vily to the deck.

By some good fortune I fell upon the discarded hatchet, and stumbled
to my feet once more, gripping the weapon again in my fingers. I stood
trembling, breathing hard, my flesh burning, peering about. The
darkness revealed nothing, yet I knew I had been dragged within the
stateroom, from which there was no escape, as I had lost all sense of
direction. For an instant I could not even locate the brute. With an
intense desire to escape, to place the door safely between me and my
antagonist, I felt blindly about in the black void. Silently as I
endeavored to move, I must have been overheard by the beast, for
suddenly his jaws snapped savagely, and I saw once again the baneful
glow of those horrible eyes. I knew enough of wild life to realize
that now the ape feared me, and that my safer course was to attack.
Acting on this impulse, determined to have an end, before he could
grip me once more in those awful arms, and crush me into
unconsciousness, I sprang straight toward him, sending the sharp blade
of the hatchet crashing against the skull. The aim was good, the
stroke a death blow, yet the monster got me with one jaw, and we fell
to the deck together, he savagely clawing me in his death agony. Then
the hairy figure quivered, and lay motionless. With barely strength
enough for the task, I released the stiffening grip, and crept aside,
rising to my knees, only to immediately pitch forward unconscious. It
seemed to me as I went down that I heard voices, saw lights flashing
in the outer cabin, but all these merged instantly into blackness.

When I came back once more to life I knew immediately I was upon the
schooner's deck, breathing the fresh night air. I could see the
outline of the helmsman in the little circle of binnacle light, a ray
of which extended far enough to assure me of the presence of Dorothy.
I watched her for some time, my mind slowly clearing to the situation,
and, it was not until I spoke, that she became aware I had recovered
consciousness.

"Dorothy."

"Yes, yes," she bent lower eagerly. "Oh, I am so glad to hear you
speak. Watkins said you were not seriously hurt, but your clothes were
torn into shreds, and you bled terribly."

"It was not a nightmare then; I really fought that beast?"

"Yes; but it is too horrible to think about--I--I shall never blot out
the sight."

"You saw what occurred yourself?" I questioned in astonishment. "You
actually came below? Then I did hear voic