ust such things."

The terrier evidently approved the sentiment, for he cocked his head
gravely to the side, and slowly wagged his stumpy tail.

But the girl did not remain long in idleness. For a time, her forehead
was delicately corrugated under the stress of rapid thinking as she
sat, her fingers clasped about her updrawn knees, then she rose and
hurried to Horton House. There were things to be done and done at
once, and it was her fashion, once reaching resolution, to act
quickly.

It was necessary to take Mrs. Horton into her full confidence, because
it was necessary that Mrs. Horton should be ready to go with her, as
fast as trains and steamers could carry them, to a town called Puerto
Frio in South America, and South America was quite a long way off.
Mrs. Horton had known for weeks that something more was transpiring
than showed on the surface. She had even inferred that there was "an
understanding" between her niece and the painter, and this inference
she had not found displeasing. The story that Duska told did astonish
her, but under her composure of manner Mrs. Horton had the ability to
act with prompt decision. Mr. Horton knew only part, but was
complacent, and saw no reason why a trip planned for a later date
should not be "advanced on the docket," and it was so ordered.

Steele, of course, already knew most of the story, and it was he who
kept the telephone busy between the house and the city ticket-offices.
While the ladies packed, he was acquiring vast information as to
schedules and connections. He learned that they could catch an
outgoing steamer from New Orleans, which would probably put them at
their destination only a day or two behind Saxon. Incidentally, in
making these arrangements, Steele reserved accommodations for himself
as well as Mrs. Horton and her niece.

* * * * *

With the American coast left behind, Saxon's journey through the
Caribbean, even with the palliation of the trade-winds, was
insufferably hot. The slenderly filled passenger-list gave the slight
alleviation of an uncrowded ship. Those few travelers whose
misfortunes doomed them to such a cruise at such a time, lay
listlessly under the awnings, and watched the face of the water grow
bluer, bluer, bluer to the hot indigo of the twentieth parallel, where
nothing seemed cool enough for energy or motion except the flying fish
and the pursuing gull.

There were several days of this to be endure