ve." He lighted a cigarette and smiled at
his trembling hands. "I don't know why I should feel this way, but I
do. I suppose--well, it's what you have told me to-night. I don't
understand it--I can't think it was all your imagination."

"But that girl, Eunice," I protested.

"Nothing--except she isn't at home where she should be. At eleven
o'clock she told her parents she was going to retire. Presumably she
went to her room. At eleven-thirty her mother passed her door. It
was ajar and a bedroom light was lighted. Mrs. Arton opened the door
to say good night to Eunice. But the girl was not there."

He stared at us. "That's all. There is so much hysteria in the air
now, that Mr. Arton was frightened and called upon the police at
once. The Artons have been telephoning to everyone they know. It
isn't like Eunice to slip out at night--or is it, Jane?"

"No," said Jane soberly. "And she's gone? They didn't hear any sound
from her?" A strange, frightened hush came upon Jane's voice. "She
didn't--scream from her bedroom? Anything like that?"

"No, he said not. Jane, dear, you're thinking more horrible things.
She'll be found in the morning, visiting some neighbor or something
of the kind."

But she was not found. Bermuda is a small place. The islands are so
narrow that the ocean on both sides is visible from almost
everywhere. It is only some twelve miles from St. Georges to
Hamilton, and another twelve miles puts one in remote Somerset. By
noon of the next day it was obvious that Eunice Arton was quite
definitely missing.

* * * * *

This next day was May 15th--the first of the real terror brought by
the White Invaders. But we did not call them that yet; they were
still the "ghosts." Bermuda was seething with terror. Every police
station was deluged with reports of the ghostly apparitions. The
white figures of men--in many instances, several figures
together--had been seen during the night in every part of the
islands. A little band of wraiths had marched down the deserted main
street of Hamilton. It was nearly dawn. A few colored men, three or
four roistering visitors, and two policemen had seen them. They had
appeared down at the docks and had marched up the slope of the main
street.

The stories of eye-witnesses to any strange event always are
contradictory. Some said this band of ghostly men marched on the
street level; others said they were below it, walking with only
their head