ch him. A quarter of a million! And with his knowledge
of the secret marts he could easily dispose of them. Worth a bold stroke,
eh?"

"But how will he get them off the yacht--transship them?"

Her faith in Cunningham began to waver. A quarter of a million! The
thought was as bells in her ears.

"Of the outside issues I have no inkling. But I have shown you his
pearls."

"But the crew! Certainly they will not return to any port with us. And why
should he lie to me? There is no reason in the world why he shouldn't
have told me, if he had committed piracy to obtain your paintings. And he
was poring over maps."

"Some tramp is probably going to pick him up. He's ordered us away from
the wireless. Cunningham must have his joke, so he is beguiling you with
twaddle about hunting pearls. He is robbing me of my treasures, and I
can't strike back on that count. But I can land him in prison on the count
of piracy; and by the Lord Harry, I'll do it if it takes my last dollar!
He'll rue this adventure, or they call me Tungsten for nothing!"

"I wanted so to believe in him!"

"Not difficult to understand why. He has a silver tongue and a face like
John the Baptist--del Sarto's--and you are romantic. The picture of him
has enlisted your sympathies. You are filled with pity that he should be
so richly endowed, facially and mentally, and to be a cripple such as
children laugh over."

"Have you never considered what mental anguish must be the portion of a
man whose body is twisted as his is? I know. So I pity him profoundly,
even if he is a rogue. That's all I was born for--to pity and to bind up.
And I pity you, Mr. Cleigh, you who have walled your heart in granite."

"You're plain-spoken, young lady."

"Yes, certain sick minds need plain speaking."

"Then my mind is sick?"

"Yes."

"And only a little while gone it was romantic!"

"Two hundred million hands begging for bread, and you crossing the world
for a string of glass beads whose value is only sentimental!"

"I can't let that pass, Miss Norman. I have trusted lieutenants who attend
to my charities. I'm not a miser."

"You are, with the greatest thing in the world--human love."

"Shall a man give it where it is not wanted? But enough of this talk. I
have shown you Cunningham's pearls."

"Perhaps."

* * * * *

Night and wheeling stars. It was stuffy in the crew's quarters. Half
naked, the men lolled about, some in