without it." 
 
 " Tell her I'm the happiest man in the world and the 
 tiredest." 
 
 " No doubt about either." 
 
 "And that that " 
 
 389 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 The weary head sank. The weary eyes closed. West- 
 brook gazed down at the handsome face long and earnestly. 
 A smile still lurked in the corners of the well-shaped mouth ; 
 the breathing was as soft and regular as a child's ; a veil of 
 contentment covered the careworn features now softened in 
 sleep. 
 
 The old man tiptoed silently from the room and held a 
 whispered colloquy with Goltz and Wicks outside. 
 
 A few minutes later the Fortuna> under storm trysail 
 and treble-reefed fore-topsails, was tearing her way through 
 the dark and flooded llano. Her great wheels shot up a 
 blinding spray; her great hull rocked and bounded on the 
 groaning springs; her masts bent as though the tortured 
 wood could not long hold back the weight of the gale. 
 Wicks, his thick legs wide apart, his hands clinched on the 
 rail, his speaking trumpet tight in the vice of his arm, dom- 
 inated the uproar from the lofty bridge, and with masterful 
 eye and rousing voice sped the ship on her perilous course. 
 
 Gloom in front. Gloom behind. Dreary, watery 
 stretches of sodden earth. Dripping ropes and thundering 
 sails. A world of wet and wind and emptiness, through 
 which the Fortuna lumbered in headlong flight, jolting, 
 bumping, lurching, discordantly creaking from every rivet 
 of her fabric. 
 
 Homeward bound! 
 
 390 
 
CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 gale held. The Fortuna outdid herself. 
 Every bit of daylight was taken advantage 
 of, and she was pressed to the utmost. On 
 the afternoon of their third day out, as they 
 drew near Felicidad, it was decided to lighten 
 her of every superfluous ounce of weight in the hope of 
 getting her in by dusk. Provisions were cast overboard; 
 tents; chains; spare chandlery; casks of lubricating oil, of 
 petroleum, of gasoline; extra bolts of canvas; tools; anvils; 
 jacks; ammunition; the machine guns themselves. It was 
 like the stripping of some fleet runner for a supreme and final 
 effort. She picked up with the loss of every ton fourteen, 
 fifteen, sixteen, seventeen miles an hour! Part of the treas- 
 ure was shifted forward to trim her better. Tables, chairs, 
 mattresses, ventilators, hatches even the doors were 
 wrenched from their hinges, and enthusiastically sacrificed. 
 Von Zedtwitz, whose cabin was crammed with Aztec re- 
 mains, had to mount guard to prevent them from following. 
 A crated idol, lashed to the foremast, was only saved in the 
 nick of time from being shot overboard. And all the while 
 the Fortuna with loosened reefs swept on with an increasing 
 fury as though to outstrip the storm itself. With buckling 
 yards and backstays tautened till they whimpered and 
 moaned, she was made to fly with a desperate courage that 
 balked at nothing. 
 "Land ho!" 
 "Where away?" 
 
 391 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Three points on the starboard bow ! " 
 
 " Quartermaster! " 
 
 " Ay, ay, captain." 
 
 "Luff a bit!" 
 
 " Luff it is, sir." 
 
 " Trim in the sheets a bit, Mr. Goltz! " 
 
 " Very good, sir." 
 
 "That will do. 'Belay there!" 
 
 It was after five o'clock. The setting sun was hidden in 
 banks of cloud. The wide savannas stretched away on every 
 side to an unbroken sky line, gray, monotonous, never so 
 lonely as at that hour of declining day. The bow was 
 black with men watching for the first sign of the settle- 
 ment. On the bridge a smaller, but no less eager, party 
 was trying to pick up the flagstaff with their binoculars. 
 Felicidad, once so distant, so inconceivably remote, the end 
 of the universe now stood, by force of contrast, for 
 civilization itself. It was the first gateway on the home- 
 ward road, the first outpost, the solitary sentinel of the hosts 
 beyond. 
 
 A speck of flag blowing out bravely! 
 
 A blur of tent tops! 
 
 The tall and rusty smokestack of the Moltkel 
 
 Then frantic arms waving hats! 
 
 The Fortuna rolled on majestically, disdaining to shorten 
 sail or slacken her headway by an inch. Kirk aimed her at 
 the center of the settlement, determined to bring her up, all 
 standing, in the great court itself. He would give the 
 Felicidads a spectacle that would live in their memories 
 forever, and bring the expedition to a magnificent and sen- 
 sational close. In vain Westbrook urged him to be careful 
 pleaded almost commanded. 
 
 392 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 " Leave it to me," laughed Kirk. " I'm going to land 
 her alongside the marquee ! " 
 
 There was a hail of orders, a rush to stations, expectant 
 faces waiting for the word. 
 
 Up shot Kirk's hand. 
 
 " Stand by! Shorten sail! " he thundered. 
 
 The sails came down, lashing and reverberating, flooding 
 the decks with yellow billows. 
 
 "Brakes!" 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir." 
 
 " Easy, boys, easy! " 
 
 The towering hull sped nearer the rows of tents, dwarf- 
 ing them into insignificance. 
 
 "Hard down!" 
 
 " Hard down it is, sir." 
 
 There was a grinding jar, the groan of metal on metal, 
 a shrill screech dying to a moan. 
 
 The ponderous wheels slowly came to rest. 
 
 The voyage was over. 
 
 A waggish voice from the merry, noisy, hilarious crowd 
 below yelled out: " What ship's that? " 
 
 Then came the answer in a stentorian voice. 
 
 " Topsail schooner, Fortuna, Captain Kirkpatrick! " 
 
 "Where from?" 
 
 "Three days out of Cassaquiari, in treasure!" 
 
 Any further questions were drowned in the salvos of 
 cheers and counter cheers that burst forth from every throat. 
 The lowered gangway swarmed with an incoming throng, 
 shouting and vociferating at the top of their lungs. 
 
 Wicks, elbowing vigorously, forced his way up to Kirk. 
 
 "What orders, captain?" he asked, in his usual blunt, 
 cool, sailorlike way. 
 
 " My dear old chap," said Kirk, " I have given my last 
 393 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 order and the only captain I know now is this young lady. 
 I've signed on for a life's cruise, and all you have to do is 
 to wish me luck ! " 
 
 " With all my heart, sir," cried Wicks, " and if I may 
 take the liberty may God bless you both ! " 
 
 Kirk's share was four hundred and thirty-seven thousand 
 dollars. He invested the four hundred thousand in first- 
 class securities and devoted the odd thirty-seven to his honey- 
 moon. Vera and he worked their hardest to spend it, but 
 had to admit at last, with great reluctance, that the task 
 seemed beyond them. They were both of simple tastes and, 
 as Kirk remarked, neither of them had been expensively 
 enough educated. He did try a valet, but the creature got 
 so confoundedly on his nerves, and added so much fuss and 
 formality to existence, that he was glad to dismiss him. 
 After a few months' wandering in Europe, they returned to 
 America and settled in Long Island in order that Kirk 
 might be close to the works in Jersey City. He goes there 
 every day in a small steam yacht, and on summer afternoons 
 Vera is usually aboard to meet him on his return. It must 
 be admitted that among their fashionable neighbors they have 
 the reputation of being rather poky people, in spite of their 
 romantic history, who go out but seldom, and do not care 
 to extend a very narrow acquaintance. 
 
 It is large enough, however, to include Homer Kittredge. 
 His arrival in America was made such a triumph that Kirk 
 hesitated to obtrude into the blaze of limelight that sur- 
 rounded him, and only did so at last with the utmost diffi- 
 dence. He sent up his card at the St. Regis, and tried to 
 appear at ease before the splendid menials that guarded the 
 ducal stronghold and its ducal inmates from such question- 
 able and nervous interlopers as himself. 
 
 394 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 The novelist came down in a rush, as gay and boyish 
 and unspoiled as though he were quite an ordinary person, 
 and greeted Kirk with such an exuberance of regard and so 
 hearty a grasp of the hand, that even the hotel clerk was 
 thrilled at the thought of the unsuspected angel he had seen 
 trying to hide himself behind a ten-thousand-dollar Carrara 
 pillar. In less time than it takes to write, the celebrity was 
 outward bound in a spanking hansom, Kirk's promised 
 guest for a week, and his warmest friend for all time. The 
 visit lengthened into months, and was the beginning of an 
 intimacy that grows closer with every year. 
 
 The crew broke up and scattered to the ends of the earth. 
 News trickles in from them at long intervals, mainly in 
 the form of a photograph of a baby. At the present moment 
 there are sixteen tiny Kirks growing up in various parts 
 of the world, and a lot of little Vera and Fortuna girls. 
 Next year Von Zedtwitz is to hold a grand reunion at 
 Heidelberg, where as many of the old hands as possible 
 will be got together to celebrate his marriage to Mrs. Hitch- 
 cock. Yes, the secret is out, though his friends long guessed 
 whither events were tending. When the old lady quitted 
 Paris, and built that famous reproduction of the Trianon 
 on the outskirts of the venerable town, it was felt that she 
 was laying siege in form, and that the rugged Herr Doctor 
 would soon succumb. His outer works gradually crumbled 
 before the persistency of her attack, and a steel-engraved card, 
 in Gothic characters, now publicly flies the signal of his 
 complete surrender. 
 
 At present he is working hard on his book, which, when 
 completed, will run to five large quarto volumes, aggregat- 
 ing two thousand closely printed pages, with sixty-two col- 
 ored plates, and one hundred and ninety photographic repro- 
 ductions, and will appear simultaneously in three languages. 
 26 395 
 
THE ADVENTURER 
 
 It is entitled " A Brief Record of the Voyage of the Land 
 Ship * Fortuna,' with Observations and Notes relating to the 
 Ancient Ruins of Cassaquiari, together with an Account of 
 the Author's Captivity among, and subsequent Escape from, 
 the Piapoco Aborigines, with some General Remarks on the 
 Flora, Fauna, and Anthropology of the Mid-South American 
 Region." 
 
 Intending purchasers had better order early as an enor- 
 mous sale is predicted. 
 
 In the meanwhile, this unassuming and less authoritative 
 narrative is offered to the indulgence of the public merely 
 as a stop-gap for the more extended work to follow. 
 
 (2) 
 
 THE END 
 
 396 
 
BY LLOYD OSBOURNE. 
 
 Three Speeds Forward. 
 
 Uniquely illustrated with full-page illustrations, 
 head and tail pieces and many sketches by Karl 
 Anderson and H. D. Williams. Ornamental Cloth, 
 $1.00. 
 
 " ' Three Speeds Forward' is an amusing automobile story by Lloyd 
 Osbourne, in which the ostensible teller of what happened is the girl 
 heroine. A little runabout is the important factor in the love romance. 
 The book is prettily bound and printed and is illustrated." Toledo Blade. 
 
 1 ' Three Speeds Forward/ by Lloyd Osbourne, is a very brief and 
 most agreeable novelette dealing with modern society and the chug- 
 chug wagon." Philadelphia Inquirer. 
 
 "The climax of this story is original and most humorous. The 
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 a most enjoyable little volume, well illustrated and attractively bound." 
 
 Milwaukee Sentinel. 
 
 " It is a bright and sprightly little story, very strongly flavored with 
 gasoline, but quite readable. It is attractively and characteristically 
 illustrated." New York Times. 
 
 Wild Justice. 
 
 Illustrated. Ornamental Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 " Lloyd Osbourne's stories of the South Sea Islands are second only 
 to Stevenson's on the same theme. * Wild Justice ' is a volume of these 
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 They have an atmosphere that it is restful to breathe, once in a while, 
 to the dwellers in cities and the toilers of these Northern lands where 
 life is such a stern affair." Denver Post. 
 
 " Mr. Lloyd Osbourne's nine stories of the South Sea Islands (' Wild 
 Justice') are told with a Kiplingesque vigor, and well illustrate their 
 title. All are eminently readable not overweighted with tragedy, as 
 is the wont of tales that deal with the remote regions of the earth." 
 
 New York Timet. 
 
 "Mr. Osbourne in 'Wild Justice' has given us a series of storie 
 about the Samoan Islands and their islanders and their white invader*, 
 visitors and conquerors which are vivid with humor and pathos." 
 
 New York Herald. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
A GOOD AUTOMOBILE STORY. 
 
 Baby Bullet. 
 
 By LLOYD OSBOURNE, Author of " The Motor- 
 maniacs." Illustrated. I2mo. Ornamental Cloth, 
 
 $1.50. 
 
 This is the j oiliest, most delightfully humorous love 
 story that has been written in the last ten years. Baby 
 Bullet is an " orphan automobile." It is all through the 
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 a dear, sweet, human modern girl meets a very nice young 
 man, and a double romance is begun and finished on an 
 automobiling tour through England. 
 
 " The story is smoothly written, full of action and healthful fun." 
 
 Philadelphia Public Ledger. 
 
 " ' Baby Bullet ' is without doubt the best written and most enter- 
 taining automobile story yet published. The most enjoyable feature of 
 this book is its genuine, unforced humor, which finds expression not 
 only in ludicrous situations, but in bright and spirited dialogue, keen 
 observation and natural characterization." St. Paul Dispatch. 
 
 "Certain stories there are that a man fervently wishes he might 
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 The tale is fascinating from the start. The adventures of Baby Bullet 
 are distinctly funny." New York Sun. 
 
 " The characters are lightly drawn, but with great humor. It is a 
 story that refreshes a tired brain and provokes a light heart." 
 
 Chicago Tribune. 
 
 " It is a most satisfying and humorous narrative." 
 
 Indianapolis News. 
 
 " One of the funniest scenes in recent fiction is the escape of the 
 automobile party from the peroxide blonde who has answered their 
 advertisement for a chaperon." San Francisco Chronicle. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
THE LEADING NOVEL OF TODAY. 
 
 The Fighting Chance. 
 
 By ROBERT W. CHAMBERS. Illustrated by A. B t 
 Wenzell. I2mo. Ornamental Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 In "The Fighting Chance" Mr. Chambers has taken 
 for his hero, a young fellow who has inherited with hia 
 wealth a craving for liquor. The heroine has inherited a 
 certain rebelliousness and dangerous caprice. The two, 
 meeting on the brink of ruin, fight out their battles, two 
 weaknesses joined with love to make a strength. It is re- 
 freshing to find a story about the rich in which all the 
 women are not sawdust at heart, nor all the men satyrs. 
 The rich have their longings, their ideals, their regrets, 
 as well as the poor ; they have their struggles and inherited 
 evils to combat. It is a big subject, painted with a big 
 brush and a big heart. 
 
 " After ' The House of Mirth ' a New York society novel 
 has to be very good not to suffer fearfully by comparison. 
 'The Fighting Chance* is very good and it does not 
 suffer." Cleveland Plain Dealer. 
 
 "There is no more adorable person in recent fiction 
 than Sylvia Landis." New York Evening Sun, 
 
 " Drawn with a master hand." Toledo Blade. 
 
 "An absorbing tale which claims the reader's interest 
 to the end." Detroit Free Press. 
 
 " Mr. Chambers has written many brilliant stories, but 
 this is his masterpiece." Pittsburg Chronicle Telegraph. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK, 
 
By DAVID GRAHAM PHILLIPS. 
 The Second Generation. 
 
 Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 " The Second Generation " is a double-decked romance 
 in one volume, telling the two love-stories of a young 
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 sakes. Their struggle for life, love and happiness makes a 
 powerful love-story of the middle West. 
 
 ' The book equals the best of the great story tellers of all 
 time." Cleveland Plain Dealer. 
 
 " * The Second Generation,' by David Graham Phillips, is not 
 only the most important novel of the new year, but it is one of the 
 most important ones of a number of years past." 
 
 Philadelphia Inquirer. 
 
 "A thoroughly American book is 'The Second Generation.' 
 . . . The characters are drawn with force and discrimination." 
 
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 "Mr. Phillips' book is thoughtful, well conceived, admirably 
 written and intensely interesting. The story 'works out' well, 
 and though it is made to sustain the theory of the writer it does 
 so in a very natural and stimulating manner. In the writing of the 
 * problem novel ' Mr. Phillips has won a foremost place among our 
 younger American authors." Boston Herald. 
 
 " ' The Second Generation ' promises to become one of the nota- 
 ble novels of the year. It will be read and discussed while a less 
 vigorous novel will be forgotten within a week." 
 
 Springfield Union. 
 
 " David Graham Phillips has a way, a most clever and convinc- 
 ing way, of cutting through the veneer of snobbishness and bringing 
 real men and women to the surface. He strikes at shams, yet has 
 a wholesome belief in the people behind them, and he forces them 
 to justify his good opinions." Kansas City Times. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
[3 R A R Y 
 
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