anion's advice and tried to profit by
it; but something which seemed to dominate him today carried him ahead
at reckless, breakneck speed--the flight of an eagle would have been all
too slow to meet the requirements of his unaccountable haste.

Once he found himself wondering why he was risking his life to avenge or
rescue this girl whom he hated so. He tried to think that it was for the
ransom--yes, that was it, the ransom. If he found her alive, and rescued
her he should claim the lion's share of the booty.

Theriere too wondered why Byrne, of all the other men upon the Halfmoon
the last that he should have expected to risk a thing for the sake of
Miss Harding, should be the foremost in pursuit of her captors.

"I wonder how far behind Sanders and Wison are," he remarked to Byrne
after they had been on the trail for the better part of an hour. "Hadn't
we better wait for them to catch up with us? Four can do a whole lot
more than two."

"Not wen Billy Byrne's one of de two," replied the mucker, and continued
doggedly along the trail.

Another half-hour brought them suddenly in sight of a native village,
and Billy Byrne was for dashing straight into the center of it and
"cleaning it up," as he put it, but Theriere put his foot down firmly on
that proposition, and finally Byrne saw that the other was right.

"The trail leads straight toward that place," said Theriere, "so I
suppose here is where they brought her, but which of the huts she's in
now we ought to try to determine before we make any attempt to rescue
her. Well, by George! Now what do you think of that?"

"Tink o' wot?" asked the mucker. "Wot's eatin' yeh?"

"See those three men down there in the village, Byrne?" asked the
Frenchman. "They're no more aboriginal headhunters than I am--they're
Japs, man. There must be something wrong with our trailing, for it's as
certain as fate itself that Japs are not head-hunters."

"There ain't been nothin' fony about our trailin', bo," insisted Byrne,
"an' whether Japs are bean collectors or not here's where de ginks dat
copped de doll hiked fer, an if dey ain't dere now it's because dey went
t'rough an' out de odder side, see."

"Hush, Byrne," whispered Theriere. "Drop down behind this bush. Someone
is coming along this other trail to the right of us," and as he spoke he
dragged the mucker down beside him.

For a moment they crouched, breathless and expectant, and then the slim
figure of an almost nude boy eme