down--and
by an American.

Little Myra, unhurt but badly frightened, began to cry and call for
Rowland in her own way, to the wonder, and somewhat to the scandal of
the gentle old man who was endeavoring to soothe her.

"Dammy," she cried, as she struggled to go to him; "I want
Dammy--Dammy--Da-a-may."

"Oh, what a pad little girl," said the jocular Mr. Meyer, looking down
on her. "Where did you learn such language?"

"It is my nickname," said Rowland, smiling in spite of himself. "She has
coined the word," he explained to the agitated Mr. Selfridge, who had
not yet comprehended what had happened; "and I have not yet been able to
persuade her to drop it--and I could not be harsh with her. Let me take
her, sir." He seated himself, with the child, who nestled up to him
contentedly and soon was tranquil.

"Now, my friend," said Mr. Meyer, "you must tell us about this
drugging." Then while Captain Bryce, under the memory of the blow he had
received, nursed himself into an insane fury; and Mr. Austen, with his
hand resting lightly on the captain's shoulder ready to restrain him,
listened to the story; and the attorney drew up a chair and took notes
of the story; and Mr. Selfridge drew his chair close to Myra and paid no
attention to the story at all, Rowland recited the events prior to and
succeeding the shipwreck. Beginning with the finding of the whisky in
his pocket, he told of his being called to the starboard bridge lookout
in place of the rightful incumbent; of the sudden and strange interest
Mr. Austen displayed as to his knowledge of navigation; of the pain in
his stomach, the frightful shapes he had seen on the deck beneath and
the sensations of his dream--leaving out only the part which bore on the
woman he loved; he told of the sleep-walking child which awakened him,
of the crash of ice and instant wreck, and the fixed condition of his
eyes which prevented their focusing only at a certain distance,
finishing his story--to explain his empty sleeve--with a graphic account
of the fight with the bear.

"And I have studied it all out," he said, in conclusion. "I was
drugged--I believe, with hasheesh, which makes a man see strange
things--and brought up on the bridge lookout where I could be watched
and my ravings listened to and recorded, for the sole purpose of
discrediting my threatened testimony in regard to the collision of the
night before. But I was only half-drugged, as I spilled part of my tea
at suppe