rted any further cruelty on his
part I would show no mercy. But why had Mr. Wetherell brought the curio
with him now? I put the question.

"For one very good reason," he answered. "If it is the stick Nikola is
after, as I have every right to suppose, he may demand it as a ransom
for my girl, and I am quite willing to let him have it. The wretched
thing has caused sufficient misery to make me only too glad to be rid of
it."

"I hope, however, we shall be able to get her without giving it up," I
said. "Now let us go aft to lunch."

The day following we were within a hundred miles of our destination, and
by mid-day of the day following that again were near enough to render it
advisable to hold a council over our intended movements. Accordingly, a
little before lunch time the Marquis, Wetherell, the skipper and myself,
met under the after awning to consider our plan of war.

"The first matter to be taken into consideration, I think, Mr.
Wetherell," said the skipper, "is the point as to which side of the
island we shall bring up on."

"You will be able to settle that," answered Wetherell, looking at me.
"You are acquainted with the place, and can best advise us."

"I will do so to the best of my ability," I said, sitting down on the
deck and drawing an outline with a piece of chalk. "The island is shaped
like this. There is no reef. Here is the best anchorage, without doubt,
but here is the point where we shall be most likely to approach without
being observed. The trend of the land is all upward from the shore, and,
as far as I remember, the most likely spot for a hut, if they are
detaining Miss Wetherell there, as we suppose, will be on a little
plateau looking south, and hard by the only water on the island."

"And what sort of anchorage shall we get there, do you think?" asked the
skipper, who very properly wished to run no risk with his owner's boat.

"Mostly coral. None too good, perhaps, but as we shall have steam up,
quite safe enough."

"And how do you propose that we shall reach the hut when we land?"

"I have been thinking that out," I said, "and I have come to the
conclusion that the best plan would be for us to approach the island
after dark, to heave to about three miles out and pull ashore in the
boat. We will then ascend the hill by the eastern slope and descend upon
them. They will probably not expect us from that quarter, and it will at
least be easier than climbing the hill in the face of a heav