Romance Island

ng her silver vessels. Shadows like phantom sails dip through the dark and lie idle where unseen crafts with un

and slipped away or were merged in snatches of remembered songs. His hands were clasped behind his head, one foot was

by moonli

will tell

d in the mo

at the end

led con

n the bosom of darkening purple, and the men sitting in the companionship of silence, which all the world praises and seldom attains, had been eng

I took the night desk when Ellis was knocked out. And two weeks ago to-morrow

removed his pipe to inqu

awthorne ecstatically in four t

ht may do f

ss, the heart

mething about

eter to you

p?" inquired Amory w

horne. "Everything's true out here-go on, t

of the strange waters rushing underfoot but because of the flowering and singing of something within him that made the world into which he was sailing an alien place, heavenly desirable. A week ago that day The Aloha had weighed anchor, and these seven days, in fairly fortunate weather, her

of the same sea was in her ears; and his future and hers might be dependent upon those two perplexed tan-coloured greyhounds below. By which

them both, and confided to St. George that "them two little jool-eyed scuts was limbs av the old gint himself, and they reminded him, Barnay, of a pair of haythen naygurs," than which he could say no more. But then, Barnay's wholesale skepticism was his only recreation, save talking about his pretty daughter "of school age," and he liked to stand tucking his beard inside his collar and indulgin

m of the South Atlantic. But he always consoled himself with the cheering reflection that he had had to come-there was no other way half so good. So The Aloha continued to plow her way as serenely as if she were heading t

e thrown in relief against the hurrying purple. St. George was good to look at, and Amory, with the moonlight catching the glass of his pince-nez, smoked and watched him, shrewdly pondering upon exactly how much anxiety for the success of the

and shuffled his fee

ay?" he wanted to know, gaz

as if the interrup

horne. "I tell you," he confided, "I guess it's just Chillin

gworth's grudging and snarling a

ng them had wrought changes in the head office boy. For Bennietod was ambitious to be a gentleman. His covert imitations had always amused St. George and Amory. Now in the comparative freedom of The Aloha his fancy had rein and he had adopted all the habits and the phrases which he had lo

thing," observed St. George abr

ith resignation, "I suppose you all feel I'm the

hought at all when we set out. This all promised good sport, and I took it at that. Late

thorne. It was not remarkable that from the moment the enterprise had been entered upon, its perils and its doubtful outcome had not once been discussed. St. George vaguely reckoned with this as he waited, while Amory smoked on and blew meditative clouds and regarded the bowl of his p

man indignantly, "are you

ooked at him

out preamble, "we're three to one. And three of us ar

miled at him

" inquired Lit

lly and fumbled in sudden abashment at an amazing ch

sented, "ef de deck'd lay down levil. I

manded the

and took it briefly from h

eaded in his pleasant drawl, "o

the bowl and nodded a little, but

had been discovered to play considerably better than any one else on board. Rollo sat bolt upright in a rec

adds an air to any occas

own honey or that might have come from the strange blooms, water-sealed below. Now and then St. George went aside for a space and walked up and

t?" he inquired peevishly. "I sh

ut," Amory observed, "a

e of skins, were long and pointed and of almost uncanny flexibility. It had become impossible for any one to look at either of the little men

lost Eyetalian organ-grinder monkeys, wid

orne, and went to sleep again. Toward midnight he aw

ht may do f

ss, the heart

mething about

ssness, when St. George cried out

e glass to Amory, his hand trembling,

e in the waste and hitherto known to nobody simply because nobody knew the truth about the Fourth Dimension did not assail them. So absorbed had St. George become in the undertaking, so convincing had been the events that led up to it, and so ready for anything in any dimension

ghts that shine upon harbours, Bennietod tumbled below for Jarvo, who came on deck and gazed and doubted and well-nig

ow," he

ay c

Akko. "All in the way av fair fight, that'll be about Mor-rocco, if I'v

m with his imp

palace on the summit of Mount

ssible is possible, as scientists and devotees have every reason to think. But was she there-was she there? If there was an oracle for the answer, i

that the lights were no longer visible, and the others had verified the cry by looking blankly into a sudden waste of milky black-blac

is that which has delayed us. It will adjust itself. The light may lon

caper demanded respect for so perfectly catching the spirit of the times. At all events it was immensely clever of them to have put their finger upon the public pulse and to have realized that the public imagination is ready to believe anything because it has seen so much proved. Still, "science was faith once"; and besides, to St. George, charts and compasses of all known and unknown systems of seamanship were suddenly beco

urers, and the glass passed from one to another like the eye of the three Grey Sisters. The far beacon appeared and disappeared, but its actuality might not be doubte

ing understanding and finally, upon a pretext of sleep, led the others below. And St. Geo