The Stolen Singer

he spit of coast-land toward which they had struggled. The point lifted itself abruptly into a rocky bank which curved in and out, yielding to

he clear blue of the sky. Below, the white sand formed a sickle-shaped beach, bordered by the rocky wall, with its sharp point dipping far out to sea.

est tide. Near the fire they had spread fir boughs, and on this fragrant couch James was lying. He was all unconscious, appar

young, businesslike fellow with a clean, wholesome face, dressed only in gauze shirt, trousers, and boots without stockings; this lack, of course, was not immediately apparent

this the young man expertly built up a new fire. It crackled and blazed into life, throwing a ruddy glow over the shingle, the rocks behind, and the figure lying on the balsam couch. James's face was waxen in its paleness, save for

in the back with a string of slippery seaweed. Her neck was bare, her feet also; her loose blouse had lost all semblance of a made-to-order garment, but it still covered her; while a petticoat that had once been black satin hung in stiff, salt-dried creases

ld help. The milk was good, only he would take so little. I think I

left alone. He went on speaking slowly, after a pause. "I can find the farm-house, I am sure, only it may take a little time. Following the

r leaving her lying on a slimy, seaweed-covered rock, he had gone out again and brought in her companion in a far worse condition than herself. The young man, also, was a survivor of the Jeanne D'Arc, having come from the disabled craft in the tiny rowboat that was now on the beach. More than

spectful tones, it suddenly came back to h

ew chauffeur; 'queer name, Han

y is true, M

echless at her growing wonder at the trick fate had played them. Her steady gaze, serious and earnest now, without a hint of the laughter that usually came so easily, dwelt on the young man's eyes for a moment, then she tu

his man is?" she a

w York harbor, the night we weighed ancho

ighed anchor!' Wh

demoiselle; at a

t day is

oiselle; and pas

had got milk for their sustenance, had been almost the last person her conscious eyes had seen in that half-hour of terror on the hillside. Her next memory, after an untold interval, was the rocking of the ship, an old woman w

awkwardly over her, as i

Whatever you think of me, you can t

ha moaned in a muffled voice. "Only I

moiselle. But I can make you

. "I can sleep on the

for help from the village, as soon as I've supplied the fir

mind upon the problem at hand. "Go for a doctor first, Hand; then, if you can, get some food-bread and meat; and, for pity's sake, a cloak or

selle; between nin

d; and then arrange, if you can, for a carriage and another man, besides yourself and the doctor, to come down as near this point as possible. You two can carry him"-she looked wi

tating, however. At last, "I hate to leave you here alo

e back to her again, moreover, how this man and another had made her a prisoner in the motor-car, and at the moment she felt foolish in trusting to him for further help. It ca

atever it was, it was unworthy of you. You are not by nature a criminal and a stealer of women, I know.

her own; and though he flinched at "c

help you, Mademois

it, tired and overwrought as it was, rose for an i

asked. "Honest true

elaxed a little. "Honest true,

any darker. Don't try to return in the night, at the risk of losing your way. Bu

ntil the faint rustling of his footsteps ceased, then turned back to the camp on the beach. She went to the fire and stirred up its coals once more before returning to James. He was sleep

rocks to come to herself as she would, while Hand had rubbed and pummeled and shaken James until the blood flowed again. It had flowed too freely, indeed, at some time during his ordeal; and tiny trickles of blood showed on his lips. Agatha, dazed and aching, was trying to craw

tree, since he returned three or four times to fill the pail. What a wonderful life-giver the milk was! She had drunk her fill and had tried to feed it to James, who at first tasted eagerly, but had, on the whole, taken very little

more keenly she tucked it closer about him. Alone as she was now, in solitude with this man who had saved her from the waters, with darkness and th

looking at the mask of a face. The rough beard of a week's growth made a deep shadow over the lower part of his face; and yet, behind the mask, she thought she could see some token of the real man, not without his attributes of divinity. In the ordeal of the night before he had shown the highest order of patience, endurance and courage, together with a sweetness of temper that was itself lovable. But beyond this, what sort o

ghs that she had spread over him, she got up and went to the edge of the water to moisten afresh the bandage for his forehead. Involuntarily she shudd

asant gloom rested their tired eyes. Gradually he quieted down again; his restlessness ceased. The long twilight deepened into darkness, or rather into that thin lumi

un had lain on it through long summer days, and made for herself a bed and coverlet and pillow all at

ng Scorpion. They were watching her, she thought, to-night in her peace as they had watched her last night in her struggle, and a