,
and said as one in a dream--

"Oh, is that you?"

* * * * *

The tea which Mary made was very fragrant, and Roderick's cigars had a
fine rich flavour of their own, to which we did justice, as we sat long
that afternoon, and I told of the days in Ice-haven. It was a long
story, as you know, and I could but give them the outline of it, or, in
turn, hear but a tenth part of their own anxieties and ceaseless
efforts in my behalf. It appeared that when I had failed to return to
the hotel on that night when I followed Paolo to the den in the Bowery,
Roderick had gone at once to the yacht, and there had learnt from Dan
of my intention. He did not lose an instant in seeking the aid of the
police, but I was even then astern of the _Labrador_, and the keen
search which the New York detectives had made was fruitless even in
gleaning any tidings of me. Paolo was followed night and day for
twenty-four hours; but he was shot in a drinking-den before the
detectives laid hands on him, and only lived long enough to send Mary a
message, telling her that her pretty eyes had saved the _Celsis_ from
disaster in the Atlantic. On the next day both the skipper and Roderick
made public all they knew of Black and his crew, and a greater
sensation was never made in any city. The news was cabled to Europe
over half-a-dozen wires, was hurried to the Pacific, to Japanese
seas--it shook the navies of the world with an excitement rarely known,
and for some weeks it paralysed all traffic on the Atlantic. Cruisers
of many nations were sent in the course of the great ocean-going
steamers; arms were carried by some of the largest of the passenger
ships, and the question was asked daily before all other questions, "Is
the nameless ship taken?" Yet, it was no more than a few weeks' wonder;
for we had fled to Ice-haven, and people who heard no more of the new
piracy asked themselves, "Are not these the dreams of dreamers?"

Meanwhile Roderick and Mary, who suffered all the anguish of suspense,
returned to Europe, and to London, there to interview the First Lord of
the Admiralty, and to hear the whole matter discussed in Parliament.
Several warships and cruisers were despatched to the Atlantic, but
returned to report the ill result of their mission, which could have
had but this end, since Black was then in the shelter of the fjord at
Greenland, and none thought of seeking him there. Nor was my oldest
friend con