or
me, I shan't see you again tonight--I must keep a watch for my pal
coming aboard from his little mission ashore."

Then, with curt politeness, he bade us both good night, and went off
on deck, and we two captives looked at each other.

"Strange man!" murmured Miss Raven. She gave me a direct glance that
had a lot of meaning in it. "Mr. Middlebrook," she went on in a still
lower voice, "let me tell you that I'm not afraid. I'm sure that man
means no personal harm to us. But--is there anything you want to say
to me before I go?"

"Only this," I answered. "Do you sleep very soundly?"

"Not so soundly that I shouldn't hear if you called me," she replied.

"I'm going to mount guard here," I said. "I, too, believe in what
Baxter says. But--if I should, for any reason, have occasion to call
you during the night, do at once precisely what I tell you to do."

"Of course," she said.

The Chinaman who had been in evidence at intervals since our arrival
came into the little saloon with a can of hot water and disappeared
into the inner cabin which had been given up to Miss Raven. She softly
said good-night to me, with a reassurance of her confidence that all
would be well, and followed him. I heard her talking to this strange
makeshift for a maid for a moment or two; then the man came out,
grinning as if well-pleased with himself, and she closed and fastened
the door on him. The Chinaman turned to me, asking in a soft voice if
there was anything I pleased to need.

"Nothing but the rugs and pillows that your master spoke of," I
answered.

He opened a locker on the floor of the place and producing a number of
cushions and blankets from it made me up a very tolerable couch. Then,
with a polite bow, he, too, departed, and I was left alone.

Of one thing I was firmly determined--I was not going to allow myself
to sleep. I firmly believed in Baxter's good intentions--in spite of
his record, strange and shady by his own admission, there was
something in him that won confidence; he was unprincipled, without
doubt, and the sort of man who would be all the worse if resisted,
being evidently naturally wayward, headstrong, and foolishly
obstinate, but like all bad men, he had good points, and one of his
seemed to be a certain pride in showing people like ourselves that he
could behave himself like a gentleman. That pride--a species of
vanity, of course--would, I felt sure, make him keep his word to us
and especially to Miss Rav