lder than 'Bare is a man's
back without the kin behind him.'"

"Then you are well clad, Liot, for behind you are generations of
brave and good men."

"The Lord is at my right hand; I shall not be moved," said Liot,
solemnly. "He is sufficient. I am as one of the covenanted, for the
promise is 'to you and your children.'"

Paul nodded gravely. He was a Calvinistic pagan, learned in the
Scriptures, inflexible in faith, yet by no means forgetful of the
potent influences of his heroic dead. Truly he trusted in the Lord,
but he was never unwilling to remember that Bor and Bor's mighty
sons stood at his back. Even though they were in the "valley of
shadows," they were near enough in a strait to divine his trouble
and be ready to help him.

The tenor of this conversation suited both men. They pursued it in
a fitful manner and with long, thoughtful pauses until the night
was far spent; then they said, "Good sleep," with a look into each
other's eyes which held not only promise of present good-will, but a
positive "looking forward" neither cared to speak more definitely of.

The next day there was an organized search for Bele Trenby through
the island hamlets and along the coast; but the man was not found
far or near; he had disappeared as absolutely as a stone dropped
into mid-ocean. Not until the fourth day was there any probable
clue found; then a fishing-smack came in, bringing a little rowboat
usually tied to Howard Hallgrim's rock. Hallgrim was a very old man
and had not been out of his house for a week, so that it was only
when the boat was found at sea that it was missed from its place.
It was then plain to every one that Bele had taken the boat for
some visit and met with an accident.

So far the inference was correct. Bele's own boat being shipped ready
for the voyage, he took Hallgrim's boat when he went to see Auda
Brent; but he either tied it carelessly or he did not know the power
of the tide at that point, for when he wished to return the boat
was not there. For a few minutes he hesitated; he was well aware
that the foot-path across the moor was a dangerous one, but he was
anxious to leave Lerwick with that tide, and he risked it.

These facts flashed across Liot's mind with the force of truth, and
he never doubted them. All, then, hung upon Auda Brent's reticence;
if she admitted that Bele had called on her that afternoon, some
one would divine the loss of the boat and the subsequent tragedy.
For severa