ner alone seemed to retain any vestige of control over
his feelings; and he rapidly lost his color and began to peer about him.

One chest went out, and the cries of the slaves could be heard as they
lowered it over the cliff. They returned for another, and now Dolores
leaped to her feet and followed them, flinging over her shoulder a smile
of invitation. Pearse answered instantly; the others paused. Then she
laughed like a siren and held out her hands to the hesitant ones, and
said softly and pleasantly:

"Have no fears, timid ones. Thy minds are indeed hard to fathom. I but
want to show thee how I am repaying thee for thy sufferings here. Come."

They followed her, and together they entered the rocky tunnel. At the
end of it the yellow sunlight blazed like a fire, in the circular
aperture was framed a picture of wonderful beauty. The blue sky, flecked
with fleecy cloudlets, filled the upper half of the circle; then the
sparkling sea of deeper blue lifted its dazzling whitecaps to the kiss
of the trades and formed a gem-like background for the brazen sands, the
glowing green-and-purple of the Point, and the dainty ivory-and-gold of
the white schooner.

It was all mellowed and diminished as seen through a glass at great
distance; and on the shore the men toiling to load a great
treasure-chest into a long-boat looked like tiny manikins posed about a
delicate model of marine life. The second chest yet stood on the
cliff-edge, slaves about it lashing double slings and tackles that led
from a boulder for lowering it down.

Dolores stepped back, permitting the three men to take in the view
without restriction. And she watched them again, her face enigmatic if
they glanced at her, breaking into an expression of nearing triumph when
they looked away, and left her free to scrutinize them. She saw John
Pearse step a pace behind the others, and his fingers clutched absently
at his rapier-hilt while the veins on his neck stood out and throbbed
like live things.

"One more chest, perhaps two, and I shall see who will be my man!" she
whispered to herself.

Then she left them without a word, and returned to the great chamber,
where she snatched up an immense rope of pearls and resumed her seat on
the edge of the table. There she sat, giving them no glance, when the
three men came back, hastily, uneasily, one behind the other, with
Tomlin bringing up the rear, scowling at Venner's back malevolently.

Idly now Dolores rolled h