g," I said;
"that's the first thing," for we were all shaking with the cold in our
scanty garments. And at that moment Sangree arrived wrapped in a blanket
and carrying his gun; he was still drunken with sleep.

"The dog again," Maloney explained briefly, forestalling his questions;
"been at Joan's tent. Torn it, by Gad! this time. It's time we did
something." He went on mumbling confusedly to himself.

Sangree gripped his gun and looked about swiftly in the darkness. I saw
his eyes aflame in the glare of the flickering lanterns. He made a
movement as though to start out and hunt--and kill. Then his glance fell
on the girl crouching on the ground, her face hidden in her hands, and
there leaped into his features an expression of savage anger that
transformed them. He could have faced a dozen lions with a walking stick
at that moment, and again I liked him for the strength of his anger, his
self-control, and his hopeless devotion.

But I stopped him going off on a blind and useless chase.

"Come and help me start the fire, Sangree," I said, anxious also to
relieve the girl of our presence; and a few minutes later the ashes,
still growing from the night's fire, had kindled the fresh wood, and
there was a blaze that warmed us well while it also lit up the
surrounding trees within a radius of twenty yards.

"I heard nothing," he whispered; "what in the world do you think it is?
It surely can't be only a dog!"

"We'll find that out later," I said, as the others came up to the
grateful warmth; "the first thing is to make as big a fire as we can."

Joan was calmer now, and her mother had put on some warmer, and less
miraculous, garments. And while they stood talking in low voices
Maloney and I slipped off to examine the tent. There was little enough
to see, but that little was unmistakable. Some animal had scratched up
the ground at the head of the tent, and with a great blow of a powerful
paw--a paw clearly provided with good claws--had struck the silk and
torn it open. There was a hole large enough to pass a fist and arm
through.

"It can't be far away," Maloney said excitedly. "We'll organise a hunt
at once; this very minute."

We hurried back to the fire, Maloney talking boisterously about his
proposed hunt. "There's nothing like prompt action to dispel alarm," he
whispered in my ear; and then turned to the rest of us.

"We'll hunt the island from end to end at once," he said, with
excitement; "that's what we'll