in the anticipation of conflict flushed their
faces.

"I am a son of Leonidas," said George Stefanopolous, proudly. And he
secreted not merely one, but two, of Cleggett's daggers about his body,
in addition to the revolver given him. As George had already possessed
a dagger or two and an automatic pistol, it was now almost impossible
for him to lay his hand casually on any part of his person without its
coming into contact with a deadly weapon ready for instant use. Cap'n
Abernethy picked up a cutlass, "hefted" it thoughtfully, rolled his
sleeve back upon a lean and sinewy old arm that was tanned until it
looked like a piece of weathered oak, spat upon his hand and whirled
the weapon till it whistled in the air. "I come of a seafarin'
fambly," said the Cap'n, sententiously.

As for Kuroki, he said nothing. He was not given to speech at any
time. But he picked up a Malay kris and ran his thumb along the edge
of it critically like a man to whom such a weapon is not altogether
unfamiliar. A pleased smile stole over his face; he handled the wicked
knife almost affectionately; he put it down with a little loving pat.

"Brave boys," murmured Cleggett, as he watched them. He smiled, but at
the same time something like a tear blurred his eloquent and magnetic
eye for a moment. "Brave boys," he murmured, "we were made for each
other!"

The display of the American flag by the Jasper B. had an effect that
could not have been foreseen.

Almost immediately the Annabel Lee herself flung an exactly similar
American flag to the breeze. But a strange thing happened at Morris's.
An American flag was first hung from an upper window over the east
verandah. Then, after a moment, it was withdrawn. Then a red flag was
put out. But almost immediately Cleggett saw a man rip the red flag
from its fastenings and fling it to the ground.

Cleggett, resorting to his glass, perceived that it was the tall man
with the stoop shoulders and incongruous clothing who had torn down the
red flag. He was now in violent altercation with the man who had hung
it out--the fellow whom he had called Heinrich some days before.

As Cleggett watched, the two men came to blows; then they clinched and
struggled, swaying back and forth within the open window, like a moving
picture in a frame. Suddenly the tall fellow seemed to get the upper
hand; exerting all his strength, he bent the other backward over the
window sill. The two contending figures w