! Meet the cold, relentless gaze of those demanding
satisfaction of outraged law! Hear the distorted evidence of witnesses,
the impassioned appeal of the public prosecutor, as with hypocritical
craft he urges the jury to hang no innocent man, and then pleads with
them not to make the law a byword by turning loose a red-handed
murderer! Watch the judge with solemn gravity adjust his glasses,
preparatory to a dignified summing-up, conclusive of the prisoner's
guilt! See the set lips of the 'unbiased twelve' as they retire for
consideration of their verdict! Sit crushed under the terrible 'Guilty'
and bootless, formal blasphemy, 'May God have mercy on your soul'! With
pinioned arms and bandaged eyes hear the suppressed hum of mob--and
then--the awful black!"

As these thoughts surged through his mind, Oswald registered a vow never
to expiate the crime of another. "I will wander over the earth until old
age; will face every danger of desert wilds; will resist to death any
efforts for my arrest; but no gallows ever shall be erected for Oswald
Langdon."

The injustice of his position confronted him with such force that
Oswald felt defiant of all law. He would be an "Ishmaelite," finding
"casus belli" in all the purposes of fate.

The instinct of self-defense and gravity of his position precluded
sympathetic feeling for friends innocently involved in results of the
tragedy. Such sentiments will come when present stress is less imminent.

Emerging from the English Channel, they are in the Bay of Biscay. A
storm is raging. Sailors fear wreck, but Oswald feels not a tremor. What
are ocean's pending perils to this human castaway, about whose hunted
soul seem closing the tentacles of fate?

Roar of tempest, blinding electric flash, rushing wave, descending
spray, creaking timbers, with instinctive ravening of ocean's hungry
hordes, are luring, friendly greetings compared to merciless clamor of
that receding shore.

Spending its spasmodic heat, the storm subsides, and the ship plows on
toward destined port.

CHAPTER VI

THE TRIPLE WEB

Sir Donald and Esther returned from the opera expecting to meet their
friends. Admitted by the servant, they were informed that Alice and
Oswald were still out. A little surprised, they expect them momentarily.
After waiting some time, Esther expresses the opinion that possibly an
accident occurred, causing the delay. Sir Donald has no fear but what
Alice and Oswald soon will arriv