g on the pole above stirred to an awakening
breeze. . . . The midnight sun touched the rim of the sea, and
lingered to kiss with blood-red lips the cruel waters that have taken
many men. . . . Then it doubled back on its track and slowly,
perceptibly, rose again, as if reluctant to lose sight of the lonely
Lookout where Lollie, fully awake now, was trying to gather two sobbing
women into his thin, little-boy arms.

CHAPTER XXXIII

ANCHORS WEIGHED

An hour later, Ellen, worn out by the vigil of the night before and the
long watching on the Lookout, lay on the blankets of her bed fully
dressed. Lollie slumbered beside her, his tumbled red head in the
crook of his arm. It was Jean's night to watch, and she sat before the
table, the revolver ready to her hand. Her shoulders drooped and her
eyes were heavy-lidded and swollen from weeping. She rested her elbows
on the table and dropped her face in her hands. Numbed by their grief
and disappointment, both women for the time being had relaxed their
caution, and for the first time in days, the table had not been placed
across the closed door of the White Chief's room.

For an hour the girl sat immovable. . . . Then she glanced up at the
clock. It had stopped. Ellen had forgotten to wind it. Jean wondered
dully how they were now to tell the time. There was no other timepiece
on the Island. But time didn't matter. Nothing mattered now. She
dropped her face again in her hands. . . . Her head was very
heavy. . . . Her arms slipped slowly until they rested on the
table. . . . Her head settled forward until it lay upon them. . . .
There came a long, tired sigh, and then the regular breathing of the
sleeper. . . .

The sun of late morning was streaming in through the little north
window when the door off the living-room softly opened. The tall
figure of the White Chief stood a moment as he looked in at the quiet
forms before him. A gleam of triumph showed in his narrow eyes as they
came to rest on the pistol lying before the dark bowed head of the girl
at the table. His nostrils twitched and his lip lifted in his wolfish
smile. He tip-toed cautiously until his avid hand closed on the weapon.

In the middle of the room he paused, and with an air of satisfaction
turned it over and over in his hands. There was a movement on the bed
in the corner, and abruptly Ellen sat upright, her wide gaze on the man
before her.

"Good morning!" He smiled at her de