ig pines. The other side is mine."

"Thanks. I'll take possession at once." And she left me for her spring
and bailiwick and cigarette--although I never saw her smoking one
before, or after. In a few minutes I heard her calling and,
straightening up with some feeling of alarm, answered:

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing; only don't forget to use very hot water!"

Later we walked to the south-western edge of the "island," so she could
see how it stood in relation to Efaw Kotee's settlement; and I showed
her the fort, purposely exaggerating its ability to withstand a siege
and minimizing its chances of having to do so. We sat down there upon
the turf, where the breeze and shade were refreshing. It was a fortunate
location, also, for keeping an eye on the prairie.

"Have you named this beautiful place of yours?" she asked.

"No; we merely call it the 'island,' after the native fashion. Will you
name it for me--for us? It's half yours, you know."

"Let's call it----" she thought a moment, "oh, let's call it The Oasis;
for that's cool and comfortable and suggests safety from all sorts of
things!"

"The Oasis it is, and we'll put it on the map some day, see if we
don't!"

After a while I told her pretty much everything from the beginning of
our cruise: of Tommy, Monsieur, and Gates, of Smilax, of seeing her in
Havana. I scrupulously avoided any mention of having been bowled over by
her beauty, or of the dream, and was inclined to treat the paper ball
episode with a laugh; but here she interrupted me, saying:

"But I was very serious, really, and scared almost to death. You surely
know I must have been to 've done it! The whole thing came so
suddenly--like a frightful storm!"

"Then you hadn't always been at outs with him--or forbidden him to cross
to your little island?" I asked.

"Mercy, no--that is, not my father. The other men, of course, were on a
footing of servants--to me, at any rate. It was only after we got home
two days ago, after Echochee and I were alone again, that I kept them
away by--by threatening----"

"Don't say what--it hurts me," I interrupted her quickly. "I saw your
wonderful courage from our hiding place."

"Everyone was quite friendly up to the time we reached Havana," she
continued, in a rather forced, even voice. "We were there three days
before your yacht came--though I didn't know it was yours until
today--and that afternoon I'd been up in the Prado with Echochee doing a
lot of shopping.