e news was brought overland by means of swift runners
of thy approach. Immediately the man of wickedness disappeared." Here
Eleazer set the bowl of his pipe to the candle flame and began puffing
out voluminous clouds of smoke. "I would have thee understand, James
Mainwaring," he resumed, "that I am no friend of this wicked and sinful
man. His safety is nothing to me. It is only a question of buying upon
his part and of selling upon mine. If it is any satisfaction to thee I
will heartily promise to bring thee news if I hear anything of the man
of Belial. I may furthermore say that I think it is likely thee will
have news more or less directly of him within the space of a day. If
this should happen, however, thee will have to do thy own fighting
without help from me, for I am no man of combat nor of blood and will
take no hand in it either way."

It struck Mainwaring that the words contained some meaning that did not
appear upon the surface. This significance struck him as so ambiguous
that when he went aboard the Yankee he confided as much of his
suspicions as he saw fit to his second in command, Lieutenant Underwood.
As night descended he had a double watch set and had everything prepared
to repel any attack or surprise that might be attempted.

III

Nighttime in the tropics descends with a surprising rapidity. At one
moment the earth is shining with the brightness of the twilight; the
next, as it were, all things are suddenly swallowed into a gulf of
darkness. The particular night of which this story treats was not
entirely clear; the time of year was about the approach of the rainy
season, and the tepid, tropical clouds added obscurity to the darkness
of the sky, so that the night fell with even more startling quickness
than usual. The blackness was very dense. Now and then a group of
drifting stars swam out of a rift in the vapors, but the night was
curiously silent and of a velvety darkness.

As the obscurity had deepened, Mainwaring had ordered lanthorns to be
lighted and slung to the shrouds and to the stays, and the faint yellow
of their illumination lighted the level white of the snug little war
vessel, gleaming here and there in a starlike spark upon the brass
trimmings and causing the rows of cannons to assume curiously gigantic
proportions.

For some reason Mainwaring was possessed by a strange, uneasy feeling.
He walked restlessly up and down the deck for a time, and then, still
full of anxieties for