dhood. But, on second
thought, I wondered if she would risk escape with an unknown white man;
if she would not rather face the supreme issue, once and for all, than
perhaps be forced into it later by an over-zealous stranger! In her
distracted state of mind I feared she would find the rescue too
precarious--too easily offering the same danger that beset her now, and
lacking her present weapon of defense. Yet if she refused to come--what
then? I could always rush the camp, if but to die with her. Having gone
over these possibilities, I whispered to Smilax:

"She'll come easier if she doesn't know I'm here. Echochee will remember
you, and reassure her. You might tell Echochee that you were hunting
this way and saw her beat the chap over the head with the tray.
Understand? After that you saw the rest and realized how much trouble
she was in. How about it?"

"Good," he grunted. "That good. To-night me tell Echochee get ready, and
to-morrow night we run 'way--maybe to Reservation. But we come by camp
and find you; then all work 'round to yacht. Good."

"Well," I demurred, "that isn't the way I meant, for I intend to stay
here and help. Some of those devils might get busy!"

"That good, too. Now we eat; then you go sleep."

While tackling our rations we discussed the plan again and again. I did
not want to leave Sylvia another night within the grasp of those fiends,
but Smilax insisted; explaining that she was practically safe for three
days, at any rate. Of course, each twenty-four hours would make her and
Echochee weaker from starvation and, as they would need strength, we
dared not wait too long. Immediate help from the _Whim_ was all but a
forlorn hope. The rescue had come suddenly up to us, and it must be met
without a thought of failure.

But as the tiresome afternoon wore on without further incidents to keep
us aroused, my fancies drifted from rescues to the rescued; and after a
while I whispered:

"I'll take that nap now,"--scarcely hearing him reply:

"Good."

CHAPTER XVI

THE CAVE MAN SETS FORTH

Close to my ear I heard a warning: "Sh!"--at the same time feeling a
hand squeeze my arm. It was dusk. While I slept the shadows had
lengthened and blended into those soft gray tones of twilight that give
mystery to forests of the South. Cautiously I raised my head and,
following the tense stare of Smilax, saw the cause of his agitation.

Three men were standing on the larger island, at the spot where