as unhappily the fishermen who once came here now
avoid the place. They have been frightened by the contents of the
hollow behind the cliff. I am glad you have solved the difficulty
unaided, Miss Deane. I have striven at times to be coarse, even brutal,
towards you, but my heart flinched from the task of telling you the
possible period of your imprisonment."

Then Iris, for the first time in many days, wept bitterly, and Jenks,
blind to the true cause of her emotion, picked up a rifle to which, in
spare moments, he had affixed a curious device, and walked slowly
across Prospect Park towards the half-obliterated road leading to the
Valley of Death.

The girl watched him disappear among the trees. Through her tears shone
a sorrowful little smile.

"He thinks only of me, never of himself," she communed. "If it pleases
Providence to spare us from these savages, what does it matter to me
how long we remain here? I have never been so happy before in my life.
I fear I never will be again. If it were not for my father's terrible
anxiety I would not have a care in the world. I only wish to get away,
so that one brave soul at least may be rid of needless tortures. All
his worry is on my account, none on his own."

That was what tearful Miss Iris thought, or tried to persuade herself
to think. Perhaps her cogitations would not bear strict analysis.
Perhaps she harbored a sweet hope that the future might yet contain
bright hours for herself and the man who was so devoted to her. She
refused to believe that Robert Anstruther, strong of arm and clear of
brain, a Knight of the Round Table in all that was noble and chivalric,
would permit his name to bear an unwarrantable stigma when--and she
blushed like a June rose--he came to tell her that which he had
written.

The sailor returned hastily, with the manner of one hurrying to perform
a neglected task. Without any explanation to Iris he climbed several
times to the ledge, carrying arm-loads of grass roots which he planted
in full view. Then he entered the cave, and, although he was furnished
only with the dim light that penetrated through the distant exit, she
heard him hewing manfully at the rock for a couple of hours. At last he
emerged, grimy with dust and perspiration, just in time to pay a last
visit to Summit Rock before the sun sank to rest. He asked the girl to
delay somewhat the preparations for their evening meal, as he wished to
take a bath, so it was quite dark when