onscience. The
instant she had opened her lips to speak I had known my answer.

To refuse meant to go back to my lonely camp in the cypress. I hoped I
wasn't such a fool as that. To accept meant three weeks at Kastle
Krags--and daily sight of this same lovely face that now held fast my
eyes. Could there be any question which course I would choose?

"Go--I should say I will go," I told her. "I'll be there bright and
early to-morrow."

I thought she looked pleased, but doubtless I was mistaken.

CHAPTER III

It didn't take long to pack my few belongings. At nine o'clock the
following morning I broke camp and walked down the long trail to Kastle
Krags.

No wonder the sportsmen liked to gather at this old manor house by the
sea. It represented the best type of southern homes--low and rambling,
old gardens and courts, wide verandas and stately pillars. It was an
immense structure, yet perfectly framed by the shore and the lagoon and
the glimpse of forest opposite, and it presented an entirely cheerful
aspect as I emerged from the dark confinement of the timber.

It was a surprising thing that a house could be cheerful in such
surroundings: forest and gray shore and dark blue-green water. The house
itself was gray in hue, the columns snowy white, the roof dark green and
blending wonderfully with the emerald water. Flowers made a riot of
color between the structure and the formal lawns.

But more interesting than the house itself was the peculiar physical
formation of its setting. The structure had been erected overlooking a
long inlet that was in reality nothing less than a shallow lagoon. A
natural sea-wall stretched completely across the neck of the inlet,
cutting off the lagoon from the open sea. There are many natural
sea-walls along the Floridan coast, built mostly of limestone or
coraline rock, but I had never seen one so perfect and unbroken.
Stretching across the mouth of the lagoon it made a formidable barrier
that not even the smallest boat could pass.

It was a long wall of white crags and jagged rocks, and I thought it
likely that it had suggested the name of the estate. It was plain,
however, that the wall did not withstand the march of the tides. The
tide was running in as I drew near, and the waves broke fiercely over
and against the barrier, and little rivulets and streams of water were
evidently pouring through its miniature crevices. The house was built
two hundred yards from the shore of