e to hand one to that fellow Carshaw?"

"Wouldn't I!"

"Yet you kick like a steer when I offer you the girl, a soft, well-paid
job, and the worst revenge you can take on Carshaw."

"Yes, all damn fine. But the risk--the infernal risk!"

"That's where I don't agree with you. You go away with her and her
father--"

"Father! You're not her father!"

"You should be the first to believe it. Her aunt will swear it to you or
to any judge in the country. Once out of the United States, she will be
only too glad to avail herself of the protection matrimony is supposed
to offer. What are you afraid of?"

"You talked of puttin' up some guy to pretend to marry us."

"Forget it. We can't keep her insensible or dumb for days. But, in the
company of her loving father and her devoted husband, what can she do?
Who will believe her? Depend on me to have the right sort of boys on the
ship. They'll just grin at her. By the time she reaches Costa Rica
she'll be howling for a missionary to come aboard in order to satisfy
her scruples. You can suggest it yourself."

"I believe she'd die sooner."

"What matter? You only lose a pretty wife. There's lots more of the same
sort when your wad is thick enough. Why, man, it means a three-months'
trip and a fortune for life, however things turn out. You're tossing
against luck with an eagle on both sides of the quarter."

Fowle hesitated. The other suppressed a smile. He knew his man.

"Don't decide in a minute," he said seriously. "But, once settled, there
must be no shirking. Make up your mind either to go straight ahead by my
orders or clear out to-night. I'll give you a ten-spot to begin life
again. After that don't come near me."

"I'll do it," said Fowle, and they shook hands on their compact.

* * * * *

It was not in Winifred's nature to remain long in a state of active
resentment with any human being. A prisoner, watched diligently during
the day, locked into her room at night, she met Rachel Craik's grim
espionage and Mick the Wolf's evil temper with an equable cheerfulness
that exasperated the one while mollifying the other.

She wondered greatly what they meant to do with her. It was impossible
to believe that in the State of New Jersey, within a few miles of New
York, they could keep her indefinitely in close confinement. She knew
that her Rex would move heaven and earth to rescue her. She knew that
the authorities, in the person of Mr. Ste