Grylls's, they were clothed in a certain smoothness
of phrase more likely supplied by Mabyn:

MR. GARTH PEVENSEY, SIR: (Thus it ran) I am astonished beyond
measure at the story I have learned from the lips of my good
friend, Mr. Herbert Mabyn. I assure you, sir, that, though this is
an unsettled country, we are not accustomed to lawlessness; nor do
we propose to stand for it from strangers. You have twice attempted
Mr. Mabyn's life; you have stolen and converted to your own use his
household effects and supplies; you have unwarrantably imprisoned
him on an exposed island to the great detriment of his health. Your
purpose in all this is transparent. You seek to part him from his
wife; and you are at this moment detaining Mrs. Mabyn in your
shack.

I flatter myself I am not without weight and standing in this
community; and I hereby warn you that in the absence of the regular
police, I mean to see this wrong righted. If Mrs. Mabyn is
immediately returned to her husband, you will be allowed to go
unmolested. If you still detain her, we will seize her by force, as
we have every right, moral and legal, to do. We know you have only
food enough for a few days, so in any case the end cannot remain
long in doubt.

NICHOLAS GRYLLS.

Scorn and amusement struggled in Garth's face. His nostrils thinned; he
suddenly threw up his head and grimly laughed.

"Well, this beats the Dutch!" he said feelingly.

Natalie, reading the cunningly plausible sentences over his shoulder,
was inclined to be anxious. "Surely he has no legal right over me," she
said.

"Not a shadow!" Garth said.

"Grylls may have believed this story Mabyn told him," she said.

"Not a bit of it!" Garth said quickly. "Grylls is not so simple." He
stuck the letter sharply with his forefinger. "I'm a newspaper
reporter," he went on dryly, "you can believe me, this is a perfect, a
beautiful, a monumental bluff! I'm almost inclined to take off my hat to
him! But the length of it gives them away, rather; they must have spent
all day yesterday cooking this up."

"What will you do?" Natalie asked.

A wicked gleam appeared in Garth's eyes. "Oh, wouldn't I love to answer
it in kind!" he said longingly.

"An innocent, simple little billet-doux that would make them squirm.
Why, that's my business!"

"Better not," said Natalie anxiously.

"You're right," he said wi