to know what these were, or how far away they were. Walkirk
and I had Racket Island to ourselves. My grandmother was happy with her
friends, and where the rest of the world happened to stow themselves I
did not care. Several times I said this to myself, but it was a mistake.
I cared very much where Sylvia stowed herself. Philosophize as I might,
I thought of her continually in that doleful House of Martha; and as I
thought of her there I cried out against the shortcomings of
civilization.

We had pitched a small tent in the shelter of a clump of trees on the
higher part of the island; and near this, on the morning of our third
day, I was sitting, smoking, and trying the effect of Sylvia's face
under a wide black hat heavy with ostrich plumes, when Walkirk
approached me, carrying a string of freshly caught fish.

"I am sorry to say," said he, "that in coming here to escape the society
of women we have made a failure, for one of them is sitting on the
beach, on the other side of the island."

I sprang to my feet with an abrupt exclamation.

"How did the woman get here?" I cried. "I thought this place was
deserted."

"It is; I know every inch of it. No one lives here, but this female
person came in a small sailboat. I saw it tied up, not far from where
she is sitting."

"If women come here," I said, "I want to go, and you may as well get
ready to leave."

"I think," remarked Walkirk, "that it would be well not to be in too
great a hurry to leave. I know of no place where we are less likely to
be disturbed, and so long as these dry nights continue there can be no
pleasanter camping place. She may now be sailing away, and the chances
are we shall never see her again."

"I'll go and look into the matter," said I.

I walked over the ridge of the little island, and soon caught sight of a
female figure sitting on the sandy beach. Near by was the boat which
Walkirk had mentioned. As soon as I saw her I stopped; but she must have
heard my approach, for she turned toward me. I had come merely to make
an observation of her, but now I must go on. As I approached her I
turned as if I were about to walk along the shore, and as I passed her I
raised my hat. She was a lady of middle age, of a reddish blonde
complexion, and her hair was negligently put up under a plain straw hat.
Her large blue eyes, her slightly uplifted brows, and the general
expression of her rather thin face gave me the idea that she was a
pleasantly dispo