uttered
Clayton; "even yet land may be sighted or a ship appear--in time."

"You will do as the majority decide, or you will be 'the first' without
the formality of drawing lots," said Monsieur Thuran threateningly.
"Come, let us vote on the plan; I for one am in favor of it. How about
you, Spider?" "And I," replied the sailor.

"It is the will of the majority," announced Monsieur Thuran, "and now
let us lose no time in drawing lots. It is as fair for one as for
another. That three may live, one of us must die perhaps a few hours
sooner than otherwise."

Then he began his preparation for the lottery of death, while Jane
Porter sat wide-eyed and horrified at thought of the thing that she was
about to witness. Monsieur Thuran spread his coat upon the bottom of
the boat, and then from a handful of money he selected six franc
pieces. The other two men bent close above him as he inspected them.
Finally he handed them all to Clayton.

"Look at them carefully," he said. "The oldest date is
eighteen-seventy-five, and there is only one of that year."

Clayton and the sailor inspected each coin. To them there seemed not
the slightest difference that could be detected other than the dates.
They were quite satisfied. Had they known that Monsieur Thuran's past
experience as a card sharp had trained his sense of touch to so fine a
point that he could almost differentiate between cards by the mere feel
of them, they would scarcely have felt that the plan was so entirely
fair. The 1875 piece was a hair thinner than the other coins, but
neither Clayton nor Spider could have detected it without the aid of a
micrometer.

"In what order shall we draw?" asked Monsieur Thuran, knowing from past
experience that the majority of men always prefer last chance in a
lottery where the single prize is some distasteful thing--there is
always the chance and the hope that another will draw it first.
Monsieur Thuran, for reasons of his own, preferred to draw first if the
drawing should happen to require a second adventure beneath the coat.

And so when Spider elected to draw last he graciously offered to take
the first chance himself. His hand was under the coat for but a
moment, yet those quick, deft fingers had felt of each coin, and found
and discarded the fatal piece. When he brought forth his hand it
contained an 1888 franc piece. Then Clayton drew. Jane Porter leaned
forward with a tense and horrified expression on her face as