er many words.
Indeed, he appeared to be thinking of something far remote from the
present scene.

"Are you bored, Mr. Hastings? Does the sound of my voice annoy you?"
asked Mlle. Nadiboff, as the auto flew over the quiet country roads
inland from Spruce Beach.

"Good gracious, no!" replied Hal.

"Then why do you say so little?"

"Because you say it so much better, Mademoiselle."

"But flattery will never take the place of interested conversation."

"Engineers don't talk much," protested Hal.

"So they think a great deal. Of what were you thinking?"

"Oh?" murmured Hal. "Oh, I was thinking of my engine, I guess."

Mlle. Nadiboff bit her lips in secret rage. If she had felt that she
was doing poorly with Captain Jack Benson, evidently she was now seated
beside an absent-minded sphinx.

"What place is that over there?" inquired Hal, coming out of a brown
study as he felt some reproach in the stiffening attitude of his
companion.

Hal's eye had been caught by what looked like the ruins of an old castle.
Such sights are at least rare in the United States.

"That ruin, do you mean?" asked Mlle. Nadiboff. "Oh, it is a quaint bit
of a castle, only some three hundred years old, though long past in
ruins. I believe it was erected as a stronghold by some wealthy man,
in the old days when the pirates from Havana now and then swept along
the coast on their raids. Would you like to see the place, Mr.
Hastings?"

"Very much indeed," Hal admitted, "if you have the time."

"The time?" Mlle. Nadiboff's laughter rippled out merrily. "Why, I have
all the time in the world, Mr. Hastings. I live only to enjoy myself."

"That must be rather a dull existence, then," thought Hal, while his
pretty companion leaned forward to give the order to the chauffeur, who
turned up a road leading to the ruined castle of the old piratical days.

Jack had heard the conversation, and so knew, without asking, for what
they were now heading.

As they drew closer they discovered other automobiles near the old
castle.

"The place has several visitors to-day?" hinted Hal.

"Oh, yes; it is one of the show spots of this section," replied Mlle.
Nadiboff. "It does well enough to look about there for a few minutes.
But a ruin like that suggests death and decay, and I--I love life."

"Still, that castle is now a part of history," suggested Hal, "and
history, it seems to me, should always be interesting."

"This stupid young engineer