my
countenance had been homely and rugged I would have walked the beaten
paths of respectability. But the two together!"

"I'm sorry!"

"A woman such as you are would be. You are a true daughter of the great
mother--Pity. But I have never asked pity of any. I have asked only that a
man shall keep his word to me as I will keep mine to him."

"But you are risking your liberty, perhaps your life!"

"I've been risking that for more than twenty years. The habit has become
normal. All my life I've wanted a real adventure."

She gazed at him in utter astonishment.

"An adventure? Why, you yourself told me that you had risked your life a
hundred times!"

"That?"--with a smile and a shrug. "That was business, the day's work. I
mean an adventure in which I am accountable to no man."

"Only to God?"

"Well, of course, if you want it that way. For myself, I'm something of a
pagan. I have dreamed of this day. When you were a little girl didn't you
dream of a wonderful doll that could walk and make almost human noises?
Well, I'm realizing my doll. I am going pearl hunting in the South
Seas--the thing I dreamed of when I was a boy."

"But why commit piracy? Why didn't you hire a steamer?"

"Oh, I must have my joke, too. But I hadn't counted on you. In every
campaign there is the hollow road of Ohain. Napoleon lost Waterloo because
of it. Your presence here has forced me to use a hand without velvet.
These men expected a little fun--cards and drink; and some of them are
grumbling with discontent. But don't worry. In five days we'll be off on
our own."

"What is the joke?"

"That will have to wait. For a few minutes I heard you reading to-day.
Your voice is like a bell at sea in the evening. 'Many waters cannot
quench love,'" he quoted, the flash of opals in his eyes, though his lips
were smiling gently. "The Bible is a wonderful book. Its authors were
poets who were not spoiled by the curse of rime. Does it amuse you to hear
me talk of the Bible?--an unregenerate scalawag? Well, it is like this: I
am something of an authority on illuminated manuscripts. I've had to wade
through hundreds of them. That is the method by which I became acquainted
with the Scriptures. The Song of Songs! Lord love you, if that isn't pure
pagan, what is? I prefer the Proverbs. Ask Cleigh if he has that
manuscript with him. It's in a remarkable state of preservation. Remember?
'There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four wh