"

"I hate to think about it," said the girl, "and yet I can think of
nothing else than the absent members of our party."

"Let us hope for the best," replied Tennington. "You yourself have set
us each a splendid example of bravery, for in a way your loss has been
the greatest."

"Yes," she replied; "I could have loved Jane Porter no more had she
been my own sister."

Tennington did not show the surprise he felt. That was not at all what
he meant. He had been much with this fair daughter of Maryland since
the wreck of the LADY ALICE, and it had recently come to him that he
had grown much more fond of her than would prove good for the peace of
his mind, for he recalled almost constantly now the confidence which
Monsieur Thuran had imparted to him that he and Miss Strong were
engaged. He wondered if, after all, Thuran had been quite accurate in
his statement. He had never seen the slightest indication on the
girl's part of more than ordinary friendship.

"And then in Monsieur Thuran's loss, if they are lost, you would suffer
a severe bereavement," he ventured.

She looked up at him quickly. "Monsieur Thuran had become a very dear
friend," she said. "I liked him very much, though I have known him but
a short time."

"Then you were not engaged to marry him?" he blurted out. "Heavens,
no!" she cried. "I did not care for him at all in that way."

There was something that Lord Tennington wanted to say to Hazel
Strong--he wanted very badly to say it, and to say it at once; but
somehow the words stuck in his throat. He started lamely a couple of
times, cleared his throat, became red in the face, and finally ended by
remarking that he hoped the cabins would be finished before the rainy
season commenced.

But, though he did not know it, he had conveyed to the girl the very
message he intended, and it left her happy--happier than she had ever
before been in all her life.

Just then further conversation was interrupted by the sight of a
strange and terrible-looking figure which emerged from the jungle just
south of the camp. Tennington and the girl saw it at the same time.
The Englishman reached for his revolver, but when the half-naked,
bearded creature called his name aloud and came running toward them he
dropped his hand and advanced to meet it.

None would have recognized in the filthy, emaciated creature, covered
by a single garment of small skins, the immaculate Monsieur Thuran the
party had last seen