p upon the deck, no sound to mar the
present serene fitness of things. But out of his dreamings he was
drawn back abruptly to the swaying, swinging deck of a crazy schooner
by the odd, vague feeling that he was not alone.

"Barlow," he called quietly. "That you?"

There was no answer and yet, stronger than before, was the certainty
that someone was near at hand, that a pair of eyes were regarding him
through the obscurity of the night. So strong was the emotion, and so
strongly did it recall the emotion of a few nights ago when he had felt
the influence of a strange woman's eyes, that he leaped to his feet.
On the instant he half expected to see Zoraida Castelmar standing at
his elbow.

What he saw, or thought that he saw, was a vague figure standing
against the rail across the deck from him, beyond the corner of the
cabin wall. A luminous pair of eyes, glowing through the dark.
Kendric was across the deck in a flash. No one was there. He raced
sternward, whisked around the pile of freight cluttered about the mast,
tripped over a coil of rope and ran forward again. When he still found
no one, so strong was the impression made on him that someone had been
standing looking at him, he made a stubborn search from prow to stern.
Barlow was in bed and looked to be asleep; the Philippine was muttering
over the wheel and when Kendric demanded to know if he had seen
anything said, "Aw," negatively; Nigger Ben had given over singing and
was feeding the canary and freshening its water supply.

Afterwards Kendric realized that all the time while he was racing madly
up and down, peering into cabin and galley and nook and corner, there
had been a clear image standing uppermost in his mind; the picture of
Zoraida Castelmar as she had stood and looked at him when she had said,
"I have put a charm and a spell over your life." Now he simply knew
that he had the mad thought that she was somewhere on board and that,
hide as she would, he would find her. But when he gave up and went
sullenly back to his toppled chair, he knew that all he had succeeded
in was in making both Nigger Ben and Philippine Charlie marvel. Nigger
Ben, he thought sullenly, had come close enough to understanding
something of what was in his mind. For the giant African rolled his
eyes whitely and said:

"Ha'nts, Cap'n Jim? You been seein' ha'nts, too?"

"What makes you say that, Ben?" demanded Kendric. "Did you see
anything?"

Nigger Ben looked fa