rly
articulated that she could easily have written them down.

"And there is the man who is uttering them," remarked Lethbridge--"that
little dot on the hill some two miles away. I doubt if you can make him
out with the naked eye. It is as much as I can manage, although I know
exactly where to look for him. Can you see him, Ida? Or you, Mlle.
Sziszkinski? Oh!"--as he turned round and made the discovery that
Mildmay had emerged from the pilot-house, and had by some occult process
drawn mademoiselle away from the rest of the party and to his side.

Lady Olivia smiled.

"Has it ever occurred to you, Colonel," she said, "that a very pretty
little romance is gradually unfolding itself here in our small circle?"

"Well," replied Lethbridge, with a smile that lighted up his somewhat
saturnine features in a marvellous manner, "I must confess that there
have been moments when I have had my suspicions. And I shall be by no
means sorry if those suspicions turn out to be well founded; for she is
an exceptionally charming girl, and as good as she is charming, I feel
sure; while, as for Mildmay--well, he is one of the very few men whom I
thoroughly admire and esteem."

"Yes," assented Lady Olivia. "And they would make a handsome pair,
wouldn't they?"

"That," he answered, with a laugh, "is so obvious that it needs no
confirmation from me. And--"

What further he might have said upon so interesting a subject Lady
Olivia was not destined to know; for at that moment an interruption came
from Sir Reginald, who exclaimed--

"Look yonder, Lethbridge! Do you see that? There is the village from
which that troop of native cavalry turned out to dispute our passage
when last we came this way; and I'll be shot if the fellows have not
turned out again. Do you see them, drawn up there on that ridge?"

Lethbridge turned his binoculars in the direction indicated by his
friend, and presently saw a body of mounted warriors, armed with bow,
spear, and shield, drawn up in two divisions, one on either side of the
track over which the _Flying Fish_ was heading to pass; and their
formation was such as to suggest that they actually again intended to
oppose the passage of the ship.

"Yes, you are right; I see them," answered Lethbridge. "I think, Lady
Olivia, it would be advisable for you to retire from the deck until we
have passed those fellows. It is just possible that a stray arrow
_might_ reach the deck here, with unfortunate co