oroughly: I am offering
you this job because my friend wants to help you. I don't know
anything about you. I am gambling on his intuition." McClintock
preferred to put it thus.

"To-morrow night!" said Spurlock, in a wondering whisper. Out of
the beaten track, far from the trails of men! He relaxed.

The doctor reached over and laid his hand upon Spurlock's heart.
"Thumping; but that's only excitement. You'll do."

Then he looked at Ruth. Her face expressed nothing. That was one of
the mysterious qualities of this child of the lagoon: she had
always at instant service that Oriental mask of impenetrable calm
that no Occidental trick could dislodge. He could not tell by the
look of her whether she was glad or sorry that presently she would
be free.

"I have good news for you. If you do not find your aunt, my people
will take you under wing until you can stand on your own."

"That is very kind of you," she acknowledged. The lips of the mask
twisted upward into a smile.

The doctor missed the expression of terror and dismay that flitted
across Spurlock's face.

Once they were below, McClintock turned upon the doctor. "I can
readily see," he said, "why you'll always be as poor as a church
mouse."

"What?" said the doctor, whose thoughts were in something of a
turmoil. "What's that?"

"The old human cry of something for nothing; but with you it is in
reverse. You are always doing something for nothing, and that is
why I love you. If I offered you half of my possessions, you'd
doubtless wallop me on the jaw. To be with you is the best moral
tonic I know. You tonic my liver and you tonic my soul. It is good
sometimes to walk with a man who can look God squarely in the face,
as you can."

"But wasn't I right? That pair?"

"I'll take the boy; he'll be a novelty. Amiable and good-looking.
That's the kind, my friend, that always fall soft. No matter what
they do, always someone to bolster them up, to lend them money, and
to coddle them."

"But, man, this chap hasn't fallen soft."

"Ay, but he will. And here's the proof. You and the girl have made
it soft for him, and I'm going to make it soft for him. But what I
do is based upon the fact that he is one of those individuals who
are conscience-driven. Conscience drove him to this side of the
world, to this bed. It drives him to my island, where I can study
him to my heart's content. He believes that he is leaving this
conscience behind; and I want to watch his dis