ng beside him, and they would not
let him talk. But gradually, as his strength returned, he took in the
story. From his brother, from the neighbors, from the priest most of
all, he heard, bit by bit, of the work that the Americano had
accomplished--the Americano whom he, Luigi, had nearly slain. Slowly,
slowly, he understood that the "Little Devil" mine had been
re-christened "The Paradise"--not by the nobles who owned it, but by the
people who worked in it. And then little by little the resentment, the
bitterness, the grievances of his long, hard life turned him against the
Duke Scorpa just as his realization of what Derby was doing won him over
to the American.

That Scorpa should have sent a man to stab him was, curiously enough, a
fact that did not seem to trouble Derby in the least. It was, after all,
no more than he might have expected. Before he had left Rome, Scorpa had
warned him. He rather admired him for that.

Derby was heart and soul interested in his settlement. In the short
space of time since he had arrived in Sicily, the incredible had
already come to pass--and to Derby, as he looked forward, there was
every reason to feel assured that the settlement would develop as he had
planned. The output of the mines promised to be up to the most sanguine
expectation. The whole scheme was organized and started--there was
nothing to do now but to keep it going.

In the meantime he received a cable which, when deciphered, ran:

"Telegraph _Celtic_ at Gibraltar, giving Hobson
instructions where to find you. Put package he
carries in safe keeping. In case of serious
development use own judgment."

Hobson was one of J. B. Randolph's secretaries. Derby at once wired to
Hobson to await him in Naples. Then, leaving Tiggs and Jenkins in
charge, he and Porter embarked.

As they leaned over the deck rail watching the blue shallows where the
waters of the Mediterranean curled away from the ship's prow, Porter
said:

"It must be good to be going back to Rome with the feeling that you have
carried out what you started to do. It's a big feather in your cap, and
now there is only one thing needed to make the whole episode a romance
from start to finish!"

Derby interrogated good-humoredly, "And that is----?"

"You will probably go up in the air if I tell you."

Derby looked up from the water. "Go ahead--say what you like----"

"You ought to marry Miss Randolph!" Porter declare