"Better not," the other objected; but Thorpe overruled him.

"This thing attacks in the dark," he said. "I will lay a little bet on
that. It left the orang-outang on the _Minnie R._--quit at the first
sign of daylight. I will be safe through the day, and besides, the
beast has gutted this ship. It won't return, I imagine. And if I stay
there for the day--live as they lived, the men who manned that ship--I
may have some information that will be of help when you get back. But
for Heaven's sake, Brent, don't stop to pick any flowers on the way."

"It's your funeral," said Brent not too cheerfully. "The old man said
to give you every assistance, and perhaps that includes helping you
commit suicide."

But Robert Thorpe only laughed as Commander Brent gave his orders for
a small boat to be lowered. A ship's lantern and rockets for night
signals were taken at the officer's orders. "We'll be back before
dark," he said, "but take these as a precaution."

One favor Thorpe asked--that the ship's carpenter go over with him and
help him to make a strong-barred retreat of the wireless cabin.

"And I'll talk to you occasionally," he told Brent. "I tried the key
while I was aboard; the wireless is working on its batteries."

He waved a cheery good-by as the small boat pulled away. "And hurry
back," he called. The destroyer commander nodded an emphatic assent.

* * * * *

On board the _Nagasaki Maru_, Thorpe directed the carpenter and his
helpers in the work he wanted done. The man seemed to know
instinctively where to put his hands on needed supplies, and the
result was a virtual cage of strong oak bars enclosing the wireless
room, and braces of oak to bar the single door. Thorpe was not
assuming any bravado in his feeling of safety, but he was doing what
he had done in many other tight corners, and he prepared his defences
in advance.

These included weapons of offense as well. As the boat with the
destroyer's men pulled back to the _Bennington_, he placed in easy
reach in a corner of the room a heavy calibered rifle he had taken
from his belongings.

And, still, with all his feeling of security, there was a strange
depression fell upon him when the _Bennington's_ narrow hull was small
upon the horizon, and then that, too, was gone and only the heaving
swells and the wallowing hulk were his companions.

Only these? He shivered slightly as he thought of that unseen watcher
with the devil-e