elf knew perfectly well the attraction she exerted. And she
would have been less than human if she had not been pleased with it.
What girl of nineteen would not enjoy the homage of a Viking and a
troubadour?

She was not a coquette, but there was a certain satisfaction that she
could not wholly deny herself in playing one off against the other. It
would do Drew no harm to make him a little less sure of himself and of
her. In her heart she liked his Lochinvar methods, while, at the same
time, she rather resented them. She was no cave woman, to be dragged
off at will by a determined lover.

She had a real liking for Parmalee. He was suave, polished and
deferential. His attentions gallant without being obtrusive, and his
geniality and culture made him a very pleasant companion.

"We're like the Argonauts going out after the Golden Fleece," Parmalee
was remarking.

"Yes," Ruth smiled, looking up from her work, "it doesn't seem as
though this were the twentieth century at all. Here we are, as much
adventurers as they were in the old times of Jason and his companions."

"Let's hope we'll be as lucky as they were," said Drew. "If I remember
rightly, they got what they went after."

"And yet when they started out they weren't a bit more sure than we
are," rejoined Parmalee.

"And we won't find any old dragon waiting to swallow us, as they did,"
laughed Ruth.

"Well, whether we find the treasure or not, we'll have plenty of fun in
hunting for it," prophesied Parmalee. "Somehow, I feel that we are on
the brink of a great adventure. I think I know something of the
feeling of the old explorers when they first came down to these parts.
Do you remember the way Keats describes it, Miss Ruth?"

"I don't recall," answered Ruth.

"I'll go and get the book. I have it in my cabin. Or wait. Perhaps I
can remember the way it goes." He paused a moment, and then began:

"Then feel I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific--and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise--
Silent, upon a peak in Darien."

"What noble verse!" exclaimed Ruth.

Drew remained silent.

"The very air of these southern seas is full of romance," went on
Parmalee. "And of tradition too. Have you ever heard the story of
Drake's drum?"

"What is it?" asked Ruth.

"The old drum of Sir Francis Drake that called h