then--naturally, I should like to be sure that it is
safely overboard, so it will not be"--she shivered--"used again."

"It is not overboard, Mrs. Johns," I said gravely. "It is locked in a
safe place, where it will remain until the police come to take it."

"You are rather theatrical, aren't you?" she scoffed, and turned away.
But a second later she came back to me, and put her hand on my arm.
"Tell me where it is," she begged. "You are making a mystery of it,
and I detest mysteries."

I saw under her mask of lightness then: she wanted desperately to know
where the axe was. Her eyes fell, under my gaze.

"I am sorry. There is no mystery. It is simply locked away for
safe-keeping."

She bit her lip.

"Do you know what I think?" she said slowly. "I think you have
hypnotized the crew, as you did me--at first. Why has no one
remembered that you were in the after house last night, that you found
poor Wilmer Vail, that you raised the alarm, that you discovered the
captain and Karen? Why should I not call the men here and remind them
of all that?"

"I do not believe you will. They know I was locked in the storeroom.
The door--the lock--"

"You could have locked yourself in."

"You do not know what you are saying!"

But I had angered her, and she went on cruelly:--

"Who are you, anyhow? You are not a sailor. You came here and were
taken on because you told a hard-luck story. How do we know that you
came from a hospital? Men just out of prison look as you did. Do you
know what we called you, the first two days out? We called you Elsa's
jail-bird And now, because you have dominated the crew, we are in your
hands!"

"Do Mrs. Turner and Miss Lee think that?"

"They feel as I do. This is a picked crew men the Turner line has
employed for years."

"You are very brave, Mrs. Johns," I said. "If I were what you think I
am, I would be a dangerous enemy."

"I am not afraid of you."

I thought fast. She was right. It had not occurred to me before, but
it swept over me overwhelmingly.

"You are leaving me only one thing to do," I said. "I shall surrender
myself to the men at once." I took out my revolver and held it out to
her. "This rope is a dead-line. The crew know, and you will have no
trouble; but you must stand guard here until some one else is sent."

She took the revolver without a word, and, somewhat dazed by this new
turn of events, I went aft. The men were gathered there, and I
s