TO KILL!

The Rajah Muda Saffir, tiring of the excuses and delays which Bududreen
interposed to postpone the fulfillment of his agreement with the
former, whereby he was to deliver into the hands of the rajah a certain
beautiful maiden, decided at last to act upon his own initiative. The
truth of the matter was that he had come to suspect the motives of the
first mate of the Ithaca, and not knowing of the great chest attributed
them to Bududreen's desire to possess the girl for himself.

So it was that as the second mate of the Ithaca with his six men waded
down the bed of the little stream toward the harbor and the ship, a
fleet of ten war prahus manned by over five hundred fierce Dyaks and
commanded by Muda Saffir himself, pulled cautiously into the little
cove upon the opposite side of the island, and landed but a quarter of
a mile from camp.

At the same moment von Horn was leading Virginia Maxon farther and
farther from the north campong where resistance, if there was to be
any, would be most likely to occur. At his superior's cough Bududreen
had signalled silently to the men within the enclosure, and a moment
later six savage lascars crept stealthily to his side.

The moment that von Horn and the girl were entirely concealed by the
darkness, the seven moved cautiously along the shadow of the palisade
toward the north campong. There was murder in the cowardly hearts of
several of them, and stupidity and lust in the hearts of all. There
was no single one who would not betray his best friend for a handful of
silver, nor any but was inwardly hoping and scheming to the end that he
might alone possess both the chest and the girl.

It was such a pack of scoundrels that Bududreen led toward the north
campong to bear away the treasure. In the breast of the leader was the
hope that he had planted enough of superstitious terror in their hearts
to make the sight of the supposed author of their imagined wrongs
sufficient provocation for his murder; for Bududreen was too sly to
give the order for the killing of a white man--the arm of the white
man's law was too long--but he felt that he would rest easier were he
to leave the island with the knowledge that only a dead man remained
behind with the secret of his perfidy.

While these events were transpiring Number Thirteen was pacing
restlessly back and forth the length of the workshop. But a short time
before he had had his author--the author of his misery--withi