hor at seven-thirty, and I go over the side at seven. There's
fifteen feet of water here and a sandy bottom, and if you like we'll
get a few more bass first. Good night! I think you'll find everything
you want in your cabin. Sleep well."

A little later Clark stepped out on deck and breathed in the ineffable
serenity of the scene. A ray of moonlight lay along the inlet like a
silver line. As he went down to his cabin he noticed that the other's
door had swung open. Inside the bishop was kneeling by his narrow
bunk, his face buried in his hands, his broad shoulders bent forward in
prayer. Clark's breath came a little quickly at the strangeness of it
all and, moving on tip toe, he turned the handle softly. In his own
cabin, he lay for an hour staring out of the porthole at the dim world
beyond. He tried to think of the works, but they receded mysteriously
beyond the interlocking branches of the neighboring pines. They
seemed, somehow, less imposing than formerly, and Wimperley and
Stoughton and the rest of them were a long way off. There came to him
the lullulant lapping of water along the smooth black side of the
Evangeline. Presently he dropped into the abyss of sleep, dreamless
and profound.

XIX.--THE WEB OF LACHESIS

The sun was shining level through the tree-tops when they began to
fish. In fifteen minutes the bishop called a halt, dipped a bucket of
water and washed his hands. Clark, still under the spell of this new
friendship, saw the great amethyst of the episcopal ring gleaming
softly amid the glint of fish scales, and dimly remembered the story of
the Man and the Galilean fisher folk whose catch was poor till He told
them where to cast. Presently the bishop stripped and went overboard
into the brown water with a clean schloop, where he was instantly
followed by his guest.

Here they played like schoolboys, shouting and blowing in utter
physical abandonment, while the copper colored pilot stared at them
with expressionless eyes and wondered mutely why people wanted to get
so wet.

The bishop was like an otter, swimming under water a long way to
reappear with a sharp whistle in an unexpected place. Soon the first
flush of Clark's enjoyment passed. He felt suddenly tired and turned
toward the Evangeline, where a small wooden ladder had been let down
just athwart the cabin cockpit. And in that instant he felt a sharp
and agonizing pain.

"Help!" he called. "Help!!" A deadly stiff