be well-nigh eaten. I feel,
too, as if I had a little fever, and that is just the very thing I wish
to avoid. I've work before me; difficulties to set aside, and--and
affairs to arrange."

For some reason his hand sought for a box deposited beneath the bed, and
his fingers touched the lock to make sure that it was closed.

"All that stands between me and starvation," said Dick. "Just a bare
two hundred pounds in gold, a store almost depleted of goods, and two
houses which no one seems to want. There's the business, too, and James
Langdon."

For a while his thoughts went to the man whose name he had mentioned,
and he brooded uneasily.

"He ought to go," he said to himself. "Father trusted him, I know; but
I am sure of his dishonesty. He has been robbing the store for years,
and he will rob me if I let him stay. He is a sneaking half-caste, a
rogue who cannot be trusted, and if it were not for father he should be
dismissed. Well, to-morrow I will go into the matter. I'm tired
to-night. If only it were not so frightfully hot!"

Dick was peevish and out of temper. He had worked hard all day, and was
very tired, for the heat had been great. And now that he had thrown
himself on his bed he could not sleep. The old worries filled his mind,
only instead of being lessened, the silence of the night, the droning
insects, the shrill cries from the forests, and the deep boom of the
surf, intensified his difficulties, till they sat upon his young
shoulders like a millstone. Presently, however, he fell into a doze,
and later his deep breathing showed that he was asleep. Asleep? No!
For he started suddenly and sat erect on his bed.

"I thought I heard something," he said in a whisper. "That was a step
outside. Some one knocked against the chair on the platform and tipped
it over. I don't like that noise."

He threw one leg half out of the bed and waited, for, to be candid, Dick
had no liking for an encounter with some evil-doer in the small hours.
Then, mustering courage, he threw the mosquito net aside, rearranged it
over the bed, and stealthily crept to the farther side. His hand sought
the box which contained his worldly possessions, and tucking it beneath
his arm he stole softly out on to the verandah. There was a brilliant
moon, high up in the sky, and the silvery rays played softly upon the
sandy beach, upon the crests of the breakers, upon the white street and
the white houses, and upon the bush and