rom the crooked mouth. He might leap on the deck as she swung
around, but he would then have to face the whole party.

After an interminable period--it was past three in the afternoon--the
Chinese appeared from a cabin, and sat down on the low rail aft,
mopping his shaven head. "I don't wish you any harm, little yellow
man," Bedient thought, "but you'd be most accommodating if you would
fall into a faint for a minute or two----"

At this juncture, Bedient was startled by the clapping of hands from
somewhere up the winding steps toward _The Pleiad_. The Chinese leaped
up to listen for a repetition of the signal, which his kind answers the
world over. The hands were clapped again, and then the voice:

"Oh, Boy, won't you come up here for a moment? I'm afraid to climb down
all these steps alone with this big package. It must be put aboard for
to-night."

"The unparalleled genius----" Bedient breathed.

The Chinese understood, and stepped ashore quickly. Bedient began to
roll forward with the first movement of the boy. The red chalk mark
would hardly be needed. He had just torn his finger upon a thorn.
Seeing the blood rise, it occurred that one is never without a bit of
red. At the base of the bank he turned his eyes upward. The Chinese was
plodding up the stairs, the woman holding his mind occupied with words.

Bedient leaped across to the deck, and sank into the cabin of the
_Savonarola_. From the shaded roomy quarter then, he ventured a last
look. John Chinaman's broad back was still toward him, and Miss Mallory
was laughing. "How good of you!" she said to the boy. "The steps looked
so many and so rickety, and I was all alone. Here's a _peso_ for you.
We'll be aboard about six." She laughed again.

"What a bright light to shine upon a man!" Bedient thought, as he
covered his bleeding finger with a handkerchief, to avoid leaving a
trail in the spotless cabin. He moved forward toward the right
compartment, unsteadily; then entered and closed the door.

* * * * *

This was Adith Mallory's especial afternoon and evening. She was
emphatically alive. One of her dearest desires, and one which had long
seemed farthest from her, was to do some big thing for Andrew Bedient.
The plan was hers, every thought of it, and now she saw him safely
stored in the forecastle.

She tried to put away all thoughts of fear. The party, of which she was
the blithest,--ah, how she loved sailing!--stepped o