aining. I met her waiting for me as
I stepped out from behind the curtain.

"Well, what can we do?"

"Keep the fellow tied, and wait for night," I answered soberly. "That is
our only chance. The mate is ashore--we are lying in the cove of a small
island off the Florida coast, waiting for darkness, and a chance to slip
through into southern waters."

"Do you know where this boat is bound?"

"Yes--Spanish Honduras; we are loaded with munitions of war," I laughed.
"I was to be a general down there."

"You!"

"Yes; swift promotion, was n't it! Our friend yonder promised the job;
all I had to do was to desert you, and join his outfit."

"And you consented?"

"With a mental reservation. It gained me a few hours' freedom at least,
and surely has done you no harm. Did you doubt me?"

"Oh, I hardly know. I was so miserable locked up alone, unable to even
learn where we were going, that I lost faith in everyone. You acted so
strange."

"I had to play my part. But you received my note?"

"Yes, and it helped me wonderfully, although even then I scarcely
comprehended why all this pretense was necessary. Surely you do not
believe this man is Philip Henley? that--that I have told you a lie?"

"No, I do not," I answered earnestly. "It is my absolute confidence in
you which has held me steadfast. He has shown me evidence of his
identity which would have convinced me under other circumstances--letters
and pictures; I will show them to you, for I know where they are kept in
the desk--but in opposition I had your word, and I believed in that. No
evidence would shake my faith in you, and I am certain now there is fraud
here--some devilish plot concocted to steal Judge Henley's fortune."

"What letters? What pictures were they?"

"Letters from the Judge to his son--intimate, family letters, and a
photograph of the father and this man taken together."

"And were the letters addressed to Philip?"

"The envelopes had been destroyed, and no name was mentioned, but the
photograph was endorsed in the Judge's handwriting."

She sank down on a locker, and hid her face in her hands. The pitiful
dejection in her attitude compelled me to bend over her in quick sympathy.

"Please do not take it like that," I urged. "We shall find a way of
escape if we keep our courage, and work together."

"Oh, it is not that," and she looked up into my face. "I am not afraid.
Only I cannot bear the thought that you doubt me ever