my
guide, as we paused for a moment to regain our breath. And immediately
upon his words, and as if called forth by them, we perceived an unkempt
and disheveled head slowly uprear itself through the black gap before
us, then hastily disappear again behind the vines it had for a moment
disturbed.

"I will encounter him alone," I thereupon declared; and leaving the
guide behind me, I pushed forward to the cliff, and pausing before the
entrance of the cave, I called aloud:

"Mark Felt, do you want to hear news from your friend Urquhart?"

For a moment all was still, and I began to fear that my somewhat daring
attempt had failed in its effect. But this was only for an instant, for
presently something between a growl and a cry issued from the darkness
within, and the next moment the wild and disheveled head showed itself
again, and I heard distinctly these words:

"He is no friend of mine, your Edwin Urquhart."

"Then," I returned, without a moment's hesitation, "do you want to hear
news of your enemy?--for I have some, and of the rarest nature, too."

The wild eyes flashed as if a flame of fire had shot from them, and the
head that held them advanced till I could see the whole bearded
countenance of the man.

"Is he dead?" he asked, with an eagerness and underlying triumph in the
voice that argued well for the presence of those passions upon the
rousing of which I relied for the revelations I sought.

"No," said I, "but death is looking his way. With a little more
knowledge of his early life and a little more insight into his character
at the time he married Honora Dudleigh, the law will have so firm a hold
upon him that I can safely promise any one who longs to see him pay the
penalty of his evil deeds a certain opportunity of doing so."

[Illustration]

The vines trembled and suddenly parted their full length, and Mark Felt
stepped out into the sunshine and confronted me. What he wore I cannot
say, for his personality was so strong I received no impression of
anything else. Not that he was tall or picturesque, or even rudely
handsome. On the contrary, he was as plain a man as I had ever seen,
with eyes to which some defect lent a strange, fixed glare, and a mouth
whose under jaw protruded so markedly beyond the upper that his profile
gave you a shock when any slight noise or stir drew his head to one
side and thus revealed it to you. Yet, in spite of all this, in spite of
tangled locks and a wide, rough beard,