the custom to stifle at once any flare
of the fire, in order to maintain the smoke at the densest.

It was the fishermen's lights between Hunting Quarter and Cedar Island
that gave the Doctor his first glimpse of life anywhere in the vicinity.
Many boats had passed him going up and down the water way, but this
strange man had studiously avoided hailing them, or being hailed by
them. He was not willing to run the risk of being reported by any craft
so encountered.

Then, presently, he observed twenty-five or thirty of the lights burning
upon the water within a radius of a half mile. Some of them appeared to
be directly on the water's edge, while others were scattered over the
surface of the Sound. He wondered greatly at the weird sight, but his
drug-crazed nerves left him no courage to investigate the phenomenon.
But, of a sudden, the blanket-wrapped form in the bow stirred. There
came the gentle noise of a healthy yawn, and then the girl's voice
called:

"Doctor Garnet! Won't you please take me home--wherever that is--or some
place where there is food? I'm just as hungry I can be!"

"Yes, Miss Marion," the physician answered glibly. "We'll soon be where
there is both food and shelter. I'm so glad to find you improved! My
patient will soon be herself again."

"Yes," the girl agreed, "I am improved, Doctor. I feel quite myself
again, and I'm wondering where I am and what has happened. I must have
been unconscious for some time," she added thoughtfully, "for the ankle
I sprained while boarding _The Isabel_ is almost well. Do you know,
there is very little I remember after that? I recall the awakening in
the morning and the finding that the yacht was at sea and then your
coming to my assistance when I discovered that I was locked in my room.
Please, Doctor, won't you explain this whole affair to me? Were we
kidnapped by river thieves, and did you succeed in escaping with me?
Somehow, I have an impression that we're a long way from New York
Harbor." Even in the faint light from the moon, Ethel could see that the
physician was perturbed by her questioning. The fact startled her,
aroused a vague suspicion. She spoke now with an authoritative quality
in her voice.

"Doctor, what is the meaning of this reticence? Why do you show such
emotion? Has something dreadful happened? Surely, an explanation is my
due."

Garnet perceived that he had at last a sane, sensible woman with whom to
deal. He knew that it would be necess