The Courage of Captain Plum

g words Neil stood as tho

"You plan to kill Strang to keep Marion from marrying him. Well, I will hunt up Marion, put her in

malevolence of a few moments before. As Nathaniel stepped back from him half laughing and puffing clouds of smoke from his pipe Mario

he added, after a moment. "

u for not having thought of it!" cried Nathaniel.

that with

-where will w

ou must have seen the house as you came out in

thought of his suspicio

rk," he said. "Does the forest run down to

to the

rayed a sudden

rded at night and that no person leaves or enters it without the knowledge of Strang. I am certain that Mario

he house without

midnigh

as quietly as one and I will go with you. Once there you can tell Marion that your life depends on her accompanying you to Obadiah's. I believe s

said Neil, "Arb

t off the ground in his enthusiasm. "I've got twelve of the damnedest fighters a

ething that made Nathaniel turn h

or a moment Nathaniel did not look up. His own heart was near bursting with the new life that throbbed within it. Wh

Neil," he replied quietly. "I asked

ith a fervor that knocked

t! And if Ma

d himself into a

ar

nt. After it there fell a brief hush. Then again, as they stared questioningly into

g back with a deep breath. "

loodho

t an involuntary shiv

illed Strang. A quarter of a mile deeper in the swamp I have a canoe." He picked up the gun and box and began forcing his way throug

ve minutes later Neil stopped on the edge of a wide bog. The hounds were giving fierce tongue in the fore

at the place where they tore little Jim Schredder to pieces a few weeks back. Schredder tried

to his knee

swamp," he flung back over his shoulder. "Tw

his knees in the mire,

ught a sudden burst of blood-curdling cries

terrible grimace

nd mud from his face, "-three days after they covered Schredder's bones with muck out there, the elder took Schredder's wife! She was too pretty for a fisher

silence there came

s what the howling means. How Croch

bogs and bloodhounds were entirely outside his pale of argument and he exhibited no hesitation in betraying this fact to his companion. For a quarter of a mile Neil forced the dugout through water viscid with slime and rotted substance before the clearer channel of the creek was reached. As they progressed the stream constantly became deeper

mall boat waiting for you

ce early

he drove the canoe through the tall rice gra

I will not return to the island again, and it is quite necessary that I run down the coast for a couple of miles-for-" He did not finish his reason, but added:

he reluctance with which he assented to the project. He had guessed shrewdly at Neil's mo

ering humor to th

might!" he

laimed Nathan

wn and guarded by dogs. I doubt if she would go, anyway. She has always been like a little s

ventured Nathaniel. "He said that

had not heard Nathaniel's last words. He looked

-h-

pure as Winnsome is now. Little Winn looks l

beauti

at I was toting her about on my shoulders! And-by George,

l laughe

e will be married and have a family of her own. I tell you she is a

his paddle Neil brought

He stretched out his long arm and in the silence the two shook hands. "If you s

his companion's fin

!" said

othing beyond the sweet eyes that had called upon him, that had burned their gratitude, their hope and their despair upon his soul; nothing beyond the thought that she would soon be free from the mysterious influence of the Mormon king and that for days and nights after that she would be on the same ship with him. He had emptied the pockets of the coat he had given Neil and now he brought forth the old letter which Obadiah had rescued from the sands. He read it over again as he sat for a few moments in the cool of the forest and there was no trouble in his face now. It was from a girl. He had known that girl, years ago

unpleasant in thinking of the girl as belonging to another. But now matters had changed. The letter was a hope and inspiration to him and he smoothed it out with tender care. What a refuge tha

xiety Nathaniel hurried along the narrow rim of beach. He went to the very tip of the point which reached out like the white forefinger of, a lady's hand into the sea; he passed the spot where he had lain concealed the preceding day; his breath came faster and faster; he ran, and called softly, and at last halted in the arch of the cart wheel with the fear full-flaming in his breast. Over all those miles of sea there was no sign of the sloop. From end to end of the point there was no boat. What did it mean?

g to his feet with a hopeless cry and stood for a few moments undecided. Should he wait until night with the hope of attracting the attention of Neil and joining him in his canoe or should he hasten in the direction of St. James? In the darkness he might miss Neil, unless he kept up a constant sho

e. He was confident that Arbor Croche and his sheriffs were confining their man-hunt to the swamp, but in spite of this belief he exercised extreme caution, stopping to listen now and then, with one hand always near his

o made it had fallen in the thicket and was lying there as still as if dead. For a quarter of an hour Nathaniel waited and listened. He could no longer have seen the movement of bushes in the gathering night-gloom of the forest but his ears were strained to catch the slightest sound from the direction of the mysterious thing that lay within less than a dozen rods of him. Slowly he drew himself out from the shelter of the roots and advanced step by step. Half way to the thicket a stick cracked loudly under his foot and as the sound startled the dead quiet of the forest with pistol-shot clearness there came another cry from the dense hazel, a cry which was neither that of man nor animal but of a woman; and with an answering shout Nathaniel sprang forward to meet there in

-gone from

from which all life seemed to have fled he forgot everything but the joy of this moment-forgot all in life but this woman against his breast. He kissed her soft mouth and the closed eyes

ing life returning in her, there came to him through that vast

girl's face. His voice was almost sobbing in it