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an ebook published by
事業／計画（する） Gutenberg Australia
The Moccasins of Silence:
Ernest Favenc:
eBook No.: 0607071h.html
Language: English
Date first 地位，任命するd: Sep 2006
Most 最近の update: Jan 2023
This eBook was produced by Richard Scott, Roy Glashan and Colin Choat
見解（をとる） our licence and header
TO the に引き続いて story a preface is an actual necessity. I say this by way of 陳謝, for as a 支配する a preface is seldom read. I am going to touch on an aboriginal custom not 一般に known, in fact it is only of late years that it has been brought to light. In the heart of Australia, すなわち in the neighbourhood of Barrow Creek and to the north of that locality, dwell tribes whose 独特の 儀式s and 儀式s seem to 始める，決める them apart from their brethren of other 部分s of the 広大な／多数の／重要な Austral continent. These natives are exceedingly cunning in the construction of their 武器s, and 調印するs, much 似ているing hieroglyphic 令状ing, have been 設立する on them. But the most singular fact is that they are the only natives of Australia known to wear a foot-covering. Only a few pairs of these shoes have been brought into civilization. Mr. Norman Hardy has one pair, and there is a pair in the Australian Museum, on which Mr. R. Etheridge has written a paper, published in the 記録，記録的な／記録するs of the Linnean Society of N.S. むちの跡s, from which I 抽出する the に引き続いて description:
"It is now known that 確かな tribes of the aborigines, に向かって the centre of the continent, 製造（する） a very beautiful shoe composed of emu feathers. Two 完全に different uses have been ascribed to these. On the one 手渡す, the late Mr. E. M. Curr 明言する／公表するd that the 黒人／ボイコットs of the Musgrove 範囲s wear these shoes, when they attack their enemies by stealth at night; on the other 手渡す, Mr. C. French, 政府 Entomologist, Melbourne, has more recently referred them to a 部分 of the 在庫／株-in-貿易（する） of the rain-製造者 of the McDonnell 範囲s."
For the 残り／休憩（する） of this most 利益／興味ing and instructive article, I must 言及する my readers to the 記録，記録的な／記録するs of the society above-について言及するd.
The shoes are about 8 to 10 インチs in length and 4 in breadth. The upper part is woven of human hair, the 開始 to 収容する／認める the foot 存在 in the centre. The 単独のs are very 厚い and made of 乾燥した，日照りの grass, mixed with gum and human 血. On the 単独の is then stuck a dressing of emu feathers which （判決などを）下すs them as noiseless as the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） slippers of the 夜盗，押し込み強盗. The shoes are 正確に／まさに the same at each end, there 存在 neither heel nor toe. In giving them the 指名する of "Moccasins" I am aware that I am taking somewhat of a liberty, but the picturesqueness of the 肩書を与える was too alluring to be resisted.
—Ernest Favenc.
A GROUP of New Guinea boys busily engaged in きれいにする pearl-爆撃する, chattering the while, as they （権力などを）行使する their knives, and show their strong, even teeth in たびたび（訪れる） laughter. 罰金, strapping, 巡査-coloured fellows, with 広大な／多数の／重要な mops of hair dyed yellow. A white man leans against the door 地位，任命する, dreamily smoking; trying hard to think of nothing and 後継するing tolerably 井戸／弁護士席. Beyond—is as fair a 見解（をとる） as could be seen anywhere in the thousands of miles of the long Australian coast-line.
It is the glorious winter 天候 of the southern tropic, and the 深い blue waters of the almost land-locked 海峡 are rippling merrily under the breath of the 安定した south-east 季節風. The grey hills of Prince of むちの跡s Island stand out in striking contrast to the white sands at their feet, and the 入り口 to the 狭くする passage separating it from Friday Island is just 明白な, looking like the mouth of a picturesque inlet. White sails on the sea, white houses clustering here and there on the shore, make a scene gay with color and sparkling with 日光.
"The 旗's up, Tom," says a 発言する／表明する; "she's just 一連の会議、交渉／完成するing Goode Island," and the （衆議院の）議長, approaching, lays his 手渡す on the smoker's shoulder.
"Heaps of time," returns Tom, knocking his 麻薬を吸う out; "but I suppose I may 同様に get ready."
"Take a turn on the beach first," replies the new-comer, "I have something more to tell you."
They stroll on until they stand の近くに to the lapping wavelets kissing the 爆撃する-strewn 立ち往生させる, then Annett, a man some five or six years older than his partner, Tom Duckworth, speaks: "The main thing, of course, as you know, is to find out the どの辺に of Ras Mahad."
Tom nodded. "Hillsden knows, but, if he won't tell, I don't 正確に／まさに see how you are to make him; that is, without letting him into our 信用／信任, and he's too big a scamp for that. But we discussed all this before. What I have to tell you is this. You remember the boy Djuran we 選ぶd up 流浪して on that proa, half-餓死するd. He knows やめる as much about what we want to find out as Ras Mahad himself. Comes from the same place, probably a relation of some sort. I heard last night that he was on the nor'-west coast, and it's my belief that Ras Mahad is there too, so, if you can make nothing out of Hillsden when you're 負かす／撃墜する, we'll go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する there and see."
"I don't see why Hillsden should 辞退する to tell me what he knows."
"簡単に because he is one of those 怪しげな, しっかり掴むing rogues who would すぐに 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う that you had some ulterior 動機 in asking the question—."
"Which I have," interrupted Tom.
"True; but whether you had or not he would 推定する that you had, and tell you a 嘘（をつく） on 原則. It's one satisfaction to know that, if you get nothing out of him, he'll get nothing out of you."
Tom smiled grimly; the reticence of his nature was 井戸／弁護士席 known in Torres' 海峡.
"Here she comes 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the point," went on Annett, "You'll go and see Ruth as soon as ever you get 負かす／撃墜する;" and the two men turned 支援する to the hotel.
The E. and A. steamer slowed 負かす／撃墜する and 選ぶd up the water-police boat with the 居住（者） and customs-officer on board, then, after a 簡潔な／要約する interval, went と一緒に the hulk, made 急速な／放蕩な, and すぐに a furious 爆破 on the whistle 布告するd the fact that she had no time to waste at Thursday Island.
The スパイ／執行官's boat, with its smart-looking coloured 乗組員, had just returned from the steamer and was waiting at the boat jetty when the partners （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する, both now dressed in immaculate white, the luggage was put in and the two men were soon と一緒に the 中国 boat. From the greetings Tom received as he stepped on board, it was evident that he was both 井戸／弁護士席-known and 井戸／弁護士席-liked. The 貨物 was 速く transhipped to the hulk, the third whistle blew, and with a warm handshake the two men parted. "Who is your lady 乗客?" asked Duckworth of the purser, as he regarded a feminine 反対する in a 茎 議長，司会を務める on the poop.
"From Hong Kong. By the way, she （機の）カム up with us over two years ago, the last time that you did."
"What, that sallow girl with the big 注目する，もくろむs? Let's see, what was she going to do—join her relations at Singapore or somewhere?"
"Yes, I think so. At any 率 she's married now, so you're 安全な."
"Whom did she marry?"
"Say—What did she marry? Some sort of a half-bred Portuguese. Plenty of money, seemingly, for she's a walking jeweller's shop. She gave us to understand that when she got married she 規定するd to have a trip to Australia once a year for her health."
"O hang it!" said Tom wearily, "she'll 推定する／予想する me to remember her and play pretty, and all that sort of thing. Come on, like a good fellow, and let's have some whisky first."
The refreshment 結論するd, Duckworth went to his cabin and saw his 罠（にかける）s stowed. The purser was sitting at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with a lot of papers before him when he again stepped into the saloon, and the purser made a slight gesture に向かって the main-deck.
"She's waiting for you," he said, with a grin.
"What was her maiden 指名する, do you remember?" asked Duckworth. "I must 演説（する）／住所 her by that. I'm not supposed to know that she is married."
"Blessed if I know. She calls herself Madame da Lucca now, but I can't remember what she was as a 行方不明になる. Something grand I believe, Montagu, Montmorency, or a 指名する of that sort. Here's Rawlins"—as the third officer entered—"he'll know, he was awfully gone on her. What was Madame's maiden 指名する before she was married?"
"行方不明になる Jones," returned Rawlins すぐに.
"So it was," said the purser.
"Go ahead, old man, you're 権利 now. Go and get it over."
Tom stepped out of the saloon. It may be supposed that the lady had also been making enquiries about his 身元, for she flashed a radiant ちらりと見ること of 承認 at him.
"So we are to be fellow-乗客s once more, 行方不明になる Jones," he said, as they shook 手渡すs.
"Yes, only you're not a fellow-乗客 with 行方不明になる Jones, but with Madame da Lucca."
"Then I have to congratulate somebody unknown to me?"
"You have"—she smiled—"and, without wishing to flatter you, I may say I am glad to see you on board, for we have only two other 乗客s and they are both 無効のs."
Duckworth had been 注目する，もくろむing her curiously. The scraggy girl with the sallow 直面する and big 注目する，もくろむs that he now 解任するd, had been 改善するd out of 存在. The big 注目する，もくろむs still remained, but the sallow complexion had developed into a warm olive 色合い which she had the good sense to leave alone, and the angularities of her form had 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd themselves into curves. "She must have been a good 取引，協定 younger than we supposed," thought Tom. "I have heard that these '脚s-and-wings' girls have a knack of suddenly surprising people this way."
"Certainly your 発言／述べる is not flattering," he said aloud, "as you infer that if there had been some more 乗客s you would not have cared whether I （機の）カム on board or not." Madame da Lucca laughed. "You're changed, Mr. Duckworth. I remember you as a very frigid person indeed, whom one could scarcely get two words from."
"You are changed, too," he said unthinkingly.
"I suppose I am," she said, after a pause. "I was the grub then; I am the バタフライ now."
"I never meant anything so rude," he said, あわてて coloring as much as such a sun-tanned man could.
"井戸／弁護士席, I 許す you if you did; you may sit opposite to me at dinner," and, with a flash of the big 注目する，もくろむs, she left Tom and entered the saloon.
"井戸／弁護士席 I'm blessed," thought Duckworth, 押し進めるing his hat 支援する and leaning against the 味方する. "What a 変形! I suppose in the lot she has got amongst she has been queening it, and that has given her such confounded 保証／確信."
"井戸／弁護士席!" said the purser as he approached and 申し込む／申し出d Duckworth a cigar, "how did you get on with Madame?"
"Look here!" returned Tom, "there's no humbug about this, is there? That's the same gawk that （機の）カム up with us that time—not an 年上の sister?"
"It's the very same, that I'll vouch for. I don't believe she's got any sisters. I thought she'd astonish you."
"Why hang it, man, she told me I could sit opposite to her at dinner! I suppose all you fellows would laugh if I had my chow sent into my cabin and said I was sea-sick?"
"We would so, and 示唆する that Madame should nurse you."
FROM the glad dancing waters of the 海峡s to the aridity of Central Australia is a quick and sudden change. It is night-time, and a young and 沈むing moon throws but a sickly light around—a light that is more 混乱させるing than starlight. There is no cheery （軍の）野営地，陣営-解雇する／砲火／射撃 炎 here; for, 負かす／撃墜する in a 炭坑，オーケストラ席, dug 深い in the earth to hide its glow, is a heap of glowing charcoal, and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it the members of the surveyor's （軍の）野営地，陣営 warm their frosty 手渡すs and discuss the day's work.
Two men are standing somewhat apart from this subterranean furnace, and suddenly one stops and 持つ／拘留するs up his 手渡す, and the other 中止するs speaking.
"There, Jim," says Lestrell, the surveyor in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, to his cadet, "I heard it again, I am sure. Let's get away from the （軍の）野営地，陣営 and listen. Those confounded camels make as much noise as a blacksmith's bellows."
The two go a few paces away from the （軍の）野営地，陣営 and stand—listening. 根気よく they remain, and are rewarded for their trouble.
From the far distance, seemingly 権利 under the dying moon, rises a 詠唱する of men's 発言する／表明するs, wild, rhythmic, and solemn.
"I never heard niggers make such a noise as that before," says Jim, after the distant 発言する／表明するs had died into silence.
"Nor I," returns Lestrell, "But I tell you, man, they're a queer lot about these McDonnell 範囲s; やめる different from the ordinary run of 黒人／ボイコットs. Their 武器s have got strange minute carvings on them, like a language of 調印するs."
Again the far-away 詠唱する rises and 沈むs. Lestrell has taken out his compass, and, by the 援助（する） of a match, got the 耐えるing. "Look here, Jim, there's something special on now that no white man has yet seen. What do you say to going and having a look? They can't be more than a couple of miles away, at the outside."
"Risky," returned Jim, "but we'll go. Let's wake up that boy Dando, he （機の）カム from about here, and can explain what's going on."
"Wake him if you can, but I'd rather you undertook the 契約 than I did. I know what waking a nigger up at this time of night is like."
Jim however went away and by some means, best known to himself, 後継するd, for he presently returned with a very sleepy-looking 黒人／ボイコット boy of about twenty years of age.
"Now Dando," said Lestrell, "you keep 静かな."
Almost as the surveyor spoke the weird 詠唱する 開始するd again. If ever there was a wide-awake nigger in one instant, that nigger was Dando. He caught Lestrell's arm with both 手渡すs, and the white man could feel him trembling as though the ague had suddenly attacked him.
"Now, what does it mean?" asked the surveyor when there was silence once more.
"Debbil!" said the boy in his broken English—"big fellow debbil!"
"We are going to look at him," said Jim, "and you must come too, Dando."
All Dando's 祈りs and supplications were of no avail, and the three started off in the direction of the strange sound In いっそう少なく than two miles they were の近くに to the reflection of a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 which they had seen as soon as they had got 公正に／かなり away from the （軍の）野営地，陣営; 明らかに it was in a ravine running 負かす／撃墜する from an 辺ぴな 刺激（する） of the 範囲, and, approaching 慎重に, they 設立する 避難所 behind some 玉石s, and looked 負かす／撃墜する at the scene.
They were closer than they imagined, for the wavering light and the 影をつくる／尾行するs had deceived them. There were but six 黒人／ボイコットs in all, five of them 存在 fully 武装した and painted, but the sixth was 非武装の and hideous to look upon. His 直面する was whitened all over, so that his 注目する，もくろむs seemed looking out of a mask, and every bone in his lean, naked 団体／死体 was 選ぶd out with white pigment, on which were stuck tufts of white feathers, 固く結び付けるd with human 血. At sight of this gruesome 人物／姿／数字 Dando crouched 負かす／撃墜する beside Lestrell, shuddering convulsively.
This man seemed to be the leader of whatever diabolical 儀式s were going on. He had before him what appeared to be a pair of shoes, and these appeared to be the especial 反対するs of attention to all of them. He was busy with them when the whites first looked 負かす／撃墜する, but, having finished whatever it was he was doing, he suddenly arose, 持つ／拘留するing them aloft, one in each 手渡す, repeating some 決まり文句／製法 as he did so. At the words he uttered the 黒人／ボイコットs crouched 負かす／撃墜する as if in terror, and Lestrell made sure that they would be discovered, Dando's 地震ing was so violent.
Three times the awful thing repeated the words, whatever they were—standing there in the red firelight, with skinny 武器 upraised, and a background of blackness behind. Presently he 中止するd, the other 黒人／ボイコットs raised their 長，率いるs, and the weird 詠唱する arose once more. Uncanny as it had sounded at a distance, it was even more so when looking 負かす／撃墜する upon the singers.
When silence 後継するd, the necromancer rose up again and was about to proceed with some more of his mummery, when his gaze suddenly became 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the 激しく揺する behind which the two white men were hiding. In their 利益／興味 in what was going on, they had 許すd too much of their 長，率いるs to be seen, and the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 炎ing up, had illumined their white 直面するs. Yelling and stamping with 激怒（する）, the magician pointed に向かって them, and the other 黒人／ボイコットs, echoing his cries, shipped their spears and 用意が出来ている to throw them.
Lestrell and Jim ducked, 損なわれない, as the 武器s 投げつけるd against the 激しく揺するs, and the former said to his companion: "No help for it now, Jim. I hate to have to do it, but it's our only chance. I'll take the 薬／医学-man; you take the big fellow in the lead."
The 黒人／ボイコットs were 前進するing, the hideous white-and-黒人／ボイコット 人物／姿／数字 dancing in demoniac 激怒（する） around the 解雇する／砲火／射撃.
The two 解雇する／砲火／射撃d together. Jim's man went 負かす／撃墜する in a heap and never moved; the 薬／医学-man fell on his 支援する; the others hesitated, looked around and fled.
"Get up!" said Lestrell, kicking Dando, who was still crouching on the ground.
"We're going to the （軍の）野営地，陣営. Come and tell us what all this debbil-debbil stuff has been about."
Dando got up and gazed fearfully on all 味方するs, but, seeing the （軍の）野営地，陣営 明らかに 砂漠d, followed Lestrell and Jim 負かす／撃墜する.
"I want to see what those things are that he was blessing, or 悪口を言う／悪態ing, or something," said Lestrell, and going 今後 he 選ぶd up the two 反対するs lying 近づく the 団体／死体 of the 薬／医学-man.
They were a pair of beautifully woven slippers, or rather, moccasins, made the same at both ends, and strangely small, considering the size of a 黒人／ボイコット-fellow's foot. So far as Lestrell could 裁判官 by the firelight, they were woven out of human hair.
"What are these for, Dando," he asked.
"Blackfellow go alonga 'nother fellow's （軍の）野営地，陣営, sun 宙返り／暴落する 負かす／撃墜する, kill him: that fellow no makum noise."
Lestrell looked at Jim, who was 診察するing one of them. "Never heard of them before," he said, "but that must be their use, evidently. To こそこそ動く on an enemy at night and kill him."
"What was that old man 説, Dando?" asked Lestrell. "One time 血 sit 負かす／撃墜する. Two fellow 血 sit 負かす／撃墜する. Three fellow 血 belonga man 貯蔵所 carry shoe."
Lestrell put the moccasins 負かす／撃墜する, and as he did so said:—"We'll have a good look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and then get 支援する to （軍の）野営地，陣営." A shriek from Dando stopped him.
Up rose the awful spectre of the 薬／医学-man. He had been 発射 through the chest, and the 血 had made hideous streaks of crimson across the white paint with which he was bedaubed. Swaying before the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 he stood, and, scooping up a handful of half congealed 血 from his 団体／死体, shook and ぱらぱら雨d it over the moccasins. Then, with his bloodstained 手渡す uplifted to the 星／主役にするs, his sightless 注目する，もくろむs 星／主役にするing out of the white mask that covered his 直面する, he strove to utter once more the imprecation he had 以前は repeated. With 血 and froth oozing at every word from his half-dead lips, he called 負かす／撃墜する his final 悪口を言う／悪態 and dropped dead at the end.
No man's 神経 is proof against such a scene. It was some time before Lestrell 召集（する）d his, 十分に to stoop and 選ぶ up the awful shoes of death.
"Once have they been wet with 血," he said. "I will take them away and see that the 悪口を言う／悪態 is of no avail."
The two men and the still 地震ing 黒人／ボイコット boy returned to their （軍の）野営地，陣営, and in 予定 time the 調査する was finished and Lestrell returned to Adelaide, taking with him the silent moccasins, the first of the 肉親，親類d that had ever been brought in from the 内部の.
"YOU will call and see me," said Madame da Lucca to Duckworth, as they said goodbye when the steamer reached Sydney. Tom, of course, replied that he would, and the cab drove away.
"Which shall I do first?" he thought, after he had settled himself at his own hotel; "go and see how Ruth is getting on, or have it out with Hillsden. I'll 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする up." He did so, and it turned out to be Hillsden.
Hillsden was an ex pearl-sheller, and an ex good many other things. He had 放棄するd pearl-爆撃する, or it had 放棄するd him, and had started an "機関" in Sydney—a 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 which covers all the iniquities in life, from 保釈（金）ing out a drunken man to 交渉するing a 貸付金 for a few thousands. Hillsden, however, was supposed to keep to the Northern 貿易（する）, and by the 外見 of his office he seemed to 繁栄する on it.
"Captain Duckworth, by Jove!" he cried, when Tom was 勧めるd in. "Delighted to see you, old man," he went on, wringing his 手渡す as though they were the dearest friends who had been parted for years. "How are they all, up north."
"First-率, when I left. 爆撃する was getting 不十分な, but we've struck a fresh patch," returned Tom.
"Glad to hear it."
"How are you doing?"
"公正に／かなり; can't 不平（をいう）."
For about half an hour the two talked "shop," and Duckworth 徐々に led 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to the 開始 he was looking for.
"By the way, talking of Darnley Island, what's become of that Malay diver you had out there—Ras Mahad?"
"I don't know; lost sight of him altogether. Why? Do you want him?"
"We want another diver, and he was a good man."
"Yes, a 安定した sort of fellow; but I am under the impression, in fact, almost sure, that he went home."
"That's a 嘘（をつく）," thought Tom, and Hillsden, had just made the same mental 発言／述べる 関心ing Tom's 観察. "I should like to have got 持つ／拘留する of him," said Duckworth; "but, if you don't know where he is, I don't suppose anybody does, as you were the last man he was working for."
"I've lost sight of him altogether, my dear fellow, but it struck me he was a bit homesick, and when those fellows get that way they 一般に 出発／死, as you know."
"I've got to go a short distance out of town this afternoon," said Tom, rising, "so must be going."
"Look me up to-morrow, old fellow, and we'll go and have some lunch together. By the way, I forgot to ask after Annett?"
"He's first-率, thanks."
"Ever heard the truth about his brother; whether he is alive or dead?"
"No; we are still in 疑問."
"Nor the diamonds, either?" went on Hillsden, laughing. Tom laughed too, and had opened the door, when Hillsden suddenly said:—"Doesn't Ras Mahad know something about the 場所／位置 of the 難破させる?"
"We are all in the dark, and I don't suppose shall ever know more than we do now. See you to-morrow," and Duckworth の近くにd the door.
"Seems to me I did more 害（を与える） than good," he thought, as he 伸び（る）d the street. "Didn't know that I was such a talkative fool before. Now I suppose I had better go out and see Ruth; wonder what she's grown like? Prim sort of 指名する; reminds me of Priscilla, the Puritan maiden, and all that 肉親，親類d of thing."
Duckworth あられ／賞賛するd a cab, for the ubiquitous trams had not then やめる 延長するd all over the Sydney 郊外s, and after about a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour's 運動 stopped at a pretty cottage, standing in fair-sized grounds. Everything about the place had a 静かな, 平和的な, old-world look, pleasant and refreshing. It was just the sort of place where you would 推定する／予想する to see the 地元の curate a favoured and daily 訪問者.
"行方不明になる Annett," said Tom, as he gave his card to the girl and was shown into a 有望な little 製図／抽選-room. Duckworth smiled as he looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する at the curios of all 肉親，親類d about the room, every one telling of the torrid zone. He was gazing out of the window at the 削減する garden, in the indolent fashion peculiar to him, thinking, somehow, of Madame da Lucca's big 注目する，もくろむs, when two 手渡すs were placed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his neck by someone who had stolen up softly behind him; his 長，率いる was pulled 支援する and a kiss bestowed on his cheek.
"There uncle Tom," said a girl's 発言する／表明する, "that's for you, and"—giving him another—"that's for uncle 刑事."
Duckworth turned; caught her 手渡すs, and looked at her. Priscilla, the Puritan maiden, indeed!
The girl was about eighteen, but, beyond the impression she at once gave you that she was pretty, it would be almost impossible to 述べる her. She had a straight nose and a good mouth, but, except that her 注目する，もくろむs were honest and merry, you could not have portrayed their colour, and her hair was the same—of a very indeterminate hue. 青年, health and sweetness seemed to be part and 小包 of her 存在, and the fitting word for her would have been "bonnie."
Duckworth took her 直面する between his 手渡すs and kissed her affectionately. Ever since the long absence of her father and his mysterious 運命／宿命, she had been as their child to both the partners. Once, when a boat 転覆するd almost half-way between Thursday and Friday Islands, Tom swam 岸に with her, and ever afterwards he had been her uncle by love, as Annett, his partner, was by 血.
"I've been looking out for you so long, uncle Tom," she said, "I thought that steamer was never coming in. You're going to stop a long while and give me a good time, aren't you?"
"You shall have the best of times while I'm here," returned Tom, laughing. "So, that's all you 手配中の，お尋ね者 me for, to give you a good time?"
"Not at all, you know I 手配中の，お尋ね者 you; but poor auntie can't get out, now. Here she comes," and she ran to the door, opened it, and lovingly 補助装置d a lady of over middle age, who walked with the 援助（する） of a stick. Tom, too, went to 会合，会う her, and her 直面する, which was a remarkably kindly one, brightened at sight of him. Together they put her in an 無効の 議長，司会を務める, and Duckworth sat beside her, while the girl took 所有／入手 of a low stool on the other 味方する.
"My brother is 井戸／弁護士席, I know from your letter," said 行方不明になる Annett. "How is he looking?"
"Just the same as ever; not a bit older."
"No news of Reggy?" she asked, putting her 手渡す as if unconsciously on the girl's 長，率いる.
"Nothing 限定された. One of us would have gone to look for him long ago had we any 手がかり（を与える）, but we might 巡航する all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する New Guinea, and to every island between Thursday Island and the Malay 半島 without avail, as it is."
"True," she replied.
"I have one thing to tell you," went on Duckworth. "But for this silly story that he had a big 小包 of diamonds from Borneo with him, I believe we should have 設立する out the truth long ago. We know that although the proa was 難破させるd 権利 enough; the probabilities are that every one got 岸に 安全に; but unfortunately we did not find this out until too late. Ras Mahad, one of the men on board, was 飛び込み for a man 指名するd Hillsden, and he must have let something 減少（する）, for we cannot find him, and I am 確かな Hillsden knows where he is and can put his 手渡す on him. We did not know that this Ras Mahad was one of the 乗組員 of the proa until after his 見えなくなる. We would tell this Hillsden what we 手配中の，お尋ね者 the man for, 簡単に to find out where the proa was 難破させるd, but he is a bit of a rogue and would play us 誤った, for he has got this story of the diamonds on the brain. However, there is a young fellow 指名するd Djuran who was also on board the proa, and Annett has heard that he is engaged at the pearl-漁業 on the north-west coast; so we may probably take the schooner and go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する there. We 選ぶd up this boy alone on a 砂漠d proa, half-餓死するd, but he could not talk English at the time, so, again we were in ignorance that we had a chance."
"It is over two years now," said 行方不明になる Annett.
"Yes, but I'm of the opinion that he will turn up at any time, there are a dozen 原因（となる）s that might have 延期するd him."
"I am glad to hear you say that, for I have the same hope myself. You know 同様に as I do what an erratic fellow Reggy was and how his love for adventure and 発見 would make him go anywhere and forget everything."
"Don't I? If the proa was 難破させるd on the New Guinea coast for instance, I have not the slightest 疑問 but what he would at once start off to see what the 内部の was like." 行方不明になる Annett smiled, but her 直面する wore a more 希望に満ちた look since she had been talking to Tom. "Will you stay with us Mr. Duckworth, or have you taken a room in town?"
"Ruth says she has got to have a good time while I am 負かす／撃墜する," replied Tom. "Is there anything on 価値（がある） seeing at any of the theatres?"
"Yes;" struck in Ruth, "there is an オペラ company playing 'Faust' to night, I want to see that."
"Very 井戸／弁護士席 then, 行方不明になる Annett, if Ruth will be content with the humble 立ち往生させるs, I will stay here and take her in, if not I must go 支援する and dress."
"Oh, I prefer the humble 立ち往生させるs, Uncle Tom."
"At that 率, I'll send my cabman away and tell him to come 支援する to take us in tonight."
"Uncle Tom," whispered Ruth that night, during one of the intervals, "There's a lady in the dress-circle keeps 星／主役にするing either at you or me through her オペラ-glass. I thinks it's at me. I wish she wouldn't."
"What's she like?" asked Duckworth.
"Dark, with a lot of diamonds."
"Is she looking now?" asked Tom, still without turning his 長，率いる.
Ruth stole a ちらりと見ること. "No; she has turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to speak to some one."
Duckworth looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する あわてて. "Yes, I know her, Ruth; she was a 乗客 on board the steamer; comes from Hongkong."
"A walking jeweller's shop," he thought—"a bazaar, rather; still, she's is a 罰金-looking woman."
But, in spite of her 存在 a 罰金-looking woman, Tom kept his attention riveted on the 行う／開催する／段階 for the 残りの人，物 of the 業績／成果. Somehow Madame da Lucca and his niece by 採択 did not seem to harmonise, so he 避けるd a 承認 in the most 臆病な／卑劣な and ungrateful manner.
"MADAME DA LUCCA," said Hillsden's clerk, as he 勧めるd that lady into the presence of his 主要な／長／主犯. The big 注目する，もくろむs, the perfect get-up, and the gracious manner, had all done their work. When that clerk went home that evening to his 郊外の cottage, he thought how ありふれた and dowdy his poor little wife looked, and wondered how he could have thrown himself away in such a 迅速な and careless fashion, instead of waiting until he （機の）カム across a countess.
The 迎える／歓迎するing between Hillsden and the lady from the 海峡s was cordial enough in its way, but it was not until some time had elapsed that anything of any 利益／興味 to this story was entered on.
"I've taken a fancy to Tom Duckworth," said Madame, at last, leaning 支援する in her 議長，司会を務める. "Sorry for Duckworth!" replied Hillsden.
"So am I, if he doesn't do as I want him to do."
"What's that?"
"Never mind; I have a 計画（する） of my own."
Hillsden considered a moment.
"I should advise you to leave Duckworth alone; he's too old and 用心深い a bird, and not the style of fool you are accustomed to."
The big 注目する，もくろむs flashed wrath.
"Mr. Hillsden, the fact that you—a man—once took advantage of an unprotected girl, does not now する権利を与える you to tell me that I am only fit to を取り引きする fools. Let me remind you that our positions have changed since those days, and that I fancy I know better than you do what I can or cannot do."
The man 演説（する）／住所d looked 負かす／撃墜する, as much abashed as a man like him could be, and trifled with the papers on his desk. The woman was magnanimous, and passed on to another 支配する at once.
"Where is Ras Mahad?"
"I believe, on the north-west coast."
"And you have implicit 約束 in this story of his that Annett had these diamonds in his 所有／入手 when the proa was 難破させるd?"
"I have, for I have heard from other sources that he 得るd them from the Rajah of Bamilok."
"And the proa was 難破させるd?"
"Somewhere on the coast of Timor."
"And Annett is there still? But I can't understand that—these are not the days of Robinson Crusoe and 砂漠 islands."
"That's 正確に／まさに the puzzle. Annett knows his way about 同様に as any one, so I am beginning to think he must be dead."
"And that was all you 設立する out from Ras Mahad?"
"Yes; he spoke bad English, and was very pig-長，率いるd; and when you get 持つ／拘留する of a pig-長，率いるd Mahomedan you might 同様に try to get （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） from a Chinaman."
"I have come 負かす／撃墜する 用意が出来ている to 供給（する） you with money to 起訴する the search for the どの辺に of that diamond-field in Borneo which Annett, dead or alive, got those diamonds from. The people at my 支援する can 得る 十分な 譲歩s from the Dutch 政府. All we want is the locality, and that Annett knows. If he is dead, he has left it behind in his papers for the 利益 of his daughter. By the way, I saw Duckworth at the theatre, the other night, and he had a young girl with him; I suppose that was Annett's daughter?"
"Probably; a pretty girl, I understand."
Madame da Lucca's lip curled. "井戸／弁護士席, I suppose some people might call her pretty, in a bread-and-butter sort of way; but that has nothing to do with us. What is the first move to be made?"
"Find Ras Mahad, and 賄賂 him to tell us where the proa was 難破させるd."
"And you think you know of his どの辺に, I suppose? It means you having to go to Cossack!"
"And giving up my 商売／仕事 here?"
"Now, Mr. Hillsden, do you imagine I am so ignorant as to think that the 商売／仕事 of a general スパイ／執行官 in Sydney, just now, means much more than a living?"
Hillsden laughed, but he was not a man who liked a joke against himself, and his laugh was 軍隊d. "Of course I am not making a princely fortune, but still, things are 改善するing."
"Then let it be understood that you go after this Malay, and soon, or Duckworth will be before you. We can come to 限定された 手はず／準備 tomorrow or the next day."
Hillsden 屈服するd; all trace of levity had long since 消えるd. "I will try and 拘留する Duckworth, somehow; for, from what he let 減少（する）, I know he is hot on this 追求（する），探索（する） after Annett. By the way, what's the girl's 指名する; do you know?"
"Yes, she was up at Thursday Island as a child; her 指名する is Ruth."
At this moment Hillsden's clerk entered with a card. "Lestrell," said Hillsden, musingly; "yes, I remember. Ask him to wait a few minutes, will you?"
Madame da Lucca rose as the clerk の近くにd the door. "Goodbye for the 現在の; to-morrow or the next day we will make 限定された 手はず／準備; you have my 演説（する）／住所." Hillsden opened the door and she passed out. In the outer office sat a 深く，強烈に sun-tanned man. He was goodly to look on, and Madame bestowed an appreciative ちらりと見ること upon him as the enthralled clerk showed her out.
"Mr. Lestrell, I suppose," she thought, as she descended the stairs. "Now, who is Mr. Lestrell?"
"井戸／弁護士席, Mr. Lestrell," said Hillsden, as the latter entered, "how have you been faring since we met in Port Darwin?"
"Hard 汚職，収賄, mostly; away in the centre of Australia. You got my letter?"
"Yes, and have made the enquiries you asked me to make. There has been no time as yet for a reply from 長，率いる-４半期/4分の1s; but, from what I can learn 地元で, it is all O.K.
"I suppose we shall hear soon. I don't 推定する／予想する it will be a 特に pleasant billet; but at any 率 it means change and experience."
"As I understand it, your 見込みのある 契約 is to 補助装置 at the coming 鮮明度／定義 of the exact 境界 between the Dutch and Portuguese in Timor?"
"Yes! I go as a 中立の to see fair play all around. As the place is a hot-bed of fever, and the Dutch 調査する-party and the Portuguese party are sure to quarrel, why, I don't think it will turn out much of a picnic." Hillsden laughed; "どの辺に do you begin?" he said, 主要な his 訪問者 up to one of the 地図／計画するs on the 塀で囲む.
"Here," returned Lestrell, 示すing a position on the West Coast. Hillsden looked hard at it, and an 利益／興味d look （機の）カム in his 注目する，もくろむs. "井戸／弁護士席," he said, "I don't envy you the 職業, but I suppose the 支払う／賃金 is good."
"Yes, but what I want to make sure of is that it will be paid—that's why I wrote from Adelaide to ask you to make enquiries. I heard that you had 開始するd 商売／仕事 here."
"I am just about to retire, though. 一方／合間 I will do all I can to get you the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） 手配中の，お尋ね者. When do you start?"
"Not for some weeks. Can you give me Duckworth's 演説（する）／住所? I heard that he was in Sydney."
"Yes, the E— Hotel; we had lunch together, the other day."
"Good-bye," said Lestrell, rising to go. "I have got to see about rooms. I have some work to 完全にする, and want a couple, one to work in and one to sleep in, as I work late at night, and I hate a 搭乗-house. Which is the best building?"
"Oh! there are whips of them now in Sydney; here, I'll 令状 負かす／撃墜する a few 指名するs." He did so, 手渡すd it to Lestrell, and the latter left the office.
Hillsden went over to the 地図／計画する and regarded it intently; then he sat 負かす／撃墜する and wrote a 公式文書，認める. "Take this to Madame da Lucca," he said to his clerk.
The 公式文書，認める ran: "Never mind Duckworth—Lestrell is your man. I will 請け負う that you shall 会合，会う him. He is going 近づく to the very 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, in a few weeks, with two parties of Portuguese and Dutch surveyors, to help to define the exact 境界 in Timor between the two nations."
DUCKWORTH and Lestrell had often met and become rather attracted to each other, their 迎える／歓迎するing then was cordial in the extreme.
"Are you engaged this evening?" asked Tom.
"No, nothing of any importance."
"Then come out with me. You know my partner Annett, I am going out to see his sister, who is a 広大な／多数の／重要な 無効の. We will have dinner there, and can discuss this trip of yours. I am 大いに 利益／興味d in it, for 私的な 推論する／理由s."
"Thanks! I'll come; I'll call for you about 5."
"Aunt!" said Ruth that afternoon, "here's a 電報電信 from Uncle Tom; he is coming out to dinner, and is going to bring a real, live man with him."
"I don't suppose he would bring a dead one," returned her aunt.
"I'll have to get something extra of course, and luckily my new dress （機の）カム home yesterday."
Lestrell stood in the little 製図／抽選 room strewn with 熱帯の curios. Duckworth had gone out of the room on some errand, for he was of course 解放する／自由な of the house. The door opened and Lestrell looked up 推定する／予想するing to see him return, but instead of his 天候-beaten 直面する there appeared a perfect Hebe of health and spirits who 前進するd to 迎える／歓迎する him by 指名する with a smile of welcome.
Lestrell had plenty of self-所有／入手, but for once he was disconcerted. "This is a nice trick of master Tom's," he thought, "I'll 支払う／賃金 him for it some day."
"行方不明になる Annett?" he asked enquiringly, as he took the 手渡す she 延長するd to him.
"I am Ruth Annett; 行方不明になる Annett is my aunt." This explained 事柄s, and when Duckworth returned he 設立する that the ice had been broken in the most 満足な manner.
Lestrell thought it was the best dinner he had eaten for a long time. The 甘い-mannered old lady at the 長，率いる of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する; the brilliant little beauty opposite to him, and his old friend at the foot.
"Have you seen that lady again, uncle?" asked Ruth; "the one that 星／主役にするd at me so at the theatre."
"I called as I 約束d, but she was out, and I am not sorry; she is certainly handsome enough, and her 注目する，もくろむs cannot be beaten; but I have no 願望（する） to keep up the 知識."
"Who is the lady under discussion?" asked 行方不明になる Annett.
"A Madame da Lucca, from Singapore," answered Tom すぐに, evidently wanting to 減少（する） the 支配する.
"Tennyson's words fit her 正確に／まさに," went on Ruth unheeding: "A queen with swarthy cheeks and bold 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs."
Lestrell looked up quickly. "Strange, when I was at Hillsden's office a lady （機の）カム out who honoured me with a very decided 星／主役にする; and the same quotation （機の）カム into my 長，率いる."
"Hillsden's office?" mused Tom, "then ten chances to one it was the same woman. I hope Hillsden's not a friend of yours, for I have no opinion of him."
"Scarcely an 知識, but I heard he was in 商売／仕事 here and wrote to him asking him to make 確かな enquiries for me."
"関心ing this trip?"
"Yes, I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to find out who were the responsible parties here, to 保証（人） the money."
"We must have a yarn about this presently, but Ruth won't let us talk shop now."
The dinner finished 首尾よく; and then Tom and the guest 延期，休会するd to the little den; 以前は sacred to Ruth's father, and lit their cigars.
"Now," 開始するd Duckworth, "I have strong 推論する／理由s for asking these questions, so don't think me curious or impertinent. You told Hillsden the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す in Timor you were about to visit?"
"I did, showed it to him on the 地図／計画する."
"Did he appear 利益／興味d?"
"Come to think of it—he did."
"Ruth's father was 難破させるd somewhere on that part of the coast we have 推論する／理由 to believe. He was in a native proa at the time, but our （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） is of the vaguest. One of the Malays was afterwards in Hillsden's 雇う at Darnley Island, and we believe that Hillsden 設立する out something about it, for a foolish yarn that at the time, Annett had a 価値のある 小包 of diamonds with him, began to float about the 海峡s. Mind you I do not credit one word of it, but unfortunately it was 十分な to make Hillsden keep 支援する from us the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） he had received—more or いっそう少なく—as to the locality of the 難破させる. This man Ras Mahad has since gone away; I believe Hillsden has an idea where he is, but no money to follow the thing up."
"But if your partner's brother is in Timor why does he not communicate with you? Timor is not such an outlandish place."
"That is the mystery, and I am afraid points to his death. Now, if it is to be a duel between us, why we have a card up our sleeve that Hillsden knows nothing of. Annett and I 選ぶd up an abandoned proa once when we were out with the schooner off Cape Wessel. On board was a young Malay, half or nearly やめる 餓死するd. We 救助（する）d him and took him to our 駅／配置する on Friday Island, and from there he went to the nor' west. After he had gone we 設立する out that he was another of the 生存者s of the 難破させるd proa. He was a 有望な boy when he pulled 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, and the other fellow was sullen and morose, and above all Hillsden knows nothing about this boy. I ーするつもりである to take the schooner and go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to try and find him before long, so we may yet 会合，会う in Timor. Now, will you help us to find Ruth's father?"
"Will I!" cried Lestrell, jumping up in his 強調, "with my last 減少（する） of 血! Perhaps, had he not met Ruth the reply would have been somewhat more 穏健な and いっそう少なく romantic."
The two shook 手渡すs, and Duckworth took up the tale again, "I am almost 確かな that it was this Madame da Lucca you saw in Hillsden's office, if so, it means mischief. They have been in communication before, and she has brought 負かす／撃墜する the needful money."
"Hillsden told me he was about to give up his 商売／仕事."
"That's it!" shouted Tom.
"It can't be only a coincidence. We must 行為／法令／行動する at once. Thank Heaven I met you, for you will help us and not them."
"I will do anything and everything I can."
"I know that; I must go north again, but we will have a long talk before I leave. Now let us go 支援する, if you've finished your cigar. 行方不明になる Annett, I know, wants to have a 静かな talk with you. She was very fond of her brother. He was a rambling fellow, やめる unlike my 安定した-going self, so of course all the women of the family worshipped him."
While Lestrell was telling 行方不明になる Annett of the 目的 of his coming trip, Ruth put her uncle Tom through a 厳しい cross-examination as to Lestrell and all about him. It was late for that 静かな 世帯 before he left, and it was with many 約束s of more visits before starting that he said 別れの（言葉，会） to his hostess, who, now that she knew he was to be associated in the search for her brother, wished to show him that she did not regard him as an ordinary 訪問者. Tom left his friend at his 一時的な lodgings at the hotel, and Lestrell went to the smoking room to 消費する a last cigar and meditate on the first girl's 直面する that had ever dwelt long in his memory. Passing the letter rack he looked there and 設立する a letter that had come during his absence. It ran:
Dear Lestrell,
Will you come to my office at 11.30 tomorrow? I have some special 商売／仕事 to see you about in 関係 with your visit to Timor, which has cropped up since we met. 信用ing I am not 干渉するing with any 事前の 約束／交戦 by this request, I am, etc., yours truly,
J.F. Hillsden.
Lestrell read the 公式文書，認める deliberately, then he smiled somewhat cynically. Duckworth was 権利 after all, he thought. Fortunately I have the run of the cards. Fancy having to take 味方するs against that girl! But I'll keep the 任命! Needless to say that 'that girl' was Ruth Annett. Hillsden's 公式文書，認める brought Madame da Lucca 支援する that afternoon.
"Is that the man I saw in the 前線 office?" she asked 熱望して.
"It is," he replied, "and we must have him on our 味方する, and if necessary, take him partly into our 信用／信任."
"How am I to get to know him?"
"That's it; let me think it out. Have your people no 利益／興味s in Dilli that you can ask him to enquire about coffee 農園s, or anything; say you heard from me that he was going on an important 使節団."
"That will do capitally. I only want to know him, and I will 勝利，勝つ him to our 利益／興味s. Does he know Duckworth?"
"Yes, 井戸／弁護士席; he has gone to see him this afternoon."
"Did you give him the 演説（する）／住所?"
"Certainly."
"Hills-den!" cried the woman rising in a 激怒（する） from her 議長，司会を務める.
"You are a fool! Why, he will learn all from him, 会合，会う and see that namby-pamby niece, learn that it is her father who is 行方不明の. We are too late."
"I should have been a fool not to give it when someone would probably have run against Duckworth in the street and learnt from him what I knew all the time," returned Hillsden hotly. Madame da Lucca paced up and 負かす／撃墜する the room in 激しい 怒り／怒る. At last she stopped, having evidently put some 強制 on herself.
"She has got the start," she muttered to herself, "but there will perhaps be more 楽しみ in the chase, after all. Hillsden, I apologise; carry out the idea you 提案するd just now. 令状 and ask this man Lestrell here at, say, half past 11 to-morrow morning. I will be here and have a good yarn ready."
She left the room without waiting for him to open the door.
"Phew! she's a terror," muttered the ex-pearl sheller. "Wonder why she is so madly jealous of this little girl? Lestrell is going to have 嵐の 天候 of it, whether he will or whether he won't, but it's no 商売／仕事 of 地雷, that part of it;" and he sat 負かす／撃墜する and wrote the 公式文書，認める.
TOM DUCKWORTH had just finished his breakfast and was meditating on the day's work before him, when Lestrell （機の）カム in to the smoking-room where he was enjoying his first cigar.
"You were a true prophet, old man," Lestrell said, 製図／抽選 a 議長，司会を務める beside him, and 手渡すing him Hillsden's 公式文書，認める. "That does not 要求する much reading between the lines."
Duckworth ちらりと見ることd over it. "This means fight," he said. "I must go 支援する by the first boat, and Annett and I will take the schooner 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to the nor' west at once and 安全な・保証する that boy I told you of. They are welcome to Ras Mahad. I'll be there first, or my 指名する is not Tom Duckworth."
"But how am I to 行為／法令／行動する?" asked Lestrell. "I ーするつもりである to keep the 任命 this morning, but what to do or say I have not 決定するd."
"Now you get into questions of 外交 beyond my humble capacity. I know what would be the best thing to do, but it's the 肉親，親類d of work that neither of us are 削減（する） out for."
"You mean, pretend to 落ちる in with her 見解（をとる）s and get her to confide them to you—under 誤った pretences, shall we say?"
"That's it. That's what Hillsden would do, and that's what she ーするつもりであるs to do with you, if she can, but I know very 井戸／弁護士席, it's what you can't do."
"I think I'll keep （疑いを）晴らす altogether; send an excuse this morning."
"No. This is やめる open and honest on your part, you 簡単に go there to find out what they want to see you about. I see nothing underhand about that, so far."
"Very 井戸／弁護士席, I'll 直面する the enemy, and you—you old poltroon, are going to run away."
"To fight another day," laughed Tom. "Now, look here,—I think you can take care of yourself, but, Madame da Lucca is 示すd dangerous."
"If she makes 注目する，もくろむs at me again, like she did the other day in Hillsden's office, I should most decidedly think so."
"井戸／弁護士席, 井戸／弁護士席, old man, I don't suppose, at your age, you 反対する to a little 穏やかな flirtation with a pretty woman?"
"Perhaps not, once, at 現在の I do." (He did not even own to himself that it was since he met Ruth.) "穏やかな flirtation, indeed! there would be nothing 穏やかな with her, if I'm a 裁判官 of character. However, I'll bell the cat, and 報告（する）／憶測 進歩; you can't leave for a day or two."
A couple of hours later, Lestrell was seated in Hillsden's office. "My （弁護士の）依頼人, Madame da Lucca, is 利益／興味d, through her husband, in some 広範囲にわたる coffee-農園s in Timor; there has been some difficulty out there, lately, and 審理，公聴会 of your ーするつもりであるd trip, she wishes to see you before you leave; in fact, she might come in at any moment."
"What can I do in the 事柄? I fail to see."
"Just 強いる her by making enquiries when you are at Dilli, on one or two points which she will 供給（する） you with."
"Madame da Lucca!" said the doubly enthralled clerk, 開始 the door.
Hillsden and Lestrell rose.
"You are Mr. Lestrell," she said, approaching him without waiting for Hillsden to について言及する his 指名する, and she held out a 手渡す of welcome, while Hillsden placed a 議長，司会を務める for her.
Lestrell could not fail to be struck by her beauty, and a 磁石の charm in her manner; but the thought that flashed through his brain was: "I am glad I met Ruth Annett first."
"So you are going to Timor, Mr. Lestrell. Have you been there before?"
"No, New Guinea has been my 限界."
"There is lovely scenery in Timor. I was there once, but it is very unhealthy; are you fever-proof?"
"井戸／弁護士席, I せねばならない be, but no one can say for 確かな . Hillsden said there was some little service I might be able to （判決などを）下す you out there. If so, believe me I shall be most happy to do anything in my 力／強力にする."
"When do you think of starting, Mr. Lestrell?"
"Not for some weeks."
"I am 推定する／予想するing some letters 負かす／撃墜する すぐに, giving me fuller 詳細（に述べる）s on the 支配する; probably to-morrow morning. Would you find it too much trouble to call and see me tomorrow afternoon?" and she turned a 十分な broadside on him.
"Mr. Hillsden has my 演説（する）／住所," she said, as she gave him her 手渡す again, and a 際立った 圧力 with it; then the misguided clerk showed her out.
"Who is Madame da Lucca?"
Lestrell said suddenly to Hillsden.
"Her husband is a very 豊富な Portuguese merchant in Singapore."
"かなり older than herself, I should imagine?"
"A natural guess, and a true one. Those 肉親，親類d of gorgeous women always do marry old men, and very sensible they are to do it, for they get their own way, then; and I need scarcely tell you that Madame da Lucca will have her own way. What do you think of her?"
"肉体的に, she is a most beautiful creature; spiritually, I think, when, as you say, she could not get her own way, she could be a devil. Now give me the 演説（する）／住所, for although I shall be pretty busy, I will call and see her."
"Have you got rooms yet?" asked Hillsden as he left.
"Yes, I have taken two in Sonaro 議会s. One is a large, 井戸／弁護士席-lighted room, just ふさわしい for my work. I shall 転換 my 罠（にかける）s in probably this afternoon. Good-bye."
Hillsden 開始するd arranging his papers. "It strikes me," he thought, "that Madame will run against a 行き詰まり，妨げる this time, and—I'm d—d glad of it." He snapped this out viciously; then he called in the clerk and told him that in a week's time he would be leaving the office and throwing up the 商売／仕事—ruthlessly thus dragging 負かす／撃墜する that 青年 from 見通しs of lovely women with flashing dark 注目する，もくろむs, to the prosaic reality that in a week he would be out of a billet.
Lestrell had 約束d to lunch with Duckworth, and he went straight to Tom's hotel, but Tom was out, and did not turn up until nearly one o'clock.
"I have had a wire from my partner," he said; "sent to Cooktown by the steamer に引き続いて 地雷. He was taken very ill すぐに after I left, and the doctor has ordered him south at once. I can't stop to 会合，会う him; we shall probably cross each other on the way, for I must not 行方不明になる the 罰金 天候 and get caught in one of those nor'-west ハリケーンs. However, you will be here. You know Annett, and he knows you, so you will be able to 会談する together 同様に as you and I. Now, how did you get on this morning?"
"I'm blessed if I know. Between ourselves, I believe she has no more 利益／興味 in coffee-農園s in Timor than I have. She 推定する／予想するs letters 負かす／撃墜する, and wants me to call to-morrow afternoon. Nothing 限定された."
Tom 押し進めるd his plate away with a jerk. "Have you finished? Come into the smoking-room. I can't talk amongst all this clatter. There'll be nobody in there, now."
Duckworth lit his cigar.
"Madame wants to get you alone for some 目的, and it's my opinion that she'll tell you some garbled story about Annett. She does not want （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） about coffee-農園s; she wants to make a fool of you, so that, if you hear anything of Annett and these precious diamonds—rot them!—you will tell her. Did she make 注目する，もくろむs at you again?"
Lestrell laughed. "Yes, I think she makes 注目する，もくろむs at everybody; it's second nature."
"First nature, my boy. But you won't lose your 長，率いる, will you?"
"Not to Madame da Lucca, at any 率. I can't answer for another woman when my time comes."
"It hasn't come yet, at any 率," said unsuspecting Tom.
"地雷 （機の）カム many, many years ago. Who do you think was the woman, Lestrell?"
"I cannot guess, old fellow." Duckworth took his cigar from his mouth, and his 注目する，もくろむs grew dreary; a new light illumined his rugged features. "You would scarcely think that 行方不明になる Annett was once as pretty as Ruth is now?"
"I can; she has a good 直面する, a 肉親，親類d 直面する, like one whom some 広大な／多数の／重要な 悲しみ has once stricken."
"You are 権利," and Tom laid his 手渡す on his friend's 膝. "She is not old in years, although she looks it. I was too late, too late! You understand her love had been given already."
"And he 証明するd unworthy and broke her heart?"
"No, Lestrell, no! She could never love an unworthy man; her instincts are too pure and true. You remember the 難破させる of the Barcelona?"
"I do; an awful 難破させる it was."
"He was 長，指導者 officer, and went 負かす／撃墜する doing his 義務 to the last. It was a terrible shock; it 老年の her 未熟に, and she has been an 無効の ever since. But we are true friends, I am proud to say, and, if trouble （機の）カム, which God forbid, she knows that I am at her service with all I have." Tom leaned 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める and smoked vigorously for a while.
"Enough of this," he said suddenly. "What are you doing this afternoon?"
"I was thinking of 直す／買収する，八百長をするing up my rooms. I must buy some trestles for my work, etc., and a few things for my bedroom."
"I'll come and help you. It will do me good, and, between us, we'll soon straighten the place out. Then, come out with me to dinner. I go out there every evening when I am in town. They lead a very 静かな, retired life."
"I will come with the greatest 楽しみ," returned Lestrell He did not ask where?—but there was no need, although Tom had not について言及するd a 指名する. When Lestrell and Tom returned together that night, Duckworth thought him the most unsociable companion he had had for a long time. When he did speak, he answered at 無作為の.
LESTRELL guessed that his visit was reckoned upon as a certainty when he went, the next afternoon, to the hotel Madame patronised, for he was at once 勧めるd up to her sitting-room. She was dressed in a loose gown, plain, but evidently expensive, and had just enough jewellery on for 影響. The sleeves were short enough and loose enough to show the 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd arm, 次第に減少するing to the wrist, 始める，決める off by a 選び出す／独身 plain bracelet. Her 注目する，もくろむs had lost the hard look that often marred their radiance, and were as soft and shy as a timid girl's. The resemblance was 高くする，増すd when a slight 紅潮／摘発する （機の）カム to her 直面する as she 迎える／歓迎するd her guest with a smile.
"Dangerous, indeed," thought Lestrell as he sat 負かす／撃墜する. One ちらりと見ること 一連の会議、交渉／完成する had shown him that the 従来の furniture of the hotel sitting-room had been 完全に changed in 外見 by the 新規加入 of rare and curious knicknacks, evidently the 所有物／資産／財産 of Madame da Lucca, and making an appropriate background to her warm beauty.
"Fancy, Mr. Lestrell! Those bothering letters have never turned up, after all, and I have brought you here for nothing." Lestrell told the 従来の 嘘（をつく） that she evidently 推定する／予想するd, and she went on.
"However, I'll try and make some 修正するs. Do you drink tea?"
"Of course. I am a bushman, and tea is the 国家の （水以外の）飲料 in the bush."
"Is it? I only know Australian cities; I have never been in the bush. As you are a tea-drinker I will give you a 扱う／治療する; some very special tea I brought 負かす／撃墜する myself, and which you could not buy in Sydney."
She touched the knob of the bell の近くに to her, and a maid-servant すぐに entered—evidently also Madame's 私的な 所有物／資産／財産. She received a few 指示／教授／教育s and left.
"Now, Mr. Lestrell, when the tea comes we will have a 雑談（する） about Timor. I have a story to tell you, but I always feel more eloquent when I have a cup of tea before me; it seems to do away with a lot of 形式順守."
"I やめる agree with you," returned Lestrell. "We are only savages, after all, and eating and drinking together are our 調印するs of 友好, as it is with them."
"When one man 会合，会うs another after a long 分離 it is the invariable 決まり文句／製法 to go and have a drink together, is it not?"
"I verily believe it is," he replied.
"Then I shall regard this cup of tea as a 調印する of 友好 between us for the 未来."
As she spoke, the maid （機の）カム in with the （水以外の）飲料, and, after placing it on a small （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する convenient to her mistress, left the room.
Lestrell rose and went over to take his cup from her, and he noticed that the 始める，決める was of the most delicate Japanese ware, that, even in that country of cheap 商品／必需品s, must have cost money. There was some wafer bread-and-butter, and he took a slice.
"Ah!" said Madame, when he had 再開するd his seat; "they put salt in butter, don't they."
"I believe it is an 必須の."
"Then, we have eaten salt together, and now I will tell you the story I 約束d to. Some years ago, a 甥 of my husband's, who did a good 取引，協定 of his 商売／仕事, travelling amongst the Islands of the 海峡s, disappeared. We could 伸び（る） no tidings of him anywhere, although my husband used every means he could think of. Latterly we heard that he was last heard of on board of a proa, which proa was, we have 推論する／理由 to believe, 難破させるd on the coast of Timor. Now, Mr. Lestrell, comes in the strange part. On that same proa was Mr. Reginald Annett, the brother of Mr. Duckworth's partner. You see I am perfectly plain with you, for I know that Mr. Duckworth has been 冷淡な to me lately, and the only 推論する／理由 I can think of is that the supposes I have （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） about Annett which I have kept from him. Truly, Mr. Lestrell, I know no more than he does. You are the man who will probably solve the mystery of the 見えなくなる of both men. And I want you to 約束 me this: if you hear any tidings of my husband's 甥, or of Annett—for the chances are that the two are together—nay! you might say it is a certainty—will you let me know at the earliest 適切な時期. I will give you a 確かな 演説（する）／住所 which will speedily find me. My husband is very fond of this 甥, and I am anxious on his account."
During this communication Lestrell felt as though he should like to get up and run for it, as it 夜明けd upon him, what an artful 罠（にかける） he was caught in. He no more believed in the mythical 甥 than he did in the coffee-農園s. He was 存在 led on to 約束 to let her know about Annett, if he （機の）カム across him. She was looking at him somewhat anxiously.
"If I hear of anybody on Timor who is likely to be your husband's 甥, you may be sure, Madame da Lucca, that I will let you know as soon as ever I can."
"But I am sure that he and Annett will be together," she said; "if you hear of one, it will mean the other. Will you not also let me know if you have tidings of Annett?"
She rose from her seat; Lestrell rose too, and they stood の近くに to each other.
"We have eaten bread and salt together," she went on in a 発言する／表明する, every word of which sounded like a caress. She held out her 手渡す, which he took in his, and she let it remain there. "What 推論する／理由 can there be for you to 辞退する me this?"
The soft, luminous 注目する，もくろむs looked up into his, and the 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd form seemed swaying に向かって him, as if to 会合，会う the 推定する／予想するd embrace, while the 手渡す he held—a warm, soft, but 会社／堅い 手渡す, one that is good to 持つ／拘留する—sent a 磁石の thrill through him. One short week ago, and he would have taken her in his 武器 and 約束d everything, but now—he raised her 手渡す and kissed it.
"残り／休憩（する） 保証するd, Madame da Lucca, that anything I can do for you in this 事柄, I will do."
"You will come and see me to-morrow afternoon, will you not? I may have my letters by then," she almost whispered.
"I will come," he said あわてて, and the next moment the door の近くにd behind him.
The woman he had left paced up and 負かす／撃墜する the room.
"Nine men out of ten would have been at my feet," she murmured to herself. "He is the tenth, and I will take him away from that baby-直面するd doll, I 断言する." She 解除するd her 手渡す and kissed the place which Lestrell's lips had touched, as if to 調印（する） her 誓い.
"How on earth did I get out of that 直す／買収する，八百長をする?" thought Lestrell, as he walked away quickly.
"I didn't 約束 anything 限定された, and I only kissed her 手渡す—that doesn't count for much."
The hotel where Duckworth was staying was on his road, and he met Tom coming out.
"Come into the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業," he said, "I want some whisky."
They went in together.
"That's a good stiff 阻止する for you, Lestrell," said Duckworth, looking at his companion's glass. "What's the 事柄?"
"I've been having afternoon tea with Madame da Lucca, and she nearly got the best of me."
"What's the game, now?"
"O, there's a 甥 流浪して—a 甥 of her husband's—流浪して somewhere in the 海峡s, and she thinks I may hear of him. Madame is やめる 納得させるd that he is with Annett, and that he was 難破させるd on the same proa, so, if I hear of either of them, she wants me to 約束 faithfully that I will at once communicate with her."
"Rather transparent. I wonder such a clever woman could not have invented something more plausible."
"So do I; but that was the tale she told."
"How did you get out of the 直す／買収する，八百長をする?"
"I kissed her 手渡す, and 公約するd that anything I could do to 補助装置 her to find this 非，不，無-existent 甥, I would do. Then I bolted."
Tom Duckworth laughed heartily. "She had you in a tight place, old man; I suppose the 注目する，もくろむs were 井戸／弁護士席 to the fore?"
"Here, you go and see her yourself, and you'll find it no laughing 事柄."
"No thanks; I'm out of it. Annett せねばならない be 負かす／撃墜する here in a few days, but I 推定する／予想する my steamer will leave before he arrives. Now I've got my 手渡すs more than 十分な for the whole time, before I leave."
"I must go to work, too, for my 任命 might arrive at any moment."
"Will you come out with me, to-night?"
"Don't you think that it looks rather too much like trespassing on 行方不明になる Annett's good nature?" asked Lestrell, hypocritically.
"Not at all! You are one of us—bound on the same 追求（する），探索（する）. Besides, I know she likes you."
"At that 率, I'll come," and Lestrell wondered if the niece 株d her aunt's 感情s.
Poor Madame da Lucca, if she could have but guessed how utterly and 完全に she was forgotten when Ruth was 現在の, she would have had a bad night; but, as it was, she flattered herself that she had had the best of the 小競り合い, and her dreams were dreams of victory.
Far away on a northern island, the man whose どの辺に was so 緊急に sought for by two 相反する parties—one 奮起させるd by love, the other by avarice—was living in a native village, struck 負かす／撃墜する, first by sun and fever, then by a brain attack that left him almost a mental 難破させる, with but 薄暗い memories of the past floating through his 混乱させるd brain.
In the little village nestling at the foot of a jagged 頂点（に達する） one of the highest in the 範囲 that may be said to form the island of Timor, he spent his time mostly in wandering about, talking to himself. The little brown children were not afraid of him; the women, in their white kabayas and gay sarongs, spoke kindly to him. The men, as they （機の）カム home from their work amongst the bread-fruit and cocoa-nut patches, did the same. He was 静かな and 害のない, and the 村人s were rather proud of the mad white man who lived amongst them in one of the thatched houses with long roofs reaching nearly to the ground.
The feathery-foliaged bamboos were everywhere; the cocoa-nut palms and bread-fruit trees lent their 援助（する） to the vivid color of the ジャングル which 繁栄するd to the foot of the 頂点（に達する）, and then, changing to low scrub, climbed up the lofty 味方するs to the 最高の，を越す.
A tiny, 半分-circular bay, 保護するd by a 暗礁, lay in 前線 of the little village; inside, the sands were yellow and the water blue and still. Outside, long rollers that looked as though they must have travelled all the way from distant Flores, 粉々にするd themselves in clouds of white spray. Here, on one wild night of 嵐／襲撃する, the proa 含む／封じ込めるing Annett and four Malays, was 投げつけるd ruthlessly to 破壊. Fortunately all, with one exception, were carried over the 暗礁 into the 静かな bay, and swam 岸に. When the 嵐／襲撃する なぎd and the tide was low, Annett was able to 回復する most of his things from the 難破させる, which had 宿泊するd on the highest part of the 暗礁.
The Malays made their way to the nearest Portuguese 解決／入植地, but the Englishman, with his rambling spirit strong in him, 決定するd to 調査／捜査する the 範囲 at the 支援する.
The friendly 村人s tried hard to dissuade him, telling him of the wild hillmen who lived there and who would have his 長，率いる. He went, and three weeks afterwards （機の）カム 支援する, gaunt, haggard, and in the incipient delirium of fever. Of what he had gone through he was never able to tell. The women nursed him through his long illness, and, when he 回復するd, his mind was unhinged. He had no 願望（する） to leave the place, no wish for anything. In a way he was contented. Thus was living Ruth's father.
TOM DUCKWORTH was a man who hated anything approaching humbug. The 従来の 'seeing a man off' was 特に abhorrent to him. Therefore, when he stepped off the gangway on to the deck of the steamer, he was not worried by having to say good-bye to half a dozen 知識s, nor had any 原因（となる） to trouble his 長，率いる as to whether it was the first, second, or third bell that was （犯罪の）一味ing. Having seen everything ship-形態／調整 in his cabin, he went on deck and took 所有／入手 of a canvas 議長，司会を務める in a retired 位置／汚点／見つけ出す on the poop whence he could amuse himself watching the bustle below.
The first person to attract his attention was Hillsden, and it was evident from the luggage a porter carried on board after him, that he was a 乗客. "Things are growing 利益／興味ing," thought Tom; "there's no handicapping in this race." He was of too even a temperament to 乱す himself much, and he also consoled himself with the thought that his schooner would be ready to start at a moment's notice, 反して Hillsden would have to 雇う and fit out a boat. "Whether or no," he 結論するd in his own mind, "they know nothing about Djuran, and he is the one I want."
The second bell rang, and Hillsden was plainly in a 明言する／公表する of impatience about something—walking up and 負かす／撃墜する the deck, and casting impatient ちらりと見ることs on the wharf. Presently a cab drove up, and a lady got out and walked up the gangway-plank. She was plainly dressed, but Tom knew her at a ちらりと見ること—Madame da Lucca! She took a turn or two up and 負かす／撃墜する the deck with Hillsden, and then she said good-bye and went 岸に. It was not until the steamer was 井戸／弁護士席 負かす／撃墜する the harbour that Tom made his presence known to Hillsden.
"You didn't stop long in Sydney;" 発言／述べるd Hillsden somewhat viciously, for Tom's presence annoyed him.
"No; Annett is ill and is coming south, so I must get 支援する."
"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席; I'm glad to have an old friend on board. I think we are going to have a 罰金 trip."
They had a 罰金 trip, but when they reached Thursday Island Tom was chagrined to find that Hillsden was as ready to start as he was, having wired up and made the necessary 手はず／準備 for a schooner. The two boats left nearly at the same time, and, with the 安定した 勝利，勝つd that was blowing, kept company all the way across the mouth of the 湾. Nearly five days after Duckworth's 出発, Annett arrived, much to Lestrell's satisfaction, for during those few days he had had no excuse for calling at the cottage. Annett was really ill, and took up his 住居 there, and Lestrell 設立する it necessary to go out and 協議する him often. He had 決定するd to ask the important question at the first favourable 適切な時期, and as, in the absence of her father, Annett was her natural 後見人, he had every hope he would at once 伸び（る） his 同意.
一方／合間, his acquaintanceship with Madame da Lucca was 持続するd, more by her than by him, for Lestrell skilfully 避けるd all tender scenes, and その為に 増加するd the passion of the self-willed woman, who 正確に，正当に ascribed her 失敗 to 勝利，勝つ him to the 影響（力） of Ruth, and her 憎悪 of the girl, whom she only knew by sight, grew in intensity.
The time for Lestrell's 出発 was 製図／抽選 nigh, and he had received his （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 from the two 政府s.
"Auntie," said Ruth one day coming into her room, ひさまづくing beside her, and half hiding her 直面する in her （競技場の）トラック一周; "Mr. Lestrell has asked me to marry him." Her aunt put her 手渡す 負かす／撃墜する and tried to turn the girl's 紅潮／摘発するd 直面する up to the light, but Ruth resisted.
"I knew it was bound to come, sooner or later. What did you say to him in reply?"
"I believe I said 'Yes.'"
"Where is Mr. Lestrell now?"
"He is talking to Uncle, and I suppose it's about me."
"I think everybody will agree that it is suitable;" said 行方不明になる Annett. "But you have trouble and 苦悩 before you, he is going on a dangerous 使節団, and women can only stay at home and wait," and her 発言する／表明する trembled as her thoughts went 支援する to the gallant young lover of her 青年, who went 負かす／撃墜する at his 地位，任命する on the 沈むing ship. The 涙／ほころびs sprang into Ruth's 注目する，もくろむs as her aunt laid her 手渡す caressingly on her 長，率いる; but, before they could indulge in the 高級な of much 感情, there was a knock at the door and Annett's 発言する／表明する was heard asking if he could enter.
"So, this girl has told you I suppose, that Lestrell wants to run away with her?" he said, as he 前進するd.
"Not for a long time," cried Ruth indignantly.
"Long or short, I have given my 同意; what do you say?" and he put his 手渡す on his sister's shoulder.
"I like Lestrell, and think he will make our girl a good husband."
"Then that settles it. Lestrell is not a poor man now, and this trip will put him almost at the 最高の，を越す of his profession. He's not gone yet, so perhaps you might run 負かす／撃墜する and tell him that your aunt 認可するs. I want to speak to her alone."
Ruth got up, went up to her uncle and kissed him, then seemed to 消える from the room in some mysterious way other than walking.
"It will be a long and trying 約束／交戦 for Ruth," said 行方不明になる Annett.
"All the better. They have not known each other very long, and it will show what stuff they are made of."
"I can answer for Ruth, but you men have no 感情." Lestrell, waiting in the room used as a sort of 令状ing-room or office, heard the door open, and, turning, saw Ruth enter shyly, with the answer he 手配中の，お尋ね者 written on her 直面する. Annett 許すd them a reasonable time before he followed her.
"I feel better, Lestrell," he said, "and ーするつもりである to take Ruth into town to-morrow. Perhaps we might 減少（する） in on you."
"What time do you think you will be in?" asked Lestrell, 熱望して.
"Oh, any time; we ーするつもりである to catch you unawares. Now you had better stop to dinner." Lestrell was hard at work the next day finishing up his 計画（する）s, spread over the 取引，協定 boards on the trestles, when a knock （機の）カム to the door, and, in answer to his 招待 to enter, Annett and Ruth （機の）カム in. After the 迎える／歓迎するing was over she looked curiously 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her lover's work-room, and asked questions about the 器具s he was using. An hour soon slipped by, then Annett, looking at his watch, said, "how far is it from here to the steamer-office?"
"Not very far. By the way, I せねばならない go there, myself, and see about my passage."
"井戸／弁護士席, walk 負かす／撃墜する with me. We'll leave Ruth in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金."
"You won't mind stopping here, will you?" asked Lestrell. "Of course not; run away you two!"
Left to herself, Ruth leaned 支援する in her 議長，司会を務める, and was soon lost in a girls' happy daydream. A sharp, imperative knock at the door 誘発するd her, but whoever it was opened the door and （機の）カム in, without waiting for an 招待. It was a woman—the dark-注目する，もくろむd woman Ruth had seen at the theatre.
She gave a decided start of surprise at seeing Ruth there, alone; then she 前進するd into the room. "I wish to see Mr. Lestrell," she said, "I have some 商売／仕事 with him." She spoke in a strangely constrained 発言する／表明する, as though some emotion was はびこる within her breast.
"Mr. Lestrell is out, but he will be 支援する very すぐに."
The woman （機の）カム a little nearer, and her 注目する，もくろむs gleamed vindictively as she noticed the 否定できない charm of Ruth's fresh young 直面する.
"You are 行方不明になる Annett, are you not?"
"Ruth inclined her 長，率いる."
"Is it usual for young ladies to visit men in their 私的な rooms?"
Ruth sprang up with a crimson 直面する. "You must be a wicked woman," she said, indignantly.
"I （機の）カム here with my uncle, and Mr. Lestrell and he are out together and will return together."
Madame da Lucca 許すd a sneer to be 明白な on her 直面する.
"It looks very much like 追跡（する）ing the poor man 負かす／撃墜する."
Ruth was やめる 静める now; she was not going to let this woman 伸び（る） any advantage through loss of temper. "Mr. Lestrell and I are engaged to be married," she said 簡単に.
Madame da Lucca sprang 今後, and Ruth thought she was about to strike her. Madame turned white to the lips and her dark 注目する，もくろむs 発射 解雇する／砲火／射撃.
"You 嘘（をつく）," she cried.
Ruth sat 負かす／撃墜する again without deigning to answer.
"When did this take place?"
"I cannot recognise your 権利 to ask such a question. You are a perfect stranger to me. May I ask, since you have such a nice regard for 外見s, how it is that you come up here to Lawrence's room, alone?"
The two 発射s went home, 特に the use of the familiar Christian 指名する. Ruth was one of the best-natured of girls, but she 所有するd all a woman's perception of how to sting another woman.
Madame glared with 怒り／怒る, and, if a 武器 had been handy, there is no knowing what the furious woman might have done in her 激怒（する） and 失望. By an astonishing 成果／努力 she 回復するd her calmness. "Kindly tell Mr. Lestrell," she said, haughtily, "that Madame da Lucca called to see him on the 商売／仕事 he knows of." She stopped at the door. Ruth sat without a word. "行方不明になる Annett, let me tell you one thing. You will never marry Lawrence Lestrell;" and the door の近くにd on her.
"That's a 甘い-tempered woman," thought Ruth, "but I don't think she got the best of it."
Soon afterwards her uncle and Lestrell returned.
"A lady called to see you, Lawrence," she said. "A Madame da Lucca; said she called on the 商売／仕事 you know of." Lestrell frowned.
"Confound the woman," he said, "It's this person who is 支援-up Hillsden," he went on to Annett. "She gives me no peace in her endeavours to make me 約束 that I will 知らせる her of your brother's どの辺に, if I hear of it, but I didn't know that she knew where I lived. I suppose Hillsden must have told her."
"It's this stupid yarn about the diamonds, that's making all the mischief. They're welcome to any my brother's got."
"How did you get on together, Ruth?" asked Lestrell.
"She was 過度に rude; but don't trouble—she only （機の）カム off second best; and, Lawrence, I'm not jealous at such a handsome woman coming to your room, although I know I せねばならない be," and she slipped her 手渡す affectionately through her lover's arm. Annett turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and coughed, and Lestrell stooped 負かす／撃墜する and kissed her.
"Now," said Annett, "I feel like going home; are you coming out to dinner, Lestrell?"
"Yes, if you let me come away 直接／まっすぐに afterwards. I must get through with this work."
"Ruth!" he said, jokingly, as they were 準備するing to leave, "Have you taken my 重要なs?"
"No, Lawrence."
"I am sure I left them on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する; but I won't keep you; I must chance it, and leave my door 打ち明けるd."
IT was about 9 o'clock that evening when Lestrell returned to his room. He 設立する the door on the latch, as he had left it, went in, turned up the gas and lit it. The light illumined the room with a sudden glare, and he started with surprise.
In the 議長，司会を務める 占領するd that day by Ruth, 満たす a woman, who threw her 隠す 支援する and rose up. Madame da Lucca again!
"How did you come here, Madame, and why have you come?" he almost stammered. "I took your 重要なs when I was here this afternoon and you were out, in 事例／患者 the door was locked." She threw the bunch （犯罪の）一味ing on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.
"I heard you were here this afternoon; what was the important 商売／仕事, Madame da Lucca?"
"To see you. Did that girl tell you what I said to her?"
"That girl is 行方不明になる Ruth Annett, my 約束d wife, and she said nothing of what passed, beyond that your were somewhat outspoken." Lestrell's 直面する 常習的な like flint as he said this.
"It is true, then, that you are engaged to be married?"
"It is やめる true."
"Listen, Lawrence," she said, 前進するing to him and putting both 手渡すs on his arm. "What can this school-child be to a man like you? What can she have in ありふれた with you? Leave her! I—I—God help me, who have always been used to men begging love from me, now beg it from you."
"This is madness, Lena," answered Lestrell. "A man has many fancies in his life, but only one real and unswerving love, and 地雷 is given beyond 解任する to—"
"Ruth Annett," she interrupted.
He did not answer, but turned and looked out of the window. The street was 砂漠d and silent. In the distance some poor woman, with a 発言する／表明する that had seen better days, was singing for alms. "Carissima!"—the sad 差し控える seemed to weave itself in his brain with the memory of the distant 詠唱する of the 黒人／ボイコットs, the night he 得るd the Moccasins of Silence. Lena da Lucca was standing silent beside him, her 手渡す in his. Suddenly she felt a convulsive clutch.
"What is it, Lawrence?" she asked.
"血," he answered, as if speaking in a dream. "血, everywhere; do you not see it staining everything?"
"See it?" she answered; "yes, I see it, and—Oh, God! it is 地雷—my 血!" and she shuddered and drew 支援する. He put his arm 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her, thinking she was about to faint, but she 撃退するd and held him off.
"地雷! 地雷!" she wailed, "and it is you—you—who will shed it! The one man I ever loved will 殺す me. I see it all!"
"Lena! Lena!" he said, 回復するing himself and trying to soothe her; and now she 産する／生じるd herself to him, and hid her 直面する in his breast as though to shut out some 見通し of 圧倒的な horror.
"It is gone," she said at last, looking up at him with 注目する，もくろむs soft and lustrous as the 星／主役にする of eve. "I do not believe it. Although your love is given to another, your 手渡す, dearest, could never 取引，協定 death to me."
For a moment he forgot himself. He took the pleading, beautiful 直面する in both his 手渡すs and passionately kissed the eager lips.
Ruth never heard of that one kiss.
"Come!" she whispered to him with a 発言する／表明する 十分な of love's fascination; "let us go together, far away from this hateful city to the lovely seas of the East Give up your 任命; give up that girl; I am rich enough for both. I have just heard of my husband's death, and he has left me all. What love can she give you, compared to 地雷? Lawrence, I! the proudest woman up there, will be your servant and your slave."
In the agony of her supplication and the utter abandonment of pride, she had dropped on her 膝s at his feet. He caught her by the 手渡すs and raised her up.
"It is impossible—impossible, Lena!"
"Impossible?" she asked, and her 注目する，もくろむs had the pleading look of a 負傷させるd bird.
"Impossible," he answered.
"持つ／拘留する me in your 武器, then, just for a moment, that I may fancy, even for those few seconds, that it is my rightful place."
She was silent as she nestled in his embrace, and through the open window （機の）カム the mournful 差し控える of the street-singer—"Carissima!"
"Now, Mr. Lestrell," she said, suddenly 解放する／撤去させるing herself, "we will leave off this fooling. Richard's himself again!" She laughed lightly, and with that laugh the 影をつくる／尾行するs of 血 and terror that had gathered 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the pair, seemed to draw off somewhat, but still they lurked ominously 近づく.
"I will go, and, in the 未来, although we may be on opposite 味方するs, we are—friends!" She held out her 会社／堅い, warm 手渡す, and he took it as he would that of a fellow-man.
"I should like something of your's, in 事例／患者 we never 会合，会う again," she went on. "Can I have anything I take a fancy to?"
"Certainly; but there is little here to take a lady's fancy."
She ちらりと見ることd around, There were a few aboriginal 武器s and other things hung around on the 塀で囲むs.
"What are these?" she asked stepping に向かって them and taking 負かす／撃墜する the Moccasins of Silence.
He sprang 今後 excitedly. "No, Lena—not those; for God's sake, not those!"
She held them behind her.
"That, of course, 決定するs me. What is the 推論する／理由 of this, Mr. Lestrell?"
He saw the mistake he had made, but could do nothing but tell her of the death of the rain-製造者, and the ominous 悪口を言う／悪態 pronounced on the 反対するs she held.
"What was the 決まり文句／製法, in English?" she asked. "Once shall these be wet with 血, Twice shall they be wet with 血, The third time it will be the 血 of the wearer."
"Once, then, they have been wet with 血?"
"Twice," he replied. "The stuff that 貯蔵所d the 単独の of emu feathers together is mixed with human 血."
"And the third time it is to be the 血 of the wearer? Mr. Lestrell, I ーするつもりである to keep these queer slippers, and, as no one but myself shall ever wear them, I am afraid the old 薬／医学-man's prophecy will 証明する untrue. And now, good-bye."
"I will see you home, or to a cab. It is late."
He put on his hat, and they went 負かす／撃墜する-stairs, and into the 静かな street.
"Let us walk," said Madame. It was a silent enough walk, for neither felt that they could touch on ordinary topics, and when they reached the hotel, they parted, also in silence; and the next time Lestrell saw those 熱烈な 注目する，もくろむs that looked so long and lovingly into his, it was in strange company in a strange land!
"I hope that 一時期／支部 in my life is turned 負かす／撃墜する for good," thought Lestrell, as he strolled 支援する to his 議会s. He had little trouble to guess at Madame da Lucca's past career; but, for all that, he felt kindly 性質の／したい気がして に向かって her. What man would not, to a beautiful woman who had fallen in love with him and told him so?
Lestrell worked late that night, or rather far into the next morning; then he threw himself 負かす／撃墜する on his bed for a few hour's sleep. After a bath and breakfast he went 刻々と to work again, and in the evening paid his now accustomed visit to the cottage.
The time for his 出発 was 速く 製図／抽選 近づく, and poor Ruth, transformed from a happy, careless girl to a loving woman, began to feel some of the 苦痛 of the approaching 分離.
"My dear Ruth," said her uncle, one day after she had been talking of the dangers attendant on her lover's 使節団, "that is the very 推論する／理由 that he will come 支援する 安全に. It's not on dangerous 探検隊／遠征隊s that men lose their lives, because they take precious good care to look after themselves. It's when you're thinking yourself やめる 安全な that your time comes 突然に. If you 説得するd Lestrell to give it up and stay here, he would probably be mixed up in the first 鉄道 事故 that occurred, or run over by a runaway cab, or something of that sort."
Ruth, however, had not 十分な practical logic to be 慰安d by such 推論する／理由ing, and it was with forebodings of evil that she said good-bye to Lestrell when the hour of 出発 arrived. Of Madame da Lucca Lestrell saw no more during the few remaining days of his stay in Sydney.
THE two schooners, favoured by 罰金 天候 and a constant 勝利，勝つd, reached the pearling (n)艦隊／(a)素早い off Cossack, in Western Australia, at about the same time. Both men were 井戸／弁護士席-known, for most of the shellers were old Thursday Island men, and Tom Duckworth was one of the most popular men in the 海峡s. Of course it was useless now for the two men to hide from each other any longer that they were on the same 追求（する），探索（する）, but Duckworth had Hillsden at a disadvantage. In the first place, Duckworth's search for Ras Mahad was 簡単に a blind, as he 手配中の，お尋ね者 really to find the young man Djuran; but it served his 目的 井戸／弁護士席 enough to worry and annoy Hillsden.
Djuran was 設立する without much difficulty, and Tom's luck stood him in good stead, for he was in the 雇う of an old friend of Duckworth's, and his 移転 to the schooner was 影響d 静かに, without coming to Hillsden's knowledge. The Malay had learnt 公正に／かなり good English since Tom saw him last, moreover he remembered his 救助者 井戸／弁護士席, and had a strong liking for him. Duckworth's errand was now 事実上 遂行するd, but he had heard of Ras Mahad, and, finding him almost at the same time as Hillsden, feigned to enter into an 協定 with him to go 支援する to Queensland. Hillsden 存在 on the same game, this so excited the avarice of the Malay that, finally, Hillsden had to 支払う／賃金 a pretty price for the 移転 of his service. However, the latter 慰安d himself with the thought that it was not his own money he was spending.
Tom, awaking at daylight one morning, suddenly became aware that in 延期するing thus he was playing the fool. With Djuran on board, he should have sailed away at once and got many days' start of Hillsden. He jumped out of his bunk and went on deck. The southeaster that had stood them so 井戸／弁護士席 had died 負かす／撃墜する soon after their arrival at the 爆撃する grounds. It was the change of the seasons, and they might be 勝利，勝つd-bound at any time. The mate was on deck, gazing around with a somewhat anxious look.
"What's the 事柄?" asked Tom, noticing it, for the man was an old 手渡す on the coast.
"We're going to have a devil of a blow, or my 指名する's not Holdsworth," the man returned.
Tom looked around. The sea was glassily 静める, but ever and anon a long swell （機の）カム rolling in, and, 早期に in the morning as it was, there was a 脅すing 煙霧 on the northern horizon.
"I believe you're 権利, Holdsworth. If we can get a breath of 勝利，勝つd to help us, we'll get out to sea."
"Yes, and stop there until it's over," answered the mate.
"We must get away as far and as 急速な／放蕩な as we can—it doesn't 事柄 much in what direction, so that we have plenty of sea-room to ride it out."
About 9 o'clock a light 勝利，勝つd from the land began to blow, and Holdsworth drew Tom's attention to it.
"It always begins this way," he said. "I was in one of these willy-willys, as they call them, before. We had better take advantage of this, sir, and get off this coast."
It was now evident that the boats of the 爆撃する (n)艦隊／(a)素早い were making 準備s for rough 天候, and very soon the schooner was under 重さを計る and 長，率いるing out to sea. She passed の近くに to Hillsden's boat, the "Saucy Sarah," and Hillsden あられ／賞賛するd her.
"Are you off?"
"Off to sea," shouted Duckworth, "and I advise you to do the same."
"No, I've good 持つ／拘留するing ground, and two 錨，総合司会者s out."
The schooner had 発射 on out of 審理，公聴会, and Tom waved his 手渡す, and that was the last he ever saw of Hillsden.
The 勝利，勝つd carried them to the north-west, 井戸／弁護士席 out of sight of land, before it dropped; then once more a 静める 始める，決める in, but the 煙霧 had 増加するd in 濃度／密度 and become a 脅すing cloud, with constant flashes of 雷 illumining it. The afternoon drew on, and the mate's 苦悩 増加するd.
"If we could get a breath of 勝利，勝つd to keep her 長，率いる to it," he said impatiently, "we would be pretty 権利, but the cussed thing comes 負かす／撃墜する like a 大砲 発射, and if it catches us broadside, even without canvas on, we shall have a bad show."
Everything had been made as snug as possible, and only a rag of a 嵐／襲撃する try-sail was 始める，決める. Presently a rain-squall was seen coming 速く に向かって them.
"Now's our chance, Holdsworth," said Tom, and they went to the 舵輪／支配 and sent the man there 今後. The squall, the precursor of the ハリケーン, swept over them, and the schooner once more answered to the 舵輪／支配 and 棒 長，率いる to 勝利，勝つd. The mate heaved a sigh of 救済, and almost as he did so the 大型船 reeled as though struck by a blow. Through the 船の索具 and 明らかにする masts 激怒（する）d and tore a 勝利，勝つd that seemed to 連合させる within itself all the 嵐／襲撃するs that ever blew. As yet there was no sea 価値（がある） speaking of, and the schooner, showing but a small surface, gallantly met the enemy.
The sea soon began to rise, and its boiling surface, in the premature 不明瞭 that 始める，決める in, was glowing with phosphorescent light. All the night long Duckworth and his trusty mate stuck to their 地位，任命するs, and the 勇敢に立ち向かう little fore-and-after 棒 安全に over the 脅すing waves that seemed about to （海，煙などが）飲み込む her. Staggering under the 連続する buffets that she received, with the decks 絶えず swimming with water, the 疲れた／うんざりした night dragged through, until a wretched, rain-drenched morning broke at last. So violent had been the 強風, and the sea such a 騒動, that it had been impossible to serve out anything, but the wet and hungry men were やめる content to know that the worst of the ハリケーン was over, and they were 安全な. 徐々に the 勝利，勝つd and sea went 負かす／撃墜する somewhat, and the cook was able to light a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and get some food and coffee ready.
Tom and Holdsworth had 放棄するd their places to two of the men when daylight tardily （機の）カム, and they now stood hanging on to the stays and talking of the late 嵐／襲撃する. "There will be an awful 粉砕する amongst the (n)艦隊／(a)素早い," said the latter. "Some will be high and 乾燥した，日照りの in the mangroves, and some will go 負かす／撃墜する where they are 錨，総合司会者d."
"We will go 支援する as soon as the 天候 （疑いを）晴らすs, and see how they have fared. I wonder how the 'Saucy Sarah' got on!"
"He せねばならない have followed our example," said the mate.
It was not until the next day that Duckworth みなすd it 安全な to run 支援する to Cossack. When they reached it, a scene of 荒廃 and 難破させる met their gaze, for the ハリケーン had been one of the severest ever experienced.
The loss amongst the shipping had been 激しい, and the "Saucy Sarah" had gone 負かす／撃墜する at her moorings with all 手渡すs. Duckworth was engaged for some weeks helping in the search for any 生存者s, and, retarded by the baffling 勝利，勝つd that now 始める，決める in, three months elapsed before he returned to Thursday Island.
He 設立する letters and a 非常に長い 電報電信 を待つing him. He had wired from Cossack to Annett in Sydney, telling him of his safety and the loss of Hillsden's schooner with every soul on board. He opened the 電報電信 first. "Bad news from Timor, probably 誇張するd. 調査するing parties attacked by hill-tribes. Ruth 主張するs on going in the schooner. Am やめる 井戸／弁護士席 again and leave here in a day or two to join you."
Tom read the 電報電信 twice. "No sooner has 運命／宿命 decided one trouble than another 刈るs up," he thought; "but a gunboat will be sent from Batavia, and get there before we shall."
He went up the 郡区 after reading his letters, to see if he could get 持つ／拘留する of a newspaper with an account of the Timor episode. He was 部分的に／不公平に successful; in one of the late ones he 設立する a small paragraph, 明言する／公表するing that the 調査する parties 雇うd by the 政府s of Portugal and Holland to define the 境界 in Timor, had been attacked by the hill-tribes, and, although no 限定された news was to 手渡す, it was rumoured that the 主要な／長／主犯 surveyors 雇うd had fallen 犠牲者s.
Duckworth was not a man to indulge in useless 悔いるs. He was 深く，強烈に grieved at the thought that Lestrell might have fallen, but that did not 妨げる him from setting to work to refit the schooner, so that she would be ready for sea by the time his partner arrived.
DESTRUCTIVE HURRICANE ON THE NORTH-WEST COAST.
GREAT LOSS OF LIFE.
PEARL-SHELLING LUGGERS DRIVEN ASHORE.
A QUEENSLAND SCHOONER SUNK AT HER MOORINGS.
ALL HANDS LOST.
THESE were the cross headlines that 迎える／歓迎するd Annett when he opened his newspaper one morning.
"Why the devil couldn't they have given the 指名する of the schooner?" was his 自然に impatient 発言／述べる after reading the account, "Damn it! It can't be the 'ばか者,' Tom's too careful—but still, I know what these north-west ハリケーンs are."
"The ばか者," was the prosaic 指名する of Annett and Duckworth's schooner. She had been christened after ばか者 Island, at one time the most 独房監禁 and romantic 地位，任命する-office in the world; for, in the days before the house-旗s of half-a-dozen steamer-lines flaunted in the 微風s of the 海峡s, there was a 地位，任命する-office on ばか者 Island. In a 洞穴 on that little islet every passing ship deposited her newspapers and a letter 含む／封じ込めるing the 指名する of the ship, the date, and any other （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） of value. The next ship took the papers, left others, if she had any, and left also the 記録，記録的な／記録する of her visit.
A 在庫／株 of 準備／条項s was 蓄える／店d in the 洞穴 for the 救済 of any castaways, and the 軍艦s that patrolled those seas called at intervals to 補充する it, if necessary.
Annett was still ガス／煙ing over the news when steps were audible outside the door, and he thrust the paper into his pocket, just as Ruth entered.
"Why, Uncle 刑事," she said, 製図／抽選 支援する after giving him her morning kiss. "What's the 事柄? I never saw you look so put out before."
"I am a bit worried, and must get into town 直接／まっすぐに after breakfast; hurry it up, Ruth, like a good girl."
Wondering much what could have so upset the usually even temper of her uncle, Ruth went on her errand.
行方不明になる Annett enjoyed an 無効の's 特権 of breakfasting in her room, and the tete-a-tete breakfast of Ruth and her uncle was 一般に the merriest meal of the day. This morning he was silent and absent, and, as soon as it was over, left without his usual good-bye.
The 涙／ほころびs sprang into the girl's 注目する，もくろむs, for all the love of her young heart was given to her little circle, and a slight from one of them was like a blow. There must have been bad news in the paper, for the 地位，任命する was not 予定 for some time She looked around for it but could not see it. She rang the bell.
"Did the paper come this morning?" she asked the servant.
"Yes, 行方不明になる; I put it on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in Mr. Annett's place, as usual."
"He must have taken it away by mistake," Ruth said; and the girl left the room.
There was no mistake—of that she felt 確かな . There was bad news in the paper, and he had taken it with him to keep it away from them, for a time. There could be only one form of bad news for Ruth. Lestrell! His steamer must have been 難破させるd, that was it!
Ruth put on her hat and went out. There was a newspaper shop, she knew, a short distance away, and she was soon there, and bought a newspaper. She opened it, and read as she walked homeward. The headlines attracted her attention, but they bore no meaning to her for she did not know of her uncle Tom's ーするつもりであるd trip to Cossack, it having been purposely kept from her. She divined, however, that it must have been this item that had so 乱すd her uncle; and, after 速く running up and 負かす／撃墜する the columns, she heaved a sigh of 救済, The paper she had 購入（する）d was a different one from the paper daily taken at the cottage, and in the one she held the 指名する of the lost schooner was given—the "Saucy Sarah."
There was a footstep behind her, and a 手渡す was laid gently on her shoulder.
"So, 行方不明になる Curiosity, you had to come and 調査する into 事柄s, had you?" It was her uncle, and the cloud had （疑いを）晴らすd from his 直面する.
"I couldn't 残り／休憩（する）, uncle 刑事, until I 設立する out what was troubling you so." And she slipped her 手渡す through his arm.
"You thought it was something about Lestrell, eh?"
Ruth turned somewhat red, but she only pinched her uncle's arm, and 発言／述べるd—"It didn't take you long to go into town and 支援する?"
"I didn't go. I bought another paper, and 設立する the 指名する of the schooner in it. You didn't know that uncle Tom was 一連の会議、交渉／完成する at Cossack in the 'ばか者?'"
"No. So it was that that worried you! Did you know anything about this other schooner?"
"I did; and about the man who has been 溺死するd in her. He was an 障害 in the way of our finding out your father's 運命／宿命, but I never wished him 除去するd by death. Tom must be on his homeward way, so I hope he escaped the ハリケーン, and we shall soon hear from him from Thursday Island."
The two strolled 支援する together.
Madame da Lucca, now a 豊富な 未亡人—for there really had been a da Lucca husband—had the papers brought to her every morning by her maid, and she was 直面するd by the same startling 知能.
"So Hillsden has gone under," she mused; "and Duckworth, I suppose, has escaped. But Ras Mahad must have been 溺死するd, too; for Hillsden wired me that he had been on board the schooner. As for Hillsden"—and her 注目する，もくろむs flashed at the memory of a shameful wrong of the past—"I am not sorry. It leaves me 解放する／自由な; for I never really believed in this diamond story, and now—I can follow my own course."
She thought for a moment, and then, getting out of bed, went and looked in the glass. Madame da Lucca's beauty was as natural as Ruth's; she did not 要求する to make-up in the morning Now, as she stood there in her white nightdress, scrutinising the reflection the glass showed her, the beauty she saw might have been that of the devil—but it was there, as radiant in that simple garb as in 十分な array of dress and jewels. Some strong emotion agitated her as she continued to gaze, and her 直面する assumed a look of 信用／信任 and 心配するd victory.
"It will do," she said, "I am my own mistress now, and will have what I want, or—" she looked in the glass again—"no, I'll 収容する／認める of no 失敗."
She rang the bell for her maid, and some two hours afterwards was on her way to one of the steam-shipping offices.
Ill news travels apace. The 静かな people living at the little cottage had got over their alarm for the safety of the "ばか者." Tom had wired to them, and life was running 滑らかに as of yore. Ruth （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する 早期に one morning, 選ぶd up the paper, and opened it.
Annett was descending the stairs, when he was 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d into by an affrighted maid, who gasped out, "Oh, 行方不明になる Ruth is dead!—dead!"
Annett hurried to the breakfast room. The girl was sitting at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—her 直面する 負かす／撃墜する on it, and her 武器 thrown 今後. For a moment his heart stood still, then he raised her gently, and 設立する that she had fainted. They put her on the couch, and in a few minutes she 回復するd. Leaving the servant with her, Annett 選ぶd up the paper. There were no 長，率いる-lines that told of anything that could have 原因（となる）d his niece to faint, and it was not until after some search that he 設立する the paragraph that had wrought the trouble. It was, in 影響, the same that Duckworth had read at Thursday Island. Ruth was herself again, now, and her uncle did his best to 安心させる her, pointing out that it was only a rumour, and that these things were always 誇張するd in the first 報告（する）／憶測s; but he was not very successful.
The days passed sadly at the cottage. Ruth, who had made the 日光 of the place, went about with clouded brow, silent and sad. What made it worse was the impossibility of 得るing その上の （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）.
Annett wired to the Dutch 当局 in Batavia, but they knew no more than what had appeared in the newspapers, save that the Portuguese 知事 at Dilli had sent some 兵士s 負かす／撃墜する to the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す.
The first Dutch man-of-war that （機の）カム into port would be also sent there to make enquiries, but at 現在の there was not one on the 駅／配置する.
This was all, and Ruth pined, until, one day, she went to her uncle, and said: "When are you going north again?"
"I was thinking of going up to Thursday Island when Tom returns—"
"And going to Timor with him in the 'ばか者?'"
"Yes."
"Take me with you, Uncle 刑事?"
Annett looked at her. The girl was fretting sadly, and perhaps it would be the best thing, after all.
"I will speak to your aunt. If she agrees, you shall go."
She kissed him gratefully. "I shall feel so much better if we are doing something; but, oh, this dreary, 疲れた／うんざりした waiting!"
On one of the 月毎の British-India boats, running north from Brisbane, was a lady-乗客 for Batavia who attracted a good 取引，協定 of attention from the male 乗客s and a good 取引，協定 of envy, 憎悪, and malice from the 女性（の） 味方する. Budding young damsels who were on a visit to Europe, which was henceforth to be the quotation point of their lives, and who had been 十分な of 予期s as to the joys of 存在 the belle of the ship, had their noses ruthlessly put out of 共同の by the dark-注目する，もくろむd 未亡人. What was the good of their 抗議するing in secret conclave against the whole 訴訟／進行? From time immemorial the young 未亡人 can give the maid twenty-five in a hundred and （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 her easily!
At Thursday Island, Madame da Lucca first heard of the misfortune that was rumoured to have befallen the 調査する party. She landed at Batavia, and, through the スパイ／執行官s of her 死んだ husband, had no difficulty in 借り切る／憲章ing a schooner for the run to Timor. In a few days she was enabled to start on her wild freak, and the coast of Java was soon left behind.
THE schooner, with Madame da Lucca on board, and two sturdy Javanese she had engaged as servants, arrived 安全に at Dilli, after a smart run across. She had taken the 警戒 to furnish herself with 信任状 from the Batavian 当局, although, wherever a man was 関心d, she had entire 信用／信任 in her own 力／強力にするs of fascination. The courteous 知事 gave her 十分な 詳細（に述べる）s. The account of the 事件／事情／状勢 was 大いに 誇張するd. No one had been killed amongst the 調査する party, the hillmen 存在 撃退するd with loss. He regretted to say that the English surveyor was amongst the 負傷させるd, and 不正に 負傷させるd too. This was more to be 嘆き悲しむd as he had 陳列する，発揮するd 広大な／多数の／重要な gallantry during the short 衝突. Senor Lestrell was now lying sick at a little village, not far from the 境界; he would have been brought to Dilli, but the doctor had forbidden it. Was Madame da Lucca a 親族 of his?
She said she was, and asked him the 指名する of the village and its position. He pointed it out to her on the 地図／計画する. "Was there any 避難所? Could she take the schooner there?"
There was excellent 避難所 for small （手先の）技術 like the schooner. Was Madame aware that there was another Englishman 負かす／撃墜する there—had been there for a year or two. He was queer in his 長，率いる, but やめる 害のない, so he had been left there undisturbed?
Madame was not aware of it, but it was most 利益／興味ing. Then she took her leave and went on board her schooner, where she had a 会議／協議会 with the Dutch captain she had engaged.
Lestrell had received a bad 削減（する） on the 長，率いる, and was lying in a native house in the same village that had so long harboured Annett. The 調査する parties had visited it on their outward way, and Lestrell had thus at once come upon the 行方不明の man. He had failed, however, to awaken in him any 承認 or remembrance, so he could but leave him for the time 存在 amongst the people who had so long been friendly to him.. By the first messenger sent 支援する with despatches to Dilli, he 今後d a letter to Duckworth, which Tom was 運命／宿命d not to receive until after it had become of no consequence. Strange to say, when Lestrell was brought 支援する sick and 負傷させるd—for he had been more 本気で 傷つける than any of the others—Annett's mind seemed to 回復する somewhat, and he scarcely ever left the sick man's 味方する, waiting on him so deftly that the doctor was able to leave him and return to the 調査する 野営.
Lestrell was 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing restlessly on the sleeping-mat stretched on a （軍の）野営地，陣営 bedstead, for the Portuguese 当局 had made him as comfortable as they could, under the circumstances. He was muttering in delirium; his 直面する was 紅潮／摘発するd and his 注目する，もくろむs unnaturally 有望な. By his 味方する sat Reginald Annett, white-haired and 未熟に 老年の, busily engaged in fanning the 苦しんでいる人 to keep the 群れているing 飛行機で行くs away, and every now and then wetting the 包帯s 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 患者's 長，率いる.
Presently the mat hung before the open doorway was 解除するd; a native woman looked in and beckoned to Annett. He went to the door. Several natives were standing about, gazing seaward. A schooner was making for the 入り口. She （機の）カム on with a fair 勝利，勝つd, 縮めるd sail as she 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd the point of the 暗礁, and dropped 錨，総合司会者 under its 安全な 避難所. Annett's listless mind, however, took but little 利益／興味 in things; he turned 支援する into the house and 再開するd his seat by Lestrell.
Outside there was some excitement amongst the 村人s, who began to think that their primal 静かな was about to be upset for ever. A boat （機の）カム 岸に with the captain of the schooner, who, after some talk with the 長，率いる men of the place, returned to his ship.
に向かって evening Lestrell fell into a 肉親，親類d of stupor. Annett, still 根気よく sitting at his 地位，任命する, was 乱すd by the mat 存在 raised, and, ちらりと見ることing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, saw a 人物／姿／数字 that startled even his benumbed brain into 活動／戦闘.
It was a woman, arrayed in native dress, but yet no native of the island. She wore the kabaya and sarong, but both were made of 高くつく／犠牲の大きい 構成要素. Her 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd 武器 were 明らかにする nearly to the 肘, and a few bangles on her wrist 始める，決める off the 次第に減少するing slope of that 四肢. The sarong, draped all around her, fell in graceful 倍のs from her hips to above her ankles, showing her 明らかにする and shapely feet thrust into Chinese sandals. The curves of her shoulders and 破産した／（警察が）手入れする were 輪郭（を描く）d under the loose drapery of the kabaya, and her luminous 注目する，もくろむs, soft as a fawn's, looked kindly at Annett. To his crazed brain （機の）カム the thought that she was a 最高の-natural visitant—some radiant 存在 from another sphere. He rose from his seat as she dropped the mat and 前進するd. Silently, with her 手渡すs clasped, she stood looking at the sleeper, and Annett, whose gaze was riveted on her 直面する, saw her 注目する，もくろむs become suffused with 涙／ほころびs. Noiselessly she bent over Lestrell and kissed him on the forehead. The kiss was as light as if a thistledown had 残り／休憩（する）d there, but Lestrell moved and murmured a 指名する. It was "Ruth!"
Madame da Lucca rose, with 不変の 直面する. She had schooled herself to 推定する／予想する this. She beckoned to Annett and they passed outside.
"You are Reginald Annett?" she said.
He drew his 手渡す wearily across his brow. "Yes," he replied, "I think that is my 指名する."
"I am a dear friend of Mr. Lestrell's, and hope to be something more. I have come to help you to nurse him. Do you understand me?"
He 示す that he did; even on his dull wits the woman's 磁石の 軍隊 was making an impression. She 公式文書，認めるd the 利益／興味 growing in his 空いている 直面する, and 追求するd her victory. "I have 得るd the use of a house, here, and have two servants with me from Java. I shall stay here until Mr. Lestrell is 井戸／弁護士席 enough to go on board the schooner, and then, if you like to come with us, you can."
"Go away with him and you?" he asked.
She nodded.
"I will come," he replied.
She held out her 手渡す, he took it, and, as if some 薄暗い memory awoke, raised it to his lips.
"Where do you come from?" he asked.
"From Java," she returned; but the 指名する bore no significance to him.
"I am glad you have come," was all he said.
They re-entered the house, and 設立する Lestrell awake; and muttering and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing once more.
He looked at Madame da Lucca with 注目する，もくろむs that bore no 承認 in their depths; and so it went on from day to day.
She 株d Annett's 労働s, and awoke in his breast a 肉親，親類d of dog-like devotion. As for her, it was a time of 猛烈な／残忍な and tumultuous joy. She had the man she loved to herself; unconscious of her presence, it was true, but still hers—hers only—to tend, to nurse, to caress! In the 大混乱／混沌とした remembrances of that time, Lestrell seemed, afterwards, to 解任する how a 会社／堅い, warm arm was often passed beneath his 長，率いる, which was 圧力（をかける）d to the 産する／生じるing softness of a woman's breast, while 熱烈な kisses were rained upon his lips and 直面する.
One morning, when Madame da Lucca left the house she lived in, to go to that where Lestrell lay sick, she saw one of the little albino ponies ありふれた to the Island, 存在 held by a native, outside the doorway. Returning to her own 一時的な 住居, she sent one of her boys 負かす／撃墜する to find out who the 訪問者 was; then she retired to the inner room and quickly changed her dress to a plain serge. She had no 意向 of masquerading for the 利益 of strangers. The boy returned, and said that the doctor had ridden in from the 調査する （軍の）野営地，陣営 to see how Lestrell was faring.
The Portuguese doctor was astonished at the apparition that 迎える／歓迎するd him as he 解除するd the mat and stepped out. In a few words, she introduced herself as a 近づく 親族 of Lestrell's, and begged the doctor to let her know when he could be 安全に taken on board the schooner.
"I cannot say, to-day," he replied. "He is better!—thanks, no 疑問, Madame, to the attention you have 充てるd to him—but I cannot 主張する that he is fit to be 除去するd."
"He is strong, now," murmured the woman.
"He is, and will soon 回復する his 推論する／理由; but, you see, the season is uncertain. You may run into a 台風, and Senor Lestrell is not in a 条件 to stand any rough knocking about."
"And how long, doctor, do you think it will be before he can leave?" and she turned the 十分な 殴打／砲列 of her 注目する，もくろむs upon him.
But the doctor was proof, where his profession was 関心d, and he 保証するd her that it would not be under a week, but that he would come in again in a day or two.
"It is such an unhealthy 気候, here," she said. "I do so want to get him to a better one."
"You shall, as soon as it is 安全な to do so. Believe me, Madame, I am advising you for the best." He 機動力のある his diminutive steed and 棒 off, leaving Madame da Lucca in no pleasant でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる of mind. Her musings were 乱すd—the doctor was returning.
"I forgot to tell you," he said, "that the hillmen are again giving trouble, and I would advise you to sleep on board your schooner every night. I do not imagine that they will attack this village, for they are 充てるing their attention to avenge the loss we （打撃，刑罰などを）与えるd on them before. If they knew that Senor Lestrell, who was 特に active and 今後 in the 小競り合い, is lying here 負傷させるd, they might make a dash; but the 村人s have been 警告するd, and will keep a look-out." He 棒 off.
Madame da Lucca had now a 燃やすing 願望（する） to get Lestrell on board the schooner and away, while he was still unconscious of his surroundings. She had, in fact, 決定するd to 誘拐する him, and put an impassable 湾 between him and Ruth. Although she believed that Ras Mahad, who, as she thought, was the only possessor of the knowledge of Annett's どの辺に, was 溺死するd, still, on 審理，公聴会 of Lestrell's danger, Tom might come to Dilli, and there learn everything. Any morning a white sail might gleam in the distance, and those arrive who would baulk her 計画（する）s. Her passion for Lestrell and her 憎悪 of Ruth were now a mania with her. If Lestrell 回復するd his 推論する／理由, he might 反対する to go with her—probably would; but, once on board, and out of sight of land, he would come to his senses only to find a return impossible. She would wait until after the doctor's next visit, and then—行為／法令／行動する, in any 事例／患者.
DJURAN, the young Malay, was intelligent, and could now speak 公正に／かなり good English. He explained to Tom the どの辺に of the village, and 述べるd the little bay and 暗礁 whereon the proa had been 難破させるd, and Duckworth had no difficulty in 位置を示すing it on the chart. He noticed that it was within a short distance of the 境界 line, and 決定するd, therefore, to sail straight there, instead of going north to Dilli, and then returning. In all probability the village would be the （警察，軍隊などの）本部 of the 調査する party. Annett and Ruth arrived by the steamer. The girl already looked much better for the change, and the feeling that, at least, they were doing something. It was not long before the "ばか者" was once more スピード違反 across the mouth of the 広大な／多数の／重要な 湾 that bites 深い into the north coast of Australia.
The 火山の 頂点（に達する）s of the mountain 範囲 of Timor at last （機の）カム in sight, but not till after some baffling 勝利，勝つd had been experienced, and Ruth feasted her 注目する，もくろむs on the 熱帯の loveliness of the island, wherein she dreaded to find only her lover's 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な; for no more 詳細（に述べる）s had 設立する their way into any of the papers.
The doctor had again ridden in to see Lestrell, and, in spite of all Madame da Lucca's blandishments, had distinctly 辞退するd to 許す his 患者 to be taken on board the schooner.
"Besides," he reminded her, "Senor Lestrell is under 約束／交戦 to both 政府s, and I have 報告（する）／憶測d that in a short time he will be able to 再開する 義務. He cannot leave the island without their 許可／制裁."
The headstrong woman felt inclined to throw these 警告s to the 勝利，勝つd and 追求する her own wild course; and she sat beside Lestrell's 病人の枕元 in a fit of moody musing. The evening drew on, and Annett, who had been silently watching her in his dog-like fashion, approached, and 動議d to her that he would take her place. Lestrell was sleeping 静かに, and she stooped and kissed him. It was evident that the fever was 速く abating; and it seemed as though he would soon awake and be himself again. She passed out of the house and went up to her own ４半期/4分の1s. One of her boys had been waiting, and followed her at a short distance. Since the 警告 given by the doctor, she had 武装した both of them, and always carried a revolver herself. Apart from the one o'ermastering passion that now had 所有／入手 of her, she was a woman with plenty of ありふれた sense.
They reached home, and she went into her room and assumed her loose, comfortable native 衣料品s. 一方／合間, the boys laid the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in the outer room, and put the evening meal on. Madame da Lucca ate with her usual healthy appetite, and pondered over her 未来 movements. She was as 決定するd as ever to carry out her 計画（する）s, but the doctor had somewhat disconcerted her by his 声明 that Lestrell was still under his 約束／交戦 to the two 政府s.
"Madame," said one of the boys, 解除するing the mat, "there is a light at sea."
She started to her feet and went out. The boy pointed the light out to her, and, after a little, she discovered it, for, at first, it was 混乱させるd amongst the 星／主役にするs lying low on the horizon. But, once caught, it was easily distinguishable, for it slowly rose and fell.
A ship's riding-light—and the ship was lying off the land, waiting for daylight. A gentle land 微風 was blowing, and instinct told her that in the morning she would see Duckworth's schooner at 錨，総合司会者 in the bay. Then she became conscious that a strange murmur of excitement was to be heard in the village. It rose and swelled until—"broke 前へ／外へ from one and all a cry as if the Volscians were coming o'er the 塀で囲む."
The hillmen had attacked the place!
Madame da Lucca was an exceptional woman; she scarcely knew what 恐れる was, and the prospect of a fight gave her a 猛烈な／残忍な 肉親，親類d of 楽しみ. Her boys were 用意が出来ている; she threw a cartridge-belt over her shoulder, 選ぶd up a light ライフル銃／探して盗む she had, and the three 急いでd to the house where Lestrell lay, for she guessed that that was the main point of attack.
The fighting had 開始するd outside the village, but the tide of 戦う／戦い was evidently 存在 rolled 支援する in the direction of Lestrell's house, which, however they reached in safety. Annett had been roused to life by the noise of the fray, and Lestrell was sitting up in bed with a new light in his 注目する，もくろむs—the light of 推論する／理由! He had 試みる／企てるd to rise, but 設立する himself too weak. He was telling Annett, who needed no 勧めるing, and seemed almost himself again, to hurry to the 前線. Annett had Lestrell's ライフル銃／探して盗む and cartridge-belt, and 急いでd by the others as they entered, without a word; then he 急ぐd into the 厚い of it, and the quick 報告（する）／憶測s of his ライフル銃／探して盗む showed that a vigorous 同盟（する） had arrived in the nick of time. Lestrell gazed curiously at the three natives, as he thought, for he did not recognise Madame da Lucca. Then he 動議d them あわてて to leave, telling them to go and join the fight. Madame da Lucca spoke はっきりと to the two in their own language, and, nothing loth, for they were good, 選ぶd men, they 急いでd out.
"Lawrence! Lawrence!" she cried. "Do you not know me?"
"Lena!" he said, incredulously. "You here—and in this dress? What does it mean."
"Mean, my love? That you have been ill—delirious—and I have nursed you, and now we are attacked by the hillmen—the same who 負傷させるd you—and I have come to 保護する you."
Even as she spoke, the uproar swept に向かって them. In spite of the loss they were 苦しむing from the ライフル銃／探して盗むs of Annett and the two Javanese, the hillmen 圧力（をかける）d recklessly on に向かって the house, where, somehow, they had learned that the surveyor who had been 真っ先の in 撃退するing their first attack, was lying 負傷させるd.
"Give me my revolver," said Lestrell. The belt was hanging on the low roof, and she reached it 負かす／撃墜する and 手渡すd it to him. Then the two waited; she with her ライフル銃／探して盗む in her 手渡す, and a mad joy in her heart. At the worst, they would die together.
The fight 殺到するd past the house, and then the 推定する／予想するd 急ぐ （機の）カム. The mat hanging in the doorway was rudely torn 負かす／撃墜する, and a （人が）群がる of 猛烈な／残忍な 人物／姿／数字s were 圧力（をかける）ing in; but, one after the other, they went 負かす／撃墜する on the threshold. The delirium of 戦う／戦い had given Lestrell 一時的な strength, and no 手渡す was ever firmer on the 誘発する／引き起こす than was Madame da Lucca's on the light magazine-ライフル銃／探して盗む she was using. 撃退するd, they drew 支援する, and the defenders, making another 猛攻撃 on them, drove them out again. Once more there was a 決起大会／結集させる, and another attack was made, but this time it was more easily 敗北・負かすd. Suddenly, 発射s from the ジャングル to seaward told of help. The captain and mate of the Dutch schooner had just arrived on the scene of 衝突, and their coming turned the tide of victory. The "jaw-hunters" broke and fled.
The "ばか者" was lying outside the 暗礁, and Tom and Annett were impatiently pacing the deck.
"Listen!" said Duckworth, and they 停止（させる）d in their walk. Borne to them on the land 微風, （機の）カム the first sounds of the 衝突.
"Fighting, by jingo!" said Tom. "We must take a 手渡す in that, somehow."
"Djuran!" he called out, as the 発射s rang out clearer and louder. The Malay 急いでd up.
"Do you think you can take us in, to-night, in the 鯨-boat?" The man listened for a moment.
"Yes. There's no surf 価値（がある） speaking of, now, and I know the 開始 同様に as possible."
"Mr. Holdsworth," said Duckworth, "get the whaleboat out as soon as ever you can. Mr. Annett and I will go 岸に and see what the fun is about. You must keep the schooner on and off, just as she is, but put a mast-長，率いる light up 同様に. Now, 刑事, we had better go and 負担 up."
With the smart 乗組員 they had on board, it did not take long before the whaleboat was in the water and the boat's 乗組員 in their places. Djuran, as he went aft, was startled to see a woman's 人物／姿／数字 there before him, but the taciturn Malay said nothing. Duckworth and Annett 手渡すd 負かす／撃墜する their ライフル銃／探して盗むs and followed themselves.
"Why, Ruth, what are you doing here?" asked Annett, when he 設立する his niece seated in the boat.
"I am going 岸に with you," she replied; "and you'll have to put me overboard to get rid of me, Uncle 刑事."
Annett turned to his partner, but Tom 単に sang out—"Give way now, smartly!" and the 正規の／正選手 thud of the oars in the rowlocks was the only sound heard on board.
Djuran stood up on the afterthwart as they 速く 近づくd the 入り口. The Malay was 権利; there was very little surf on, and, after a couple of rollers had been 交渉するd, they were in the still water of the bay, and in a few minutes the boat was beached.
"You had better stop here, Ruth," said Annett, as she put her foot on the 味方する and jumped 負かす／撃墜する after them.
"I am going with you," was all the reply she vouchsafed, as she resolutely passed her 手渡す under his arm.
The sounds of 衝突 had 中止するd—save for 発言する／表明するs audible in the village.
"They must have been beaten off, whoever they were," said Tom, "or the village would be in 炎上s."
They 圧力（をかける）d through the ジャングル with some difficulty, and arrived at the end of the village where Lestrell's house was 据えるd. From the open doorway streamed a 有望な 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 of light, and, attracted by it, the three made for the place.
"Seems to have been pretty hard fighting here," said Tom, gazing at the dead 団体／死体s lying about. They 前進するd and looked in.
A haggard man, dressed in pyjamas, with 包帯s 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his 長，率いる, was half-sitting, half-lying on the bed; an old white man (old to all 外見) was standing 近づく, and one whom they at first took for a handsome boy in native dress was also 現在の.
"Lawrence!" cried Ruth, and, springing past the others, was in her lover's wasted 武器.
IT was lucky that slow-going Tom Duckworth could be a man of 観察 when he liked. He 公式文書，認めるd the change that transformed the supposed boy's 直面する into that of a demon; he saw the uncontrollable 手渡す about to raise the ライフル銃／探して盗む it still held, and, springing 今後, he 掴むd the 武器 in time.
"No, Madame da Lucca!" said the sturdy pearl-sheller, as she made a desperate 成果／努力 to wrench it from him. "I don't want to 新たな展開 your pretty wrists; better give it up 静かに."
She 産する／生じるd with a contemptuous laugh, and drew 支援する, watching her 適切な時期.
刑事 Annett approached his brother, whom he hardly recognised. "Reggy?" the former said, 持つ／拘留するing out his 手渡す, but the other shook his 長，率いる. The gleam of 推論する／理由 that had been awakened in him by the excitement of the attack had died 負かす／撃墜する once more.
"What's the 事柄 with you, Reggy? Do you not know Ruth, your daughter?"
Ruth （機の）カム 今後 and held out her 手渡すs to her father, but he turned and looked at Madame da Lucca, and, stepping beside her, took her 手渡す. She laughed mockingly.
"He is out of his mind," said Duckworth to Annett, in a low トン. "We're in a devil of a coil, here."
"Mr. Annett," said Madame da Lucca in a 会社／堅い 発言する／表明する, "Mr. Lestrell is still very weak, and the excitement of your visit, on the 最高の，を越す of the little fighting we have had, will not do him much good. I should 示唆する that you retire and let the 無効の have some necessary 残り／休憩（する）."
Duckworth, who had not yet spoken to Lestrell, went over to him and shook 手渡すs. "What's been the 事柄, old man?" he said, ignoring Madame's speech.
"I got a 汚い clip on the 長，率いる, and I suppose my mind's been wandering ever since. I don't know how long I have been lying here, but I （機の）カム to myself just as the fighting began. I'm 権利 now, though."
刑事 Annett had drawn 近づく and 迎える／歓迎するd him while he spoke, and Ruth （機の）カム with him. Madame da Lucca, with the old man still 持つ／拘留するing and patting her 手渡す 情愛深く, was left standing alone. They seemed to have drawn around the sick man as if to 保護する him from her; she saw this, and it 削減（する） her proud heart to the 核心.
"行方不明になる Annett," she said, "I have been nursing Mr. Lestrell through his sickness. While you stopped 安全に at home, I （機の）カム alone and 設立する him lying here. To-night I （機の）カム here and stood by his 病人の枕元, and fought in his defence." She pointed to the dead 団体／死体s outside the door, and her passion rose with her words. "Could—you!—you!—you puny doll, have done that?"
非，不，無 answered. The men recognised the uselessness of it, and Ruth, who had put her 手渡す on Lestrell's knew, with a woman's instinct, that that 活動／戦闘 galled the enraged woman more than any words could have done.
"Lawrence," she went on, "ask this man, Ruth's father, if I am not speaking truth!" She looked at Reginald Annett and seemed to 所有する some strange 力／強力にする to make him understand when others failed.
"She （機の）カム, and has watched you day and night!" he said, looking at Lestrell.
"You hear," she continued, "Lawrence Lestrell, you are bound to me by every tie of honour and 感謝. If you have one 誘発する of true manhood in you, abjure your 約束 to that girl! You are 地雷! But for me, you would now be lying on that bed, 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスd to death!"
"Oh, Lawrence, Lawrence!" sobbed Ruth, "she has taken my father from me—do not let her take you 同様に!"
"Hush, Ruth!" he said, gently. "Have no 恐れる!" and the flashing 注目する，もくろむs of the watching woman 公式文書，認めるd the hard look come over his thin 直面する, that she had seen once before.
"Madame da Lucca, for what you have done, you shall have my lifelong 感謝; but I cannot give you what I have already given to another. I 認める that I 借りがある you much, but I have a 負債 of love, of honour and 義務, to 支払う／賃金 here, too. What you have done, she—my 約束d wife, would have done, could she have got here in time. 証言，証人／目撃する her …を伴ってing her uncle here, now."
Tom Duckworth stood ready. From the look on Madame da Lucca's 直面する, he thought she was about to spring on Ruth and wreak her vengeance then and there. "Ten chances to one she has a knife, and a sharp one, too, about her, somewhere," he thought.
But Madame drew herself haughtily together. "Am I to leave the room—or your friends?" she asked, with a scornful lip.
"I have much to say to my friends," returned Lestrell.
She looked at him with a mixed ちらりと見ること of love and contempt, and moved to the door—a magnificent creature in her 野蛮な dress.
"Stay, I will go with you," said Reginald Annett.
"Father," said Ruth, 前進するing, and laying her 手渡す on his arm, "do try and remember me."
He shook her off. "No, no," he replied, "you have been unkind to her."
Madame da Lucca had paused at the open doorway. It was a poor 勝利, but still, it was a 勝利. Reggy Annett joined her, and she and the white-haired castaway passed out into the night together.
"D—d glad I never got married," said Tom Duckworth, at last. "See what a mess women make of everything, with their 感情 and emotions. Take my advice, Lestrell, and think better of it. I'm going outside for some fresh 空気／公表する; coming, 刑事?" He left the house, and Annett followed him.
"Better leave those two together for a bit," said Tom, when Annett joined him. "But that devilish woman means mischief. Lord! how could she have developed into what she is now? If you had only seen the length and angularity of the creature when I first saw her as a girl!"
"She's a dangerous woman," replied Annett, "and I shall be glad to get away from here, for she'd stop at nothing, and as soon put a knife in Ruth as not. But what are we to do about my brother? It's a terrible thing to find him like this."
"We must wait on events. I suppose we had better kill the time on shore here, to-night. I'll go 負かす／撃墜する and send the whaleboat 支援する, and tell Holdsworth to bring the schooner in in the morning. You stop here, on guard."
Tom went off in the 不明瞭, and Annett, after a short interval, re-entered the hut.
"井戸／弁護士席, Lestrell, how are you feeling now?" he asked.
"Wonderfully 井戸／弁護士席. As soon as I have had a real good 料金d I shall be fit for anything."
"Do you remember nothing of the time since you were 負傷させるd?"
"Very little. I have a 混乱させるd sort of idea of having been brought in here, and I suppose must have had lucid intervals; for when I woke up to-night I was not surprised at finding myself here."
"And you remember nothing of Madame da Lucca's 外見?"
"Not a thing, I 保証する you. To-night, just as the 列／漕ぐ／騒動 開始するd, was the first time I was conscious of her presence."
"Do you think the doctor will come in to-morrow?" asked Annett.
"I can't say. I have no recollection of his visits, but I should imagine some of the 調査する men will be in, the first thing this morning. They must have learnt something of the movements of the hill tribes."
Presently, Tom's 激しい step was heard outside, and he entered.
"井戸／弁護士席, what's to be done?" he asked.
"That's just what I want to know;" returned Annett.
"It's Reggy who is the trouble. Impossible to leave him here."
"We'll have to 誘拐する him, and, perhaps, when he gets away from this his wits may come 支援する."
"And about you, Lestrell; will you come 支援する with us in the schooner?"
"If I can get leave from the 当局; but I せねばならない stop and finish my 約束／交戦."
"And in your 現在の 明言する／公表する a good 一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合 of fever will finish you! You're lucky to get off as you've done."
They talked for some time longer, but could think of no feasible 計画（する） of 取引，協定ing with Reggy Annett in his 現在の 明言する／公表する, 特に with Madame da Lucca 演習ing an 逆の 影響（力） over him.
At last the partners 主張するd on Lestrell 存在 left to 残り／休憩（する）, and the three wandered out on the beach and watched the sky turn from grey to pink behind the mountains, until daylight was on the shore once more.
Ruth looked at the lovely surroundings developing with the growing light, and a 広大な／多数の／重要な peace （機の）カム over the girl's spirit. Her lover was 回復するd to her, and she felt that the dark-注目する，もくろむd woman, who seemed to hate her with such strange intensity, would not 後継する in her 成果／努力s to 疎遠にする him from her.
"Here comes the 'ばか者!'" said Duckworth, whose first ちらりと見ること had, of course, been seaward. The pretty little schooner, whose 外見 did not 正当化する her ridiculous 指名する, was coming in with a light 勝利，勝つd and all sails 始める，決める. They watched her as she 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd the point of the 暗礁, and, running up nearer in shore than the Dutch （手先の）技術, let go her 錨，総合司会者.
"They'll send a boat, when they see us on the beach," said Tom, and he waved his hat. In a few minutes the whaleboat, which had been 牽引するing astern, was seen coming off.
"But, Uncle 刑事," said Ruth, "I don't like going away and leaving Lawrence alone. There's no knowing what that awful woman might do."
"There's something in what Ruth says," said Annett to Tom. "She's やめる unscrupulous."
"She is—she's a scorcher! You take Ruth on board and get your breakfast, then come 支援する and relieve me, and I'll come off. But, mind you, Ruth, you're not 手配中の，お尋ね者 on shore this morning. You go straight to your cabin and 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する when you've had your chow."
Ruth pouted, but she knew when Uncle Tom said a thing he meant it.
Duckworth waited until the boat （機の）カム in; then, 説 that he would go up to the house and see how things were getting on, he turned に向かって the ジャングル.
"井戸／弁護士席, were you in time for any fighting?" asked Holdsworth.
"No; all over by the time we got there. It must have been pretty warm, though, while it lasted."
"Have any luck, さもなければ?" asked the mate, who was 熟知させるd with 反対する of the trip.
"Yes. My brother and Mr. Lestrell are both on shore, but I am sorry to say that my brother's mind seems 影響する／感情d, and he either will not, or cannot, recognise any of us. As for Lestrell, he's had a 削減（する） on the 長，率いる and been pretty bad, but he's nearly 井戸／弁護士席 now. We must 持つ／拘留する a 会議 of war presently about how to get my brother to come with us."
"Is he so bad as that? I'm sorry to hear it. I suppose," went on Holdsworth, with a somewhat sly look at Ruth, "there will be no trouble in inducing Mr. Lestrell to come away?"
Annett smiled, and Ruth went into the cabin.
"Hurry up the cook, will you?" said Annett, as he followed her.
TOM walked slowly 支援する through the ジャングル. When he arrived within sight of the village he saw a group of ponies held by two or three natives. Evidently a party from the 調査する-（軍の）野営地，陣営 had come in. Men in uniform, with cigarettes in their mouths, were directing the 除去 of the 団体／死体s of the hillmen; the 村人s had taken away their own dead すぐに after the 敗北・負かす of their enemies. Duckworth made his way to the house where Lestrell lived; the mat had been re-hung, and he 解除するd it and entered.
Two men were seated conversing with Lestrell, who looked 井戸／弁護士席 and 有望な, and was dressed in a white 控訴. He 迎える／歓迎するd Tom with a friendly smile, and said something in Portuguese to his two 訪問者s, who rose and 屈服するd to the new-comer. Tom returned the salutation, and, 運ぶ／漁獲高ing out a box, sat 負かす／撃墜する on it.
"This is the doctor, Tom," said Lestrell, "and the other gentleman is the 長，指導者 surveyor of the Portuguese staff. They don't understand English, and you don't understand Portuguese, I know, so, if there is anything important, I'll 行為／法令／行動する as interpreter." Tom grunted an assent, and Lestrell 再開するd his conversation, principally with the doctor. Suddenly he burst out laughing, then he said a few words to the doctor, and turned to Duckworth.
"What do you think, old man?—Madame da Lucca was bent on taking me on board her schooner. If it hadn't been for the Doctor, here, I should have come to my senses half-way between here and Singapore, or wherever she ーするつもりであるd going."
"（疑いを）晴らす 事例／患者 of 試みる／企てるd Shanghai-ing," growled Tom.
"Ask the doctor if you can come on board to-day."
The doctor made some 発言／述べる in reply to Lestrell's question; and the latter got off the bed and walked up and 負かす／撃墜する the room, somewhat feebly, it is true.
The doctor shook his 長，率いる and said something in comment, then he felt Lestrell's pulse.
"He says I can go on board to-morrow."
An animated conversation then 続いて起こるd between the two surveyors; at its 結論 the 訪問者s got up, and, after shaking Lestrell 温かく by the 手渡す, 出発／死d. Tom went to the doorway and watched them gather their party together, 開始する their ponies, and ride off. The dead had been put out of sight.
"It's all settled," said Lestrell, when Tom turned 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. "The Portuguese surveyor will 令状 a letter which the Dutchman will also 調印する, and it will be sent in this afternoon. When we leave here we can go up to Dilli, where I must 報告（する）／憶測 myself."
"Now our trouble is about Annett's brother. You are 直す／買収する，八百長をするd up all 権利."
"Yes. That's a hard nut to 割れ目, and Madame da Lucca will use all her 影響（力） with the poor fellow, to 妨害する us." The mat at the doorway was suddenly 解除するd, and Madame herself stood there, no longer in her picturesque native dress, but in a 厳しく plain serge. She inclined her 長，率いる わずかに to Duckworth—who got up—and then 前進するd to Lestrell. "I am going away, Lawrence. My luggage has been sent on board, and the boat is waiting for me. I have come to say good-bye." He, too, had risen, and took the 手渡す she held out to him.
"Good-bye, Lena. I can never hope to 返す you all the 感謝 I 借りがある you, but I shall remember it all my life."
"It is not 感謝 I want," she whispered, 関わりなく Tom's presence. Lestrell was silent.
"It is good-bye, then?" she went on.
"Good-bye, with all good wishes," he returned.
She gazed longingly into his 注目する，もくろむs, and then 解放（する）d her 手渡す, and turned to Duckworth.
"Good-bye, Mr. Duckworth. You've been too much for that 'scraggy gawk of a girl,' after all." Tom turned crimson, and Madame da Lucca laughed almost gaily. "You see, I heard of the complimentary way you spoke of me on board the steamer."
"But, where is Annett?" stammered Tom.
"Oh, Mr. Annett goes with me in the schooner; and I think that, once away, he may 回復する. If so, he will probably return to Australia of his own （許可，名誉などを）与える. Believe me, you would never get him to leave here except by 軍隊."
It seemed an 平易な 解答 of the difficulty, and Duckworth and Lestrell 交流d ちらりと見ることs. The idea occurred to both that Madame da Lucca was 得点する／非難する／２０ing a point against Ruth in thus taking 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of her father, which would rankle in the girl's mind always. But they could not 井戸／弁護士席 抗議する; the facts were incontestable.
Madame da Lucca gave one ちらりと見ること 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, as if to 直す／買収する，八百長をする the 内部の of the room in her memory; then, as Duckworth 解除するd the mat for her, she bestowed on him a gracious smile of thanks, and went out.
"Give me your arm, Tom," said Lestrell, after a pause; "I must practise walking a little; let's go outside for a stroll."
"Good Lord!" said Duckworth. "Supposing she means to marry Reggy Annett, and then come the step-mother over Ruth!" Both men laughed; Tom's flight of imagination was too bold. As Annett （機の）カム 岸に, the boat 含む／封じ込めるing Madame da Lucca, his brother, and the two Javanese, left the beach, lower 負かす／撃墜する, and he did not notice the occupants. He looked troubled when they told him of the turn of 事件／事情／状勢s, but there seemed no help for it.
Duckworth went off to the schooner, and Annett remained with Lestrell, and 補助装置d him in his 準備s for 出発. In the afternoon, Tom 産する／生じるd to Ruth's solicitations and （機の）カム 岸に with her.
Lestrell 選ぶd up strength 速く during the day, but he resisted all their 説得／派閥s to go on board the schooner that night, and disobey the doctor. The Dutch schooner still lay at 錨，総合司会者, and no 準備s for 出発 appeared to be under way as yet, as far as could be seen from the deck of the "ばか者." Evening drew on, and a 別れの（言葉，会） dinner was 用意が出来ている in Lestrell's house; Tom having brought 岸に some extra eatables from the schooner. It was 公正に／かなり successful as a 祝宴, but the affliction that had befallen Ruth's father, and their 無（不）能 to do anything, somewhat saddened them; Lestrell, too, seemed anxious to see them off to the schooner in a way that somewhat puzzled Ruth, and わずかに annoyed her.
"I'm not 平易な in my mind about those men; they might try it on again to-night. They're very revengeful," Lestrell confided to Tom. "I want Ruth to go on board as soon as you can get her to go."
Ruth 反対するd; she would have enough of the schooner before they got 支援する to Thursday Island. At last Duckworth unwisely told her the 推論する／理由 of their 苦悩 to go on board.
"What!" exclaimed the girl. "Leave Lawrence here, after what that woman said? No, Uncle Tom, I stop 岸に tonight."
"Here, 刑事!" called out Duckworth. "Come and use your 当局. There's 反乱（を起こす） in the （軍の）野営地，陣営."
But remonstrances were useless. Ruth was stubborn; the taunt had stung 深く，強烈に. There was nothing for it but to make the best of it. There was a thatched 避難所 近づく Lestrell's house, and the men made up their minds to pass the night there and let Ruth have the house.
The night was moonless, but （疑いを）晴らす. The men had spread their mats 負かす／撃墜する and made 手はず／準備 for watching in turns. It was about midnight, and Duckworth was yawning and thinking how, but for Ruth's folly, as he 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語d it, they might all be comfortably asleep on board the schooner, when it seemed to him that a dark and noiseless 人物／姿／数字 was coming に向かって Lestrell's house. The background of ジャングル was 黒人／ボイコット, and the 解雇する／砲火／射撃-飛行機で行くs flitting through it seemed to 増加する the gloom. He 前進するd a few steps, and peered intently in the direction he thought he had noticed the 人物／姿／数字. He challenged, but there was no answer. 幅の広い awake now, he 再開するd his 駅／配置する under the 避難所, and watched for another hour, but there was no 調印する of anything, and he began to think that he must have been deceived.
Lestrell awoke presently, and 申し込む／申し出d to take his place for a bit. Tom told him that he thought he had seen a dark 人物／姿／数字 moving about, but he was not sure about it; then he lay 負かす／撃墜する on the mat and went off into a sailor's sleep.
Lestrell seated himself against one of the bamboos supporting the 避難所 they were under. A riding-lantern had been left 燃やすing in Ruth's room, and it gleamed brightly under the mat hung in the doorway. He turned his 注目する，もくろむs to the ジャングル, and his heart gave a jump. Like a spectre, a 人物／姿／数字 現れるd from the 不明瞭 with noiseless footsteps. Lestrell's 神経s were shaken by his long illness, and he could not resist a thrill of terror as this silent 形態／調整 前進するd, 明らかに making straight for his late 住居. He thought of Ruth sleeping there in fancied 安全; before he could get up and reach the house the mysterious 人物／姿／数字 would be before him. Without rising, he put his ライフル銃／探して盗む to his shoulder and 解雇する／砲火／射撃d.
There was a wail of 苦痛, and the dark form seemed to 沈む into the earth.
"What's up!" cried Duckworth, as he and Annett started up at the 報告（する）／憶測.
"I don't know; something was coming に向かって the house, and I 解雇する／砲火／射撃d at it. It's lying out there!" and he pointed in the direction, leaning 支援する against the bamboo, and feeling weak and faint.
"Stay here; I will go and see what it is," returned Tom. "Annett, you had better go and see if Ruth is 安全な."
Tom started off in the direction Lestrell had pointed, and his keen 注目する，もくろむs soon （悪事，秘密などを）発見するd a human form on the ground. He 前進するd and stooped over it, then dropped on one 膝 and raised the 長，率いる.
Annett 解除するd the mat and looked into the room. Ruth was sleeping soundly—the 報告（する）／憶測 had not 誘発するd her. He dropped the mat again, and, as he did so, heard Tom's 発言する／表明する call to him.
"Bring the light!" he said. Annett went softly into the room, untied the lantern, and went with it to where Tom was ひさまづくing, supporting the 長，率いる of the unknown. Annett swung the lantern in 前線 of the 直面する.
"My God!" was all he said.
In a native dress of dark stuff, with the 血 井戸／弁護士席ing from a 負傷させる in her breast, her 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd, and a 直面する of death, lay Madame da Lucca.
"Is she dead?" asked Annett, in a whisper.
"No," returned Tom, in the same low トン; "her heart still （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域s."
"Look there," said Annett.
The unconscious 手渡す still held a parang, or 激しい knife, used by the Malays.
"For Ruth?" said Tom; and Annett nodded a silent assent. Steps were heard approaching. Lestrell had 回復するd from the feeling of faintness that had attacked him, and was coming に向かって them. "Is that you, Lestrell?" called out Tom.
"Go 支援する and wait for us—you are not 手配中の，お尋ね者 here."
"Why not? What has happened?" he returned, still 前進するing.
"Damn it!—keep away, can't you;" cried Duckworth in a 厳しい 発言する／表明する—more as though he were speaking to a Kanaka than to a friend.
"Rubbish," said the other, walking into the light.
For one horrified moment he looked at the 直面する 上昇傾向d to the gleam of the lantern, then Annett passed his arm 一連の会議、交渉／完成する him, for he reeled as though he would have fallen. By a 広大な／多数の／重要な 成果／努力 he 回復するd himself.
"Get up, Tom," he said, hoarsely; "this is my place." He took the woman's 長，率いる on his arm, and Duckworth rose.
As if the touch had brought her spirit 支援する from beyond the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, the dark 注目する，もくろむs opened, and recognised the agonized 直面する bending 負かす／撃墜する.
"It will not be so hard to die, now," she whispered.
"You did not mean to 殺人 Ruth, surely?"
Her slackened 手渡す tried vainly to 解除する the 激しい knife. "Not to 殺人 her," she said distinctly, and Tom and Annett, standing silently there heard every word. "But I would have 削除するd her twice across the 直面する with this, and spoilt her baby beauty for ever."
Neither of them spoke. The savage vindictiveness in the 発言する／表明する made them feel 冷淡な.
"Look, Lawrence," she said, and pointed to her feet.
Annett held the lantern up. On her feet—wet with the 血 that had 噴出するd from the 負傷させる and bespattered the lower part of her sarong and her 明らかにする ankles—she wore the Moccasins of Silence.
"Do you remember, Lawrence, I vainly 公約するd that the prophecy would never come true." She put up her failing 手渡す, as if to bestow on his 直面する the caress a woman only gives to the one man she loves. He bent his 長，率いる and 圧力（をかける）d his lips to hers. Like a tired child, she nestled her 長，率いる in his arm, and, with a sigh, almost of content, the headstrong, untamed spirit fled into the unknown. "Once shall these be wet with 血. Twice shall they be wet with 血. The third time it will be the 血 of the wearer."
In the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, where lies the wearer whose 血 bedewed them a third time, the 致命的な Moccasins of Silence moulder into dust.