reat anxiety. The scientific world of England
was inclined to believe that one of its most distinguished members
had positively disappeared. At the same time, when so many people
were thinking about James Starr, Harry Ford was the subject of no less
anxiety. Only, instead of occupying public attention, the son of the old
overman was the cause of trouble alone to the generally cheerful mind of
Jack Ryan.

It may be remembered that, in their encounter in the Yarrow shaft, Jack
Ryan had invited Harry to come a week afterwards to the festivities at
Irvine. Harry had accepted and promised expressly to be there. Jack Ryan
knew, having had it proved by many circumstances, that his friend was
a man of his word. With him, a thing promised was a thing done. Now, at
the Irvine merry-making, nothing was wanting; neither song, nor dance,
nor fun of any sort--nothing but Harry Ford.

The notice relative to James Starr, published in the papers, had not
yet been seen by Ryan. The honest fellow was therefore only worried by
Harry's absence, telling himself that something serious could alone have
prevented him from keeping his promise. So, the day after the Irvine
games, Jack Ryan intended to take the railway from Glasgow and go to the
Dochart pit; and this he would have done had he not been detained by an
accident which nearly cost him his life. Something which occurred on the
night of the 12th of December was of a nature to support the opinions of
all partisans of the supernatural, and there were many at Melrose Farm.

Irvine, a little seaport of Renfrew, containing nearly seven thousand
inhabitants, lies in a sharp bend made by the Scottish coast, near the
mouth of the Firth of Clyde. The most ancient and the most famed ruins
on this part of the coast were those of this castle of Robert Stuart,
which bore the name of Dundonald Castle.

At this period Dundonald Castle, a refuge for all the stray goblins
of the country, was completely deserted. It stood on the top of a high
rock, two miles from the town, and was seldom visited. Sometimes a
few strangers took it into their heads to explore these old historical
remains, but then they always went alone. The inhabitants of Irvine
would not have taken them there at any price. Indeed, several legends
were based on the story of certain "fire-maidens," who haunted the old
castle.

The most superstitious declared they had seen these fantastic creatures
with their own eyes. Jack Ryan was nat