rroundings Lieutenant
Charpentier sent men in groups of three in several directions to locate
the trail, and in ten minutes it was found and the expedition was
hurrying back toward the beach.

It was slow work, for they bore the bodies of six dead men, two more
having succumbed during the night, and several of those who were
wounded required support to move even very slowly.

Charpentier had decided to return to camp for reinforcements, and then
make an attempt to track down the natives and rescue D'Arnot.

It was late in the afternoon when the exhausted men reached the
clearing by the beach, but for two of them the return brought so great
a happiness that all their suffering and heartbreaking grief was
forgotten on the instant.

As the little party emerged from the jungle the first person that
Professor Porter and Cecil Clayton saw was Jane, standing by the cabin
door.

With a little cry of joy and relief she ran forward to greet them,
throwing her arms about her father's neck and bursting into tears for
the first time since they had been cast upon this hideous and
adventurous shore.

Professor Porter strove manfully to suppress his own emotions, but the
strain upon his nerves and weakened vitality were too much for him, and
at length, burying his old face in the girl's shoulder, he sobbed
quietly like a tired child.

Jane led him toward the cabin, and the Frenchmen turned toward the
beach from which several of their fellows were advancing to meet them.

Clayton, wishing to leave father and daughter alone, joined the sailors
and remained talking with the officers until their boat pulled away
toward the cruiser whither Lieutenant Charpentier was bound to report
the unhappy outcome of his adventure.

Then Clayton turned back slowly toward the cabin. His heart was filled
with happiness. The woman he loved was safe.

He wondered by what manner of miracle she had been spared. To see her
alive seemed almost unbelievable.

As he approached the cabin he saw Jane coming out. When she saw him
she hurried forward to meet him.

"Jane!" he cried, "God has been good to us, indeed. Tell me how you
escaped--what form Providence took to save you for--us."

He had never before called her by her given name. Forty-eight hours
before it would have suffused Jane with a soft glow of pleasure to have
heard that name from Clayton's lips--now it frightened her.

"Mr. Clayton," she said quietly, extending her hand, "first