for human
derelicts beyond the seas. If he could not retrieve the past, he might
at least lock it up in his own seared heart, as in a chamber of horrors
to which he alone had access--to be a torment to himself alone.

So, as the launch cleft the calm sea, his troubled spirit caught
something of the influence of the summer night, and he began to take an
interest in his immediate prospects. Before he left London to come down
to Ottermouth on his misguided mission, he had accompanied Nugent
occasionally to the docks where the _Cobra_ was fitting out, and he had
made the acquaintance of Captain Brant. In those reckless days he had
conceived a great antipathy to the crafty and cruel sailor, and he had
reason to believe that the dislike was reciprocated. He wondered how
much Nugent had told Brant of their original scheme, and whether he had
informed him that he was the cause of its failure. If so, he was likely
to be treated with scant courtesy during the voyage.

He was not long left in doubt as to the captain's attitude towards him
when the launch had run alongside the steamer, and he had climbed the
ladder to the deck. Brant met him as he stepped aboard, but ignored his
presence, and called down to Bully Cheeseman and the two men who had
remained in the launch--

"Now turn her right round and go back again to the same spot. You know
what to do. You'll find Mr. Nugent waiting for you, I guess."

"Aye, aye, sir," came out of the darkness, and Leslie heard the
tick-tack of the motor as the little craft sped for the shore. He could
hardly believe his ears. Why should a second trip be necessary, and why
should Nugent, who had declined to accompany him to the beach, be
waiting there now, when his car had left The Hut shortly after his own
departure?

"Good evening, captain," he said, forcing himself to speak civilly. "Is
it not rather risky to hang about off shore now that I am aboard?"

Brant's baleful eyes blazed like coals of fire in the blackness of the
darkened ship. "And who the h--ll are you, sir, to dictate to me what's
a risk and what isn't?" the commander of the _Cobra_ piped in his
shrill falsetto. "I understand that it's your damned foolishness that's
made all this jiggery-pokery necessary. A nice one to talk about risks,
when we're taking them on your account. You just have patience, and
amuse yourself till I have time to attend to you."

He swung on his heel and mounted the stairs to the bridge, where he
en