1 files changed, 7123 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/26637.txt b/26637.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5af525e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/26637.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7123 @@
+Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of the Green Ray, by William Le Queux
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Mystery of the Green Ray
+
+Author: William Le Queux
+
+Release Date: September 16, 2008 [EBook #26637]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF THE GREEN RAY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ THE MYSTERY OF THE
+ GREEN RAY
+
+ BY
+
+ WILLIAM LE QUEUX
+
+ AUTHOR OF "THE UNNAMED"
+
+ SECOND EDITION
+
+ HODDER AND STOUGHTON
+ LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
+
+ MCMXV
+
+
+
+
+                    CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                   PAGE
+
+                    CHAPTER  I.
+ BESIDE STILL WATERS                                 1
+
+                    CHAPTER  II.
+ THE MAN GOING NORTH                                17
+
+                    CHAPTER  III.
+ MAINLY ABOUT MYRA                                  31
+
+                    CHAPTER  IV.
+ THE BLACK BLOW                                     50
+
+                    CHAPTER  V.
+ IS MORE MYSTERIOUS                                 63
+
+                    CHAPTER  VI.
+ CONTAINS A FURTHER ENIGMA                          78
+
+                    CHAPTER VII.
+ THE CHEMIST'S ROCK                                 91
+
+                    CHAPTER VIII.
+ MISTS OF UNCERTAINTY                              102
+
+                    CHAPTER IX.
+ THE MYSTERY OF SHOLTO                             116
+
+                    CHAPTER X.
+ THE SECRET OF THE ROCK                            126
+
+                    CHAPTER XI.
+
+ HOW THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENED                       133
+
+                    CHAPTER XII.
+ WHO IS HILDERMAN?                                 149
+
+                    CHAPTER XIII.
+ THE RED-HAIRED MAN                                167
+
+                    CHAPTER XIV.
+ A FURTHER MYSTERY                                 178
+
+                    CHAPTER XV.
+ CONCERNS AN ILLUSTRATED PAPER                     188
+
+                    CHAPTER XVI.
+ DISCLOSES CERTAIN FACTS                           202
+
+                    CHAPTER XVII.
+ SOME GRAVE FEARS                                  220
+
+                    CHAPTER XVIII.
+ THE TRUTH REVEALED                                235
+
+
+
+
+THE MYSTERY OF THE GREEN RAY
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+BESIDE STILL WATERS.
+
+
+The youth in the multi-coloured blazer laughed.
+
+"You'd have to come and be a nurse," he suggested.
+
+"Oh, I'd go as a drummer-boy. I'd look fine in uniform, wouldn't I?"
+the waitress simpered in return.
+
+Dennis Burnham swallowed his liqueur in one savage gulp, pushed back
+his chair, and rose from the table.
+
+"Silly young ass," he said, in a voice loud enough for the object of
+his wrath to hear. "Let's get outside."
+
+The four of us rose, paid our bill, and went out, leaving the youth
+and his flippant companions to themselves. For it was Bank Holiday,
+August the third, 1914, and I think, though it was the shortest and
+most uneventful of all our river "annuals," it is the one which we are
+least likely to forget. On the Saturday Dennis, Jack Curtis, Tommy
+Evans and myself had started from Richmond on our yearly trip up the
+river. Even as we sat in the two punts playing bridge, moored at our
+first camping-place below Kingston Weir, disquieting rumours reached
+us in the form of excited questions from the occupants of passing
+craft. And now, as we rose from the dinner-table at the Magpie,
+Sunbury, two days later, it seemed that war was inevitable.
+
+"What I can't understand," growled Dennis, as we stepped into one of
+the punts and paddled idly across to the lock, "is how any young idiot
+can treat the whole thing as a terrific joke. If we go to war with
+Germany--and it seems we must--it's going to be----Good Heavens! who
+knows what it's going to be!"
+
+"Meaning," said Tom, who never allowed any thought to remain
+half-expressed, "meaning that we are not prepared, and they are. We
+have to step straight into the ring untrained to meet an opponent who
+has been getting ready night and day for the Lord knows how many
+years."
+
+"Still, you know," said Jack, who invariably found the bright spot in
+everything, "we never did any good as a nation until we were pushed."
+
+"We shall be pushed this time," I replied; "and if we do go to war, we
+shall all be wanted."
+
+"And wanted at once," Tom added.
+
+"Which brings me to the point which most concerns us," said Dennis,
+with a serious face. "What are _we_ going to do?"
+
+"It seems to me," I replied, "that there is only one thing we can do.
+If the Government declare war, it is in your cause and mine; and who
+is to fight our battles but you and me?"
+
+"That's it, old man, exactly," said Dennis. "We must appear in person,
+as you lawyers would say. I'm afraid there's not the slightest
+hope of peace being maintained now; and, indeed, in view of the
+circumstances, I should prefer to say there is not the slightest fear
+of it. We can't honourably keep out, so let us hope we shall step in
+at once."
+
+Jack's muttered "hear hear" spoke for us all, and there was silence
+for a minute or two. My thoughts were very far away from the peaceful
+valley of the Thames; they had flown, in fact, to a still more
+peaceful glen in the Western Highlands--but of that anon. I fancy the
+others, too, were thinking of something far removed from the ghastly
+horror of war. Jack was sitting with an open cigarette-case in his
+hand, gazing wistfully at the bank to which we had moored the boat.
+There was a "little girl" in the question. Poor chap; I knew exactly
+what he was thinking; he had my sympathy! The silence became
+uncomfortable, and it was Jack who broke it.
+
+"Give me a match, Tommy," he exclaimed suddenly, "and don't talk so
+much." Tom, who had not spoken a word for several minutes, produced
+the matches from a capacious pocket, and we all laughed rather
+immoderately at the feeble sally.
+
+"As to talking," said Tom, when our natural equanimity had been
+restored, "you all seem to be leaving me to say what we all know has
+to be said. And that is, what is the next item on the programme?"
+
+"I think we had certainly better decide----" Dennis began.
+
+"You old humbug!" exclaimed Tom. "You know perfectly well that we've
+all decided what we are going to do. It is merely the question of
+putting it in words. In some way or other we intend to regard the case
+of Rex _v._ Wilhelm as one in which we personally are concerned. Am I
+right?"
+
+"Scored a possible," said Jack, who had quite recovered his spirits.
+
+"In which case," Tom continued, "we don't expect to be of much
+assistance to our King and country if we go gallivanting up to
+Wallingford, as originally intended. The question, therefore, remains,
+shall we go back by train--if we can find the station here--or shall
+we punt back to Richmond?"
+
+"I don't think we need worry about that," said Dennis. "I vote we go
+back by river; it will be more convenient in every way, and we can
+leave the boats at Messums. If things are not so black as we think
+they are we can step on board again with a light heart, or four light
+hearts, if you prefer it, and start again. What do you say, Ron?"
+
+"I should prefer to paddle back," I replied. "It would be a pity to
+break up our party immediately. I don't want to be sentimental, or
+anything of that sort, but you chaps will agree that we have had some
+very jolly times together in the past, and if we are all going to take
+out our naturalisation papers in the Atkins family, it is just
+possible that we--well, we may not be all together again next year."
+
+"And you, Jack?" asked Dennis.
+
+"Oh, down stream for me," said young Curtis, with what was obviously
+an effort at his usual light-hearted manner. "Think of all the beer
+we've got left." But the laugh with which he accompanied his remark
+was not calculated to deceive any of us, and I am afraid my clumsy
+speech had set him thinking again. So we went "ashore," and had a
+nightcap at the Magpie, where the flippant youth was announcing to an
+admiring circle that if he had half a dozen pals to go with him he
+wouldn't mind joining the army himself! Having scoured the village
+in an unavailing attempt to round up half a pound of butter, we put
+off down stream, and spent the night in the beautiful backwater. No
+one suggested cards after supper, and we lay long into the night
+discussing, as thousands of other people all over the country were
+probably discussing, conscription, espionage, martial law, the
+possibilities of invasion, and the probable duration of the war. I
+doubt very much if we should have gone to sleep at all had we been
+able to foresee the events which the future, in its various ways, held
+in store for each of us. But, as it was, we plunged wholeheartedly
+into what Tommy Evans described as "Life's new interest." We
+positively thrilled at the prospect of army life.
+
+"Think of it," said Jack enthusiastically, "open air all the time.
+Nothing to worry about, no work to do, only manual labour. Why, it's
+going to be one long holiday. Hang it! I've laid drain-pipes on a
+farm--for fun!"
+
+It was past one o'clock when we got out supper. And our appetites lost
+nothing by the prospect of hardships which we treated rather lightly,
+since we entirely failed to appreciate their seriousness. Jack's
+visions of storming ramparts at the point of the bayonet merely added
+flavour to his amazing collation of cold beef, ham, brawn, cold fowl,
+and peaches and cream, with which he insisted on winding-up at nearly
+two in the morning. He would have shouted with laughter had you
+told him that in less than three weeks he would be dashing through
+the enemy's lines with despatches on a red-hot motor-cycle. And
+Tommy--poor old Tommy--well, I fancy he would have been just as
+cheerful, dear old chap, had he known the fate that was in store. For
+to him was to fall the lot which, of all others, everyone--rich and
+poor alike--understands. There is no need for me to repeat the story.
+Even in the rush of a war which has already brought forward some
+thousands of heroes, the reader will remember the glorious exploit
+of Corporal Thomas Evans, in which he won the D.C.M., and also,
+unfortunately, gave his life for his country. It is sufficient to say
+that three men in particular will ever cherish his memory as that of a
+loyal friend, a cheery comrade, a clean, honest, straightforward
+Englishman through and through.
+
+As for Dennis and myself--but I am coming to that.
+
+Having finished our early morning supper, we turned in for a few
+hours' sleep, Jack and Tommy in one boat, Dennis and I in the other.
+But before we did so we stood up, as well as we could under our canvas
+roof, and drank "The King"; and I fancy that in the mind of each of us
+there was more than one other name silently coupled with that toast.
+Then, for the first time in my memory of our intimacy together, we
+solemnly shook hands before turning in. But, try as I would, I
+couldn't sleep. For a long time I lay there, in the beautiful silence
+of the night, my thoughts far away, sleep farther away still.
+Presently I grovelled for my tobacco-pouch.
+
+"Restless, Ron?" Dennis asked, himself evidently quite wide awake.
+
+"Can't sleep at all," I answered. "But don't let me disturb you."
+
+"You're not disturbing me, old man. I can't sleep either. Let's light
+the lamp and smoke."
+
+Accordingly we fished out our pipes and relighted the acetylene lamp,
+which hung from the middle hoop. Jack turned over in his sleep.
+
+"Put out the light, old fellow. Not a cab'net meeting, y'know," he
+murmured drowsily. And by way of compromise I pulled the primitive
+draught curtain between the two boats, and as I sat up to do so I
+noticed with a start that Dennis wore a worried look I had never seen
+before. I lay back, got my pipe going, and waited for him to speak.
+
+"I wonder," he said presently, through the clouds of smoke that hung
+imprisoned beneath our shallow roof--"I wonder if there would have
+been any war if the Germans smoked Jamavana?"
+
+"What's worrying you, Den?" I asked, ignoring his question.
+
+"Worrying me? Why, nothing. I've got nothing to worry about. What
+about you, though? I don't want to butt in on your private affairs,
+but you've a lot more to be worried about than I have."
+
+"I? Oh, nonsense, Dennis," I protested.
+
+"None of that with me, Ron. You know what I mean. There's no point in
+either of us concealing things. This war is going to make a big
+difference to you and Myra McLeod. Now, tell me all about it. What do
+you mean to do, and everything?"
+
+"There isn't much to tell you. You know all about it. We're not
+engaged. Old General McLeod objects to our engagement on account of my
+position. Of course, he's quite right. He's very nice about it, and
+he's always kindness itself to me. You know, of course, that he and my
+father were brother officers? Myra and I have been chums since she was
+four. We love each other, and she would be content to wait, but, in
+the meantime--well, you know my position. I can only describe it in
+the well-worn phrases, 'briefless barrister' and 'impecunious junior.'
+There's a great deal of truth in the weak old joke, Dennis, about the
+many that are called and the few that are briefed. Of course the
+General is right. He says that I ought to leave Myra absolutely alone,
+and neither write to her nor see her, and give her a chance to meet
+someone else, and all that--someone who could keep her among her own
+set. But I tried that once for three months; I didn't answer her
+letters, or write to her, and I worried myself to death very nearly
+about it. But at the end of the three months she came up to town to
+see what it was all about. Gad, how glad I was to see her!"
+
+"I bet you were," said Dennis, sympathetically. "But what d'you mean
+by telling me you'd got nothing to worry about? Now that you're just
+getting things going nicely, and look like doing really well, along
+comes this wretched war, and you join the army, and such practice as
+you have goes to the devil. It's rotten luck, Ronnie, rotten luck."
+
+"It is a bit," I admitted with a sigh. My little bit of hard-earned
+success had meant a lot to me.
+
+"Still," said Dennis, "you've got a thundering lot to be thankful for
+too. To begin with, she'll wait for you, and then, if necessary, marry
+on twopence-halfpenny a year, and make you comfortable on it too. As
+far as her father is concerned, she's very devoted to him, and would
+never do anything to annoy him if she could possibly help it, as I
+easily spotted the night we dined with them at the Carlton. But she's
+made up her mind to be Mrs. Ronald Ewart sooner or later; that I
+_will_ swear!"
+
+"I'm very glad to hear you say so," I answered, "but the thing that
+worries me, of course, is the question as to whether I have any right
+to let this go on. If war is declared----"
+
+"Which it will be," said Dennis.
+
+"Well, then, my practice goes to the devil, as you say. How long after
+the war is it going to be before I could marry one of Myra's maids,
+let alone Myra? And, supposing, of course, that I use the return half
+of my ticket, so to speak, and come back safe and sound, my own
+prospects will be infinitely worse than they were before the war. The
+law, after all, is a luxury, and no one will have a great deal of
+money for luxuries by the time we have finished with it and wiped
+Germany off the map. Besides, if there's no money about, there's
+nothing to go to law over. So there you are, or, rather, there I am."
+
+"What do you intend to do, then?" my friend asked.
+
+"I shall go up to Scotland to-morrow night--well, of course, it's
+to-night, I should say--and see her--and--and----"
+
+"Yes--well, and----"
+
+"Oh, and tell her that it must be all--all over. I shall say that the
+war will make all the difference, that I must join the army, and that
+she must consider herself free to marry someone else, and that, as in
+any case I might never come back, I think it's the best thing for us
+both that she should consider herself free, and--er--and--and consider
+herself free," I ended weakly.
+
+"Just like that?" asked Dennis, with a twinkle in his eye.
+
+"I shall try and put it fairly formally to her," I said, "because, of
+course, I must appear to be sincere about it. I must try and think out
+some way of making her imagine I want it broken off for reasons of my
+own."
+
+Dennis laughed softly.
+
+"You delicious, egotistical idiot," he said. "You don't really imagine
+that you could persuade anyone you met for the first time even that
+you're not in love. By all means do what you think is right, Ron. I
+wouldn't dissuade you for the world. Tell her that she is free. Tell
+her why you are setting her free, and I'll be willing to wager my
+little all that you two ridiculous young people will find yourselves
+tied tighter together than ever. By all means do your best to be a
+good little boy, Ronald, and do what you conceive to be your duty."
+
+"You needn't pull my leg about it," I said, though somewhat
+half-heartedly.
+
+"I'm not pulling your leg, as you put it," Dennie answered, in a more
+serious tone. "If ever I saw honesty and truth and love and loyalty
+looking out of a girl's eyes, that girl is Myra McLeod."
+
+"Thank you for that, Den," I answered simply. There was little
+sentiment between us. Thank heaven, there was something more.
+
+"And so you see, you lucky dog, you'll go out to the front, and come
+back loaded with honours and blushes, and marry the girl of your
+dreams, and live happy ever after." And Dennis sighed.
+
+"Why the sigh?" I asked. "Oh, come now," I added, suddenly
+remembering. "Fair exchange, you know. You haven't told me what was
+worrying you."
+
+"My dear old fellow, don't be ridiculous, there's nothing worrying
+me."
+
+I pressed him to no purpose. He refused to admit that he had a care in
+the world, and so we fell to talking of matters connected with the
+routine of army life, how long we should be before we got to the
+front, the sport we four should have in our rest time behind the
+trenches, our determination to stick together at all costs, etc.
+Suddenly Dennis sat bolt upright.
+
+"Gad!" he cried savagely, "if you beggars weren't going, I could stick
+it. But you three leaving me behind, it's----"
+
+"Leaving you behind?" I echoed in astonishment. "But why, old man?
+Aren't you coming too?"
+
+"I hope so," said Dennis bitterly; "I hope so with all my heart, and I
+shall have a jolly good shot at it. But I know what it will be, worse
+luck."
+
+"But why, Dennis?" I asked again. "I don't understand."
+
+"Of course you don't," he replied, "but you've got your own troubles,
+and there's no point in worrying about me, in any case."
+
+I begged him to tell me; I pleaded our old friendship, and the fact
+that I had taken him into my confidence in the various vicissitudes of
+my own love affair. It struck me at the time that it was I who should
+have been indebted to him for his patient sympathy and help; and here
+he was, poor old fellow, with a real, live trouble of his own,
+refusing to bother me with it.
+
+"So you've just got to own up, old man," I finished.
+
+"Oh, it's really nothing," said Dennis miserably. "I'm a crock, that's
+all. A useless hulk of unnecessary lumber."
+
+"How, my dear chap?" I asked incredulously. Here was Dennis Burnham,
+who had put up a record for the mile in our school days, and lifted
+the public school's middle-weight pot, a champion swimmer, a massive
+young man of six-foot-two in his socks, calling himself a crock.
+
+"You remember that summer we did the cruise from Southampton to
+Stranraer?"
+
+"Heavens! yes," I exclaimed, "and we capsized the cutter in the
+Solway, and you were laid up in a farmhouse at Whithorn with rheumatic
+fever. Am I ever likely to forget it?"
+
+"I'm not, anyway," said Dennis, ruefully. "That rheumatic fever left
+me with a weak heart. I strained it rowing up at Oxford, you remember,
+and that fever business put the last touches on it for all practical
+purposes."
+
+"Are you sure, old man?" I asked. It seemed impossible that a great
+big chap like Dennis, the picture of health, should have anything
+seriously wrong with him.
+
+"I'm dead sure, Ron; I wish I weren't. Not that it matters much, of
+course; but just now, when one has a chance to do something decent for
+one's Motherland and justify one's existence, it hits a bit hard."
+
+"Is it serious?" I asked--"really serious?"
+
+"Sufficient to bar me from joining you chaps, though I'll see if I can
+sneak past the doctor. You remember about three weeks ago we were to
+have played a foursome out at Hendon, and I didn't turn up? I said
+afterwards that I had been called out of town, and had quite forgotten
+to wire."
+
+"Which was extremely unlike you," I interposed; "but go on."
+
+"Well, as a matter of fact, I was on my way. I was a bit late, and
+when I got outside Golders Green Tube Station I ran for a 'bus. The
+rest of the day I spent in the Cottage Hospital. No, I didn't faint.
+The valve struck, and I simply lay on the pavement a crumpled mass of
+semi-conscious humanity till they carted me off on the ambulance. It's
+the fourth time it's happened."
+
+"Of course you had good advice?" I asked anxiously.
+
+"Heavens! yes," he exclaimed; "any amount of the best. And they all
+say the same thing--rest, be careful, no sudden excitement, no strain,
+and I may live for ever--a creaking door."
+
+"My dear old Den," I said, for I was deeply touched. "Why didn't you
+tell me?"
+
+"Plenty of worries of your own, old man," he answered, more
+cheerfully; "and, besides, it would have spoiled everything. You
+fellows would have been nursing me behind my back, to use an Irishism,
+and trying to prevent my noticing it. You know as well as I do that if
+you had known I should have been a skeleton at the feast."
+
+"You must promise me two things," I said presently. "One is that you
+won't try to join the army; there is sure to be a rush of recruits in
+the next few days, and the doctors will be flurried, and may skip
+through their work roughshod. The other is that you will take care of
+yourself, run no risks, and do nothing rash while we are away."
+
+The first he refused. He said he must do what he could to get through,
+if only to satisfy his conscience; but he made me the second promise,
+and solemnly gave me his word that he would do nothing that would put
+him in any danger. Then at last, at his suggestion, we turned in; he
+insisted that I had an all-night journey in front of me. And so
+eventually I fell asleep, saddened by the knowledge of my friend's
+trouble, but somewhat relieved that I had extracted from him a promise
+to take care of himself.
+
+Little did I dream that he would break his promise to save one who was
+dearer to me than life itself, or that I should owe all my present and
+future happiness to poor old Dennis's inability to join the army.
+Truly, as events were to prove, "he did his bit."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE MAN GOING NORTH.
+
+
+We "made" Richmond about half-past eleven, and completed the necessary
+arrangements for the housing of the boats and the disposal of our
+superfluous fodder, as Jack called it, for by this time we had all
+made up our minds that the war was inevitable.
+
+The bustle of mobilisation had already taken possession of the
+streets, and as we stepped out of Charing Cross Station we stumbled
+into a crowd of English Bluejackets and Tommies and French reservists
+in Villiers Street. We parted for the afternoon, each to attend to his
+private affairs, and arranged to meet again at the Grand Hotel Grill
+Room for an early dinner, as I had to catch the 7.55 from King's
+Cross.
+
+I dashed out to Hampstead to my flat, and packed the necessary wearing
+apparel, taking care to include my fly-book and my favourite
+split-cane trout rod in my kit. I should only be in Scotland for a
+couple of days, but I knew that I should be fishing with Myra at least
+one of them, and no borrowed rod is a patch on one's own tried
+favourite. I snatched an half-hour or so to write to the few relatives
+I have and tell them that I was joining the army after a hurried visit
+to Scotland to say good-bye to Myra. And then I got my kit to Dennis's
+rooms in Panton Street, Haymarket, just in time to have a chat with
+him before we joined the others at the Grand Hotel. I found him
+hopefully getting things ready for a long absence, sorting out
+unanswered letters, putting away papers, etc. On the table was an open
+copy of a stores catalogue. He had been trying to find suitable
+presents for his two small step-sisters. Dennis invariably thought of
+himself last of all, and then usually at someone else's request.
+
+"Well, old man," I asked, "how do you feel about it now?"
+
+"Rotten, Ronnie," he replied, with a rueful smile. "I've been on the
+'phone to my silly doctor chap, and he shouted with laughter at me.
+Still, I shall have a jolly good shot at it as soon as the thing is
+definite."
+
+"I only pray to heaven," I said seriously, "that no slipshod fool of a
+doctor lets you through."
+
+"They won't let me in, old chap; no such luck. It's a ghastly outlook.
+What on earth am I to do with myself while the war lasts?"
+
+"My dear chap," I exclaimed, "it won't be as bad as all that. There
+will be thousands of men who won't go to the war. I shan't be
+surprised if you see very little difference about town even when the
+war's in full swing. You can't go, although you want to, and it's
+jolly bad luck, old man. Don't think I don't understand, but, believe
+me, you won't be the only man left in London by a million or two."
+
+"I know," he said penitently, "I'm grousing and worrying you. Sorry!
+But I can see you setting out for the Temple in the morning and
+leaving your house on fire. It wouldn't make it easier simply because
+you knew you weren't able to do anything to put out the fire. In fact,
+it would make it a jolly lot worse. Still, we'll cut that and change
+the subject. When you get back from Invermalluch give me a look up. I
+expect I shall be here. And, of course, give my kindest regards to
+Miss McLeod--oh, and the General," he added, as an afterthought.
+
+"I will, indeed," I promised readily, "and I'll wire you the train I'm
+coming back by. I should like you to meet it, and we can spend the few
+remaining days I have together. If you don't get past the doctor I
+should like you to keep your eye on one or two things for me while I'm
+away."
+
+"Of course, anything you like. The more the merrier," he answered
+readily; and the poor fellow brightened visibly at the thought of
+being able to do something for a pal.
+
+We taxied round the corner with my kit, and joined the others at the
+grill room. They were both in the highest of spirits, Jack, of course,
+in particular. He had been told that his intimate knowledge of motors
+and motor-cycles would be of great advantage to him, and he had been
+advised on all hands to join as a despatch-rider. In imagination he
+already saw himself up to the most weird pranks on his machine, many
+of which, much to the gratification of his friends, and just as much
+to his own astonishment, were proved later to have a solid foundation
+in fact. Over dinner we discussed the question of applying for
+commissions.
+
+"Oh, dash it, no," said Jack; "I'm going to Berlin on the old
+snorter."
+
+"Commissions are off--quite out of the question," Tommy agreed with
+emphasis. "To begin with, it means waiting, which is absurd; and in
+the second place I object to any attempt to travel first-class. It's
+silly and snobbish, to put the kindest construction on it. If I've got
+to join this excursion I'm willing to go where they like to put me,
+and if necessary I'll hang on behind."
+
+I record this remark because it was the last that I ever heard poor
+Tommy Evans make in this connection; and I think the reader will agree
+it was just what one would have expected of him.
+
+We said good-bye after dinner. They all wanted to come to the station
+to see me off, but I was anxious to be alone with Dennis.
+
+The others in any case had plenty to do, and I could scarcely let them
+sacrifice their "last few hours of liberty" to come and see me off. I
+rather expected that the excitement of the war would have prevented a
+lot of people travelling, but the reverse was the case. There seemed
+to be more people than ever on the platform, and I could not get a
+corner seat even in the Fort William coach. I bundled my things into
+a carriage and took up as much room as I could, and then Dennis and I
+strolled about the platform until the train was due to start.
+
+"Strange mixtures of humanity you see on a railway platform," Dennis
+remarked presently.
+
+"Very," I agreed. "I daresay there are some very curious professions
+represented here."
+
+"This chap, for instance," said Dennis, indicating a youth in a tweed
+jacket and flannel trousers. "He might be anything from an M.P.'s
+private secretary to an artist's model, for all we know. I should say
+he's a journalist; he knows his way through a crowd as only
+journalists do."
+
+"A typical Yorkshire cattle-dealer in his Sunday best," I suggested,
+as we passed another passenger. And so we went the length of the
+platform making rough guesses as to the professions of my fellow
+travellers. Suddenly I noticed a tall man, wearing a tweed cap and a
+long covert-coat, his hands in his pockets, a stumpy cigar stuck in
+the corner of his mouth. His hair was gray, and his face bore signs of
+a tough struggle in early youth. His complexion was of that curious
+gray-yellow one sees frequently in America and occasionally in
+Denmark--something quite distinct from the bronze-gray of many
+colonials. I nudged Dennis.
+
+"What did you make of that?" I asked him after we had passed.
+
+"I should be much more interested to know what 'that' made of us," he
+replied.
+
+"Nothing, I should think," I answered carelessly. "Why, the man's eyes
+were nearly closed, he was half asleep. I bet he hasn't taken the
+slightest notice of anyone for the past ten minutes. You could commit
+a murder under his nose and he wouldn't see it."
+
+"I think not," said Dennis quietly. "I fancy that if you took out a
+cigarette-case as you passed him he would be able to tell you
+afterwards how many cigarettes you had left in the case, what brand
+they were, and what the monogram on the front was. If you've any
+murders to commit, Ronnie, I should be careful to see that our
+American friend is some thousands of miles away."
+
+"Good heavens, you old sleuth!" I exclaimed in astonishment. "I never
+saw a more innocent-looking man in my life."
+
+"I hate innocent people," said Dennis emphatically; "they are usually
+dangerous, and seldom half as innocent as they look."
+
+"But what makes you think this man is only pretending to look like a
+dreaming, unobservant idiot, and why do you call him American so
+definitely?"
+
+"He may or may not be American; but we have to give him a name for
+purposes of classification," Dennis explained. "In any case his
+overcoat was made in the States; the cut of the lapels is quite
+unmistakable. I knew an American who tried everywhere to get a coat
+cut like that over here, and failed. As to his being observant, you
+seem to have overlooked one important fact. There the man stands,
+apparently half asleep. Occasionally he displays a certain amount of
+life--tucks his papers more tightly under his arms, and so on. Now,
+the man who has been dreaming on a station platform and is obviously
+going by the train would wake up to look at the clock, or glance round
+to see how many are travelling, and generally take an interest in the
+bustle of the station. But this man doesn't. Why? Because he only
+wakes up when his interest wanders, and that is only when he has seen
+all he wants to see for the moment. When we pass him the second time
+he will probably appear to be more awake, unless there is someone else
+passing him in the other direction, simply because he has seen us and
+sized us up and dismissed us as of no interest; or, more likely,
+stowed us away in his capacious memory, and, having no further use for
+us, he forgets to appear disinterested."
+
+"Good Lord, Dennis!" I exclaimed, "I'd no idea you ever noticed things
+so keenly. What do you think he is--a detective?"
+
+"Either that or a criminal. They are the same type of mind. One is
+positive and the other negative, that's all. We'll turn back and test
+him as we pass him. Talk golf, or fishing, or something."
+
+So we commenced a half-hearted conversation on trout flies, and as we
+approached "the American" I was explaining the deadly nature of the
+Red Palmer after a spate and the advisability of including Greenwell's
+Glory on the same cast. Unfortunately, as we passed our man there were
+three other people coming towards us, and he was gazing over the top
+of the carriage with the same dreaming look that had, according to
+Dennis, deceived me before. But we were hardly abreast of him when his
+stick shot up in front of us. His arm never moved at all; it was done
+with a quick jerk of the wrist.
+
+"You've dropped a paper, sir," he said to Dennis, to my utter
+astonishment, for I had seen no paper dropped. Dennis turned quickly,
+and picked up a letter which was lying on the platform behind him.
+
+"I'm very much obliged, sir; thank you," said Dennis, as he put the
+letter in his pocket.
+
+"I never saw you drop that," I exclaimed when we were safely out of
+earshot. "Did you?"
+
+"There you are," my friend cried triumphantly. "You were walking
+beside me and you didn't spot it, and he was some distance away and he
+did; and you say he was half asleep."
+
+"I say, Den," I exclaimed, laughing, "d'you think it's going to be
+safe to travel on this train? I wonder where he's going?"
+
+Then we dismissed the man from our minds. The train was going in six
+minutes, and I joined the crowd round the rug and pillow barrow, and
+prepared to make myself comfortable. Leaving everything to the last
+minute, as most travellers do, we had a hurried stirrup-cup in view of
+the fact that I was about to "gang awa'," and as the train glided out
+of the station Dennis turned to wire for my breakfast-basket at
+Crianlarich. The one thing that it is important to do when travelling
+on the West Highland Railway I had forgotten! We had not passed
+Potter's Bar before I decided that it would be impossible to sleep, so
+I ferreted out the attendant and bribed him to put me into a
+first-class carriage. Better still, he showed me into a sleeper. I was
+dog-tired, and in ten minutes fell fast asleep. I awoke for a moment
+or two as the train snorted into a station and drew up. I dozed again
+for some time, and then the door of my sleeper opened and who should
+look in but "the American."
+
+"Say, I beg your pardon," he exclaimed apologetically. "My mistake."
+
+"Not at all," I replied. "Where are we now?" For the train was still
+standing.
+
+"Edinburgh," he answered. "Just leaving. Sorry to disturb you."
+
+I again assured him that there was no harm done, and he turned and
+left me, the tassels of his Jaeger dressing-gown trailing after him.
+Then I fell asleep again, and woke up as we left Whistlefield. I had
+finished my wretched ablutions--for an early morning wash on a train
+is always a wretched business--as we reached Crianlarich. I was not
+long in claiming my breakfast; and when the passengers in the
+refreshment-room had finished their coffee--which seems to be the time
+when the train is due to leave, and not _vice-versa_, as might be
+expected--the guard was standing on the platform, flag in hand, on the
+point of blowing his whistle. Suddenly the head of the American shot
+out of the window of his carriage--no other expression describes it.
+
+"Say, conductor," he exclaimed angrily, "where's my breakfast?"
+
+Surely Dennis had been right about the nationality.
+
+"What name might it be, sir?" asked the guard.
+
+"Hilderman--J. G. Hilderman. Ordered by telegraph."
+
+"I'll see, sir," said the guard, dashing into the refreshment-room. It
+did not seem to matter when the train started; but, after a further
+heated argument, in which the official refused to wait while a couple
+of eggs were being fried, Mr. Hilderman was supplied with a pot of
+coffee, some cold ham, and dried toast, and we recommenced our belated
+journey. I reached Fort William and changed on to the Mallaig train,
+as did Mr. Hilderman, on whom, after the breakfast episode, I had
+begun to look with an affectionate and admiring regard. The man who
+can keep a train waiting in Great Britain while the guard gets him his
+breakfast must be very human after all. Most of the way on the
+beautiful journey through Lochaber I leaned with my head out of the
+window, drinking in the gorgeous air and admiring the luxurious
+scenery of the mountain side. But, in view of the hilly nature of the
+track and the quality of the coal employed, it is always a dangerous
+adventure on the West Highland Railway, and presently I found myself
+with a big cinder in my eye. I was trying to remove the cause of my
+discomfort, and at the same time swearing softly, I am afraid, when
+Hilderman came up.
+
+"I guess I'm just the man you're looking for," he said. "Show me."
+
+In less time than it takes to tell the offending cinder was removed,
+and I was amazed at the delicacy and certainty of his touch. I thanked
+him profusely, and indeed I was really grateful to him. Naturally
+enough, we fell into conversation--the easy, broad conversation of two
+men who have never seen each other before and expect never to see each
+other again, but are quite willing to be friends in the meantime.
+
+"Terrible news, this," he said presently, pulling a copy of the
+_Glasgow Herald_ from his pocket. "I suppose you got it at Fort
+William?"
+
+"No," I said. "I didn't leave the train. I wasn't thinking of
+newspapers. What is it?"
+
+"A state of war exists between Great Britain and Germany as from
+twelve o'clock last night."
+
+"Ah!" said I. "It has come, then." And I was surprised that I had
+forgotten all about the war, which was actually the cause of my
+presence there. I noticed with some curiosity that Hilderman looked
+out of the window with a strangely tense air, his lips firmly pressed
+together, his eyes wide open and staring. He was certainly awake now.
+But in a moment he turned to me with a charming smile.
+
+"You know, I'm an American," he said. "But this hits me--hits me hard.
+There's a calm and peaceful, friendly hospitality about this island of
+yours that I like--like a lot. My own country reminds me too much of
+my own struggles for existence. For nearly forty years I fought for
+breath in America, and, but that I like now and again to run over and
+have a look round, you can keep the place as far as I'm concerned.
+I've been about here now for a good many years--not just this part,
+for this is nearly new to me, but about the country--and I feel that
+this is my quarrel, and I should like to have a hand in it."
+
+"Perhaps America may join in yet," I suggested.
+
+"Not she," he cried, with a laugh. "America! Not on your life. Why,
+she's afraid of civil war. She don't know which of her own citizens
+are her friends and which ain't. She's tied hand and foot. She can't
+even turn round long enough to whip Mexico. Don't you ever expect
+America to join in anything except family prayer, my boy. That's safe.
+You know where you are, and it don't matter if you don't agree about
+the wording of a psalm. If an American was told off to shoot a German,
+he'd ten to one turn round and say: 'Here, hold on a minute; that's my
+uncle!'"
+
+"You think all the Germans in the States prefer their fatherland to
+their adopted country, or are they most of them spies?"
+
+"Spies?" said Hilderman, "I don't believe in spies. It stands to
+reason there can't be much spying done in any country. Over here, for
+instance, for every German policeman in this country--for that's all a
+spy can be--there are about a thousand British policemen. What chance
+has the spy? You don't seriously believe in them, do you?" he added,
+smiling, as he offered me a Corona cigar.
+
+"I don't know," I said doubtfully. I didn't want to argue with my good
+Samaritan. "There is no doubt a certain amount of spying done; but, of
+course, our policemen are hardly trained to cope with it. I daresay
+the whole business is very greatly exaggerated."
+
+"You bet it is, my boy," he replied emphatically. "Going far?" he
+asked, suddenly changing the subject.
+
+"North of Loch Hourn," I answered.
+
+"Oh!" said Hilderman, with renewed interest. "Glenelg?"
+
+"I take the boat to Glenelg and then drive back," I explained. I was
+in a mood to tell him just where I was going, and why, and all about
+myself; but I recollected, with an effort, that I was talking to a
+total stranger.
+
+"Drive back?" he repeated after me, with a sudden return to his dreamy
+manner. Then, just as suddenly, he woke up again. "Where are we now?"
+he asked.
+
+"Passing over Morar bridge," I explained.
+
+"Dear me--yes, of course!" he exclaimed, with a glance out of the
+window. "Well, I must pack up my wraps. Good-bye, Mr. Ewart; I'm so
+glad to have met you. Your country's at war, and you look to me a very
+likely young man to do your best. Well, good-bye and good luck. I only
+wish I could join you."
+
+"I wish you could," I replied heartily. "I shall certainly do my best.
+And many thanks for your kind assistance."
+
+And so we parted, and returned to our respective compartments to put
+our things together; for our journey--the rail part of it, at any
+rate--was nearly over. And it was not until long afterwards that I
+realised that he had called me by my name, and I had never told him
+what it was.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+MAINLY ABOUT MYRA.
+
+
+The train slowed down into Mallaig station. I thrilled with
+anticipation, for now I had only the journey on the boat, and Myra
+would be waiting for me at Glenelg. The train had hardly stopped when
+I seized my bag and jumped out on to the platform. The next instant I
+was nearly knocked back into the carriage again. A magnificent Great
+Dane had jumped at me with a deep bark of flattering welcome, and
+planted his paws on my shoulders.
+
+"Sholto, my dear old man!" I cried in excitement, dropping my bag and
+looking round expectantly. It was Myra's dog, and there, sure enough,
+was a beautiful vision of brown eyes and brown-gold hair, in a
+heather-coloured Burberry costume, running down the platform to meet
+me.
+
+"Well--darling?" I said, as I met her half-way.
+
+"Well?" she whispered, as she took my hand, and I looked into the
+depths of those wonderful eyes. Truly I was a lucky dog. The world was
+a most excellent place, full of delightful people; and even if I were
+an impecunious young barrister I was richer than Croesus in the
+possession of those beautiful brown eyes, which looked on all the
+world with the gentle affection of a tender and indulgent sister, but
+which looked on me with----Oh! hang it all!--a fellow can't write
+about these sort of things when they affect him personally. Besides,
+they belong to me--thank God!
+
+"I got your telegram, dear," said Myra, as we strolled out of the
+station behind the porter who had appropriated my bag. Sholto brought
+up the rear. He had too great an opinion of his own position to be
+jealous of me--or at any rate he was too dignified to show it--and he
+had always admitted me into the inner circle of his friendship in a
+manner that was very charming, if not a little condescending.
+
+"Did you, darling?" I said, in reply to Myra's remark.
+
+"Yes; it was delivered first thing this morning, and father was very
+pleased about it."
+
+"Really!" I exclaimed. "I _am_ glad. I was afraid he might be rather
+annoyed."
+
+"I was a little bit surprised myself," she confessed, "though I'm sure
+I don't know why I should be. Dad's a perfect dear--he always was and
+he always will be. But he has been very determined about our
+engagement. When I told him you'd wired you were coming he was
+tremendously pleased. He kept on saying, 'I'm glad; that's good news,
+little woman, very good news. 'Pon my soul I'm doocid glad!' He said
+you were a splendid fellow--I can't think what made him imagine
+that--but he said it several times, so I suppose he had some reason
+for it. I was frightfully pleased. I like you to be a splendid fellow,
+Ron!"
+
+I was very glad to hear that the old General was really pleased to
+hear of my visit. I had intended to stay at the Glenelg Hotel, as I
+could hardly invite myself to Invermalluch Lodge, even though I had
+known the old man all my life. Accordingly I took it as a definite
+sign that his opposition was wearing down when Myra told me I was
+expected at the house.
+
+"And he said," she continued, "that he never heard such ridiculous
+nonsense as your saying you were coming to the hotel, and that if you
+preferred a common inn to the house that had been good enough for him
+and his fathers before him, you could stop away altogether. So there!"
+
+"Good--that's great!" I said enthusiastically. "But did you come over
+by the boat from Glenelg, or what?"
+
+"No, dear; I came in the motor-boat, so we don't need to hang about
+the pier here. We can either go straight home or wait a bit, whichever
+you like. I wanted to meet you, and I thought you'd rather come back
+with me in the motor-boat than jolt about in the stuffy old _Sheila_."
+
+"Rather, dear; I should say I would," said I--and a lot more besides,
+which has nothing to do with the story. Suddenly Myra's motherly
+instinct awoke.
+
+"Have you had breakfast?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, dear--at Crianlarich. The only decent meal to be got on a
+railway in this country is a Crianlarich breakfast."
+
+"Well, in that case you're ready for lunch. It's gone twelve. I could
+do with something myself, incidentally, and I want to talk to you
+before we start for home. Let's have lunch here."
+
+I readily agreed, and after calling Sholto, who was being conducted on
+a tour of inspection by the parson's dog, we strolled up the hill to
+the hotel. As we entered the long dining-room we came upon Hilderman,
+seated at one of the tables with his back to us.
+
+"Yes," he was saying to the waiter, "I have been spending the week-end
+on the Clyde in a yacht. I joined the train at Ardlui this morning,
+and I can tell you----"
+
+I didn't wait to hear any more. Rather by instinct than as a result of
+any definite train of thought, I led Myra quickly behind a Japanese
+screen to a small table by a side window. After all, it was no
+business of mine if Hilderman wished to say he had joined the train at
+Ardlui. He probably had his own reasons. Possibly Dennis was right,
+and the man was a detective. But I had seen him at King's Cross and
+again at Edinburgh before we reached Ardlui, so I thought it might
+embarrass him if I walked in on the top of his assertion that he had
+just come from the Clyde. However, Myra was with me, which was much
+more important, and I dismissed Hilderman and his little fib from my
+mind.
+
+"Ronnie," said Myra, in the middle of lunch, "you haven't said
+anything about the war."
+
+"No, dear," I answered clumsily. "It----" It was an astonishingly
+difficult thing to say when it came to saying it.
+
+"And yet that was what you came to see me about?"
+
+"Yes, darling. You see, I----"
+
+"I know, dear. You've come to tell me that you're going to enlist. I'm
+glad, Ronnie, very glad--and very, very proud."
+
+Myra turned away and looked out of the window.
+
+"I hate people who talk a lot about their duty," I said; "but it
+obviously is my duty, and I know that's what you would want me to do."
+
+"Of course, dear, I wouldn't have you do anything else." And she
+turned and smiled at me, though there were tears in her dear eyes.
+"And I shall try to be brave, very brave, Ronnie. I'm getting a big
+girl now," she added pluckily, attempting a little laugh. And though,
+of course, we afterwards discussed the regiment I was to join, and how
+the uniform would suit me, and how you kept your buttons clean, and a
+thousand other things, that was the last that was said about it from
+that point of view. There are some people who never need to say
+certain things--or at any rate there are some things that never need
+be said between certain people.
+
+After lunch we strolled round the "fish-table," a sort of subsidiary
+pier on which the fish are auctioned, and listened to the excited
+conversations of the fish-curers, gutters, and fishermen. It was a
+veritable babel--the mournful intonation of the East Coast, the broad
+guttural of the Broomielaw, mingled with the shrill Gaelic scream of
+the Highlands, and the occasional twang of the cockney tourist. Having
+retrieved Sholto, who was inspecting some fish which had been laid out
+to dry in the middle of the village street, and packed him safely in
+the bows, we set out to sea, Myra at the engine, while I took the
+tiller. As we glided out of the harbour I turned round, impelled by
+some unknown instinct. The parson's dog was standing at the head of
+the main pier, seeing us safely off the premises, and beside him was
+the tall figure of my friend J. G. Hilderman. As I looked up at him I
+wondered if he recognised me; but it was evident he did, for he raised
+his cap and waved to me. I returned the compliment as well as I could,
+for just then Myra turned and implored me not to run into the
+lighthouse.
+
+"Someone you know?" she asked, as I righted our course.
+
+"Only a chap I met on the train," I explained.
+
+"It looks like the tenant of Glasnabinnie, but I couldn't be certain.
+I've never met him, and I've only seen him once."
+
+"Glasnabinnie!" I exclaimed, with a new interest. "Really! Why, that's
+quite close to you, surely?"
+
+"Just the other side of the loch, directly opposite us. A good swimmer
+could swim across, but a motor would take days to go round. So we're
+really a long way off, and unless he turns up at some local function
+we're not likely to meet him. He's said to be an American millionaire;
+but then every American in these parts is supposed to have at least
+one million of money."
+
+"Do you know anything about him--what he does, or did?" I asked.
+
+"Absolutely nothing," she replied, "except, of course, the silly
+rumours that one always hears about strangers. He took Glasnabinnie in
+May--in fact, the last week of April, I believe. That rather surprised
+us, because it was very early for summer visitors. But he showed his
+good sense in doing so, as the country was looking gorgeous--Sgriol,
+na Ciche, and the Cuchulins under snow. I've heard (Angus McGeochan,
+one of our crofters, told me) he was an inventor, and had made a few
+odd millions out of a machine for sticking labels on canned meat. That
+and the fact that he is a very keen amateur photographer is the
+complete history of Mr. Hilderman so far as I know it. Anyway, he has
+a gorgeous view, hasn't he? It's nearly as good as ours."
+
+"He has indeed," I agreed readily. "But I don't think Hilderman can be
+very wealthy; no fishing goes with Glasnabinnie, there's no yacht
+anchorage, and there's no road to motor on. How does he get about?"
+
+"He's got a beautiful Wolseley launch," said Myra jealously, "a
+perfect beauty. He calls her the _Baltimore II._ She was lying
+alongside the _Hermione_ at Mallaig when we left. Oh! look up the
+loch, Ron! Isn't it a wonderful view?"
+
+And so the magnificent purple-gray summit of Sgor na Ciche, at the
+head of Loch Nevis, claimed our attention--(that and other matters of
+a personal nature)--and J. G. Hilderman went completely from our
+minds. Myra was a real Highlander of the West. She lived for its
+mountains and lochs, its rivers and burns, its magnificent coast and
+its fascinating animal life. She knew every little creek and inlet,
+every rock and shallow, every reef and current from Fort William to
+the Gair Loch. I have even heard it said that when she was twelve she
+could draw an accurate outline of Benbecula and North Uist, a feat
+that would be a great deal beyond the vast majority of grown-ups
+living on those islands themselves. As we turned to cross the head of
+Loch Hourn, Myra pointed out Glasnabinnie, nestling like a lump of
+grey lichen at the foot of the Croulin Burn. Anchored off the point
+was a small steam yacht, either a converted drifter or built on
+drifter lines.
+
+"Our friend has visitors," said Myra, "and he's not there to receive
+them. How very rude! That yacht is often there. She only makes about
+eight knots as a rule, although she gives you the impression she could
+do more. You see, she's been built for strength and comfort more than
+for looks. She calls at Glasnabinnie in the afternoons sometimes, and
+is there after dark, and sails off before six." (Myra was always out
+of doors before six in the morning, whatever the weather.) "From which
+I gather," she continued, "that the owner lives some distance away and
+sleeps on board. She can't be continuously cruising, or she would make
+a longer stay sometimes."
+
+"You seem to know the ways of yacht-owners, dear," I said. "Hullo!
+what is that hut on the cliff above the falls? That's new, surely."
+
+"Oh! that beastly thing," said Myra in disgust. "That's his, too. A
+smoking-room and study, I believe. He had it built there because he
+has an uninterrupted view that sweeps the sea."
+
+"Why 'beastly thing'?" I asked. "It's too far away to worry you,
+though it isn't exactly pretty, and I know you hate to see anything in
+the shape of a new building going up."
+
+"Oh! it annoys me," she answered airily, "and somehow it gets on
+daddy's nerves. You see, it has a funny sort of window which goes all
+round the top of the hut. This is evidently divided into several small
+windows, because they swing about in the wind, and when the sun shines
+on them they catch the eye even at our distance. And, as I say, they
+get on daddy's nerves, which have not been too good the last week or
+two."
+
+"Never mind," I consoled her; "he'll be all right when his friends
+come up for the Twelfth. I think the doctors are wrong to say that he
+should never have a lot of people hanging round him, because there can
+surely be no harm in letting him see a few friends. I certainly think
+he's right to make an exception for the grouse."
+
+"Grouse!" sniffed Myra. "They come for the Twelfth because they like
+to be seen travelling north on the eleventh! And I have to entertain
+them. And some of the ones who come for the first time tell me they
+suppose I know all the pretty walks round about! And in any case," she
+finished, in high indignation, "can you imagine _me_ entertaining
+anybody?"
+
+"Yes, my dear, I can," I replied; and the "argument" kept us busy
+till we reached Invermalluch. The old General came down to the
+landing-stage to meet us, and was much more honestly pleased to see
+me than I had ever known him before.
+
+"Ah! Ronald, my boy!" he exclaimed heartily. "'Pon my soul, I'm glad
+to see you. It's true, I suppose? You've heard the news?"
+
+The question amused me, because it was so typical of the old fellow.
+Here had I come from London, where the Cabinet was sitting night and
+day, to a spot miles from the railway terminus, to be asked if I had
+heard the news!
+
+"You mean the war, of course?" I replied.
+
+"Yes; it's come, my boy, at last. Come to find me on the shelf! Ah,
+well! It had to come sooner or later, and now we're not ready. Ah,
+well, we must all do what we can. Begad, I'm glad to see you, my boy,
+thundering glad. It's a bit lonely here sometimes for the little
+woman, you know; but she never complains." (In point of fact, she even
+contrived to laugh, and take her father's arm affectionately in
+her's.) "And besides, there are many things I want to have a talk with
+you about, Ronald--many things. By the way, had lunch?"
+
+"We lunched at Mallaig, thank you, sir," I explained.
+
+"Well, well, Myra will see you get all you want--won't you, girlie?"
+he said.
+
+"I say, Ronnie," Myra asked, as we reached the house, "are you very
+tired after your journey, or shall we have a cup of tea and then take
+our rods for an hour or so?"
+
+I stoutly declared I was not the least tired--as who could have been
+in the circumstances?--and I should enjoy an hour's fishing with Myra
+immensely. So I ran upstairs and had a bath, and changed, and came
+down to find the General waiting for me. Myra had disappeared into the
+kitchen regions to give first-aid to a bare-legged crofter laddie who
+had cut his foot on a broken bottle.
+
+"Well, my boy," said the old man, "you've come to tell us something.
+What is it?"
+
+"Oh!" I replied, as lightly as I could, "it is simply that we are in
+for a row with Germany, and I've got a part in the play, so to speak.
+I'm enlisting."
+
+"Good boy," he chuckled, "good boy! Applying for a commission, I
+suppose--man of your class and education, and all that--eh?"
+
+"Oh, heavens, no!" I laughed. "I shall just walk on with the crowd, to
+continue the simile."
+
+"Glad to hear it, my boy--I am, indeed. 'Pon my soul, you're a good
+lad, you know--quite a good lad. Your father would have been proud of
+you. He was a splendid fellow--a thundering splendid fellow. We always
+used to say, 'You can always trust Ewart to do the straight, clean
+thing; he's a gentleman.' I hope your comrades will say the same of
+you, my boy."
+
+"By the way, sir," I added, "I also intended to tell you that in the
+circumstances I--I----Well, I mean to say that I shan't--shan't
+expect Myra to consider herself under--under any obligations to me."
+
+However difficult it was for me to say it, I had been quite certain
+that the old General would think it was the right thing to say, and
+would be genuinely grateful to me for saying it off my own bat without
+any prompting from him. So I was quite unprepared for the outburst
+that followed.
+
+"You silly young fellow!" he cried. "'Pon my soul, you are a silly
+young chap, you know. D'you mean to tell me you came here intending
+to tell my little girl to forget all about you just when you are
+going off to fight for your country, and may never come back? You mean
+to run away and leave her alone with an old crock of a father? You
+know, Ewart, you--you make me angry at times."
+
+"I'm very sorry, sir," I apologised, though I had no recollection of
+having made him angry before.
+
+"Oh! I know," he said, in a calmer tone. "Felt it was your duty, and
+all that--eh? I know. But, you see, it's not your duty at all. No.
+Now, there are one or two things I want to tell you that you don't
+know, and I'll tell you one of 'em now and the rest later. The first
+thing--in absolute confidence, of course--is that----"
+
+But at this point Myra walked in, and the General broke off into an
+incoherent mutter. He was a poor diplomatist.
+
+"Ah! secrets? Naughty!" she exclaimed laughingly. "Are you ready,
+Ronnie?"
+
+"He's quite ready, my dear," said the old man graciously. "I've said
+all I want to say to him for the time being. Run along with girlie,
+Ewart. You don't want to mess about with an old crock."
+
+"Daddy," said Myra reproachfully, "you're not to call yourself names."
+
+"All right, then; I won't," he laughed. "You young people will excuse
+me, I'm sure. I should like to join you; but I have a lot of letters
+to write, and I daresay you'd rather be by yourselves. Eh?--you young
+dog!"
+
+It was a polite fiction between father and daughter that when the old
+fellow felt too unwell to join her or his guests he "had a lot of
+letters to write." And occasionally, when he was in the mood to
+overtax his strength, she would never refer to it directly, but often
+she would remark, "You know you'll miss the post, daddy." And they
+both understood. So we set out by ourselves, and I naturally preferred
+to be alone with Myra, much as I liked her father. We went out on to
+the verandah, and while I unpacked my kit Myra rewound her line, which
+had been drying on the pegs overnight.
+
+"Are you content with small mercies, Ron?" she asked, "or do you agree
+that it is better to try for a salmon than catch a trout?"
+
+"It certainly isn't better to-day, anyway," I answered. "I want to be
+near you, darling. I don't want the distance of the pools between us.
+We might walk up to the Dead Man's Pool, and then fish up stream; and
+later fish the loch from the boat. That would bring us back in nice
+time for dinner."
+
+"Oh! splendid!" she cried; and we fished out our fly-books. Her's was
+a big book of tattered pig-skin, which reclined at the bottom of the
+capacious "poacher's pocket" in her jacket. The fly-book was an old
+favourite--she wouldn't have parted with it for worlds. Having
+followed her advice, and changed the Orange I had tied for the "bob"
+to a Peacock Zulu, which I borrowed from her, we set out.
+
+"Just above the Dead Man's Pool you get a beautiful view of
+Hilderman's hideous hut," Myra declared as we walked along. I may
+explain here that "Dead Man's Pool" is an English translation of the
+Gaelic name, which I dare not inflict on the reader.
+
+"See?" she cried, as we climbed the rock looking down on the gorgeous
+salmon pool, with its cool, inviting depths and its subtle promise of
+sport. "Oh! Ronnie, isn't it wonderful?" she cried. "Almost every day
+of my life I have admired this view, and I love it more and more every
+time I see it. I sometimes think I'd rather give up my life than the
+simple power to gaze at the mountains and the sea."
+
+"Why, look!" I exclaimed. "Is that the window you meant?"
+
+"Yes," Myra replied, with an air of annoyance, "that's it. You can see
+that light when the sun shines on it, which is nearly all day, and it
+keeps on reminding us that we have a neighbour, although the loch is
+between us. Besides, for some extraordinary reason it gets on father's
+nerves. Poor old daddy!"
+
+It may seem strange to the reader that anyone should take notice of
+the sun's reflection on a window two and a quarter miles away; but it
+must be remembered that all her life Myra had been accustomed to the
+undisputed possession of an unbroken view.
+
+"Anyhow," she added, as she turned away, "we came here to fish. One of
+us must cross the stream here and fish that side. We can't cross
+higher up, there's too much water, and there's no point in getting
+wet. I'll go, and you fish this side; and when we reach the loch we'll
+get into the boat. See, Sholto's across already."
+
+And she tripped lightly from boulder to boulder across the top of the
+fall which steams into the Dead Man's Pool, while I stood and admired
+her agile sureness of foot as one admires the graceful movements of a
+beautiful young roe. Sholto was pawing about in a tiny backwater, and
+trying to swallow the bubbles he made, until he saw his beloved
+mistress was intent on the serious business of fishing, and then he
+climbed lazily to the top of a rock, where he could keep a watchful
+eye on her, and sprawled himself out in the sun. I have fished better
+water than the Malluch river, certainly, and killed bigger fish in
+other lochs than the beautiful mountain tarn above Invermalluch Lodge;
+but I have never had a more enjoyable day's sport than the least
+satisfying of my many days there.
+
+There was a delightful informality about the sport at the Lodge. One
+fished in all weathers because one wanted to fish, and varied one's
+methods and destination according to the day. There was no sign of
+that hideous custom of doing the thing "properly" that the members of
+a stockbroker's house-party seem to enjoy--no drawing lots for reaches
+or pools overnight, no roping-in a gillie to add to the chance of
+sending a basket "south." When there was a superfluity of fish the
+crofters and tenants were supplied first, and then anything that was
+left over was sent to friends in London and elsewhere. At the end of
+the day's sport we went home happy and pleased with ourselves, not in
+the least depressed if we had drawn a blank, to jolly and delightful
+meals, without any formality at all. And if we were wet, there was a
+great drying-room off the kitchen premises where our clothes were
+dried by a housemaid who really understood the business. As for our
+tackle, we dried our own lines and pegged them under the verandah, and
+rewound them again in the morning, made up our own casts, and
+generally did everything for ourselves without a retinue of
+attendants. And thereby we enjoyed ourselves hugely.
+
+Angus and Sandy, the two handy-men of the place, would carry the
+lunch-basket or pull the boats on the loch or stand by with the gaff
+or net--and what experts they are!--but the rest we did for ourselves.
+By the time I had got a pipe on and wetted my line, Myra was some
+fifty yards or so up stream making for a spot where she suspected
+something. She has the unerring instinct of the inveterate poacher! I
+cast idly once or twice, content to revel in the delight of holding a
+rod in my hand once more, intoxicated with the air and the scenery and
+the sunshine (What a good thing the fish in the west "like it
+bright!"), and after a few minutes a sudden jerk on my line brought me
+back to earth. I missed him, but he thrilled me to the serious
+business of the thing, and I fished on, intent on every cast.
+
+I suppose I must have fished for about twenty minutes, but of that I
+have never been able to say definitely. It may possibly have been
+more. I only know that as I was picking my way over some boulders to
+enable me to cast more accurately for a big one I had risen, I heard
+Myra give a sharp, short cry. I turned anxiously and called to her.
+
+I could not distinguish her at first among the great gray rocks in the
+river. Surely she could not have fallen in. Even had she done so, I
+hardly think she would have called out. She was extraordinarily sure
+on her feet, and, in any case, she was an expert swimmer. What could
+it be? Immediately following her cry came Sholto's deep bay, and then
+I saw her. She was standing on a tall, white, lozenge-shaped rock,
+that looked almost as if it had been carefully shaped in concrete. She
+was kneeling, and her arm was across her face. With a cry I dashed
+into the river, and floundered across, sometimes almost up to my neck,
+and ran stumbling to her in a blind agony of fear. Even as I ran her
+rod was carried past me, and disappeared over the fall below.
+
+"Myra, my darling," I cried as I reached her, and took her in my arms,
+"what is it, dearest? For God's sake tell me--what is it?"
+
+"Oh, Ronnie, dear," she said, "I don't know, darling. I don't
+understand." Her voice broke as she lifted her beautiful face to me. I
+looked into those wonderful eyes, and they gazed back at me with a
+dull, meaningless stare. She stretched out her arm to grasp my hand,
+and her own hand clutched aimlessly on my collar.
+
+In a flash I realised the hideous truth.
+
+Myra was blind!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE BLACK BLOW.
+
+
+"Oh, Ronnie, darling," Myra asked, in a pitiful voice that went to my
+heart. "What can it mean? I--I--I can't see--anything at all."
+
+"It's the sun, darling; it will be all right in a minute or two.
+There, lie in my arms, dear, and close your poor eyes. It will be all
+right soon, dearest."
+
+I tried to comfort her, to assure her that it was just the glare on
+the water, that she would be able to see again in a moment, but I felt
+the pitiful inadequacy of my empty words, and it seemed that the light
+had gone out of my life. I pray that I may never again witness such a
+harrowing sight as that of Myra, leaning her beautiful head on my
+shoulder, suddenly stricken blind, doing her best to pacify her dog,
+who was heart-broken in the instinctive knowledge of a new, swift
+grief which he could not understand.
+
+I must ask the reader to spare me from describing in detail the
+terrible agony of the next few days, when the hideous tragedy of
+Myra's blindness overcame us all in its naked freshness. I cannot
+bring myself to speak of it even yet. I would at any time give my life
+to save Myra's sight, her most priceless possession. I make this as a
+simple statement of fact, and in no spirit of romantic arrogance, and
+I think I would rather die than live again the gnawing agony of those
+days.
+
+I took Myra in my arms, and carried her back to the house. Poor child;
+she realised almost immediately that I was as dumbfounded as she was
+herself at the terrible blow which had befallen her, and that I had no
+faith in my empty assurances that it would soon be all right again,
+and she would be able to see as well as ever in an hour or two, at
+most. So she at once began to comfort me! I marvelled at her bravery,
+but she made me more miserable than ever. I felt that she might have a
+sort of premonition that she would never see again. As we crossed the
+stream above the fall I saw again the reflected light from Hilderman's
+window, and a pang shot through me as I remembered her words on that
+very spot--that she would rather die than be unable to see her beloved
+mountains.
+
+I clutched her in my arms, and held her closer to me in dumb despair.
+
+"Am I very heavy, Ron, dear?" she asked presently. "If you give me
+your hand, dear, I could walk. I think I could even manage without it;
+but, of course, I should prefer to have your hand at any time." She
+gave a natural little laugh, which almost deceived me, and again I
+marvelled at her pluck. I had known Myra since she was four, and I
+might have expected that she would meet her tragic misfortune with a
+smile.
+
+"You're as light as a feather, dearest," I protested, "and, as far as
+that goes, I'd rather carry you at any time."
+
+"I'm glad you were here when it happened, dear," she whispered.
+
+"Tell me, darling, how did it happen?" I asked. "I mean, what did it
+seem like? Did things gradually grow duller and duller, or what?"
+
+"No," she answered; "that was the extraordinary part of it. Quite
+suddenly I saw everything green for a second, and then everything went
+out in a green flash. It was a wonderful, liquid green, like the sea
+over a sand-bank. It was just a long flash, very quick and sharp, and
+then I found I could see nothing at all. Everything is black now, the
+black of an intense green. I thought I'd been struck by lightning.
+Wasn't it silly of me?"
+
+"My poor, brave little woman," I murmured. "Tell me, where were you
+then?"
+
+"Just where you found me, on the Chemist's Rock. I call it the
+Chemist's Rock because it's shaped like a cough-lozenge. I was casting
+from there; it makes a beautiful fishing-table. I looked up, and
+then--well, then it happened."
+
+"We're just coming to the house," said Myra suddenly. "We're just
+going to turn on to the stable-path."
+
+"Darling!" I cried, nearly dropping her in my excitement; "you can see
+already?"
+
+"Oh, Ronnie, I'm so sorry," she said penitently. "I only knew by
+the smell of the peat stacks." I could not restrain a groan of
+disappointment, and Myra stroked my face, and murmured again, "I'm
+sorry, dearest."
+
+"Will you please put me down now?" she asked. "If daddy saw you
+carrying me to the house he'd have a fit, and the servants would go
+into hysterics." So I put her tenderly on her feet, and she took my
+arm, and we walked slowly to the house. She could see nothing, not
+even in the hazy confusion of the nearly blind; yet she walked to the
+house with as firm a step and as natural an air as if she had nothing
+whatever the matter with her.
+
+"You had better leave dad to me, Ron," she suggested. "We understand
+each other, and I can explain to him. You would find it difficult, and
+it would be painful for you both. Just tell him that I'm not feeling
+very well, and he'll come straight to me. Don't tell him I want to see
+him. Give me your arm to my den, dear."
+
+I led her to her "den," a little room opening on to the verandah.
+There was a writing-table in the window covered with correspondence
+in neat little piles, for Myra was on all the charity committees in
+the county, and the rest of the room was given up to a profusion of
+fishing tackle, shooting gear, and books. Sholto followed us, every
+now and then rubbing his great head against her skirt. I left her
+there, and turned into the hall, where I met the General. He had
+heard us return.
+
+"You're back early, my boy," he remarked.
+
+"Yes," I said, taking out my cigarette-case to give myself an air of
+assurance which was utterly unknown to me. "Myra is not feeling very
+well. She's resting for a bit."
+
+"Not well?" he exclaimed, in surprise. "Very unusual, very unusual
+indeed." And he turned straight into Myra's room without waiting for
+an answer to his quiet tap on the door. With a heavy heart I went
+upstairs to the old schoolroom, now given over to Mary McNiven, Myra's
+old nurse.
+
+"Master Ronald! I _am_ glad," she cried, when I accepted her
+invitation to "come in." Mary had boxed my ears many times in my
+boyhood, and the fact that we were old friends made it difficult for
+me to tell her my terrible news. I broke it as gently as I could, and
+warned her not to alarm the servants, and very soon she wiped away her
+tears and went downstairs to see what she could do. I went out into
+the fresh air for a moment to pull myself together, marvelling at the
+unreasoning cruelty of fate. I turned into the hall, and met the
+General coming out of Myra's room. He was talking to Mary and one of
+the housemaids.
+
+"These things often occur," he was explaining in a very matter-of-fact
+voice. "They are unusual, though not unheard-of, and very distressing
+at the time. But I am confident that Miss Myra will be quite herself
+again in a day or two. Meanwhile, she had better go to bed and rest,
+and take care of herself while Angus fetches Doctor Whitehouse. No
+doubt he will give her some lotion to wash her eyes with, and it will
+be only a day or two before we see Miss Myra about again as usual. You
+must see that she has no light near her, and that she rests her eyes
+in every possible way. There is nothing whatever for you girls to get
+anxious or frightened about. I have seen this sort of thing before,
+though usually in the East."
+
+The old man dismissed the maids, and went into the drawing-room, while
+I spent a few moments with Myra. I was delighted to see the General
+taking it so well, as I had even been afraid of his total collapse, so
+I took what comfort I could from his ready assurance that he was quite
+accustomed to that sort of thing. But when, some twenty minutes later,
+I went to look for him in the drawing-room, and found him prostrate on
+the sofa, his head buried in his arms, I realised whence Myra had
+derived her pluck. He looked up as he heard the door open, and tears
+were streaming down his rugged old face.
+
+"Never mind me, Ronald," he said brokenly. "Never mind me. I shall be
+all right in a minute. I--I didn't expect this, but I shall be all
+right in a minute." I closed the door softly and left him alone.
+
+I found Angus had harnessed the pony, and was just about to start for
+Glenelg to fetch Doctor Whitehouse. So I told him to tell the General
+that I should be better able to explain to the doctor what had
+happened, and, glad of the diversion, I drove in for him myself. But
+when he arrived he made a long and searching examination, patted
+Myra's head, and told her the nerve had been strained by the glare on
+the water, and rest was all that was needed; and, as soon as he got
+outside her door, he sighed and shook his head. In the library he made
+no bones about it, and her father and I were both grateful to him.
+
+"It's not a bit of use my saying I know when I don't," the doctor
+declared emphatically. "I'm puzzled--indeed, I'm absolutely beaten.
+This is a thing I've not only never come across before, but I've never
+even read about it. This green flash, the suddenness of it, the
+absence of pain--she says she feels perfectly well. She could see
+wonderfully well up to the second it happened; no warning headaches,
+and nothing whatever to account for it. I have known a sudden shock to
+the system produce instantaneous blindness, such as a man in a very
+heated state diving into ice-cold water. But in this case there is
+nothing to go by. I can only do her harm by pretending to know what I
+don't know, and you know as much as I do. She must see a specialist,
+and the sooner the better. I would recommend Sir Gaire Olvery; that
+would mean taking her up to London. Mr. Herbert Garnesk is the second
+greatest oculist in the country; but undoubtedly Sir Gaire is first.
+Meanwhile I will give her a little nerve tonic; it will do her no
+harm, and will give her reason to think that we know how to treat her,
+so that it may do her good. She must wear the shade I brought her, and
+take care her eyes are never exposed to the light."
+
+"The fact that you yourself can make nothing of it is for us or
+against us?" asked the General, in an anxious voice.
+
+He was looking haggard and tired out.
+
+"In what way?" queried the doctor.
+
+"I mean that if she had--er--totally lost her--the use of her
+eyes--for all time, could you be certain of that or not? Or can
+you give us any reason to hope that the very fact of your not
+understanding the nature of the case points to her getting over it?"
+
+"Ah," said the doctor, "I'm not going to be so unfair to you as to say
+that. I will say emphatically that she has not absolutely hopelessly
+lost her sight. The nerves are not dead. This green veil may be
+lifted, possibly, as suddenly as it fell; but I am talking to men, and
+I want you to understand that I can give no idea as to when that may
+be. I pray that it may be soon--very soon."
+
+"I'm glad you're so straightforward about it, Whitehouse," said the
+old man, as he sank into a chair. "I don't need to be buoyed up by any
+false hopes. You can understand that it is a very terrible blow to Mr.
+Ewart and myself."
+
+"I can indeed," said the doctor solemnly. "I brought her into the
+world, you know. It is a tragic shock to me. I'll get back now, if
+you'll excuse me. I have a very serious case in the village, but I'll
+be over first thing in the morning, and I'll bring you a small bottle
+of something with me. You'll need it with this anxiety."
+
+"Nonsense, Whitehouse," declared the General stoutly. "I'm perfectly
+all right. There's nothing at all the matter with me. I don't need any
+of your begad slush."
+
+"Now, my dear friend," said the medical man cunningly, "it's my
+business to look ahead. In the next few days you'll be too anxious to
+eat, so I'm going to bring you something that will simply stimulate
+your appetite and make you want to eat. It's not good for any man to
+go without his meals, especially when that man's getting on for
+sixty."
+
+"Thank ye, my dear fellow," said the old man, more graciously.
+"I'm sorry to be such a boor, but I thought you meant some begad
+tonic." The General was getting on for seventy; to be exact, he was
+sixty-nine--he married at forty-six--and when the medicine came he
+took it, "because, after all, it was begad decent of Whitehouse to
+have thought of it."
+
+I spent a miserable night. I went to bed early, and lay awake till
+daybreak. The hideous nightmare of the green ray kept me awake for
+many nights to come. The General agreed with me that we must waste no
+time, and it was arranged that we should take Myra up to London the
+next day.
+
+"You know, Ronald," said the old man to me as we sat together after
+the mockery that would otherwise have been an excellent dinner, "I
+was particularly glad to see you to-day. I've been very worried
+about--well, about myself lately. I had an extraordinary experience
+the other day which I should never dare to relate to anyone whom I
+could not absolutely rely on to believe me. I've been fidgeting for
+the last month or two, and that window that you say you saw to-day has
+got very much on my nerves. I've been imagining that it's a heliograph
+from an enemy encampment. Simply nerves, of course; but nerves ought
+not to account for extraordinary optical delusions or hallucinations."
+
+"Hallucinations?" I asked anxiously. "What sort of hallucinations?"
+
+"I hardly like to tell you, my boy," he answered, nervously twirling
+his liqueur glass in his fingers. "You see, you're young, and
+I'm--well, to tell you the truth, I'm getting old, and when you get
+old you get nerves, and they can be terrible things, nerves." I looked
+up at the haggard face, drawn into deep furrows with the new trouble
+that had fallen on the old man, and I was shocked and startled to see
+a look of absolute fear in his eyes. I leaned forward, and laid my
+hand on his wrist.
+
+"Tell me," I suggested, as gently as I could. He brightened at once,
+and patted my arm affectionately.
+
+"I couldn't tell the little woman," he muttered. "She--she'd have been
+frightened, and she might have thought I was going mad. I couldn't
+bear that. I hadn't the courage to tell Whitehouse either; but you're
+a good chap, Ronald, and you're very fond of my girlie, and your
+father and I were pals, as you boys would say. I daresay it was only
+a sort of waking dream, or----" He broke off and stared at the
+table-cloth. I took the glass from his hand, and filled it with
+liqueur brandy, and put it beside him. He sipped it thoughtfully.
+Suddenly he turned to me, and brought his hand down on the table with
+a bang.
+
+"I swear I'm not mad, Ronald!" he cried fiercely. "There must be some
+explanation of it. I know I'm sane."
+
+"What was it exactly?" I asked quietly. "Nothing on God's earth will
+persuade me that you are mad, sir."
+
+"Thank you, my boy. I'll tell you what happened to me. You won't be
+able to explain it, but you shall hear just what it was. You may think
+it's silly of me to get nervous of what sounds like an absurdity, but
+you see it happened where--where to-day's tragedy happened."
+
+"What Myra calls the Chemist's Rock?" I asked, by this time intensely
+interested.
+
+"At the Chemist's Rock," he replied. "It was a lovely afternoon, just
+such an afternoon as to-day. I had been going to fish with girlie, but
+I was a little tired, and--er--I had some letters to write, so I said
+I would meet her later in the afternoon. It was agreed we should meet
+at the Chemist's Rock at half-past four. I left the house about a
+quarter-past, and strolled down the river to the Fank Pool, crossed
+the stream in the boat that lies there, and walked up the opposite
+bank past Dead Man's Pool towards the Chemist's Rock. I mention all
+this to show you that I was feeling well enough to enjoy a stroll, and
+a very rocky stroll at that, because, if I hadn't been feeling
+perfectly fit, I should have gone up the back way past the stable, the
+way you came back this afternoon. So you see, I was undoubtedly quite
+well, my boy. However, to get on with the tale. As soon as I came in
+sight of our meeting-place I looked up to see if girlie had got there
+before me. She was not there. I looked further up stream, and saw
+Sholto come tearing down over the rocks. I knew that he had seen me,
+and that she was following him. I naturally strolled on to go to the
+rock--I say I went----" He broke off, and passed his hands across his
+eyes.
+
+"Yes," I said softly; "you went to the rock, and Myra met you----"
+
+"No," he said; "I didn't. I didn't go to the rock."
+
+"But I don't understand," I said, as he remained silent for some
+moments. The old man leaned forward, and laid a trembling,
+fever-scorched hand on mine.
+
+"Ronald," he said, in a voice that shook with genuine horror, and sent
+a cold shiver down my spine, "I did not go to the rock. _The rock came
+to me._"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+IS MORE MYSTERIOUS.
+
+
+I sat and stared at the old man in astonishment. Obviously he was
+fully convinced that he was giving me an accurate account of what
+had happened, and equally obviously he was perfectly sane.
+
+"That is all," he said presently. "The rock came to me."
+
+"Good heavens!" I exclaimed, suddenly brought to my senses by the
+sound of his voice. "What an extraordinary thing!"
+
+"For a moment I thought I was mad, and sometimes, when I have thought
+over it since--and the Lord knows how many times I've done that--I've
+come to the conclusion that I must have fallen asleep. But even now
+the fear haunts me that my mind may be going."
+
+"You mustn't imagine anything like that, General," I advised
+seriously. "Whatever you do, don't encourage any doubts of your own
+sanity. There must be some explanation of this, although I can't for
+the moment imagine what it can possibly be. It is a remarkable thing,
+and I fancy you will find, when we do know the explanation, that
+anyone else standing where you were at that time would have seen
+exactly the same thing. The rock stands out of the water; it is just
+above a deep pool, and probably it was a sort of mirage effect, and
+not by any means a figment of your brain."
+
+To my surprise the old man leaned back in his chair and burst out
+laughing.
+
+"Of course," he exclaimed. "I never thought of that--a sort of mirage.
+Well, I'm begad thankful you suggested that, Ronald. I've no doubt
+that it was something of the sort. What a begad old fool I am. Let us
+pray that our poor little girl's trouble," he added solemnly, "will
+have some equally simple solution."
+
+The General was so relieved that I had given him, at any rate, some
+sort of reason to believe that his brain was not yet going, that he
+began to declare that he was convinced Myra would be better in a day
+or two. So we arranged that I should take her up to London the next
+day, and leave her in charge of her aunt, Lady Ruslit, and then, as
+soon as we had heard Sir Gaire's verdict, I was to bring her back
+again. General McLeod had been anxious at first to come with us, but I
+pointed out that he would be of more use to Myra if he stayed behind,
+and kept an eye on her interests in the neighbourhood. I promised to
+wire him the result of the interview with Olvery as soon as I knew it.
+And just about a quarter to ten we went to bed.
+
+"Ronald," said the old man, as we shook hands outside my door,
+"there's just one thing I wasn't frank with you about in the matter of
+the Chemist's Rock. I am anxious to believe that it's a point of no
+particular importance. You know the rock is a sort of sandstone, not
+grey like the rest, but nearly white?"
+
+"Yes," I answered, wondering what could be coming next.
+
+"Well," said the old man, "that day when I saw it appearing to come
+towards me it was not white, but green."
+
+"No," I said at last, when we had spent another twenty minutes
+discussing this new aspect in my room. "It's beyond me. I can't see
+how the two events can be connected, and yet they are so unusual that
+one would think they must be. I certainly think it is a point to put
+in detail before Olvery."
+
+"On the whole, I quite agree with you," said the General. "I am rather
+afraid he may take us for a pack of lunatics, and refuse to be
+bothered with the case."
+
+"I'm sure he won't do that," I asserted confidently. "And he may have
+some medical knowledge that will just shake the puzzle into place, and
+explain the whole mystery to us. It seems to me a most remarkable
+thing that these two strange affairs should have happened in exactly
+the same place. That it is some strange freak of nature I have no
+doubt, but I am absolutely at a loss to think what it can be."
+
+It can hardly be wondered at that, as I have said before, sleep and I
+were strangers that night, and I was glad enough when the time came
+for me to get up.
+
+Myra came down after breakfast, wonderfully brave and bright, but
+there was no sign whatever of her sight returning to her. The
+leave-taking was a wretched business, and I cannot dwell on it. Sandy
+started early to sail to Mallaig with the luggage, and we followed in
+the motor-boat, Angus at the engine, old Mary McNiven in the bows,
+while I took the tiller, and Myra lay on a pile of cushions at my
+feet, her head resting on my knee, her arm round Sholto's neck; for
+she had wanted the dog to see her off at the station. The old General
+managed to keep up a cheery manner as he said good-bye at the
+landing-stage, but he was looking so care-worn and haggard that I was
+glad that he had been persuaded not to come up to London with us. He
+was certainly not in a fit state for the fatigues of a long journey.
+As we passed Glasnabinnie the _Baltimore_ slid out from the side of
+the shed that stood on the edge of the miniature harbour which Nature
+had thoughtfully bestowed on the place.
+
+"I can hear a motor-boat," said Myra, suddenly sitting up.
+
+"Yes," I replied. "It's Hilderman's."
+
+"Is she ahead of us?" she asked.
+
+I looked round, and saw that the _Baltimore_ was putting out to round
+the point.
+
+"No, she's about level," I answered. "She's evidently making for
+Mallaig. We are, if anything, a little ahead, but they will soon pass
+us, I should think."
+
+"Oh, Ron," cried Myra, with childish excitement, "don't let them beat
+us. Angus, put some life into her. We _must_ make the harbour first."
+
+Angus did his best, and I set her course as near in shore as I dared
+on that treacherous coast. The _Baltimore_ glided out to sea with the
+easy grace of a powerful and beautiful animal, and as we passed the
+jagged promontory she was coming up about thirty yards behind us.
+
+"Challenge him, Ron," Myra exclaimed; "you've met him."
+
+I turned, and saw Hilderman and two other men in the boat, one a
+friend apparently, and the other the mechanic. I stood up and waved to
+him.
+
+"We'll race you to Mallaig," I shouted.
+
+"It's a bet," he agreed readily, at the top of his voice, waving back.
+
+It was a ding-dong business across the mouth of Nevis, and the
+_Baltimore_ was leading, if anything, but we had not far to go, and
+our opponents had taken a course a good deal farther out to sea than
+we were. Coming up by the lighthouse, however, the _Baltimore_ drew in
+at a magnificent pace, and swept in to pass inside the lighthouse
+rock. Hilderman, who was quite distinct at the short distance, stood
+up in the stern of the _Baltimore_, and looked at us. We were making
+good time, but we had no chance of outdistancing his powerful boat.
+But, as he looked at us, and was evidently about to shout some
+triumphant greeting, I saw him catch sight of Myra, lying at my feet,
+her face hidden in the shade over her eyes. Suddenly, without the
+slightest warning, he swung the tiller, and, turning out again, took
+the long course round the lighthouse, and we slid alongside the
+fish-table a good minute ahead of him. Myra was delighted; she had no
+suspicion that we had virtually lost the race, and the trifling
+excitement gave her a real pleasure. Angus, I could see, was puzzled,
+but I signed to him to say nothing. My heart warmed to Hilderman; he
+had seen that Myra was not well, and, divining that it would give her
+some pleasure to win the race, he had tactfully given way to us. I was
+really grateful to him for his kindly thought, and determined to thank
+him as soon as I could. We had nearly half an hour to wait for the
+mid-day train, and, after seeing Myra and Mary safely ensconced in the
+Marine Hotel, I went out with Sholto to get the tickets, telegraph to
+Dennis, and express my gratitude to Hilderman. But when I stepped out
+of the hotel he was standing in the road waiting for me.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Ewart," he said, coming forward to offer me his
+hand. "Is there anything the matter with Miss McLeod?"
+
+"She's not very well," I replied. "She has something the matter with
+her eyes. It was very good of you to let us win our little race. Every
+little pleasure that we can give Miss McLeod just at this time is of
+great value to us."
+
+"Eyes?" said Hilderman, thoughtfully, with the same dreamy expression
+that Dennis had pointed out at King's Cross. "What sort of thing is
+it? I know something about eyes."
+
+"I'm afraid I can tell you nothing," I replied. "She has suddenly lost
+her sight in the most amazing and terrible manner. We are just taking
+her up to London to see a specialist."
+
+"Had she any pain?" he asked, "or any dizziness or fainting, or
+anything like that?"
+
+"No," I said; "there is absolutely nothing to go by. It is a most
+extraordinary affair, and a very terrible blow to us all."
+
+"It must be," he said gently, "very, very terrible. I have heard so
+much about Miss McLeod that I even feel it myself. I am deeply grieved
+to hear this, deeply grieved." He spoke very sympathetically, and I
+felt that it was very kind of him to take such a friendly interest in
+his unknown neighbour.
+
+"I think you'd better join me in a brandy and soda, Mr. Ewart," he
+said, laying a hand on my arm. "I don't suppose you know it, but you
+look ten years older than you did yesterday."
+
+Yesterday! Good heavens! Had all this happened in a day? I was
+certainly feeling far from myself, and I accepted his invitation
+readily enough. We turned into the refreshment-room outside the
+station, and I had a stiff whisky and soda, realising how far away
+from London I was when the man gave me the whisky in one glass and
+the soda in another.
+
+"Tell me," said Hilderman, "if it is not very rude of me to ask, or
+too painful for you to speak about, what was Miss McLeod doing when
+this happened? Reading, or what?" I gave him a rough outline of the
+circumstances, but, in view of what the General had told me the night
+before, I said nothing about the mystery of the green ray. We wanted
+to retain our reputation for sanity as long as we could, and no
+outsider who did not know the General personally would believe that
+his astonishing experience was anything other than the strange
+creation of a nerve-wrought brain.
+
+"And that was all?" he asked thoughtfully.
+
+"Yes, that was all," I replied.
+
+"I suppose you haven't decided what specialist you will take her
+to when you get her to London?" he queried. I was about to reply when
+I heard Sholto in a heated argument with some other dog, and I bolted
+out, with a hurried excuse, to bring him in. As I returned, with my
+hand on his collar, the harbour-master greeted me, and told me
+we might have some difficulty in reaching London, as the train
+service was likely to be disorganised owing to the transport of troops
+and munitions. When I rejoined Hilderman I was full of this new
+development. It would be both awkward and unpleasant to be turned out
+of the train before we reached London; and every moment's delay might
+mean injury to my poor Myra.
+
+"I don't think you need worry at all, Mr. Ewart," my new friend
+assured me. "The trains will run all right. They may alter the
+services where they have too many trains, but here they are not likely
+to do so. Thank heaven, I shall not be travelling again for some time.
+I hate it, although I have to run about a good deal. I have a few
+modest investments that take up a considerable portion of my time. I
+figure on one or two boards, you know."
+
+I thanked him for his kindly interest, and left him. I wired to Dennis
+not to meet the train, but to be prepared to put me up the following
+night. Then I got the tickets, and took Myra to the train. Hilderman
+was seeing his friend off; a short, somewhat stout man, with flaxen
+hair, and small blue eyes peering through a pair of large spectacles.
+He bowed to us as we passed, and I was struck by the kindly sympathy
+with which both he and his companion glanced at Myra. Evidently they
+both realised what a terrible blow to her the loss of her sight must
+be. I will admit that, when it came to the time for the train to
+start, my heart nearly failed me altogether. The sight of the
+beautiful blind girl saying good-bye to her dog was one which I hope I
+may never see again. As the train steamed out into the cutting Sholto
+was left whining on the platform, and it was as much as Angus could do
+to hold him back. Poor Sholto; he was a faithful beast, and they were
+taking his beloved mistress away from him. Myra sat back in the
+carriage, and furtively wiped away a tear from her poor sightless
+eyes.
+
+"Poor old fellow," she said, with a brave smile. "If they can't do
+anything for me in London he will have to lead me about. It'll keep
+him out of mischief."
+
+"Don't say that, darling!" I groaned.
+
+"Poor old Ron," she said tenderly. "I believe it's worse for you than
+it is for me. And now that Mary has left us for a bit I want to say
+something to you, dear, while I can. You mustn't think I don't
+understand what this will mean to you, dear. I want you to know,
+darling, that I hope always to be your very great friend, but I don't
+expect you to marry a blind girl."
+
+I shall certainly not tell the reader what I said in reply to that
+generous and noble statement.
+
+"Besides, dear," I concluded eventually, "you will soon be able to see
+again." And so I tried to assure her, till presently Mary returned.
+And then we made her comfortable, and I read to her in the darkened
+carriage until at last my poor darling fell into a gentle sleep.
+
+But twenty-six hours later, when I had seen Myra safely back to her
+aunt's house from Harley Street, I staggered up the stairs to Dennis's
+rooms in Panton Street a broken man.
+
+Dennis opened the door to me himself.
+
+"Ronald!" he cried, "what has happened?"
+
+"Hello, old man," I said weakly; "I'm very, very tired."
+
+My friend took my arm and led me into his sitting-room, and pressed me
+gently on the sofa. Then he brought me a stiff brandy and soda, and
+sat beside me in silence for a few minutes.
+
+"Feel better, old boy?" he asked presently.
+
+"Yes, thanks, Den," I answered. "I'm sorry to be such a nuisance."
+
+"Tell me," he said, "when you feel well enough." But I lay, and closed
+my eyes, for I was dog-tired, and could not bring myself to speak even
+to Dennis of the specialist's terrible verdict. And soon Nature
+asserted herself, and I fell into a deep sleep, which was the best
+thing I could have done. When I awoke I was lying in bed, in total
+darkness, in Dennis's extra room. I sat up, and called out in my
+surprise, for I had been many miles away in my slumbers, and my first
+hope was that the whole adventure had been a hideous nightmare. But
+Dennis, hearing my shout, walked in to see if I wanted anything.
+
+"Now, how do you feel?" he asked, as he sat on the side of the bed.
+
+"Did you carry me in here and put me to bed?" I asked idly.
+
+"You certainly didn't look like walking, and I thought you'd be more
+comfortable in here," he laughed.
+
+"Great Scott, man!" I cried, suddenly remembering his heart trouble,
+"you shouldn't have done that, Dennis. You promised me you'd take no
+risks."
+
+"Heavens! that was nothing," he declared emphatically. "You're as
+light as a feather. There was no risk in that."
+
+Indeed, as events were to prove, it was only the first of many, but
+being ignorant of that at the time, I contented myself with pointing
+out that very few feathers turned the scale at twelve-stone-three.
+
+"Now look here, old son," said Dennis, in an authoritative voice. "You
+mustn't imagine I'm dealing with your trouble, whatever it is (for you
+_are_ in trouble, Ronald), in a matter-of-fact and unsympathetic way.
+But what you've got to do now is to get up, have a tub, slip into a
+dressing-gown, and have a quiet little dinner with me here. It's just
+gone eight, so you ought to be ready for it."
+
+He disappeared to turn on the bath-water, and then, when he met me in
+the passage making for the bathroom, he handed me a glass.
+
+"Drink this, old chap," he said.
+
+"What is it?" I asked suspiciously. "I don't want any fancy
+pick-me-ups. They only make you worse afterwards."
+
+"That was prescribed by Doctor Common Sense," he answered lightly.
+"It's peach bitters!"
+
+After my tub I was able to tackle my dinner, with the knowledge that I
+was badly in need of something to eat, a feeling which surprised me
+very much. Throughout the meal Dennis told me of the enlistment of
+Jack and poor Tommy Evans, and we discussed their prospects and the
+chances of my seeing them before they disappeared into the crowded
+ranks of Kitchener's Army. Dennis himself had been ruthlessly refused.
+He spoke of trying his luck again until they accepted him, but I knew,
+from what he told me of the doctor's remarks, that he had no earthly
+chance of being passed. He seemed to have entirely mastered his regret
+at his inability to serve his country in the ranks, but I understood
+at once that he was merely putting his own troubles in the background
+in face of my own. The meal over, we "got behind" two of Dennis's
+excellent cigars, and made ourselves comfortable.
+
+"Now then, old man," said my friend, "a complete and precise account
+of what has happened to you since you left King's Cross two days ago."
+
+"It has all been so extraordinary and terrible," I said, "that I
+hardly know where to begin."
+
+"I saw you last at the station," he said, laying a hand on my knee.
+"Begin from there." So I began at the beginning, and told him just
+what had happened, exactly as I have told the reader.
+
+Dennis was deeply moved.
+
+"And then you saw Olvery?" he asked. "What did he say?"
+
+I got up, paced the room. What had Olvery said? Should I ever forget
+those blistering words to the day of my death?
+
+"Come, old boy," said Dennis kindly. "You must remember that Olvery is
+merely a man. He is only one of the many floundering about among the
+mysteries of Nature, trying to throw light upon darkness. You mustn't
+imagine that his view is necessarily correct, from whichever point he
+looked at the case."
+
+"Thank you for that," I said. "I am afraid I forgot that he might
+possibly be mistaken. He says he knows nothing of this case at all; he
+can make nothing of it; it is quite beyond him. He is certain that no
+such similar case has been brought to the knowledge of optical
+science. His view is that there is the remotest possibility that this
+green veil may lift, but he says he is sure that if there were any
+scientific reason for saying that her sight will be restored he would
+be able to detect it."
+
+"I prefer your Dr. Whitehouse to this man any day," said Dennis
+emphatically. "He took just the opposite view. This man Olvery, like
+so many specialists, is evidently a dogmatic egotist."
+
+"I'm very glad you can give us even that hope. But the eyes are such a
+delicate instrument. It is difficult to see how the sight can be
+recovered when once it has gone. Of course, Olvery is going to do
+what he can. He has suggested certain treatment, and massage, and so
+forth, and he has no objection to her going back home again. Myra, of
+course, is tremendously anxious for me to take her back to her father.
+She is worrying about him already; and, fortunately, Olvery knows
+Whitehouse, and has the highest opinion of him."
+
+"Go back as soon as you can, old chap," Dennis advised. "Wire me if
+there is anything I can do for you at this end. I'll make some
+inquiries, and see if I can find out anything about any similar cases,
+and so on. But you take the girl back home if she wants to go."
+
+While we were still talking, Dennis's man, Cooper, entered.
+
+"Telegram for Mr. Ewart, sir," he said.
+
+I took the yellow envelope and opened it carelessly.
+
+"What is it?" cried Dennis, springing to his feet as he saw my face.
+
+"Read it," I said faintly, as I handed it to him. Dennis read the
+message aloud:
+
+"Come back at once. I can't stand this. Sholto is blind.--McLEOD."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+CONTAINS A FURTHER ENIGMA.
+
+
+Back again at King's Cross. I seemed to have been travelling on the
+line all my life. Myra turned to Dennis to say good-bye.
+
+"I hope," she said bravely, "that when we meet again, Mr. Burnham, I
+shall be able to tell you that I can see you looking well."
+
+"I do hope so, indeed, Miss McLeod," said Dennis fervently, with a
+quick glance at me. He was lost in admiration at the quiet calm with
+which my poor darling took her terrible affliction.
+
+"Good-bye, old chap," my friend said to me cheerily. "I hope to hear
+in a day or two that Miss McLeod is quite well again. And," he added
+in a whisper, "wire me if I can be of the slightest use."
+
+I readily agreed, and I was beginning, even at that early stage, to be
+very thankful that my friend was free to help me in case of need.
+
+When at last we reached Invermalluch Lodge again I sat for an hour in
+the library with the old General, telling him in detail the result of
+the specialist's examination, but I took care to put Dennis's point of
+view to him at the outset. I was glad I had done so, for he seized on
+the faint hope it offered, and clung to it in despair.
+
+"What is your own impression of Olvery?" he asked.
+
+"I fancy his knighthood has got into his head," I replied. "He gave me
+the impression that he was quite certain he knew everything there was
+to be known, and that the mere fact of his not being sure about the
+return of her sight made him positive that it must be complete and
+absolute blindness. Of course he hedged and left himself a loophole in
+the event of her recovery, but I could have told him just as much as
+he told me."
+
+"You say you took it on yourself to take Myra out of his hands
+altogether. Why?"
+
+"When I received your wire, I rang him up at once, and asked him to
+see me immediately," I replied. "Eventually he agreed, and I took a
+taxi to his place, and told him about Sholto. He gave his opinion
+without any consideration whatever. He said: 'The merest coincidence,
+Mr. Ewart--the merest coincidence--and you may even find that the dog
+has not actually lost his sight at all.' So naturally I thanked him,
+gave him his fee, and came away. I propose now that you should try and
+get this man--Garnish, is it----?"
+
+"Garnesk," interposed the General, consulting a note Dr. Whitehouse
+had left--"Herbert Garnesk."
+
+"Well, I want you to try and get him sufficiently interested to come
+here--and stop here--until he has come to some decision, no matter
+what it is."
+
+"A thundering good idea, Ronald," agreed the old man. "But we can't
+tell him this extraordinary story in writing."
+
+"I'll go and find him, and fetch him back with me, if I have to hold a
+gun to his head."
+
+Accordingly I dashed off to Mallaig again, and caught the evening
+train to Glasgow. I spent an unhappy night at the Central Station
+Hotel--though it was certainly not the fault of the hotel--and looked
+up Mr. Garnesk as early in the morning as I dared disturb a celebrated
+consultant oculist. I took a fancy to the man at once. He was
+young--in the early 'forties--very alert-looking, and exceedingly
+businesslike. His prematurely grey hair gave an added air of
+importance to the clever eye and clean-cut features, and he had a
+charm of manner which would have made his fortune had he been almost
+ignorant of the rudiments of his calling.
+
+"So that's the complete story of Miss McLeod and her dog Sholto," he
+mused, when I had finished speaking. For a brief second I thought he
+was about to laugh at the apparent absurdity of the yarn, but before I
+had time to answer he spoke again.
+
+"Miss McLeod and her dog are apparently blind, and Mr. Ewart is a
+bundle of nerves--and this is very excellent brandy, Mr. Ewart. Allow
+me."
+
+I accepted the proffered glass with a laugh, in spite of myself.
+
+"What do you think of it?" I asked.
+
+He sat on the edge of the table and swung his leg, wrapt in thought
+for a moment.
+
+"I'm very glad to say I don't know what to think of it," he replied
+presently.
+
+"Why glad?" I asked anxiously.
+
+"Because, my dear sir, this is so remarkable that if I thought I could
+see a solution I should probably be making a mistake. This is
+something I am learning about for the first time; and, frankly, it
+interests me intensely."
+
+Suddenly he sat down abruptly, with a muttered "Now, then," and began
+to catechise me in a most extraordinarily searching manner, firing off
+question after question with the rapidity of a maxim gun.
+
+I shall not detain the reader with details of this catechism. His
+inquiries ranged from the system on which the house was lighted and
+the number of hours Myra averaged per week on the sea to the make of
+the engine in her motor-boat. His last question was: "Does anybody
+drink the river water?"
+
+"Windows that flash in the sun seem to me to be confusing the issue,"
+he said at last. "Windows must always reflect light in a certain
+direction at a certain time, and though they may be irritating they
+could not possibly produce even temporary blindness. Still, we won't
+forget them, Mr. Ewart, though we had better put them aside for a
+moment. Now, how soon can you bring Miss McLeod to see me?"
+
+"We had hoped," I ventured to suggest, "that you would be able to run
+up and see her, and have a look at the ground. You could then examine
+the dog as well."
+
+"I'll be perfectly candid with you, Mr. Ewart," he replied. "I was
+just going to start on a short holiday. I was going to Switzerland;
+but the war has knocked that on the head, so I am just running up to
+Perthshire for a week's fishing. I need a holiday very badly, more
+especially as I have undertaken some Government work in connection
+with the war. Fortunately, I am a bachelor, and I will willingly give
+up a couple of days to Miss McLeod."
+
+"Why not combine business with pleasure?" I suggested. "There's good
+fishing at Invermalluch, gorgeous scenery, a golf-course a mile or two
+away, and you can do just as you please on the General's estate. He'll
+be delighted."
+
+"Are you sure?" he asked. "Well, anyway, I can go to the Glenelg Hotel
+and fish up Glenmore. Now, Mr. Ewart, we will catch the afternoon
+train, the earliest there is--though I suppose there's only one."
+
+"I can't tell you how grateful I am, Mr. Garnesk," I said. "It may
+mean a very great deal to us that you are so anxious to see Miss
+McLeod."
+
+"I am not anxious to see Miss McLeod," he answered, cryptically. "I'm
+anxious to see the dog."
+
+I left him, to telegraph to the General that I was arriving that night
+bringing the specialist with me; and I need hardly say that I left the
+telegraph office with a comparatively light heart. The journey to
+Mallaig was one of the most interesting afternoons I have spent.
+Garnesk was consulting oculist to all the big chemical, machine, naval
+and other manufacturers in the great industrial centre on the Clyde,
+and he kept me enthralled with his accounts of the sudden attacks of
+various eye diseases which were occasionally the fate of the workers.
+The effects of chemicals, the indigenous generation of gases in the
+furnace-rooms, and so on, had afforded him ample scope for experiment;
+and, fortunately for us all, he was delighted to have found new ground
+for enlarging his experience. The mixture of professional anecdote and
+piscatorial prophecy with which he entertained me, now and then
+rushing across the carriage to get a glimpse of a salmon-pool in some
+river over which we happened to be passing, gave me an amusing insight
+into the character of one whom I have since learned to regard as a
+very brilliant and charming man. When we arrived at the landing-stage
+at the Lodge, the General greeted him with undisguised joy.
+
+"Begad! Mr. Garnesk," he blurted, "I'm thundering glad to see you,
+sir. It's good of you to come, sir--extremely good."
+
+"That remains to be seen, General," said Garnesk, solemnly--"whether
+my visit will do any good. I hope so, with all my heart."
+
+"Amen to that!" said the old man, pathetically, with a heavy sigh.
+
+"How is Miss McLeod?" asked the scientist.
+
+"Her eyes are no better," the General replied. "She cannot see at all.
+Otherwise she is in perfect health. She says she feels as well as ever
+she did. I can't understand it," he finished helplessly.
+
+A suit-case, a bag of golf-clubs, and a square deal box completed
+Garnesk's outfit.
+
+"Steady with that--here, let me take it?" he cried, as Angus was
+lifting the last item ashore. "Business and pleasure," he continued,
+raising the box in his arms and indicating his clubs and fishing-rods
+with a jerk of the head. "I've one or two things here that may help me
+in my work, and as they are very delicate instruments I would rather
+carry them myself."
+
+As we approached the house the sound of the piano greeted us in the
+distance; and soon we could distinguish the strains of that most
+beautiful and understanding of all burial marches, Grieg's "Aase's
+Tod."
+
+"My daughter can even welcome us with a tune," said the old man
+proudly. To him all music came under the category of "tunes," with the
+sole exception of "God Save the King," which was a national
+institution.
+
+Garnesk stopped and stood on the path, the deal box clasped carefully
+in his arms, his head on one side, listening.
+
+"We have the right sort of patient to deal with, anyway," he remarked,
+with a sigh of relief. But to me the melancholy insistence of the
+exquisite harmonies was fraught with ill-omen, and I could not
+restrain the shudder of an unaccountable fear as we resumed our walk.
+Later on, when I found an opportunity to ask her why she had chosen
+that particular music, I was only partially relieved by her ingenuous
+answer:
+
+"Oh! just because I love it, Ronnie," she said, "and there are no
+difficult intervals to play with your eyes shut. I thought it was
+rather clever of me to think of it. I shall soon be able to play more
+tricky things. It will cure me of looking at the notes when I can see
+again."
+
+Myra and the young specialist were introduced; and, though he chatted
+gaily with her, and touched on innumerable subjects, he never once
+alluded to her misfortune. Though the General was evidently anxious
+that Garnesk should make his examination as soon as possible,
+hospitality forced him to suggest dinner first, and I was surprised at
+the alacrity with which the visitor concurred, knowing, as I did, his
+intense interest in the case. But, after a few conventional remarks to
+the General and Myra, I was about to show him to his room when he
+seized my arm excitedly.
+
+"Quick!" he whispered. "Where's the dog?"
+
+I led him to a room above the coach-house where poor Sholto was a
+pitiful prisoner. Garnesk deposited his precious packing-case on the
+floor, and called the dog to him. Sholto sprang forward in a moment,
+recognising the tone of friendship in the voice, and planted his paws
+on my companion's chest. For twenty minutes the examination lasted.
+One strange test after another was applied to the poor animal; but he
+was very good about it, and seemed to understand that we were trying
+to help him.
+
+"I should hate to have to kill that dog, but it may be necessary
+before long," said the specialist. "But why didn't you tell Miss
+McLeod her dog was blind?"
+
+"We were afraid it would upset her too much," I answered, and then
+suddenly realising the point of the question, I added, "but how on
+earth did you know we hadn't?"
+
+"Because," he said thoughtfully, "if you had, she strikes me as the
+sort of girl who would have asked me straight away what I thought I
+could do for him."
+
+"You seem to understand human nature as well as you do science," I
+said admiringly.
+
+"The two are identical, or at least co-incident, Mr. Ewart," he
+replied solemnly. "But what was it you _did_ tell her?"
+
+"We said he was suffering from a sort of eczema, which looked as if
+it might be infectious, and we thought she ought not to be near him
+for a bit. Otherwise, of course, she would have wanted him with her
+all the time."
+
+When the examination was over for the time being, I chained Sholto
+to a hook in an old harness-rack, for he was strong and unused to
+captivity, and the door had no lock, only a small bolt outside.
+Garnesk packed away his instruments, carried them carefully to the
+house, and then we sprinted upstairs to dress hurriedly for dinner.
+
+Myra, poor child, was sensitive about joining us, but the specialist
+was very anxious that she should do so, and we all dined together.
+There was no allusion whatever to the strange events which had brought
+us together, but, with my professional knowledge of the mysteries of
+cross-examination, I noticed that Garnesk contrived to acquire more
+knowledge of various circumstances on which he seemed to wish to be
+enlightened than Sir Gaire Olvery had gleaned from forty minutes'
+blunt questioning.
+
+Myra had hardly left us after the meal was over when the butler handed
+the General a card, and almost simultaneously a tall, shadowy figure
+passed the window along the verandah.
+
+"'Pon my soul, that's kind of him," said the simple-hearted old man.
+"Run after him, Ronald, and fetch him back."
+
+"Who is it?" I asked, rising.
+
+"'Mr. J. G. Hilderman wishes to express his sympathy with General
+McLeod in his daughter's illness.' Very neighbourly indeed."
+
+I ran out after Hilderman, and found that his long legs had taken him
+nearly half-way to the landing-stage by the time I overtook him. He
+stopped as I called his name.
+
+"Why, Mr. Ewart," he exclaimed in surprise, "you back again already? I
+hope you had a very satisfactory interview with the specialist."
+
+I told him briefly that our visit to London had given us no
+satisfaction at all, and gave him the General's invitation to come
+up to the house.
+
+"I wouldn't think of it, Mr. Ewart," he declared emphatically. "Very
+kind of General McLeod, but he don't want to worry with strangers just
+now."
+
+He was very determined; but I insisted, and he eventually gave way. I
+was glad he had come. I had a somewhat unreasonable esteem for his
+abilities and resource, and every assistance was welcomed with open
+arms at Invermalluch Lodge at that time. His extensive knowledge even
+included some slight acquaintance with the body's most wonderful
+organ, for he told us some very interesting eye cases he had heard of
+in the States. He was genuinely dumbfoundered when we told him that
+Sholto was an additional victim.
+
+"You don't say so!" he exclaimed. "Well, that _is_ remarkable. It
+sounds as if it came out of a book. In broad daylight a young lady
+goes out, and is as well as can be. An hour later she is stone blind.
+Two days afterwards her dog goes out, and _he_ comes in blind. Yes,
+it's got me beaten."
+
+"It's got us all beaten," said Garnesk deliberately, and I was shocked
+to hear him say it. I reflected that he had not even examined Myra,
+and my disappointment was the keener that he should admit himself
+nonplussed so early. But he left me no loophole of doubt.
+
+"I can make nothing whatever of it," he added, ruefully shaking his
+head. "I wonder if I ever shall?"
+
+"Come, come! my dear sir," said Hilderman cheerily. "You scientist
+fellows have a knack of making your difficulties a little greater than
+they really are, in order to get more credit for surmounting them. I
+know your little ways. I'm an American, you know, professor; you can't
+get me that way."
+
+Garnesk laughed--fortunately. And again I was grateful to Hilderman
+for his timely tact, for it cheered the old man immensely, and helped
+me a little, too. Presently the General left the room, and Garnesk
+leaned forward.
+
+"Mr. Hilderman," he said earnestly, "do everything in your power to keep
+the old man's spirits up. I can give him no hope, professionally--I
+dare not. But you, a layman, can. It is difficult in the circumstances
+for Mr. Ewart to give much encouragement, but I know he will do his
+best."
+
+"J. G. Hilderman is yours to command," said the American, with a bow
+that included us both. And then the oculist suggested that we should
+have a look at Sholto. I led the way to the coach-house with a heavy
+heart. I should not have minded a mystery which would have endangered
+my own life. Apart from any altruism, the personal peril would have
+afforded a welcome stimulant. But this unseen horror, which stabbed in
+the dark and robbed my beautiful Myra of her sight, chilled my very
+soul. I climbed wearily up the wooden stair to Sholto's new den,
+carrying a stable lantern in my hand, for it was getting late, and the
+carefully darkened room would be as black as ink. The other two
+followed close on my heels. I opened the door and called to the dog. A
+faint, sickly-sweet odour met me as I did so.
+
+"You give your dogs elaborate kennels," said Hilderman, as he climbed
+the stairs, and I laughed in reply.
+
+At that instant Garnesk stood still and sniffed the air. With a sudden
+jerk he wrenched the lantern from my hand and strode into the room.
+Sholto was gone. Only half his chain dangled from the hook, cut
+through the middle with a pair of strong wire-nippers.
+
+The oculist turned to us with an expression of acute interest.
+
+"Chloroform," he said quietly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE CHEMIST'S ROCK.
+
+
+By the time we gave up our hunt for Sholto that night and saw
+Hilderman into the _Baltimore II._ at the landing-stage, the harvest
+moon had splashed the mountain side with patches of silver in reckless
+profusion. But we were in no mood for aesthetics. We applied the
+moonlight to more practical purposes.
+
+"Show me the river, Mr. Ewart," said Garnesk, as we turned away from
+the shore. Accordingly I took him up stream till we came to Dead Man's
+Pool.
+
+"What do you make of things now?" I asked, as we walked along.
+
+"I can't make anything of the stealing of a dog except that someone
+coveted it and has now got it. Can you?"
+
+"No," I answered thoughtfully, "I can't. But it's an extraordinary
+coincidence, at the least; and who on earth could have stolen him? You
+see, no one round here would dream of taking anything that belonged to
+Miss McLeod. And, though Sholto is well enough bred, he's never been
+in a show, and has no reputation. I can't make it out."
+
+"I'm very sorry it happened just now," said the oculist. "I was in
+hopes that by experimenting on the animal I could cure the girl. But
+at any rate that is beyond grieving about now. Is this the place?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "this is Dead Man's Pool. That dim white shape there is
+the Chemist's Rock. It was there that Miss McLeod lost her sight, and
+here that the General had his extraordinary experience. It looks
+innocent and peaceful enough," I added, with a sigh.
+
+"The General was very lucky--very lucky indeed!" murmured my
+companion.
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"He was down here looking at the rock, and he saw some sort of vision;
+Miss McLeod was up at the rock looking down at the pool, and she lost
+her sight. The General might have been looking this way instead of
+that, in which case we might have had another case on our hands."
+
+"Then you think the two adventures are different aspects of the same
+thing? If only we knew where Sholto was it might give us even more to
+go on."
+
+"Have you any tobacco?" he asked abruptly. "I've got a pipe, but I
+left my tobacco in my room."
+
+We were in evening dress, and my pouch and pipe were in the house; so
+I left him there while I ran in to fetch them. When I returned he was
+nowhere to be seen, and for a moment I half suspected some new
+tragedy; but as I looked round I caught the gleam of the moonlight on
+his shirt-front. I found him kneeling on the Chemist's Rock, looking
+out to sea.
+
+"Many thanks, Mr. Ewart," he said, as he handed me back my pouch and
+took the light I offered him. "Ah! I'm glad to see you smoke real
+tobacco. By the way," he added, "have you a friend--a real friend--you
+can trust?"
+
+"I have, thank God!" I replied fervently. "Why?"
+
+"I should like you to send for him. Do anything you can to get him
+here at once. Go and drag him here, if you like--only get him here."
+
+"But why this urgency?" I asked again. "I admit that we have some very
+horrible natural phenomena to deal with; but, apart from the fact that
+some wretched poacher has stolen a dog, we have no human element to
+fear. I don't see how he can help, and he might run a risk himself."
+
+"Never mind--fetch him or send for him. If you could have seen
+yourself start when you returned to the pool yonder to find me
+missing, you would realise that your nervous system would be the
+better for a little congenial companionship. Frankly, Mr. Ewart, I
+don't like the idea of you being left alone here during the next few
+days with a blind girl and an old man--if you'll pardon me for being
+so blunt."
+
+"But you'll be here," I said; "and I hope you will have something to
+say to us that will put nerves out of the question when you have
+examined Myra."
+
+Garnesk rose to his feet and laid a friendly hand on my arm.
+
+"As soon as I've seen what this place looks like at a quarter-past
+four to a quarter-past five in the afternoon I shall leave you."
+
+"But--good heavens, man!" I cried, aghast, "you won't leave us like
+that. We hoped for so much from your visit. You can't realise, man,
+what it may mean to--to us all! You see----"
+
+"My dear chap," said my companion, cutting me short with a laugh, "it
+is just because I do realise that my presence here may be dangerous to
+Miss McLeod that I propose to leave."
+
+"Dangerous to her?" I gasped. "What on earth do you mean now?" The
+whole world seemed to have taken leave of its senses, and I mentally
+vowed that I should wire for Dennis first thing in the morning.
+
+"I say that because her dog has been drugged and taken away."
+
+"But some fool of a poacher was responsible for that!" I cried.
+
+My companion looked at me thoughtfully as he puffed at his pipe.
+
+"I was the cause of the dog's disappearance," he said quietly.
+
+"I see what you're driving at," I said. "You pretended to steal the
+dog because you were afraid Myra would make overwhelming objections to
+your vivisecting him, or whatever you want to do. Of course, now I see
+you would be the only person about Invermalluch Lodge likely to have
+chloroform. But even then I don't see what you mean by saying that
+your presence here would be dangerous to Miss McLeod."
+
+"That's a very ingenious construction to put on my words, my dear
+fellow," he said; "but in my mind I was relying on you to overcome my
+patient's objections to any experiments that might be deemed advisable
+on her dog. I meant something much more serious than that. I have
+known you only a few hours, Mr. Ewart; but nobody need tell me you are
+anything of a fool, unless he wants a very flat contradiction. You are
+looking at this affair from a personal point of view--and no wonder,
+either. But if you were not so worried about your _fiancee_ your brain
+would have grasped my point at once. That is why I want you to send
+for a friend."
+
+"I will," I promised solemnly. "Now tell me--what did you mean?"
+
+"When I said I was the cause of the dog's disappearance, I meant that
+if I hadn't arrived on the scene the dog would never have been
+touched. The dog was taken by someone who knew he was blind, who knew
+that I would experiment on him, and who was determined to get there
+first."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, "that would be carrying professional jealousy a
+bit too far--if that's what you mean!"
+
+"It would be carrying it so far that we can rule it out of court," he
+answered. "So that's what I don't mean. Let's go back and analyse the
+occurrence. I say the dog was not stolen by poachers, because of the
+chloroform; you said the same yourself. I say that the thief knew the
+dog was blind, because he knew he was in a darkened room above the
+coach-house, and he stole him from there. A poacher would have gone to
+the kennel, and found it empty--and that would have been the end of
+that. But the man who knew the dog was in a special room must have
+known why he was there; and it seems to me that the man who steals a
+blind dog steals him because, for some reason or other, he wants a
+blind dog--that very one, probably. Have you got me?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "I follow you so far. Go on." And I was surprised to
+find how relieved I was at this suggested complication. I felt that if
+we could only attribute this amazing week of mysteries to some human
+agent I should be able to grapple with it.
+
+"Now I come to my main point," Garnesk continued, "and it's this: The
+man who wanted Sholto because he was blind wanted him to experiment
+on. But no professional man would do a thing like that, even supposing
+there to be one about. That motive again is ruled out of court. There
+remains one possible solution----"
+
+"Well?" I asked breathlessly, for even now I failed to grasp the
+conclusion my scientific companion could be coming to. "Go on!"
+
+"If this thief did not want Sholto to experiment on himself, he stole
+the dog in order to prevent me from experimenting on him."
+
+I laughed aloud from sheer excitement and the relief of finding some
+tangible thing to go on, for the oculist's argument struck me as very
+nearly perfect.
+
+"You ought to be at Scotland Yard," I said. "You seem to me to have
+hit the nail on the head."
+
+"The two callings are very closely allied," he said modestly.
+"Detectives deal with murderers and thieves, and I with nerves and
+tissues. It is all a question of diagnosis."
+
+"I must say I think you've diagnosed this case very well, Mr.
+Garnesk," I said, "though we are just at the beginning of our troubles
+if what you suppose is correct."
+
+"I can't think of any other solution," he answered thoughtfully; "and
+we are, as you say, just at the beginning of our troubles. The first
+thing to do is----"
+
+"To find the man who stole the dog," I cut in.
+
+"To find the man who knew the dog was blind," he corrected. "By that
+means we may come to the man who stole the dog; then we may get his
+reason from his own lips, if we are exceptionally lucky. But I fancy I
+can supply his motive, failing a full confession."
+
+"You can?" I cried. "Let's hear it."
+
+"You've thought of one yourself, of course?" he asked.
+
+"The only motive I can think of is too fantastic altogether. It is
+weak enough to presuppose that someone has a grievance against Miss
+McLeod or the General, and that someone took advantage of the
+extraordinary circumstances to steal Sholto, and if possible prevent
+Myra getting her sight back. Oh, it's too ridiculous!"
+
+"We have to remember," my companion suggested, "that our unknown
+quantity not only knew that the dog was blind, but also knew that I
+was coming or had arrived, and would probably experiment on the beast.
+It argues a very terrible urgency that the animal disappeared within
+an hour or two of my arrival. From all that I deduce what seems to me
+the only possible motive. The dog was stolen by the man who made Miss
+McLeod blind."
+
+"_Made_ her blind!" I cried. "You don't seriously mean that you think
+someone--some fiend of hell--deliberately blinded her?"
+
+"Not deliberately," my companion replied. "But I believe it was
+through some human agency that she was blinded. I think some person or
+persons were anxious that Miss McLeod should remain blind, in case we
+should, in the process of recovering her sight, hit upon the cause of
+her losing it."
+
+In silence I sat for a few moments, thinking over this extraordinary
+new outlook. I must certainly wire for Dennis in the morning.
+
+"Mr. Garnesk," I said presently, "you are bringing a very terrible
+charge against some human monster whom we have yet to discover. But I
+must admit that you seem to have logic on your side. It remains for
+me to discover who these people are--if there are more than one."
+
+"Yes," he mused; "that is what we must discover."
+
+"We!" I exclaimed. "Then you're not going away?"
+
+"Yes," he said. "I think it would be fairer to you all if I left you.
+I think my arrival has done some good--my departure may do more. But I
+assure you, Mr. Ewart, I shall not give up this case till Miss McLeod
+recovers her sight. I give you my hand on that."
+
+I shook hands with him warmly.
+
+"Thank you," I said, as I noticed the eager look on his keen, handsome
+face. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart. To-morrow I hope I shall
+find the man who knew Sholto was blind."
+
+"I only know of one outside the General's household," he answered.
+
+"But I don't even know that!" I cried, forgetting Dennis for the
+moment. As for Olvery, he had gone clean out of my mind. "Who do you
+mean?"
+
+"The American," said my companion.
+
+"Hilderman!" I exclaimed. "Surely you must be mistaken. Why, he was
+absolutely astonished when we told him. He can't have known."
+
+"Still," Garnesk insisted, "I felt sure he knew. I suspected something
+about him, but I was wrong to do that, quite wrong; I admit that now.
+I couldn't at first see why he pretended he hadn't heard that Sholto
+was blind. You may have noticed that I tried to give him the
+impression that I had examined Miss McLeod and come to the conclusion
+that I could do nothing. I confess I did that to see how he took it.
+But I was on a wrong scent altogether. He knew about the dog, that was
+obvious, but it was also obvious that he hadn't been told from an
+official source, so to speak. He kept fishing for information. He
+brought up the dog several times, each time with a query mark in his
+voice--as you might say. He remarked that the _last_ time he saw Miss
+McLeod she had her beautiful dog with her. That made me suspicious,
+because from what you told me she always had her dog with her. Then he
+said her dog must be feeling it very keenly, you remember. I tried him
+with my pessimistic conclusions to see how he took it. You see, as
+soon as I saw the dog I put contagious disease out of the question.
+Natural forces unguided seemed impossible, but natural forces of some
+nature that we can't yet understand seemed probable. Still I was wrong
+to suspect Hilderman, quite wrong. Besides he couldn't possibly have
+stolen the dog."
+
+"I'm glad you feel you were wrong there," I said, "because I rather
+like the man. I shouldn't care to have to suspect him."
+
+"Don't suspect him, whatever you do," said the oculist earnestly.
+"Whatever you do, don't do that. He might be very useful. Make a
+friend of him. You'll want all your friends."
+
+He rose and stretched his legs, and I followed suit. We stood for a
+moment on the Chemist's Rock and gazed up the river, over the top of
+the falls, into the silver and purple symphony of a highland night.
+Presently my companion turned and took my arm.
+
+"I've seen all I want to see," he said as he began to lead me down to
+the pool again. "They'll wonder what has become of us. And as I've
+seen enough for one night, let's get back to the house."
+
+"It's a wonderful view at any time of the day or night," I agreed, and
+I sighed as I thought of poor Myra.
+
+"It must be," said Garnesk absently, picking his way across the rocks.
+"It must be a magnificent view. I haven't noticed it; you must bring
+me here to-morrow."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+MISTS OF UNCERTAINTY.
+
+
+When we got back to the house we found Myra and her father--not
+unnaturally--wondering what had become of us.
+
+"What have you been doing, and where have you been, and what do you
+mean by it?" she asked, playfully. "I wish I could see you. I'm sure
+you must be looking very guilty."
+
+Garnesk and I exchanged hurried glances. It was obvious from her
+remark that the General had not told her of Sholto's disappearance. I
+decided there and then that I would have to tell her the whole truth
+myself, and I gave the others a pretty broad hint that we would like
+to be left alone. I left the drawing-room and went with them to the
+library, and answered the old man's feverish questions as to the
+result of our search.
+
+Then I returned to Myra. It was a difficult and unpleasant task that I
+had to perform, but I got through it somehow; and, as I expected, Myra
+was very distressed about her dog, but not in the least frightened. I
+had thought it wiser not to acquaint her with the specialist's
+deductions as to the connection between her own affliction and the
+theft of Sholto. When I had given her as many particulars as I thought
+advisable, the other two rejoined us.
+
+"Can you think of anyone at all, Miss McLeod," the specialist asked,
+"who would be likely to steal Sholto?"
+
+"I can't," the girl replied helplessly. "I wish I could."
+
+"The two classes of people we want to find," I suggested, "are those
+who like Sholto so much as to be prepared to steal him, and those who
+dislike him so much as to be anxious to destroy him."
+
+"You don't think they'll hurt him," she cried, anxiously. "Poor old
+fellow! It's bad enough his being blind; but I would rather know he
+was dead than being ill-treated."
+
+"It's much more likely to be the act of some very human person who
+covets his neighbour's goods," said Garnesk, reassuringly. "But, at
+the same time, we must not overlook the other possibility. Can you
+remember anyone who does dislike the dog?"
+
+"Only one," said Myra, thoughtfully, "and I don't think he could have
+done it. He has a small croft away up above Tor Beag, and Sholto and
+I were up there one day; but it's months ago. Sholto went nosing round
+as usual, and the man came out and got very excited in Gaelic--and you
+know how excited one can be in that language. He was very rude to me
+about the dog, and it made me rather suspicious. I told daddy about it
+after."
+
+"Yes, and I hope you won't go wandering about so far from home
+without saying where you're going in future, my dear; because----"
+said the old man, and pulled himself up in pained confusion as he
+realised the tragic significance of his words.
+
+"Some sort of poacher, perhaps," suggested Garnesk, coming quickly to
+the rescue.
+
+"An illicit whisky still somewhere about, more likely," Myra replied.
+And as she could think of no other likely person, and the crofter
+seemed out of the question, we had to confess ourselves puzzled. I had
+hoped that Myra would have been able to give us some clue with which
+we could have satisfied her, while we kept our suspicions to
+ourselves. Then we left Myra with the specialist, who made a temporary
+examination. In twenty minutes he assured us that he could make
+nothing of the case, but that he was willing to stake his reputation
+that there was nothing organically wrong; and he gave us, so far as he
+dared, distinct reason to hope that she would eventually regain full
+possession of her lost faculty. So, after general rejoicings all
+round, in which I quite forgot the mystery of the man who stole the
+dog, I went to bed feeling ten years younger, and slept like a top.
+
+When I awoke in the morning much of my elation of spirit had
+evaporated, and I felt again the oppression of surrounding tragedy. I
+got up immediately--it was just after six--dressed, and went down
+to bathe. I was strolling down the drive, with a towel round my
+neck, when Garnesk put his head out of his window and shouted that
+he would join me. The tide being in, we saved ourselves a walk to
+the diving-rock, as the point was called, and bathed from the
+landing-stage. Refreshed by the swim, we determined to scour the
+country-side for any tracks of the thief.
+
+"What beats me is how anybody in a place like this, where everybody
+for miles round knows more about you than you do yourself, could
+get rid of an enormous beast like Sholto. He was big even for a Dane,
+and his weight must have been tremendous when he was drugged," said
+Garnesk, as we walked up the beach path. "Have you ever tried to carry
+a man who's fainted?"
+
+"I have," I answered with feeling, "and I quite agree with you. If the
+thief wanted to do away with the dog the beast's body is probably
+somewhere near."
+
+"What about the river?" my companion suggested.
+
+"More likely the loch," I decided, "or the sea. But that would mean
+a boat, because it would have to be buried in deep water, or the
+body would be washed up again on the rocks, even with a heavy weight
+attached. There are many deep pools in the river, but they are
+constantly fished, and that would lead to eventual detection. We are
+dealing with a man who knows his way about. It might be the loch or
+one of the burns, easily."
+
+Accordingly we decided to try the loch first; but though we followed
+the path from the house, carefully studying the ground every foot of
+the way, and examined the banks equally carefully, we were forced to
+the conclusion that we were on the wrong scent. Then we came down one
+of the burns that runs from the loch to the sea, and met with the same
+result.
+
+"We'll walk along the beach and go up the next stream," Garnesk
+suggested. "Hullo," he exclaimed suddenly, as we clambered over the
+huge rocks into a tiny cove, "there's been a boat in here!"
+
+I looked at the shingly beach, and saw the keel-marks of a boat and
+the footprints of its occupants in the middle of the cove. We went up
+gingerly, for fear of disturbing the ground of our investigations. I
+looked at the marks, and pondered them for a moment. By this time my
+senses were wide awake.
+
+"What do you make of it?" the oculist asked.
+
+"Well," I replied, with an apologetic laugh, "I'm afraid you'll
+think me more picturesque than businesslike if I tell you all the
+conclusions I've already come to; but the man who came ashore in
+this boat didn't steal Sholto."
+
+"Go on," he said. "Why, I told you I knew you weren't a fool."
+
+"Thank you!" I laughed. "It seems to me that if a man arrived in a
+boat and went ashore to steal a dog, he would go away again in the
+same boat."
+
+"And didn't he?"
+
+"I feel convinced he didn't," I replied, and pointed out to him what
+must have been obvious to both of us. "Compare the keel-marks with
+high-water mark. There is less than half a boat's length of keel-mark,
+and it is just up above high-water mark. This craft, which appears to
+have been a small rowing-boat, was run ashore at high tide, or very
+near it, and run out again very quickly. It might conceivably have
+come in and been caught up by the sea. But Sholto was stolen between a
+quarter past eight and half-past nine, when the tide was well on the
+way out. If Sholto went out to sea it was not in this boat."
+
+"Well," said Garnesk, thoughtfully, "your point is good enough for me.
+We must look somewhere else."
+
+"I hope my attempts at detective work will not put us off the scent,"
+I said, doubtfully.
+
+"I don't think they will, Ewart," said my companion, graciously. "Not
+in this case, anyway. I'm sure you're right, because this bay can be
+seen from the top windows of the house."
+
+"You evidently reached my conclusions with half the effort in half the
+time," I laughed.
+
+"Oh, nonsense!" he exclaimed. "It was you who pointed out that the
+one man in this boat came in daylight."
+
+"Why 'one man' so emphatically?" I asked.
+
+"When two men come in a boat to commit a theft, and only one of them
+goes ashore, the other would hardly be expected to sit in the boat and
+twiddle his thumbs. It's a thousand pounds to a penny that he would
+get out and walk about the beach. Now, only one gentleman came ashore
+from this boat, and only one got on board again. One set of footprints
+going and one coming decided me on that. Besides, if anyone came along
+and saw a solitary man sitting in a boat, they might ask him how his
+wife and children were, and he would have to reply; whereas an empty
+boat, being unable to answer questions, would raise no suspicions."
+
+"You seem to be arguing that this boat may have been the one we are
+looking for," I pointed out; "and yet we are agreed that the state of
+the tide made it impossible for Sholto to have been taken away in it."
+
+"Yes," said Garnesk, "I agree to that. But I fancy the thief came by
+that boat. It seems to me that our man jumps out of the boat, runs
+ashore, and his friend pulls away and picks him up elsewhere--probably
+nearer the house. It would look perfectly natural for a man who has
+apparently been giving a companion a pull across from Skye, say, to
+land him and then go back. The more I think of this the more it
+interests me. You see, if the top windows of the house can be seen
+from the bay, it means that the lower windows can be seen from the top
+of the cliff. If we can find where our thief lay in wait on the cliff
+and watched the house, probably with his eyes glued on the dining-room
+windows to see when we commenced dinner, if we can also find where he
+left his sea-boots while he went to the house, and then where he
+rejoined his companion, we are getting on."
+
+"What makes you say 'sea-boots'?" I asked. "You can't tell a top-boot
+by the footmarks."
+
+"Indirectly you can," Garnesk replied, puffing thoughtfully at his
+pipe. "That boat was pulled in and pushed out by a man who exerted
+hardly any pressure, although the beach only slopes gently. His
+companion did not lend a hand by pushing her out with an oar; if he
+had done so we should have seen the marks, and I couldn't find any.
+The only other way to account for it is that our friend, who exerted
+so little pressure, was wearing sea-boots and walked into the water
+with the boat. Had he been alone, the jerk of his final jump into the
+boat would have left a deeper impression on the beach. The tide was
+just going out; it would have no time to wash this mark away. I looked
+for the mark, and it wasn't there; so I came to the final conclusion
+that two men arrived in the cove shortly after seven last night in a
+small open boat. One of them--a tall, left-handed man in
+sea-boots--pushed the boat out again and went ashore."
+
+I am afraid I was rude enough to shout with laughter at this very
+definite statement; but it was mainly with excited admiration that I
+laughed--certainly not with ridicule. Garnesk turned to me
+apologetically.
+
+"I know it sounds far-fetched, my dear chap," he said; "but we shall
+have to think a lot over this business, and I am simply thinking aloud
+in order that you can give me your help in my own conclusions."
+
+"My dear fellow," I cried, "don't, for heaven's sake, imagine that I
+am laughing at you. It was the left-handed touch that made me guffaw
+with sheer excitement."
+
+"Well, I think he was left-handed, because the footmarks were going
+ashore on the right-hand side of the keel-marks, and going seawards on
+the left-hand side. Jump out of a boat and push it out to sea, and
+notice which side of the boat you stand by instinct--provided you were
+doing as he was, pushing on the point of the bows. The fact that his
+feet obliterate the keel-marks in one place proves that. So now we
+want to find a left-handed man in sea-boots who knew Sholto was
+blind"--and he laughed in a half-apology.
+
+"What about these sea-boots," I asked, "and the place we are to find
+where he left them?"
+
+"We'll look for that now; and if we find it we can be pretty sure our
+mariner stole the dog."
+
+"You seem to be taking it for granted already," I pointed out.
+
+"The easiest way to prove he didn't is to satisfy ourselves that
+there's no evidence he did," said the oculist. "But I fancy he did."
+
+"From the way you've sized it up so far I should be inclined to back
+your fancy," I admitted frankly. "I take it, from your diagnosis, that
+our nautical friend came ashore here, went up on to the cliff, and
+glued his eye to the dining-room window. When he saw we were at
+dinner, and it was getting dusk--in fact, almost dark--he took off his
+sea-boots and slipped up to the Lodge in his stocking-soles. So if we
+climb the cliff, we expect to find the spot on which he deposited his
+boots."
+
+"If we expected that," Garnesk replied, "we should also expect to find
+his boots; and he wouldn't be likely to leave such incriminating
+evidence in our hands as that. No, my dear Ewart; when he left the
+cliff he was wearing his boots, and he left them at some point on the
+path between the house and his embarking place. Come--let's look."
+
+I was intensely interested in my friend's deductions, and I felt
+convinced that he was right. So we climbed the cliff, he by one route
+and I by another, in order to see if we could find any traces of last
+night's visitor. But that was impossible; the rocks were too
+storm-swept to harbour any sort of lichen which would have shown
+evidence of footmarks. Still, we were not disappointed when we reached
+the top, and Garnesk looked at me with a charming expression of boyish
+triumph when we came across a patch of ground where the heather had
+obviously been trampled about and worn down by someone recently lying
+there.
+
+"I don't think we'll worry about tracing him from here just now," said
+the specialist. "It would be a very difficult job, and we may as well
+make for the most likely spot to embark from."
+
+"Right you are," I agreed. "I think there can only be one--that is a
+secluded little inlet, almost hidden by the rocks on the other side of
+the house."
+
+"Come on, let's have a look at it," my companion urged; and we
+blundered down the side of the cliff and hurried along the shore. But
+when we came to the small bay which I had in mind there was certainly
+some sign of disturbance among the rough gravel with which the shore
+was carpeted; and that was all the evidence we could find.
+
+"It is such an ideal spot for the job that this almost knocks our
+theory on the head," murmured Garnesk ruefully. "There are no
+boat-marks, or anything."
+
+"Which, in a way, bears out your diagnosis," I cried, suddenly
+hitting on what I thought to be the solution of the difficulty.
+
+"How, in heaven's name?"
+
+"Our old friend the tide," I declared, with returning confidence.
+
+"Of course," he almost shouted. "I've got you, Ewart. The boat came in
+here while the tide was going out--when, in fact, it was some distance
+out, possibly nearly an hour after it ran into the other cove. Since
+then the tide has come in again and obliterated any marks the men may
+have made. If we find any evidence on a line running between this
+place and the house, we can call it a certainty."
+
+In feverish excitement we hurried towards the house, casting anxious
+glances to right and left, but the stubborn heather showed no sign of
+any recent passenger that way. At last Garnesk, who was some distance
+to my right, hailed me with an exultant shout. There, sure enough, was
+a broad patch bearing marks of recent occupation, much the same as the
+other at the top of the cliff. We were able easily to distinguish the
+exact spot where the thief had laid the unconscious dog while he put
+on his boots. The discovery of an unmistakable footprint in a more
+marshy spot, which could only have been imprinted by a stockinged
+foot, completed my friend's triumph.
+
+"My dear fellow," I cried heartily, slapping my companion on the back,
+"I congratulate you. If you go on like this we shall have the dog and
+the thief in no time."
+
+"It will be some days, even at this rate," he warned me solemnly,
+"before we get as far as that. Now, back to the embarking-point, and
+see if we can reconstruct the thing fully."
+
+So we retraced our steps, and studied the shingle once more, but
+failed to discover any marks of any value. Then we sat down, and the
+oculist drew a vivid picture of the journey the thief had made. At
+last, feeling more than satisfied with our work, we rose to go in to
+breakfast.
+
+"Ewart, I want you to wire for that friend of yours before you do
+anything else. You may want him soon. I will leave by the morning
+train to-morrow, but I shall continue on this case till the mystery is
+solved. In the meantime, you will need someone you can trust at your
+side all the time."
+
+"I'll go into Glenelg, and wire immediately after breakfast," I
+promised. "Hullo, more reflections," I laughed, and pointed to a
+small, bright object some distance away on the rocks, which was
+catching the glint of the sun.
+
+"We seem to be surrounded by a spying army of glittering objects,"
+laughed my companion, as we strolled on. We had walked some forty
+yards when some instinct--I know not what--prompted me to investigate
+the affair. I turned back, and went to pick up the shining object,
+though for the life of me I could not have told you what I expected
+to find.
+
+"Garnesk!" I bawled. "Garnesk! Come here!"
+
+"What is it?" he shouted to me, as he came hurtling over the rocks.
+
+"Look at it," I replied tersely, and placed it in his outstretched
+palm. He glanced at it, and then at me.
+
+"That settles it," he said, and whistled softly, for I had found a
+small piece of brass, and on it was engraved:--
+
+"Sholto, The Douglas, Invermalluch Lodge, Inverness-shire."
+
+It was the name-plate from Sholto's collar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE MYSTERY OF SHOLTO.
+
+
+We discussed our discovery pretty thoroughly on the way back to the
+house, and both agreed that it left no doubt upon one aspect of this
+strange affair--the man who stole Sholto was no ordinary thief.
+
+The General was standing on the verandah, looking about for us, as we
+came up the beach path. I told him of Garnesk's deductions and their
+interesting result, and the old man was greatly affected.
+
+"I never dreamt I should live to see the old place abused in this
+shocking manner," he grunted. "'Pon me soul, it's--it's begad
+disgraceful. I've lived here all my life, on and off, and I've never
+been troubled with anything like this, scarcely so much as a tramp
+even. I hope to God it'll soon be over, that's all."
+
+"Thanks to Mr. Garnesk, we're moving along in the right direction," I
+tried to reassure him. "And we have the satisfaction, in one way, of
+being able to tell Myra that Sholto is still alive, even if we don't
+know where he is."
+
+"Seems to me, Ronald," said the General, "you don't know that, or
+anything about the poor beast, except that he has been stolen, and
+probably taken away in a boat. Judging by Mr. Garnesk's theory, they
+probably threw him overboard in deep water."
+
+"No one who intended destroying a dog would take the trouble to wrench
+the name-plate off his collar," I pointed out. "The dog is alive, and
+not unconscious. They need his collar to keep him in hand, but they
+are afraid the plate might give them away. Mr. Garnesk is right, I'm
+sure, and if we find the thief we find the cause for Myra's terrible
+misfortune."
+
+"Where do you imagine they can have taken him to then? Seems to me
+we're getting some pretty queer neighbours."
+
+"That is just what we have to find out," said Garnesk, "and I for one
+will not rest until I do."
+
+"'Pon my soul, my dear chap," said the old man warmly, "it's very good
+of you to take so much interest in the affairs of total strangers. It
+is, indeed, thundering good of you."
+
+"Not at all, General," laughed the visitor. "If you spent your life
+trying to cure fussy ladies of imaginary eye trouble, without putting
+it to them that their livers are out of order, you'd welcome this as a
+very appetising antidote."
+
+"Talking about appetites," his host suggested, "who says breakfast?"
+
+"I fancy we both do," I answered, and we turned indoors.
+
+During breakfast Garnesk announced his determination to devote as much
+of the day as necessary to an examination of Myra, and then catch the
+evening train from Mallaig, but the girl herself rose in rebellion at
+this immediately.
+
+"You mustn't do anything of the sort," she declared emphatically.
+"Daddy, tell him he's not to. The idea of coming up here, and looking
+at me, and then going away again! It's ridiculous!"
+
+"I assure you, it is ample reward," declared the oculist gallantly,
+and everybody laughed at the frank compliment.
+
+"But you must fish the river, have a day on the loch. Ron must take
+you in the motor-boat up to Kinlochbourn. Then you've simply got to
+see Scavaig and Coruisk--oh! and a hundred other things besides."
+
+Garnesk insisted that, much as he would like to stay, he felt bound to
+leave at once, but Myra was equally obstinate; and, as was natural,
+being a woman, she won on a compromise. Garnesk agreed to stay over
+the week-end. I was very glad that Myra liked my new friend. She had
+been very shy of Olvery, but she took an immediate fancy to the
+Glasgow specialist. She liked his voice, she told me afterwards, and
+on the second day of his visit she asked him if his sister was very
+much younger than he. Garnesk looked up in surprise.
+
+"One of them is," he replied, "nearly twenty years. What made you
+ask?"
+
+"I guessed it by the way you talk to me," Myra declared confidently.
+
+"The detective instinct seems to be in the air," I laughed.
+
+So when I borrowed Angus's ramshackle old cycle, and went into Glenelg
+along a road which is more noteworthy for its picturesqueness than its
+navigable qualities, I left Garnesk to his examination with the
+knowledge that he would do his utmost, and that she would help him all
+she could.
+
+I wired to Dennis: "I can meet you at Mallaig Monday morning. Wire
+reply.--RONALD." Then I sent a couple of picture postcards to Tommy
+and Jack, wishing them luck, and explaining that I had not returned to
+join them because Myra was ill. I was sure Dennis would appreciate the
+urgency of my message, but I worded it carefully, deliberately making
+it appear to be the answer to an inquiry, for the reason that it is
+always wise to do as little as you can to stimulate local gossip.
+Anything like "Come at once; most urgent," despatched by one who was
+known to be a visitor at the lodge, would have set the entire
+country-side talking. So I jumped on to Angus's collection of old
+metal, and jolted back again as fast as I could. Garnesk was still
+engaged with Myra, and I took the opportunity of a chat with her
+father.
+
+"Would you care to see the discoveries we made this morning?" I asked,
+when I found him in the library.
+
+"Yes, I should indeed, my boy," he responded eagerly, and I think he
+was glad of the diversion. "I'll come with you now."
+
+"There is one thing I want to say, sir, before we go any farther."
+
+"What is it?" he asked, looking rather anxiously at me.
+
+"I want to tell you," I said, "that in the event of Myra not regaining
+her sight I should like your permission to marry her as soon as she
+herself wishes it. As you know, I have a small private income, which
+is sufficient for my needs in London, and would be more than I should
+require up here. If Myra is to be blind, I should like to marry her in
+order that I may always be able to take care of her, and I should
+propose to settle down somewhere near you. I dabble in contributory
+journalism, and I could extend that as far as possible, and I might
+even do pretty well at it. Both she and you would know then that, in
+the event of anything happening to you, she would be cared for by
+someone she loves."
+
+"My dear Ronald," exclaimed the old man, affectionately laying a hand
+on my shoulder, "I'm very glad to hear you say that. As a matter of
+fact, whatever happens, I don't care how soon you marry my dear girl.
+She wants it with all her heart, and I have always been fond of you
+myself. The only thing that has held me back up to now is the question
+of money, and, possibly, a little selfishness. I'm not a rich man, as
+you know, and if it were not for my pension I couldn't even live in
+my father's house. But now my one desire is to see my poor little girl
+happy, and we'll scrape together a shilling or two somehow. Shake
+hands, my boy."
+
+We both of us forgot all about the terrible war, and, naturally
+enough, the mysterious trouble which faced us then was sufficient for
+the moment. Having settled that question at last, I conducted the old
+man to the small cove where we had made our first discovery, but we
+began by visiting the coach-house. I daresay that to the trained eye
+there may have been valuable evidence lying under our very noses, but
+the only confused marks which we found on the surrounding ground
+conveyed nothing to either of us. Later, on our way back to the house,
+from what we now called "the embarking-point," we came upon a spot
+where the heather had been cut off in fairly large quantities. The old
+man stood, and contemplated the shorn stumps for a moment, and shook
+his head solemnly. It was not that he had any sentimental regret for
+the heather which grew on almost every inch of ground for hundreds of
+miles round, but he objected to the sign of visitors, or, as he would
+have said, "trippers."
+
+"Who would want to cut heather here?" I asked, for I could not see the
+slightest reason for gathering anything which could be obtained at
+your door wherever you lived in the Highlands.
+
+"Holiday-makers," he said ruefully. "They take rooms in the village,
+and get it into their heads that the heather in one spot is better
+than anything else for miles round, so they walk out to that spot, and
+cut some to take away with them when they go back home. I wish they'd
+always go back home and stop there."
+
+When I showed the General the keel-marks in the cove and explained to
+him in detail how Garnesk had arrived at his conclusions, the old man
+was quite awed.
+
+"'Pon me soul, he must be thundering clever, thundering clever," he
+muttered. "But it's not healthy, you know, Ronald; in fact, it's begad
+unhealthy. I've always been a bit scared of these people who see
+things that are not there. Still, I suppose it's the modern way;
+reading all these detective yarns and so on does it, no doubt."
+
+He was still marvelling at this new mystery when we got back to the
+house to find Myra sitting on the verandah with the specialist, who
+was keeping her in fits of laughter with anecdotes of some of his
+wealthy women patients.
+
+He sprang up as he saw us approaching, and ran down to meet us.
+
+"I'm certain of one thing," he said excitedly, as he walked between
+us, and answered the General's question. "We have got to solve the
+mystery, and she will see again. This is something new, but it has a
+very simple solution, which we must find out by hook or by crook.
+When I know how Miss McLeod lost her sight I shall very likely be able
+to find out how to restore it, and I shall also know something that
+perhaps no other oculist has ever dreamed of. There isn't the
+slightest sign of any organic disease, which probably means that
+Nature will assert herself, and she will eventually regain her sight
+naturally. But we mustn't wait for that. We've got to be up and doing.
+I tell you, sir, I wouldn't have missed this for anything. Have you
+been exploring?"
+
+"We've been having a look at those marks which meant so much to you
+and conveyed nothing whatever to me, although I was once considered
+something of a scout," the General admitted.
+
+"Did you find anything fresh?"
+
+"No, only some trippers, as the General calls them, had been cutting
+heather," I replied.
+
+"That's not likely to help us much," the oculist agreed, "unless they
+were not trippers at all, and were cutting the heather as a blind.
+What were they like?"
+
+"Oh, we didn't see them. We only saw the results of their iconoclasm.
+The heather was recently, but not freshly, cut," I replied, and the
+old man glanced at me with some slight suspicion, as if he feared I,
+too, was about to take up the deduction business.
+
+"Recent, but not fresh?" muttered Garnesk.
+
+"Now, why should a man who wanted----Good heavens! I've got it."
+
+"What _are_ you dear people getting so excited about?" Myra asked, for
+by this time we had almost reached the verandah.
+
+"We'll tell you in a minute, dear," I called, and waited for Garnesk
+to explain.
+
+"Of course," he continued, as if thinking aloud, "it's obvious. The
+man came ashore in a small boat, picked some heather, and carried it
+in his arms. Anyone who noticed him would have noticed his load of
+heather. Then he stole Sholto, concealed him under the heather, and
+was still apparently only carrying a bundle of innocent heath. Why!
+they seem to have thought of everything, and made no mistake."
+
+"Except that the man was wandering about the country-side, gathering
+wild flowers, in his stockinged soles," I pointed out.
+
+"Still, it was almost dark, and he chanced that," said Garnesk.
+
+"What I don't understand about it is this," the General joined in:
+"Where did he come from to gather this heather? A man must know that
+if he is seen to come ashore and pick heather and get into his boat
+again he is doing a very curious thing. That boat can only have come
+from Knoydart or Skye at the farthest, and everybody knows you
+wouldn't take heather there."
+
+"Yes, I'm afraid you're right, General," Garnesk admitted, with a
+sigh of regret, and I was compelled to agree with him.
+
+"I know where he came from, then."
+
+It was said so quietly that it startled us all, though it was Myra who
+spoke.
+
+"Where, then?" we all asked together.
+
+"He must have come from a yacht."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE SECRET OF THE ROCK.
+
+
+We made exhaustive inquiries everywhere, but no one had seen a yacht
+anchored or otherwise resting off the point the previous night. One or
+two vessels had been noticed passing the mouth of Loch Hourn during
+the evening, but they were mostly recognisable as belonging to
+residents in the neighbourhood, and in any case not one of them had
+been seen to drop the two men in a boat who were causing us so much
+anxiety. When Garnesk and I went up the river to the Chemist's Rock we
+were equally unsuccessful there.
+
+"Look here," I said, "suppose you were to go blind, Mr. Garnesk? I
+can't allow you to run any risks of that sort. We have every reason to
+know that there is something gruesome and uncanny about this spot, and
+I should feel happier if you would keep at a safe distance."
+
+"How about yourself?" he replied.
+
+"It's a personal affair with me," I pointed out, "but I can't let your
+kindness in assisting us as you are doing run the length of possible
+blindness."
+
+"Nonsense, my dear fellow," he exclaimed; "we're in this together. I
+am just as keen to get to the bottom of this matter as you are. But it
+behoves us both to be careful. It is most important that you should
+take care of yourself at the present moment. What would happen to Miss
+McLeod if I carried you back to the house in a state of total
+blindness?"
+
+"Oh, I shall be all right," I declared confidently. "But, of course,
+your point is a good one, and I shall not run any risks."
+
+"And yet you start by careering up the river here when we have very
+excellent reasons for supposing that it is hardly the place to spend a
+quiet afternoon."
+
+"You don't really believe that there is anything curious about the
+river itself, do you?" I asked. "We have agreed that some human agency
+is responsible for the tragic affliction that has fallen upon poor
+Myra. In that case we are not safe anywhere."
+
+"That's true enough," he agreed, "but everything that has happened so
+far has happened here. Sooner or later, no doubt, the operations will
+be extended to some other region, but at present we know there is a
+possibility of our being overcome by some strange peril between the
+Chemist's Rock and Dead Man's Pool."
+
+"Well, as we don't know how to deal with the danger when it does
+arrive," I suggested, "suppose we see as much as we can from the
+banks. I will go up the centre of the stream and report to you, if you
+like, but you stay here."
+
+"You'll do nothing of the sort," he cried. "I can't imagine what we
+can possibly learn by standing on that rock, but if either of us goes,
+we go together, or I, in my capacity of bachelor unattached, go
+alone."
+
+Naturally, I could only applaud such generous sentiments, and at the
+same time refuse to countenance his proposal. So we sat among the
+heather, some distance above the bank, and awaited developments.
+
+"It is four-twenty now," said my companion presently, looking at his
+watch. "If anything is going to happen it should happen soon."
+
+"Don't you think it was mere coincidence that Myra's blindness and the
+General's strange illusion occurred about this time? Why should this
+green ray only be visible between four and five?"
+
+"It hasn't really been visible at all," Garnesk pointed out. "Miss
+McLeod saw a green flash, and the General saw a green rock, which had
+taken upon itself the responsibilities of transportation. That's all
+we know about the green ray, except the green veil that Miss McLeod
+tells us of. I don't expect to see that."
+
+"I wish I knew what we did expect to see," I sighed.
+
+"Exactly," he replied solemnly. "By the way," he added after a pause,
+"do you see anything peculiar about the rocks or the pool between four
+and five; I mean anything that you couldn't notice at any other time
+of the day?"
+
+"Nothing at all," I answered despondently; "it is pleasanter here then
+than at any other time--or was until we came under this mysterious
+spell."
+
+"Why is it pleasanter?" he asked.
+
+"It is just then that it gets most sunshine," I pointed out.
+
+I made the remark idly enough, for the course of the river, with its
+rugged banks and great massive rocks, looked particularly beautiful as
+the sun streamed full upon it, and I was immeasurably surprised when
+Garnesk jumped to his feet with a shout.
+
+"What is it?" I cried in alarm. "You're not----"
+
+"The sun, Ewart, the sun!" he exclaimed, and, snatching a pair of
+binoculars which I carried in my hand, he dashed up the slope to the
+foot of a cliff that overhung the stream. I gazed after him for a
+moment in astonishment, and then set out in pursuit.
+
+"Stop where you are, man!" he called to me as he turned, and saw me
+tearing after him. "No, no; I want you there. Don't follow me."
+
+I did as I was told, for I trusted him implicitly, and I knew that he
+would not run any risk without first acquainting me of his intention,
+and I took it for granted that he had arranged a part for me to
+play, although he had not had time to tell me what it was. But my
+astonishment increased as I watched him climb the rock, for when he
+arrived a few feet from the summit he sat down on a ledge and calmly
+lighted a cigarette!
+
+"What is it all about?" I called to him, when I had fully recovered
+from my surprise.
+
+"I only wanted to have a look at the view," he laughed back, and put
+the glasses to his eyes. First he examined the house, and then he
+turned his gaze in the direction of the sea. It was then that it
+dawned on me that he was looking for a yacht. This was the fateful
+hour, and it had naturally struck him that the unknown yacht might be
+in the vicinity.
+
+"Well," I shouted, "can you see the yacht?"
+
+"No," he replied, "there's nothing in sight, only a paddle steamer;
+looks like an excursion of some sort."
+
+"Oh! that's the _Glencoe_," I explained; "she won't help us at all.
+She runs with tourists from Mallaig."
+
+"She seems to be barely able to take care of herself," he laughed. "I
+shouldn't like to be on her in a storm."
+
+We conversed fairly easily while he was on the cliff, for we were not
+many yards apart, and I began to wonder when he was coming down again.
+
+"Have you any objection to my joining you?" I asked presently, as
+there seemed to be nothing for me to do below.
+
+"Stop where you are for a bit, old man," he advised. "I shall be down
+in a minute."
+
+"As long as you like," I replied. "You've got a fine view from there,
+anyway. Don't worry about me."
+
+I sat down on a rock, refilled my pipe, and prepared to wait till he
+rejoined me.
+
+"Hi! Ewart!" he called presently, for my mind had already wandered to
+that darkened "den" at the house.
+
+"Hullo," I answered, jumping to my feet. "What is it?"
+
+"Do you notice anything unusual?"
+
+"No," I shouted, "nothing that----," but suddenly I felt a strange
+singing in my ears, my pulses quickened, my voice died away into
+nothing. I looked up at Garnesk; he was leaning perilously near the
+edge of the cliff waving to me. I saw his lips move, yet I heard no
+sound. My heart was thumping against my chest with audible beats. I
+looked round me in every direction. No, there was nothing strange
+happening that the eye could see, yet here was I with a choking
+pulsation in my throat. My temples too were throbbing like a couple of
+steam hammers. Again I looked up at Garnesk; he was climbing hurriedly
+down the cliff. He paused and waved to me, and again his lips moved,
+and again I heard nothing.
+
+Surely, I told myself, the events of the past few days had told on my
+strength. This was nerves, sheer nerves. Garnesk must give me his arm
+to the house. I would lie down and rest, and I should be all right in
+a few moments. It was nerves, that was all. But if Garnesk were not
+very quick about it I should have burst a blood-vessel in my brain
+before he reached me. Already my chest seemed to have swelled to
+twice its size. Garnesk, as I looked, seemed to be farther off than
+ever, a tiny speck in the distance.
+
+The singing in my ears became a rushing torrent. It was the waterfall,
+I told myself; how stupid of me! Of course I should be all right in a
+minute. But my friend must hurry. I collapsed on the rock and gasped
+for breath. I looked for Garnesk. Still he seemed to be as far away as
+ever, and he scarcely seemed to be moving at all. I must tell him to
+be quick. It was simply nerves, of course; but I mustn't let them get
+the better of me, or what would poor Myra do? I staggered to my feet
+to call to Garnesk.
+
+"Hurry up; I'm not well." I framed the words in my brain, but no sound
+passed my lips. I struggled for breath, and called again with all the
+power I could muster. I could not hear myself speak. And then I
+understood! My knees rocked beneath me, the river swirled round me, a
+rowan tree rushed by me in a flash, and as I fell sprawling on my face
+among the heather a thousand hammers seemed to pound the hideous
+sickening truth into the heaving pulp that was once my brain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+HOW THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENED.
+
+
+When I came to myself I was lying with my head pillowed on Garnesk's
+arm. My coat and collar were on the ground beside me, and my head and
+shoulders were dripping with water.
+
+"Ah!" said my companion, with a sigh of relief, "that's better. You'll
+be all right in a few minutes, Ewart. Take it easy, old chap, and
+rest."
+
+"Where am I?" I asked. "Good heavens!" I exclaimed, as I heard my own
+voice, and sat bolt upright in my astonishment, "I thought I was
+dumb!"
+
+"Well, never mind about that now, old fellow," Garnesk advised. "We'll
+hear all about that later. Shut your eyes and rest a minute."
+
+"All right," I agreed, "pass me my pipe and I will."
+
+Garnesk laughed aloud as he leaned over to reach my coat pocket.
+
+"When a man shouts for his pipe he's a long way from being dead or
+dumb or anything else," he said.
+
+Truth to tell, I was feeling very queer. I was dizzy and confused, but
+I felt that I wanted my pipe to help me collect my thoughts. So I lay
+there for some minutes quietly smoking, and indeed I felt as if I
+could have stayed like that for ever.
+
+"I must have fainted," I explained presently, overlooking the fact
+that Garnesk probably knew more about my ridiculous seizure than I did
+myself. "I don't know when I did a thing like that before," I added,
+beginning to get angry with myself.
+
+"Well, I hope you won't do it again," said my friend fervently. "It's
+not a thing to make a hobby of. And don't you come near this infernal
+river any more until we know something definite."
+
+"You mean that the place has got on my nerves," I said. "I suppose it
+has; I'm very sorry."
+
+"Do you feel well enough to tell me all about it?" he asked, "or would
+you rather wait till we get up to the house?"
+
+"Oh, I'll tell you now," I agreed readily. "We mustn't say anything
+about this at the house." So I told him exactly how I had felt.
+
+"When did it first come on?" he asked.
+
+"When I heard you shout, and jumped up to see what it was. By the way,
+what was it?"
+
+"Well," he replied, "we'll discuss the matter if you wouldn't mind
+releasing my arm?"
+
+"My dear fellow," I cried, sitting up suddenly, as I realised that he
+was still propping up my head, "I'm most awfully sorry."
+
+"Now then," he said, as he lighted his pipe and made himself
+comfortable, "we'll go into the latest development. You remember what
+made me rush off and leave you there?"
+
+"I remember saying something about the sunlight, and you suddenly
+dashed off."
+
+"To tell you the truth, I had very little faith in the theory that at
+this hour, above all, the spook of the Chemist's Rock was active,
+until you pointed out that only about that time is the whole of the
+river course up to the rock, and the whole of the rock itself, flooded
+with sunlight. Then, when you made that remark, I suddenly felt that I
+ought to be on the cliff on the look out for this unknown yacht. We
+connect the two together in some way which we don't yet understand, so
+I meant to go and have a look for the ship. I saw nothing of any
+importance until I shouted to you. Just then I was looking through the
+glasses at the shore. I turned them on the landing-stage and along the
+beach, and I had just lighted on the bay where we explored this
+morning when suddenly, for half a second or so, all the shadows of the
+rocks turned a vivid green, and then as suddenly resumed their natural
+colour again."
+
+"Good heavens!" I exclaimed. "Green again! Can you make anything of it
+at all, Garnesk? I'm sorry I'm such a duffer as to faint at the
+critical moment, when I might have been of some assistance to you.
+What in God's name can it all mean?"
+
+"I'm no further on," he replied bitterly; "in fact, I'm further back."
+
+"Further back!" I cried. "How? I don't see how you can be."
+
+"I'll tell you what my theory was about all this affair, and it struck
+me as a good one--strange, of course, but then, this is a strange
+business."
+
+"It is, indeed," I agreed ruefully. "Well, go on."
+
+"I had an idea, Ewart, that we should find some sort of wireless
+telegraphy at the bottom of this business. I had almost made up my
+mind that we had stumbled across the path of some inventor who was
+working with a new form of wireless transmission. I felt that in that
+way we might account for Miss McLeod's blindness and the blindness of
+the dog. It also seemed to hold good as to the disappearance of
+Sholto. The inventor hears of the extraordinary effect of his
+invention, and is afraid he will get into a mess if it is found out.
+The yacht to experiment from fitted in beautifully. But now all that's
+knocked on the head."
+
+"Why?" I asked. "It seems to me, Garnesk, that you are doing all the
+thinking in this affair, as if you had been used to it all your life.
+Your only trouble is that you're too modest. I take it that because
+you didn't see the yacht when you noticed the green flash you are
+taking it for granted you were wrong to expect it. I must say, old
+chap, I think you've done thundering well, as the General would put
+it, and even if you are prepared to admit your theory has been
+knocked on the head I'm not--at any rate, not until I have a jolly
+good reason. Yet it doesn't seem to matter much what I say or do if
+I'm going to faint like a girl at the first sign of danger. If you
+hadn't come to my rescue I might still be lying there waiting to come
+round, or something," I finished in disgust.
+
+My companion looked at me thoughtfully.
+
+"Ewart," he said, and solemnly shook his head, "you have brought me to
+the very thing that made me say my theory was exploded."
+
+"What thing?" I asked. "Surely my fainting can't have made any
+difference to conclusions you had already come to?"
+
+"But then you see," my friend replied, "you didn't faint. And if I had
+not seen you were in difficulties you would probably never have
+recovered."
+
+"Didn't faint?" I exclaimed. "Well, I don't know what the medical term
+for it is, and I daresay there are several technical phrases for the
+girlish business I went through. That idea of being dumb was simply
+imagination, but I assure you it was just what I should call a
+fainting fit."
+
+"I don't want to alarm you if you're not feeling well," he began
+apologetically.
+
+"Go on," I urged. "I'm as fit as I ever was."
+
+"Well," the young specialist responded, in a serious tone, "if you
+want to know the truth, Ewart, you were suffocated."
+
+"Suffocated!" I shouted, jumping to my feet. "What in heaven's name do
+you mean?"
+
+"I can't tell you exactly what I mean because I don't know, but yours
+was certainly not an ordinary fainting fit. To put the whole thing in
+non-medical terms, you were practically drowned on dry land!"
+
+I sat down again--heavily at that. Should we never come to an end of
+these mysterious attacks which were hurled at us in broad daylight
+from nowhere at all?
+
+"I'm not sure that you hadn't better rest before we go into this
+fully, Ewart," Garnesk remarked doubtfully. "You're not by any means
+as fit as you've ever been, in spite of your emphatic assurance."
+
+"Tell me what you think, why you think it, and what you feel we ought
+to do. Why, man, Myra might have been here alone, with no one to
+rescue her and--and----"
+
+"Quite so," said Ewart sympathetically. "So you must comfort yourself
+with the knowledge that it may be a great blessing that she has
+temporarily lost her sight. Now, I say you didn't faint, because,
+medically, I know you didn't. For the same reason I say you were
+suffocating as surely as if you had been drowning. Hang it, my dear
+chap, it's my line of business, you know. I can't account for it, but
+there is the naked fact for you."
+
+"How does this affect your previous conclusions?" I asked. "Before you
+tell me what you think brought on this suffocation I should like to
+hear why you give up your theory."
+
+"Simply because no wireless, or other electric current, could have
+that effect upon you. If you had had an electric shock in any of its
+many curious forms I could have said it bore me out; but, you see,
+it's impossible. And, as I refuse to believe that we are continually
+bumping into new mysteries which have no connection with each other,
+it follows that if this suffocation was not caused by the supposed
+wireless experiments, the other can't have been either."
+
+"I'm not making the slightest imputation on your medical knowledge," I
+ventured, "but are you absolutely certain that you are not mistaken?"
+
+"My dear fellow," he laughed, "for goodness sake don't be so
+apologetic. I can quite see that you find it difficult to believe. But
+I am prepared to swear to it all the same. For one thing, the symptoms
+were unmistakable; for another, it seems impossible that we should
+both faint at exactly the same time and place for no reason at all."
+
+"You didn't faint too, surely?" I cried.
+
+"No," he admitted, "but we might very easily have been suffocated
+together--smothered as surely as the princes in the Tower. When I saw
+you were in difficulties I shouted to you. Obviously you didn't hear
+me. I naturally didn't wait to see what would happen to you; I
+cleared down the cliff, and sprinted to you as fast as I could. When I
+came to within about twenty yards of you I found a difficulty in
+breathing. I went on for a couple of paces, and realised that the air
+was almost as heavy as water. So I rushed back, undid my collar, took
+a deep breath; and bolted in to you, picked you up, and carted you
+here. _Voila!_ But I very nearly joined you on the ground, and then we
+would never have regained consciousness, either of us. I applied the
+simplest form of artificial respiration to you, dowsed your head, and
+now you're all right. On the whole, Ewart, we can consider ourselves
+very well out of this latest adventure."
+
+"What you're really telling me," I pointed out gratefully, "is that
+you saved my life at the risk of your own. I'm no good at making
+speeches, or anything of that sort, Garnesk, but I thank you, if you
+know what that means. And Myra will----"
+
+"Not a word to her, Ewart," my companion interrupted eagerly.
+"Whatever you do, don't on any account worry that poor girl with this
+new complication. Anything on earth but that."
+
+"No," I agreed; "you're right there. Myra must be kept in the dark."
+
+"Yes," he replied, with a look of relief. "It might have a serious
+effect on her chances of recovery if she had this additional worry.
+And I don't think it would be advisable to tell the old man either. I
+think we had better keep it to ourselves absolutely. Tell no one,
+Ewart, except your friend when he comes."
+
+"Very well," I answered, for I was very anxious to spare both Myra and
+her father from the knowledge of any further trouble. "I'll tell
+Dennis when he comes, but otherwise it is our secret."
+
+"Good," said Garnesk. "Now put your coat on, old chap, and we'll
+stroll back to the house."
+
+I got up and buttoned my collar, retied my bow, and slipped into my
+jacket. I was rather uncomfortably damp, and I felt a bit shaky and
+queer, and decided that I could do with a complete rest from the
+mysteries of the green ray. But the subject remained uppermost in my
+mind, and my tired brain still strove to unravel the tangled threads
+of the puzzle.
+
+"By the way," I said, as we walked slowly up to the house, "you have
+not yet explained what there was in my remark about the sunlight that
+made you think of the yacht."
+
+"Well," he replied, "you see I had an idea that perhaps they might
+come here when the gorge, through which the river flows, was flooded
+with light, so that they could see if any strange effects were
+produced. But that suffocation was not brought about by any electrical
+experiment, and I am beginning to be afraid that, after all, we may be
+up against some strange natural phenomena, some terrible combination
+of the forces of Nature, which has not yet been observed, or at any
+rate recorded."
+
+"Why afraid?" I asked, for although I had been glad to believe that we
+were faced with a problem which would prove to have a human solution,
+the revulsion had come, and I should have welcomed the knowledge that
+some weird, freakish application of natural power might be held
+accountable.
+
+"Afraid?" queried Garnesk, with a note of surprise. "I am very often
+afraid of Nature. She is a devoted slave, but a cruel mistress. I
+don't think that I should ever be very much scared by a human being,
+even in his most fiendish aspect, but Nature--I tell you, Ewart, there
+are things in Nature that make me shudder!"
+
+"Yes," I agreed heavily, "you're right, of course. That's how I have
+felt for the past twenty-four hours. It was a tremendous relief to me
+to feel that we were men looking for men. But the last few minutes I
+have had an idea that it would be comforting to explain it all out of
+a text-book of physics. Still, you're right. It is better far to be
+men fighting men than to be puny molecules tossed in the maelstrom of
+immutable power which created the world, and may one day destroy it."
+
+"I'm glad you agree," he said simply. "You see you could not possibly
+live for a second in electrically produced atmosphere which was
+so thick that you couldn't hear yourself speak. Death would be
+instantaneous. It couldn't have been our unknown professor's wireless
+experiments after all. Yet it seems impossible that a sudden new power
+should crop up suddenly at one spot like this. Imagine what would
+happen if this had occurred in a city, in a crowded street. Hundreds
+would have been stricken blind, then hundreds would have been
+suffocated. Vehicles would have run amok, and the result would have
+been an indescribable chaos of the maimed, mangled and distraught. A
+flash like this green ray (which blinded Miss McLeod and her dog,
+deluded the General, and nearly suffocated us) at the mouth of a
+harbour, say, the entrance to a great port--Liverpool, London, or
+Glasgow--would be responsible for untold loss of life. If this
+terrible phenomenon spread, Ewart, it would paralyse the industry of
+the world in twenty-four hours. If it spread still farther the face of
+the globe would become the playing-fields of Bedlam in a moment. Think
+of the result of this everywhere! Some suffocated, some blinded, and
+millions probably mad and sightless, stumbling over the bodies of the
+dead to cut each other's throats in the frenzy of sudden imbecility."
+
+"Don't, Garnesk," I begged. "It won't bear thinking about. We have
+enough troubles here to deal with without that!"
+
+"Yes," my companion admitted, "we need not add to them by any idle
+conjectures of still more hideous horrors to come. But it is an
+interesting, if terrible speculation. And it means one thing to us,
+Ewart, of the very greatest importance. We must solve the riddle
+somehow."
+
+"You mean," I cried, as I realised the tremendous import of his
+words--"you mean that the sanity of the universe may rest with us! You
+mean that if we can solve this riddle we, or others, may be able to
+devise some means of prevention, or at least protection? You mean that
+we are in duty bound to keep at this night and day until we find out
+what it is?"
+
+"That is just what I do mean," he replied seriously. "It is a solemn
+duty; who knows, it may be a holy trust. Ewart, we agree to get to the
+bottom of this? We have agreed once, but are we still prepared to go
+on with this now that we know we may be crushed in the machinery that
+controls the solar system and lights the very sun?"
+
+"I shall certainly go on," I replied eagerly. "But we can hardly
+expect you to run risks on our behalf."
+
+"It may be in the interests of civilisation," he answered, "and in
+that case it is our duty. Now look here, Ewart, this will have to be a
+secret. It is essential that we should not get ourselves laughed at
+because, for one thing, the scoffers may get into serious trouble if
+they start investigating our assertions in a spirit of levity. You
+and I must keep this to ourselves entirely. What about your friend?"
+
+"I can trust him," I replied simply.
+
+"Then tell him everything," Garnesk advised. "If you know you can rely
+upon him he may be of great assistance to us."
+
+"What about Hilderman?" I asked. "He knows a good deal already."
+
+"There is no need for him to know any more. He may be of some use to
+us. I had thought he might be of the greatest use, but he may be able
+to help us still. We should decrease, rather than augment, his
+usefulness by telling him these new complications."
+
+"How do you mean?" I asked.
+
+"Well, for instance, he might think we are mad, although he's a very
+shrewd fellow."
+
+"Yes," I agreed, "I think he's pretty cute. Funny that Americans so
+often are. Anyway, he's been cute enough to make sufficient to retire
+on at a fairly early age, and retire comfortably too."
+
+"H'm," was my companion's only comment.
+
+After dinner that evening we discussed all sorts of subjects, mainly
+the war, of course, and went to bed early.
+
+"Now, Ron," exclaimed Myra, as we said good-night, "if Mr. Garnesk is
+really going to leave us on Monday, you mustn't let him worry about
+things to-morrow. Do let him have one day's holiday while he is with
+us, anyway."
+
+"I will," I agreed. "We'll have a real holiday to-morrow. Suppose we
+all go up Loch Hourn in the motor-boat in the afternoon?"
+
+So it was arranged that we should have an afternoon on the sea and a
+morning's fishing on the loch. Garnesk fell in with the idea readily.
+
+"It will do you good," he declared. "You won't be feeling too frisky
+in the morning after your adventure this afternoon."
+
+As it turned out he was quite right, for I awoke in the morning with a
+slight headache and a tendency to ache all over. So we fished the loch
+in a very leisurely fashion for an hour or two, and after lunch the
+four of us went up to Kinlochbourn. We took a tea-basket with us, and
+very nearly succeeded in banishing the green ray altogether from our
+minds. I had taken my Kodak with me, and we ran in shore, and
+otherwise altered our course occasionally in order to enable me to
+record some choice peep of the magnificent scenery. When we got back
+to the lodge we were all feeling much the better for the outing. After
+dinner Myra, who had taken the greatest interest in the photographs,
+although, poor child, she could not see what I had taken, and would
+not be able to see the result either, was anxious to know how they had
+turned out.
+
+"I should love to know if the snapshots are good," she said,
+"particularly the one at Caolas Mor. Develop them in the morning,
+Ronnie, won't you? If you don't you'll probably take them away, and
+forget all about them."
+
+Garnesk looked at me. He was always on the _qui vive_ for any
+opportunity to give Myra a little pleasure. He felt very strongly that
+she must be kept from worrying at all costs.
+
+"Why not develop them now, Ewart?" he suggested.
+
+"Certainly," I said, "if everybody will excuse me."
+
+"Dad's in the library," Myra replied, "but everybody else will come
+with you if you ask us nicely. Besides, I shall have to tell you where
+everything is. There's plenty of room for us all."
+
+"Right you are," I agreed readily, and went out to get a small folding
+armchair from the verandah. We went up to the dark-room at the top of
+the house, and Myra sat in the corner, giving me instructions as to
+the position of the bottles, etc. I prepared the developer while
+Garnesk busied himself with the fixing acid.
+
+"Now we're ready," I announced, as I made sure that the light-tight
+door was closed, and lowered the ruby glass over the orange on Myra's
+imposing dark-room lamp; she believed in doing things comfortably; no
+messing about with an old-fashioned "hock-bottle" for her. I took the
+spool from my pocket and began to develop them _en bloc_.
+
+"How are they coming along?" Myra asked, leaning forward interestedly.
+
+"They're beginning to show up," I replied; "they look rather
+promising."
+
+"It's rather warm in here," said the girl presently; "do you think it
+would matter if I removed my shade, Mr. Garnesk?"
+
+"Not if you put it on again before we put the light up," the
+specialist answered. Myra took off the shade and the heavy bandage
+with a sigh of relief, and leaned her elbow on the table beside her.
+
+"There's a glass beaker just by your arm, dear," I said; "just a
+minute and I'll put it out of reach."
+
+"All right," said Garnesk, moving forward, "I'll move it; don't you
+worry."
+
+But before he could reach the table there was a crash. The beaker went
+smashing to the floor. I turned with a laugh, which died on my lips.
+Myra was standing up with her hand to her head.
+
+"What is it, darling?" I cried, dropping the length of film on the
+floor. Garnesk made a grab for the shade. Myra gave a short, shrill
+little laugh, which had a slightly ominous, hysterical note in it.
+
+"Don't be alarmed, dear," she said quietly, in a curiously tense
+voice, "_I can see!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+WHO IS HILDERMAN?
+
+
+I must admit that I was so delighted to find that Myra had recovered
+her sight that I very nearly made what might have been a very serious
+mistake. I gave a loud shout of triumph and made a dive for the light,
+intending to switch it on. This might, of course, have had a very bad
+effect upon my darling's eyes, but fortunately Garnesk darted across
+the room and knocked up my arm in the nick of time.
+
+"Not yet, Ewart, not yet," he warned me. "We must run no risks until
+we are quite sure."
+
+"But, Ronnie, I can see quite well," Myra declared delightedly. "I see
+everything just as easily as I usually can by the light of the
+dark-room lamp."
+
+"Still, we won't expose you to the glare of white light just at
+present, Miss McLeod," said Garnesk solemnly. "We must be very
+careful. Tell me, how did your sight return, gradually or suddenly?"
+
+"Suddenly, I think," the girl replied. "I took off the shade and laid
+it down, and then when I looked up I could distinctly see the lamp."
+
+"Immediately the shade was removed?"
+
+"No," she answered, "not just immediately. You see, I was looking at
+the floor, which is so dark, of course, that you couldn't see it in
+the ordinary way. Then as soon as I looked up I could see the lamp.
+For a moment I thought it was my imagination, but when I found I could
+see Ron stooping over the developing-dish I knew that I was all right
+again."
+
+"This is very extraordinary, you know," said Garnesk. "Can you count
+the bottles on the middle shelf?"
+
+"Oh, yes!" laughed Myra, "I can make them out distinctly. Of course, I
+know pretty well what they are, but in any case I could easily
+describe them to you if I'd never seen them before."
+
+"What have I got in my hand?" the specialist queried, holding his arm
+out.
+
+"A pair of nail-clippers," Myra declared emphatically, and Garnesk
+laughed.
+
+"Well," he said, "you can obviously see it pretty well; but, as a
+matter of fact, it's a cigar-cutter."
+
+"Oh! well, you see," the girl explained airily, "I always put
+necessity before luxury!"
+
+So then the oculist made her sit down again and questioned and
+cross-questioned her at considerable length.
+
+"I'm puzzled, but delighted," he admitted finally. "It's strange, but
+it is at the same time decidedly hopeful."
+
+"I suppose it means that she will always be able to see in a red light
+at any rate?" I suggested.
+
+"Probably it does," he agreed, "and, of course, her sight may be
+completely restored. There is also a middle course; she may be able to
+see perfectly after a course of treatment in red light. I will get her
+a pair of red glasses made at once. We can see how that goes. But I
+feel that it would be advisable to introduce her to daylight in
+gradual stages, in case of any risk."
+
+"Oh, if we could only find poor old Sholto!" Myra exclaimed eagerly.
+Garnesk turned to her with a look of frank admiration.
+
+"You're a lucky young dog, Ewart," he whispered to me, "by Jove you
+are!"
+
+So Myra graciously, but a little regretfully I think, placed herself
+in the hands of the young specialist and replaced her shade. Then we
+left the dark-room, allowing the films to develop out on the floor,
+and went downstairs. We took her out on to the verandah and removed
+the shade for a moment, but the chill air of the highland night made
+her eyes smart after their unaccustomed imprisonment, and we gave up
+the experiment for that night.
+
+As Garnesk and I bathed together in the morning we were both brighter
+and more cheerful than we had been since his arrival.
+
+"I shall catch the train from Mallaig," he declared. "Can you take me
+in and meet your friend without having long to wait?"
+
+"If you insist on going," I replied, "I can get you there in time to
+meet him and you will have an hour or more to wait for your train."
+
+"Oh, so much the better! We can tell him everything and give him all
+the news in the interval."
+
+"Are you still determined to go?" I asked.
+
+"Yes," he said, "I _must_ go. It will be necessary for me to make one
+or two inquiries and get a pair of glasses made for Miss McLeod."
+
+"I shall be very sorry to lose you, Garnesk," I said earnestly. "Don't
+you think you could write or wire for the glasses? You see, if we have
+come to the conclusion that this green ray is some chemical production
+of Nature unassisted there isn't the same reason for you to leave us."
+
+"No, that's true," he agreed, "but we were both a bit scared
+yesterday, old chap, and the more I think of this dog business the
+less I like it. It was mere conceit on my part that made me say it was
+bound to be some natural phenomenon merely because I couldn't
+understand how the effect could have been humanly produced."
+
+"Perhaps," I suggested, "our best course would be to keep an open mind
+about the whole thing."
+
+"Yes," he replied, "I'm with you entirely. And in that case my going
+away is not going to aggravate the effects of a natural phenomenon,
+while it may restrain the human agency by removing the necessity for
+further activity."
+
+"Well, that's sound enough," I acquiesced; "but I shall hear from you,
+I hope?"
+
+"Of course, my dear fellow," he laughed, "we're in this thing
+together. You'll hear from me as often as you want, and who knows what
+else besides. I have no intention of dropping this for a minute,
+Ewart. But I think I can do more if I am not on the spot. We're agreed
+that my presence here may be a source of danger to you all."
+
+"Yes," I said, "I think yours is the best plan. What do you propose to
+do?"
+
+"Well, to begin with, I shall devote an hour or two to knocking our
+panic theory on the head."
+
+"You mean the natural phenomenon idea?"
+
+"Precisely," said he. "I don't think that it will be able to exist
+very long in the light of physical knowledge--not that that is a very
+powerful light, but it should be strong enough for our purpose. As
+soon as I have convinced myself that our enemy is a mere human being I
+shall take such steps as I may think necessary at the time. Then, of
+course, I shall acquaint you with the steps that I have taken, and we
+shall work together and round up our man, and, figuratively speaking,
+make him swallow his hideous green ray."
+
+"What sort of steps do you mean?" I asked.
+
+"Well, that all depends," my friend answered, "on what sort of man we
+have to deal with. But it will certainly include providing ourselves
+with the necessary means of self-defence, and may run to calling in
+the assistance of the authorities."
+
+"I'm not sure that the presence of the police in a quiet spot like
+this might not have a disastrous effect on our plans," I pointed out.
+
+"I shouldn't worry about the police," he laughed. "I should make for
+the naval chaps. I'm rather pally with them just now; I'm booked up to
+do some work of various descriptions for the period of the war, and I
+think if I can give them the promise of a little fun and excitement
+they would be willing to help."
+
+"Which indeed they could," I agreed readily. "Any attempt our enemy
+might make to get away from us would probably mean a bolt for the open
+sea, and a few dozen dreadnoughts would be cheerful companionship."
+
+Garnesk laughed, and we strolled up to the house, putting the
+finishing touches to our toilet as we went. Shortly after breakfast we
+made ready for our trip to Mallaig. Myra was very anxious to come with
+us until I explained that we should have to wait there till we had met
+Dennis and seen the specialist off. She was naturally sensitive about
+appearing in public with the shade on, poor child, so she readily gave
+up the idea.
+
+"I'm very sorry you're going, Mr. Garnesk," said Myra, as she shook
+hands.
+
+"I shall see you again soon," he replied. "I have by no means finished
+with your case, and as soon as you report the effect of the glasses I
+shall send you'll see me come tripping in one afternoon, or else I
+shall ask you to come down to me."
+
+"It's very good of you to take so much trouble about it," said Myra
+gratefully.
+
+"Not at all," he responded lightly. "It is a pleasure, Miss McLeod, I
+assure you."
+
+The old general was still more effusive of his gratitude, and as he
+waved good-bye from the landing-stage his face was almost comically
+eloquent of regret.
+
+"By the way," said Garnesk as we passed Glasnabinnie, "don't tell
+Hilderman much about what has happened. We feel we can trust him, but
+you never know a man's propensity for talking until you know him very
+well."
+
+"Right," I agreed. "I'll take care of that. We can't afford to get
+this talked about. It would be very painful for Myra and her father if
+it became the chatter of the country-side."
+
+"Besides," Garnesk pointed out, "it will be much safer to be quiet
+about it. If we are dealing with men they will probably prove to be
+desperate men, and we don't want to run any risks that we can avoid."
+
+"No," said I, "this is going to be quite unpleasant enough without
+looking for trouble."
+
+So when we arrived in Mallaig and met Hilderman on the fish-table I
+was careful to remember my companion's advice.
+
+"Ah, Mr. Ewart!" the American exclaimed in surprise, "How are you? And
+you, Professor? I hope your visit has proved entirely satisfactory.
+How is Miss McLeod?"
+
+"Just the same, I am sorry to say," Garnesk replied glibly. "There
+is no sign at all of her sight returning. I can make nothing of it
+whatever."
+
+"Dear, dear, Professor!" Hilderman exclaimed, with a shake of the
+head. "That is very bad, very bad indeed. Haven't you even any idea
+as to how the poor young lady lost her sight?"
+
+"None whatever," said Garnesk, with a hopeless little shrug. "I can't
+imagine anything, and I'm not above admitting that I know nothing.
+There is no use my pretending I can do anything for poor Miss McLeod
+when I feel convinced that I can't."
+
+"So you've given it up altogether, Mr. Garnesk?" Hilderman asked, as
+we strolled to the station.
+
+"What else can I do?" the oculist replied. "I can't stop up here for
+ever, much as I should prefer to stay until I had done something for
+my patient."
+
+"You have my sympathy, Mr. Ewart," said Hilderman in a friendly voice.
+"It is a terrible blow for you all. I fervently hope that something
+may yet be done for the poor young lady."
+
+"I hope so too," I answered, with a heavy sigh, but the sigh was
+merely a convincing response to the lead Garnesk had given me, for, as
+a matter of fact, I was quite certain that we had found the basis of
+complete cure.
+
+"Yes," Hilderman muttered, as if thinking aloud, "it is a very
+terrible and strange affair altogether. Have you had any news about
+the dog?"
+
+"None whatever," I replied, this time with perfect truth.
+
+"Surely you must suspect somebody, though," the American urged. "It is
+a very sparsely populated neighbourhood, you know."
+
+"We can't actually suspect anybody, nevertheless," said I. "On the one
+hand, it may have been an ordinary, uninteresting thief who stole the
+dog with a view to selling him again. On the other hand----"
+
+"Well," said Hilderman with interest, as I paused, "on the other
+hand?"
+
+"It may have been someone who had other reasons for stealing him," I
+concluded.
+
+"I don't quite follow you."
+
+"Ewart means," said Garnesk, cutting in eagerly, evidently fearing
+that I was about to make some indiscreet disclosure of our suspicions,
+though I had not the slightest intention of doing so, "Ewart means
+that it may have been someone who regarded the dog as a personal
+enemy. Miss McLeod informs us that there was a man in the hills,
+ostensibly a crofter, who disliked Sholto, quite unreasonably. He
+drove the dog away from his croft and was very rude to Miss McLeod
+about it. She suspected an illicit still, and thought the fellow was
+afraid Sholto might nose out his secret and give the show away."
+
+"Ah!" said Hilderman. "An illicit still, eh! Where was this still, or,
+rather, where was the croft?"
+
+I remembered that Myra had told us it was somewhere up Suardalan way,
+above Tor Beag, and I was just about to explain, when I felt my
+friend's boot knock sharply against my ankle. Taking this as a hint
+and not an accident, I promptly lied.
+
+"It was miles away," I announced readily, "away up on The Saddle. Miss
+McLeod wanders pretty far afield with Sholto at times."
+
+"Indeed," said the American, "I should think that might be quite a
+likely explanation, and rather a suitable place for a still, too. I
+climbed The Saddle some months ago with an enthusiastic friend of
+mine. We went by water to Invershiel, and then drove up the Glen. I
+shouldn't like to walk from Invermalluch and back; there are several
+mountains in between, and surely there is no road."
+
+Evidently our shrewd companion suspected that I had either made a
+mistake or deliberately told him an untruth, but I was quite ready for
+him. I had no time to consider the ethics of the matter. I was out to
+obey what I took to be my instructions, and obey them I did.
+
+"Oh, there are quite a lot of ways of getting there," I replied
+airily; "but perhaps the easiest would be to take the motor-boat to
+Corran and walk up the Arnisdale, or follow the road to Corran and
+then up the river. Miss McLeod has her own ways of getting about this
+country, though, and she may even know some way of avoiding the
+difficulties of the Sgriol and the other intervening mountains."
+
+Hilderman looked at me in considerable surprise for a moment.
+
+"You seem to know the district pretty well yourself, Mr. Ewart," he
+remarked.
+
+"Well, I ought to," I explained; "I was born in Glenmore."
+
+"Oh, I didn't know that," he murmured; "that accounts for it, then."
+And at that moment we heard the train approaching, and we hurried into
+the station to meet our respective visitors.
+
+"Fact or fancy?" asked Garnesk in an undertone as we strolled down the
+platform, Hilderman having hurried on ahead.
+
+"Fancy," I replied. "I took it you wanted me to avoid giving him the
+precise details."
+
+"Yes, I did," he laughed. "But you certainly made them precise enough.
+It is better to be careful how you explain these things to strangers."
+
+"Why?" I asked. "If we suspected Hilderman I should be inclined to
+agree with you that we should feed him up with lies; and if you think
+it will help us at all to suspect him I'm on at once. But as we both
+feel that his disposition is friendly and that we have no cause to
+doubt him, what is your reason for putting him off the scent every
+time? I know you well enough by this time to feel sure that you
+haven't been making these cryptic remarks for the sake of hearing
+yourself speak."
+
+"Here's the train," he said. "I'll tell you later."
+
+I looked along the carriages for Dennis, but I had evidently missed
+him, for as I turned back along the platform I found him looking round
+for me, standing amid the _melee_ of tourists and fisherfolk, keepers
+and valets, sportsmen and dogs, which is typical of the West Highland
+terminus in early August, and which seemed little affected by the fact
+that a state of war existed between Great Britain and the only nation
+in the world which was prepared for hostilities.
+
+"Well, old man," I greeted him as we shook hands heartily. "You got my
+wire, of course. I hope you had a decent journey."
+
+"Rather, old chap, I should think I did!" he replied warmly. "Slept
+like a turnip through the beastly parts, and woke up for the bit from
+Dumbarton on. I also had the luck to remember what you said about the
+breakfast and took the precaution of wiring for it. Here I am, and as
+fit as a fiddle."
+
+"That's great!" I exclaimed cheerily, for Dennis's bright attitude had
+exactly the effect on me that it was intended to have--it made me feel
+about twenty years younger. "This is Mr. Garnesk, the specialist, who
+very kindly came from Glasgow to see Myra. Mr. Garnesk--Mr. Burnham."
+
+The two shook hands, and the oculist suggested lunch. We left the
+station to go up to the hotel, but we saw Hilderman and his newly
+arrived friend--the same man who had seen me taking Myra up to
+London--walking leisurely up the hill in front of us. Garnesk took my
+arm.
+
+"Steady, my boy, steady," he said quietly. "We don't want to be
+overheard giving the lie to your dainty conversation of a few minutes
+ago. Isn't there anywhere else we can lunch, because they are
+evidently on the same tack?"
+
+"Yes," I replied, turning back, "there's the Marine just behind you.
+That'll do us well. Then we can come out and talk freely where there's
+no chance of our being overheard."
+
+So we lunched at the Marine Hotel, after which we strolled round
+the harbour, along the most appalling "road" in the history of
+civilisation, popularly and well named "the Kyber." Safely out of
+earshot, I made a hurried mental _precis_ of the events of the past
+few days, and gave Dennis the resultant summary as tersely as I could.
+
+"I'm very glad you had Mr. Garnesk with you," said Dennis at last,
+with a glance of frank admiration at the young specialist.
+
+"Not so glad as I am," I replied fervently. "What I should have done
+without him heaven only knows. I can't even guess."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!" cried Garnesk, in modest protest. "I haven't been
+able to do anything. Our one advance was a piece of pure luck--the
+discovery that Miss McLeod could see by the light of a red lamp. We
+have decided to keep that quite to ourselves, Mr. Burnham."
+
+"Of course," agreed Dennis, so emphatically that I laughed.
+
+"Why so decided, Den?" I asked, for I felt that I should like to climb
+to the topmost pinnacle of the highest peak in all the world and shout
+the good news to the four corners of the earth.
+
+"I'm not a scientist, Ron," Dennis replied. "That may account for the
+heresy of my profound disbelief in science. I wouldn't cross the road
+to see a 'miracle.' The twentieth century is uncongenial to anything
+of that sort. Take it from me, old chap, there's a man at the back of
+this--not a nice man, I admit, but an ordinary human being to all
+outward appearances--and when we catch a glimpse of his outward
+appearances we shall know what to do."
+
+"Yes, _when_ we do," I sighed.
+
+"You mustn't let Ewart get depressed about things, Mr. Burnham. He
+very naturally looks at this business from a different standpoint.
+With him it is a tragic, mysterious horror, which threatens the
+well-being, if not the existence, of a life that is dearer to him than
+his own."
+
+"I'll look after him," said Dennis, with a grim determination which
+made even Garnesk laugh.
+
+"When you two precious people have finished nursing me," I said, "I
+hope you'll allow me to point out that that very reason gives me a
+prior claim to take any risks or run into any dangers that may crop up
+from now on. If there is any trouble brewing, particularly dangerous
+trouble, then it is my place to tackle it. I am deeply grateful to you
+fellows for all you have done and are doing and intend to do, but the
+nursing comes from the other side. I can't let you run risks in a
+cause which is more mine in the nature of things than yours."
+
+"I fancy," said Dennis, "that even your eloquent speeches will have
+very little effect when it comes to real trouble. If danger comes
+it'll come suddenly, and we shall be best helping our common cause by
+looking after ourselves."
+
+"Hear, hear," said Garnesk, and I could only mutter my thanks and my
+gratitude for the possession of two staunch friends.
+
+"To get back to business," I said presently, "why did you want me to
+bluff Hilderman like that?"
+
+"Because," said Garnesk slowly, "I'm not sure that Hilderman is the
+man to take into our confidence too completely. It's not that I don't
+trust the man, but he looks so alert and so cute, and has such a
+dreamy way of pretending he isn't listening to you when you know jolly
+well that he is, that I have a feeling we ought to be careful with
+him."
+
+"Very much what Dennis said about him the first time he saw him. But
+if you don't suspect him, and he is a very cute man, why not trust him
+and have the benefit of his intelligence?"
+
+"How would you answer that question yourself, Ewart?" the specialist
+asked quietly.
+
+"Oh," I laughed, "I should point out that his cuteness may be the very
+reason that we don't suspect him."
+
+"Precisely," Garnesk agreed; "and that is partly my answer as well."
+
+"And the other part?" put in Dennis quietly.
+
+"Well, it's a difficult thing to say, and it's all conjecture. But
+I have a feeling that Hilderman is not what he says he is. He has
+a knack of doing things, a way of going about here, that gives me
+the impression he is employing his intelligence, and a very fine
+intelligence it probably is, all the time. I don't think he is retired
+at all. There's a restless energy about the fellow that would turn
+into a sour discontent if his mind were not fully occupied with work
+which it is accustomed to, and probably enjoys doing."
+
+"Have you anything to suggest?" I asked.
+
+"I have an idea," he replied; "but I haven't mentioned it because it
+doesn't satisfy me at all. I have an idea that the man is some sort
+of detective hard at work all the time. But I can't imagine what sort
+of detective would take a house up here and keep himself as busy as
+Hilderman appears to be over some case in the neighbourhood. I can't
+imagine what sort of case it can be."
+
+"What about a secret German naval base in the Hebrides?" I suggested.
+"It's not by any means impossible or even unlikely that the Germans
+have utilised the lonely lochs and creeks to some sinister purpose.
+Many of the lochs are entirely hidden by surrounding mountains, which
+come right down to the edge of a narrow opening, and make the place
+almost unnoticeable unless you happen to be looking for it."
+
+"There's something in that, certainly," Garnesk agreed; "but we must
+remember he's been here since May. Surely our precious Government
+would have managed to find what they wanted, and clear it out by this
+time. Then again, did they suspect the base, or did they have a
+general idea that war was coming so far back as May?"
+
+"As to the war," Dennis put in, "we don't really know when the
+authorities had their first suspicions."
+
+"No," said I; "but I fancy it was not a very definite suspicion until
+after the Archduke was assassinated. But look here, Garnesk, just let
+us suppose Hilderman really is a Government detective in the guise of
+an American visitor. Wouldn't he be just about the man we want, or do
+you think it would make too much stir to take him into our
+confidence?"
+
+"Far too much," Garnesk replied emphatically. "It's not that he
+would talk; but if he has been here all this time his opponents have
+got wind of him long before this, and his arrival on the scene in
+connection with our case would give any suspicious character the tip
+to bolt. I should advise keeping in touch with Hilderman, learn as
+much as you can about him, and be ready to run to him for help if you
+come to the conclusion that he is the man to give it."
+
+We sat down among the heather at the foot of the Mallaig Vec road, and
+looked out over the harbour.
+
+"Don't turn your heads," said Dennis quietly, "but glance down at the
+pier."
+
+"Yes," said Garnesk in a moment, "he seems to be as interested in us
+as we are in him."
+
+Hilderman and his friend were standing on the end of the pier watching
+us through their field-glasses.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE RED-HAIRED MAN.
+
+
+"I'll send the glasses at once," said Garnesk, as the train steamed
+out of the station. Dennis and I stood on the platform and watched him
+out of sight.
+
+"He seems a good fellow," said Dennis.
+
+"Splendid!" I agreed readily. "He's exceeding clever and wide-awake,
+and very charming. What we should have done without him heaven only
+knows. I fancy his visit saved the entire household from a nervous
+collapse."
+
+"We've no time for collapses, nervous or otherwise," Dennis replied.
+"We shall want our wits about us, and we shall need all the vitality
+we can muster. But at the same time I don't think there is any cause
+for nerves. You're not the sort of man, Ron, to let your nerves get
+the better of you in an emergency, especially if we can prove that our
+enemy is a tangible quantity, and not a conglomeration of waves and
+vibrations."
+
+"Hilderman and his friend appear to be waiting for us," I interrupted.
+
+"You may as well introduce me," said Dennis. "I'd like to meet the
+man. Who is his friend, do you know?"
+
+"Haven't the remotest idea," I replied. "I have seen him once before,
+but that is all. I don't know who he is."
+
+"Is he staying with Hilderman, or does he live in the neighbourhood?"
+
+"That I couldn't tell you either," I said. "I'm sure he doesn't live
+anywhere near Invermalluch."
+
+As we strolled out of the station Hilderman and his companion were
+standing chatting by the gate which leads on to the pier. As we
+approached, Hilderman turned to me with a smile.
+
+"Ah, Mr. Ewart," he exclaimed, "your friend has left you, then. I hope
+you won't let his inability to help Miss McLeod depress you unduly.
+While there's life there's hope."
+
+"I shall not give up hope yet awhile, anyway," I answered heartily.
+
+"May I introduce my friend Mr. Fuller?" he asked presently, and I
+found myself shaking hands with the round-faced little man, who
+blinked at me pleasantly through his glasses. I returned the
+compliment by introducing Dennis.
+
+"On holiday, Mr. Burnham?" asked the American. Dennis was so prompt
+with his reply that I was convinced he had been thinking it out in the
+meanwhile.
+
+"Well, I hardly know that I should call it a holiday," he replied
+immediately. "I have just run up to say good-bye to Ewart before
+offering my services to my King and country. We had intended to join
+up together, but he has, as you know, been detained for the time
+being, so I am off by myself."
+
+"We are very old friends," I explained, "and Burnham very decently
+decided to come here to see me as I was unable to go south to see
+him."
+
+"Never mind, Mr. Ewart," said Hilderman. "I guess you'll be able to
+join him very soon. I wish you luck, Mr. Burnham. I suppose it won't
+be long before you leave."
+
+"He's talking of returning to-morrow," I cut in. "I wish you'd tell
+him it's ridiculous, Mr. Hilderman. Fancy coming all this way for
+twenty-four hours. He must have a look round, to say nothing of his
+stinginess in depriving me of his company so soon."
+
+"Well, I can quite understand Mr. Burnham's anxiety to join at the
+earliest possible moment," he answered. "But I've no doubt Lord
+Kitchener wouldn't miss him for a day. I think he might multiply his
+visit by two, and stop till Wednesday, at any rate. Ah, here's the
+_Fiona_!"
+
+I looked out to the mouth of the harbour, and saw the steam yacht,
+which was in the habit of calling at Glasnabinnie, gliding past the
+lighthouse rock. I was about to make some comment on the boat when
+Hilderman forestalled me.
+
+"How are you going back?" he asked.
+
+"In a motor-boat," I replied. "I am afraid Angus is getting weary of
+waiting already."
+
+"I'm sure Mr. Fuller would be delighted to have you fellows on board.
+Why not let your man take Mr. Burnham's luggage to Invermalluch, and
+come to Glasnabinnie on the _Fiona_? You can lunch with me, and when
+you tire of our company I will run you across in the _Baltimore_. Eh?
+What do you say?"
+
+"I shall be delighted, of course," his companion broke in.
+
+I hesitated for a moment, and glanced at Dennis. His face obviously
+said, "Accept," so I accepted.
+
+"Thank you," I said; "we shall be very pleased. It will be more jolly
+than going back by ourselves."
+
+"Good!" cried Hilderman, "and I can show you the view from my
+smoking-room. I hope it will make you green with envy."
+
+So I gave Angus his instructions, and the four of us waited at the
+fish-table steps for the dinghy to come ashore from the yacht. She was
+not a particularly beautiful boat, but she looked comfortable and
+strong, and her clumsy appearance was accentuated by the fact that her
+funnel was aft a commodious deck dining-saloon, on the top of which
+was a small wheel-house. Myra had been right, as it turned out; she
+was a converted drifter. The two men who came in to pick us up wore
+the usual blue guernsey, with _S.Y. Fiona_ worked in an arc of red
+wool across the chest. They were obviously good servants and useful
+hands, but there was none of that ridiculous imitation of naval
+custom and etiquette which delights the heart of the Cotton Exchange
+yacht-owner. We boarded the _Fiona_ with the feeling that we were going
+to have a pleasant and comfortable time, and not with the fear that
+our setting of a leather-soled shoe upon the hallowed decks was in
+itself an act of sacrilege. We were no sooner aboard than Fuller set
+himself to play the host with a charm which was exceedingly attentive
+and neither fussy nor patronising.
+
+"The trivial but necessary question of edible stores will detain us
+for a few moments," he said. "But we shall be more comfortable here
+than wandering about among the herrings." So we made ourselves
+comfortable in deck-chairs in the stern, while the steward went ashore
+and made the all-important purchases.
+
+"You cruise a good deal, I suppose?" was my first question.
+
+"Yes, a fair amount," our host replied. "I pretty well live on board,
+you know, although I have a small house further north, on Loch Duich,
+if you know where that is."
+
+"Mr. Ewart was born up here, and knows it backwards," Hilderman
+informed him. And we chatted about the district and the fishing and
+the views until the steward returned, and we got under weigh. I should
+have liked to have seen the accommodation below, but the journey was a
+short one, and I had no opportunity to make the suggestion. Dennis
+was sitting nearest the rail, and there was a small hank of rope at
+his feet.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mr. Burnham," said Fuller suddenly. "I didn't
+notice that rope was in your way." And he learned over and tossed the
+rope away. As he did so some hard object fell with a clatter from the
+coil.
+
+"It's not interfering with me in the least," laughed Dennis, and
+looked down at a large, bone-handled clasp-knife which had dropped in
+front of him. He picked it up idly, and weighed it in his hand.
+
+"Useful sort of implement," he said.
+
+"Oh, these sailor-chaps like a big knife more than anything," said
+Hilderman; "and, of course, they need them strong. I daresay that has
+been used for anything, from primitive carpentry to cutting tobacco.
+The one knife always does for everything."
+
+We continued our conversation while Dennis idly examined the knife,
+opening it and studying the blade absently. Presently Fuller, noticing
+his absorption, began to chaff him about it.
+
+"Well," he laughed, "have you compiled a complete history of the knife
+and it's owner? If you're ready to sit an examination on the subject I
+will constitute myself examiner, then we'll find who the knife belongs
+to, and corroborate or contradict your conclusions."
+
+"It's a very ordinary knife to find on board a boat, I should think,"
+said Dennis.
+
+"Oh come, Mr. Burnham," Hilderman joined in, "you mustn't wriggle out
+of it. Surely you can answer Mr. Fuller's questions."
+
+"If Mr. Fuller will allow me to put one or two preliminary questions
+to him," Dennis replied, entering into the spirit of fun, "I am ready
+to go into the witness-box and swear quite a number of fanciful
+things."
+
+"Come now, Fuller," chaffed Hilderman. "You must give him a run for
+his money, you know. He is risking his reputation at a moment's
+notice. I think you ought to let him ask you three questions, at any
+rate."
+
+"Fire away, Mr. Burnham," said our host. "I'll give you a start of
+three questions, and then you must be prepared to answer every
+reasonable question I put to you, or be branded publicly as an
+unreliable witness and an incompetent detective."
+
+Dennis puffed at his pipe and smiled, and I was surprised to see that
+he really was bringing his mind to bear on the trivial problem with
+all the acuteness he had in him.
+
+"Well, in the first place," he asked, "do you stop in port very often
+overnight, or for any length of time during the day?"
+
+"I never stop in port longer than I can help," laughed Fuller, "or the
+owner of that knife would probably take the opportunity of buying a
+new one, and throwing this old thing away. All the same, I don't see
+how that is going to help you."
+
+"Ah," said Dennis, in bantering vein, "you mustn't expect me to give
+away my process, you know. The secret's been in the family for years."
+
+"What's your second question, Den?" I asked.
+
+"Is there a hotel within reasonable distance of your house on Loch
+Whatever-it-is, Mr. Fuller?"
+
+"Loch Duich?" our host replied. "There's one about six miles by road
+and eleven or twelve by the sea."
+
+"I don't think I need ask you the third question, then," said Dennis.
+"You can begin your examination now."
+
+"Now, Mr. Burnham," Fuller commenced, "you quite understand that
+anything you say will be taken down in writing, and may be used as
+evidence against you?"
+
+"I assure you I have a keen appreciation of the gravity of the
+situation," Dennis replied seriously.
+
+"Well," said Fuller, "I'll begin with an easy one--one that won't tax
+your powers of observation beyond endurance."
+
+"Yes," I urged, "let him down gently. He does his best."
+
+"What profession does the owner of that knife follow?"
+
+Hilderman and I laughed.
+
+"We may as well count that answer as read," he said.
+
+"There's a catch there, Dennis," I warned him. "The legal designation
+is 'mariner.'"
+
+"I don't think it is," said my friend.
+
+"We won't quarrel about terms," laughed our host graciously. "Sailor
+or seaman or deckhand will do just as well."
+
+"No," said Dennis, "it won't. The owner of this knife is not a sailor
+by profession."
+
+"But," Fuller protested, "it must belong to one of my crew, and it is
+obviously a seaman's knife."
+
+"In that case," Dennis answered, "I think you'll find that you have a
+man on board who is not a professional seaman in the ordinary use of
+the term. I'll tell you what I think of this knife, shall I?"
+
+"By all means," urged Hilderman and his friend together, and I began
+to take a keen interest in this curious discussion, for I could see
+that Dennis was no longer playing. He turned the knife over in his
+hand, and looked up at Fuller.
+
+"Mr. Fuller," he said quietly, "the owner of this knife is not a
+sailor by profession. He is probably a schoolmaster. I can't be sure
+of that, but I can say this definitely: he is a professional man of
+some sort, possibly an engineer, but, as I say, more probably a
+mathematical master. He is left-handed, has red hair, a wife, and at
+least one child."
+
+I shouted with laughter when I realised how thoroughly my friend had
+pulled my leg, but I broke off abruptly when Hilderman sat bolt
+upright, and his chair and Fuller's cigar fell unheeded on to the
+deck. But in a second they took their cue from me, and roared with
+laughter.
+
+"Oh, excellent, Mr. Burnham," said Hilderman between his guffaws. "But
+you forgot to mention that his sister married a butcher's assistant."
+
+"Ah, but I don't admit she did," Dennis protested.
+
+"I'm very much indebted to you for exposing this masquerader," said
+Fuller. "I shall have the matter inquired into. But seriously, Mr.
+Burnham, you made one extraordinary fluke in your deductions, which
+almost took my breath away. I have a man on board with red hair, and
+when the boat came into the harbour he was working about here. I saw
+him leave his work to come ashore for us. I shouldn't be at all
+surprised to find that the knife belonged to him."
+
+"Oh, well," Dennis laughed, "one shot right is not a bad average for a
+beginner, you know."
+
+"No," said Hilderman, puffing a cloud of smoke, and dreamily following
+its ascent with his eyes, "not bad at all. Not bad at all."
+
+And then, the joke of the clasp-knife being played out, we admired the
+scenery, and conversed of less speculative subjects till we arrived at
+Glasnabinnie.
+
+We were pulled ashore by the man with the red hair, and when our host
+confronted him with the knife he promptly claimed it.
+
+"I think you won, Mr. Burnham," laughed Fuller, and Dennis smiled
+in reply. We slid alongside the landing-stage and stepped out, and
+Dennis's schoolmaster was about to slip the painter through a ring
+and make the boat fast. But evidently the ring was broken. The man
+came ashore, and Hilderman began to lead us up the path. But Dennis
+deliberately turned and watched the sailor. Hilderman and his
+companion strolled ahead while I stood beside Dennis. The man with the
+red hair fished among a pile of wire rope, and picked out a small
+marline-spike. Then he lifted a large stone, held the marline-spike on
+the wooden planking of the landing-stage, and hammered it in with the
+stone. Then he threw the painter round it, and made the boat secure in
+that way.
+
+"Yes," murmured Dennis quietly, as we turned to join the others, "I
+think I won."
+
+For the man had held the stone in his left hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+A FURTHER MYSTERY.
+
+
+"Well," said Hilderman, as we caught them up, "what about lunch? After
+his journey I daresay Mr. Burnham has an appetite, not to mention his
+excursion into the realm of detective fiction."
+
+"We lunched at Mallaig," I explained, "with Mr. Garnesk before we saw
+him off."
+
+"Oh, did you?" he asked, with evident surprise. "I didn't see you at
+the hotel."
+
+"We went to the Marine," I replied, "to save ourselves a climb up the
+hill."
+
+"We had a snack at Mallaig too," the American continued, "intending to
+lunch here. Are you sure you couldn't manage something?"
+
+"It would have to be a very slight something," Dennis put in. "But I
+daresay we could manage that."
+
+"Good!" said Hilderman. "Come along, then, and let's see what we can
+do."
+
+We strolled into the drawing-room through the inevitable verandah,
+and though Hilderman was the tenant of the furnished house he had
+contrived to impart a suggestion of his own personality to the room.
+The furniture was arranged in a delightfully lazy manner that almost
+made you yawn. The walls were hung with photographic enlargements of
+some of the most beautiful spots in the neighbourhood. I remembered
+what Myra had told me as to his being an enthusiastic photographer, so
+I asked him about them.
+
+"Did you take these, Mr. Hilderman?"
+
+"Yes," he answered. "These are just a few of the best. I have many
+others which I should like you to see some time. I always leave the
+enlarging to keep me alive during the winter months. These are a few
+odd ones I enlarged for decorative purposes."
+
+"They are beautiful," I said enthusiastically, for they were real
+beauties, more like drawings in monochrome than photographs. "And
+you certainly seem to have got about the neighbourhood since your
+arrival."
+
+"Yes," he laughed, "I don't miss much when I get out with my camera.
+Most of these were taken during the first month of my stay here."
+
+"These snow scenes from the Cuchulins are simply gorgeous, and surely
+this is the Kingie Pool on the Garry?"
+
+"Right first time," he admitted, evidently pleased to see his work
+admired. I thought of Garnesk's suspicion that our American friend was
+engaged on detective work of some kind, and it struck me that with his
+camera and his obvious talent he had an excellent excuse for going
+almost anywhere, supposing he were called upon at any time to explain
+his presence in some outlandish spot.
+
+"You must have kept yourself exceedingly busy," I remarked in
+conclusion.
+
+After the meal we adjourned to the hut above the falls. Hilderman
+certainly had some right to be proud of his view. It was magnificent.
+We stood outside the door and gazed out to sea, north, south and west,
+for some minutes.
+
+"You have the same uninterrupted view from inside," said Hilderman, as
+we mounted the three steps to the door. He held the door open, and I
+stepped in first, followed by Dennis and Fuller. The window extended
+the whole length of the room, and folded inwards and upwards, in the
+same way as some greenhouse windows do. Suddenly I laughed aloud.
+
+"What's the joke?" asked Hilderman.
+
+"This," I said, pointing to a large carbon transparency of a mountain
+under snow, which hung in the window on the north side. "You've no
+idea how this has been annoying us over at Invermalluch."
+
+"How?" asked Dennis.
+
+"It swings about in the breeze," I replied, "and it reflects the light
+and catches everybody's eye. It's a very beautiful photograph, Mr.
+Hilderman, but, like many human beings, it's exceedingly unpopular
+owing to the position it holds."
+
+"A thousand apologies, Mr. Ewart," said the American. "It shall be
+removed at once."
+
+"Oh, not at all!" I protested. "Surely you are entitled to hang a
+positive of a photograph in your window without receiving a protest
+from neighbours who live nearly three miles away."
+
+"That's Invermalluch Lodge, then, across the water," Dennis asked.
+
+"Yes," I replied, and we forgot about the transparency, which remained
+in undisputed possession of a pitch to which it was certainly
+entitled. We sat and smoked, and looked out at the mountains of Skye
+and the wonderful panorama of sea and loch, with an occasional glance
+at the gurgling waterfall at our feet, and presently I picked up a
+copy of an illustrated paper which was lying at my hand. I turned the
+pages idly, and threw a cursory glance at the photographs of the
+week's brides, and the latest efforts of the theatrical press agents,
+and I noticed, without thinking anything of the fact, that one page
+had been roughly torn out. I was about to remark that probably the
+most interesting or amusing picture in the whole paper had been
+accidentally destroyed, when Fuller leaned across Dennis, and took the
+paper out of my hands.
+
+"Don't insult Mr. Hilderman's precious view by reading the paper in
+his smoking-room, Mr Ewart," he said, with a loud laugh. "As a
+Highlander you should have more tact than that."
+
+Hilderman turned round, and looked from one to other of us.
+
+"What paper is he reading? I didn't know there was one here."
+
+I explained what paper it was, adding, "I quite admit that it was a
+waste of time when I ought to be admiring your unrivalled view, Mr.
+Hilderman. I offer you my sincere apologies."
+
+Hilderman threw a quick glance at Mr. Fuller.
+
+"Better give it him back, Fuller," he said. "There is nothing more
+annoying than to have a paper snatched away from you when you're
+half-way through it."
+
+Shortly after that Fuller declared that he must be leaving, and asked
+Hilderman rather pointedly whether he felt like a trip to Loch Duich.
+I determined to step in with an idea of my own.
+
+"I was going to make a suggestion myself, Mr. Hilderman," I began,
+"but it doesn't matter if you are engaged."
+
+"Well, I don't know that I'm particularly keen to come with you this
+afternoon, Fuller," he remarked. "What was your suggestion, Mr.
+Ewart?"
+
+"I was wondering whether you would come over to Invermalluch with
+Burnham and me and--er--have a look round with us?"
+
+"Well, if Fuller doesn't think it exceedingly rude of me, I should
+like to," the American replied, "especially as Mr. Burnham will be
+leaving you to-morrow, or the day after at latest."
+
+"Incidentally, I don't know how we shall get back without you," I
+pointed out. "You see, we sent the motor-boat on."
+
+"By Jove, so you did!" Hilderman exclaimed. "Well, that settles it,
+Fuller."
+
+"I could take them on the _Fiona_ and put them ashore," his companion
+persisted. Hilderman gave Fuller a look which seemed to clinch the
+matter, however, for the little man beamed at me through his
+spectacles, and explained that if he took us in his yacht it would be
+killing two birds with one stone.
+
+"Still, of course, my dear fellow," he concluded, "you must please
+yourselves entirely."
+
+So we saw him safely on board the _Fiona_, and then started for
+Invermalluch in Hilderman's magnificent Wolseley launch.
+
+"Fuller knows me," he explained, by way of apology. "I go up with him
+sometimes as often as three times a week, but I gathered that you
+asked me with a view to discussing the mystery of the green flash, or
+whatever you call it."
+
+"You're quite right; I did," I replied. "I simply want you to come and
+have a look at the river, and see what you can make of it."
+
+"Anything I can do, you know, Mr. Ewart," he assured me, "I shall be
+delighted to do. If you think it will be of any assistance to you if I
+explore the river with you--well, I'm ready now."
+
+From that we proceeded to give him, at his request, minute details of
+Garnesk's conclusions on the matter, and I am afraid I departed from
+the truth with a ready abandon and a certain relish of which I ought
+to have been most heartily ashamed.
+
+When we stepped ashore at Invermalluch Hilderman looked back across
+the water.
+
+"If I'd waited for Fuller," he laughed, "I should have been stuck
+there yet. He's let the water go off the boil or something."
+
+We went up to the house and had tea on the verandah, for the General
+had taken Myra up Loch Hourn in the motor-boat. After tea we got to
+business.
+
+"Now that I've had a very refreshing cup of tea," the American
+remarked, "I feel rather like the mouse who said '_Now_ bring out your
+cat' when he had consumed half a teaspoonful of beer! Now show me the
+river."
+
+"I don't want to sound at all panicky," I said, "but I think I ought
+to warn you that our experiences at the particular spot we are going
+to have--well, shall we say they have provided a striking contrast
+from the routine of our daily life?"
+
+"I'm not at all afraid of the river, Mr. Ewart," he replied lightly.
+"I should be the last person to doubt the statements of yourself and
+Miss McLeod and the General, but I am inclined to think the river has
+no active part in the proceedings."
+
+"You hold the view that it was the merest coincidence that Miss McLeod
+and the General both had terrible and strange experiences at the same
+spot?" asked Dennis.
+
+"It seems to be the only sensible view to hold," Hilderman declared
+emphatically. "I must say I think Miss McLeod's blindness might have
+happened in her own room or anywhere else, and the General's strange
+experience seems to me to be the delusion of overwrought nerves. I
+confess there is only one thing I don't understand, and that is the
+disappearance of the dog. That's got me beaten, unless it was that
+crofter."
+
+"We intend to go to the Saddle to-morrow and make a few
+investigations. I was going by myself," I added cautiously, "but I
+think I can persuade Burnham to stay and go with me."
+
+"I certainly should stay for that, Mr. Burnham," Hilderman advised.
+"One more day can't make much difference."
+
+"I'll think it over," said Dennis, careful not to commit himself
+rashly.
+
+We came to the Dead Man's Pool, and crossed over the river, and began
+to walk up the other side.
+
+"This is about the right time for a manifestation of the mystery," I
+remarked lightly, though I was far from laughing about the whole
+thing.
+
+"Well," said Hilderman, "if we are to see the green flash in operation
+I hope it will be in a gentle mood, and not pull our teeth out one by
+one or anything of that sort." Evidently he had little sympathy with
+our fear of the green ray and the awe with which we approached the
+neighbourhood of the river.
+
+"Are we going to the right place?" Dennis asked. "I mean the identical
+spot?"
+
+"That lozenge-shaped thing up there is the Chemist's Rock," I replied,
+"and the other important place is Dead Man's Pool, which we have just
+left."
+
+"Miss McLeod went blind on the Chemist's Rock, didn't she?" Dennis
+inquired.
+
+"Yes," I replied, with a shudder. "She was fishing from it."
+
+"Then suppose we go back to the pool," he suggested. We agreed readily
+enough, for I had no desire to hang about the fateful rock, and
+Hilderman for his part seemed to have no faith in the idea at all. I
+fancy he thought it would make no difference to us in what part of the
+river we might be, only provided we didn't fall in. So Dennis led the
+way back, and he was the first to pick his way to the middle of the
+stream. Hilderman and I were some distance behind. Suddenly we stopped
+stock-still, and looked at him. He had begun to cough and splutter,
+and he seemed rooted to the small stone he was standing on in the
+middle of the stream. In a flash I understood, and with a cry I
+bounded after him, Hilderman following at my heels.
+
+"It's all right, Ewart," cried Hilderman behind me. "He's only choked,
+or something of that sort. He'll be all right in a minute."
+
+Dennis had crossed to the centre of the stream by a way of his own,
+and we ran down to the stepping-stones by which we had come, in order
+to save the time which we should have been compelled to waste in
+feeling for a foothold as we went. Every second was of importance, and
+I fully expected to see Dennis topple unconscious into the pool below
+before I should be able to save him. I knew what it was exactly; he
+was going through my own horrible experience of "drowning on dry
+land," to quote Garnesk's vigorous phrase. Imagine my astonishment,
+therefore, when I reached Dennis's side with only a slight difficulty
+in breathing. There was no sign, or at least very little, of the air
+which was "heavier than water." Hilderman plunged along behind me,
+and we reached the stone on which my friend was standing almost
+simultaneously. Dennis held an arm pointing up the river, his face
+transfixed with an expression of horrified amazement. Suddenly
+Hilderman gave a hoarse, shrill shout, breaking almost into a scream.
+
+"Shut your eyes!" he yelled. "Shut your eyes! Oh, for heaven's sake,
+shut your eyes!"
+
+But I never thought of following his advice. Dennis's immovable arm,
+pointing like an inanimate signpost up the river, fascinated me.
+Slowly I raised my eyes in that direction. Then I stepped back with a
+startled cry, lost my footing, slipped, and fell on my face among the
+rocks.
+
+_The river had disappeared!_
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+CONCERNS AN ILLUSTRATED PAPER.
+
+
+The river had disappeared!
+
+In front of us was a great green wall of solid rock, which seemed to
+tower into the sky above us, and to stretch away for miles to right
+and left. The curious part about it was that the rock was undoubtedly
+solid. The shrubs that grew upon it, the great crevices and clefts,
+were all real. I knew--though I had a hard struggle to make myself
+believe--that it was all a marvellous and indescribable delusion, for
+there could be no cliff where only a few seconds before there had been
+a mighty, rushing torrent.
+
+And yet I could have planted finger and foot on the ledges of that
+solid precipice and climbed to the invisible summit. Hilderman was
+muttering to himself beneath his breath, but I was too dazed, my brain
+was too numbed to make any sense out of the confused mumble of words
+which came from him. Dennis held my arm in a vice-like grip that
+stopped the circulation, and almost made me cry out with the pain.
+
+Hilderman staggered, his arm over his eyes, across the stepping-stones
+to the side of the stream. I found my voice at last.
+
+"Dennis!" I shouted at the top of my voice, though why I should have
+shouted I can never explain, for my friend was standing just beside
+me. "Dennis, come away, man. Get out of this!"
+
+I exerted my strength to the uttermost, but Dennis was immovable,
+rooted to the spot by the strange, snake-like fascination of the
+nightmare. Then, as suddenly as it had arisen, the rock disappeared
+again, and there before our startled gaze was a peacefully flowing
+river. Dennis turned to me with a face as white as a sheet.
+
+"The place is haunted," he said, with a somewhat hysterical laugh.
+
+"Let's get away from it and sit down, and think it over," I urged,
+pulling him away. We made for the side of the river and sat down, at
+a very safe distance from the bank. I rolled up my sleeve, and had a
+look at my arm.
+
+"Great Scott!" Dennis exclaimed, as I dangled the pinched and purple
+limb painfully. "What on earth did that?"
+
+"I'm afraid it was your own delicate touch and dainty caress that did
+it, old man. You seized hold of me as if you hadn't seen me for years,
+and I owed you a thousand pounds."
+
+"Ron, my dear fellow," he said penitently, "I'm most awfully sorry.
+Why didn't you shout?"
+
+I burst out laughing.
+
+"I entered a protest in vigorous terms, but you were otherwise engaged
+at the moment, and, anyway, don't look so scared about it, old man;
+it'll be quite all right in a minute."
+
+Poor Dennis was quite upset at the evidence I bore of his absorption
+in the miracle, and we postponed our discussion while he massaged the
+injured arm in order to restore the flow of blood.
+
+"Where's Hilderman?" I asked presently, and though we looked
+everywhere for the American he was nowhere to be seen.
+
+"He didn't look the sort to funk like that," said Dennis thoughtfully.
+
+"I should have been prepared to bet he was quite brave," I concurred.
+"Well, anyway," I added, "the main point is, what do you think of our
+entertainment? You've come a long way for it, but I hope you are not
+disappointed now you've seen it. It's original, isn't it?"
+
+"By heaven, Ron!" he cried, "you're right. It is original. It is even
+a more unholy, indescribable mystery than I expected, and I never
+accused you of exaggerating it, even in my own mind."
+
+"I'm glad that both you and Hilderman have had ocular demonstration
+of it," I remarked. "It is so much more convincing, and will help
+you to go into the matter without any feeling that we are out on a
+hare-brained shadow-chase."
+
+"We're certainly not that, anyhow," Dennis agreed emphatically. "It is
+a real mystery, Ronald, my boy. A real danger, as well, I'm afraid.
+But we'll stick at it till the end."
+
+"Thanks, old fellow," I said simply, and then I added, "I wonder what
+can have become of Hilderman?"
+
+"Gad!" cried Dennis, in sudden alarm. "He can't have fallen into the
+river by any chance?"
+
+We jumped to our feet and looked about us.
+
+"No," I said presently, "he hasn't fallen into the river." And I
+pointed a finger out to sea. The _Baltimore II._, churning a frantic
+way across to Glasnabinnie, seemed to divide the intervening water in
+one great white slash.
+
+"I wonder," said Dennis quietly, "_is_ that funk, or isn't it?"
+
+We watched the diminishing craft for a minute or two in silence, and
+finally decided to keep an open mind on the subject until we might
+have an opportunity to see Hilderman and hear his own explanation.
+
+"Talking about explanations, what about the left-handed schoolmaster
+with the red-headed wife, or whatever it was?" I asked.
+
+"That was a bit of luck," said Dennis modestly, "and I will admit, if
+you like, that we owe that to Garnesk."
+
+"Garnesk wasn't there," I protested.
+
+"No," my friend admitted, "he wasn't there at the time, but he put
+me on the look-out for a left-handed sailor. I was very much
+impressed with his deductions about the man who stole Miss McLeod's
+dog, and I determined to be on the look-out for a left-handed man. I
+also admit that I carefully watched everyone we met, especially the
+fishermen at Mallaig, to see if I could detect the sort of man I wanted.
+I was rewarded when we were pulled out to the _Fiona_ by those
+two men of Fuller's. One of them was red-headed, you remember? Well,
+that man was left-handed. It was very easy to observe that by the way
+he held his oar and generally handled things. Of course I was very
+bucked about it, so I paid very close attention to him. He wore a
+wedding-ring--ergo, he was married. It is not conclusive, of course,
+but a fairly safe guess when you're playing at toy detectives. So when
+I found the knife I looked for some sign that it belonged to him, and
+found it. It was all quite simple."
+
+"I daresay it will be when you explain it, but you haven't in the
+least explained it yet," I pointed out. "How about the schoolmaster
+and all that, and what made you think the knife belonged to him."
+
+"Simply because he was very probably--working on the law of
+averages--the only left-handed man among the crew, and that knife
+belonged to a left-handed man."
+
+"But my dear old fellow," I cried, "you don't seriously mean to tell
+me that you can say whether a man is left-handed or not by looking at
+marks on the handle of his knife?"
+
+"Not on the handle," Dennis explained; "on the blade. Have you got a
+knife on you?"
+
+I produced my pen-knife.
+
+"I'll trust you with it," I declared confidently. "I've never held any
+secrets from you, Den."
+
+Dennis opened the knife and laid it in the palm of his hand. I stood
+still and watched him.
+
+"You've sharpened pencils with this knife and the pencils have left
+their mark. If you hold the knife as you would when sharpening a
+pencil and look down on the blade there are no pencil marks visible.
+Now turn the knife over and you will find the marks on the other side
+of the blade."
+
+"Half a minute," I said eagerly, "let's have a look. The knife is in
+position for sharpening a pencil and the back of the knife is pointing
+to my chest. The marks are underneath." I took a pencil from my pocket
+and tried it. "Yes, I've got you, Dennis. It's quite clear. If I held
+the knife with the point to my right instead of to my left, as I
+should do in sharpening with my left hand, the marks appear on the
+other side of the blade. It is not quite conclusive, Den, but it's
+jolly cute."
+
+"Not when you're looking for it," he said. "I was struck by the fact
+that the knife which, by its size and weight, was a seaman's handy
+tool, had also been used for the repeated sharpening of a blue pencil.
+When I saw those indications I went through the motion and came to the
+conclusion that the marks were on the wrong side. Then I tried with my
+left hand and accounted for it. The blue pencil made me suspicious. I
+have no knowledge of a yacht-hand's duties, but surely sharpening blue
+pencils is not one of them. Then the knife had also been carried in
+the same pocket as a piece of white chalk. The only sort of person I
+could think of who would carry a piece of chalk loose in his pocket
+and use a blue pencil continuously was a schoolmaster. So I stated
+definitely--there's nothing like bluff--that the knife belonged to the
+left-handed man, who quite obviously had red hair, who appeared to
+wear the insignia of the married state, and who--again according to
+the law of averages--had at least one child. I naturally slumped the
+schoolmaster idea in with it, and there you have the whole thing in a
+nutshell. But it was Garnesk who set me looking for left-handed clues,
+and if I hadn't been looking for it, it would never have entered my
+head."
+
+"But look here," I suggested, "some people sharpen pencils by pointing
+the pencil to them. Wouldn't that produce the same effect?"
+
+"Yes," he admitted, "I thought of that. But the marks would have been
+very much fainter, because there would have been much less pressure. I
+put that idea aside."
+
+"Good!" I exclaimed. "I should much prefer to swallow your theory
+whole, Dennis, but it struck me that might be a possible source of
+error, which, of course, might have led us on to a false trail. And,
+I say, those questions you asked about the time he stayed in port and
+the hotel. Were those all bluff? Or had you some sort of idea at the
+back of them?"
+
+"I had a very definite idea at the back of them," Dennis replied. "I
+thought perhaps the white chalk which was deposited in the blade-pocket,
+and was even noticeable on the handle, might be due to billiard chalk.
+But, of course, I didn't mention billiards, because it would have given
+my line of reasoning away. I thought it was better to spring it on them
+with a bump."
+
+"Which you certainly did," I laughed. "As a matter of fact, I thought
+you were simply having a game with us all. But now that you've told me
+the details, Den, do you remember what happened when you did spring it
+on them?"
+
+"Well, of course I do," he replied. "But even so, I hardly know what
+to make of it. I should like to feel confidently that Fuller is the
+man we are after. But we must remember that both he and Hilderman
+might very easily have thought I really had discovered something from
+the knife and been exceedingly surprised without having any guilty
+connection with the discovery."
+
+"H'm," I muttered, "I prefer to suspect Fuller."
+
+"Oh, I do too," Dennis agreed. "It is safer to suspect everybody in a
+case like this. But why are you so emphatic?"
+
+"Well," I explained, "we have a few little things to go on. Myra
+diagnosed that Sholto was taken on a yacht by Garnesk's left-handed
+man in sea-boots. Then you produce a left-handed member of a yacht's
+crew out of an old pocket-knife, and Fuller jumps out of his skin when
+you mention it. That seems to be something to go on, and then there
+was that incident in the smoking-room."
+
+"When you were reading the paper?" he asked. "I couldn't make that
+out. Did you notice anything suspicious about it?"
+
+"Of course I was in a suspicious mood," I admitted, "but it struck me
+as a singularly rude thing to do to snatch the paper out of my hand
+like that. His remark about Hilderman's precious view was very weak.
+I think there was something behind it."
+
+"What?" asked Dennis.
+
+"It may have been that there was a letter, or something in the way of
+a paper, which he didn't want me to see laid inside the paper; but
+there was another curious point about it. There was a page torn out. I
+had just noticed this and was on the point of making some silly remark
+about it when Fuller leaned right across you and took the thing from
+me, as you saw."
+
+"If the page he didn't want you to see was torn out, there was no
+chance of your seeing it," Dennis argued, logically enough.
+
+"No," I agreed, "but after your exhibition, if he had anything to
+conceal he may have been afraid of my even seeing that the page was
+torn out."
+
+"What do you imagine the missing page can possibly have contained?"
+
+"I don't know," I answered, and thought hard for a minute. "By Jove,
+Den!" I cried suddenly, "I believe I've got it. This takes us back to
+Garnesk's idea of a wireless invention causing all the trouble. We
+think we have reason to believe that Fuller may have stolen the dog.
+We also think we have reason to believe that one of his yacht-hands is
+what you called 'a mathematical master.' Now, suppose the paper had
+got hold of this and printed an illustration of the mysterious
+invention or perhaps a photograph of the mysterious inventor?"
+
+"And the inventor, knowing that we should accuse him of blinding Miss
+McLeod and making off with her dog, the moment we could identify him,
+tears out the offending illustration in case either we or anyone else
+in the neighbourhood should see it? He admitted, by the way, that he
+never went into port if he could help it."
+
+"Well, anyway," I said, "we'll have a look for the paper and find the
+missing page."
+
+"You noticed the date?" Dennis asked, anxiously.
+
+"Oh! it was this week's issue," I replied.
+
+"Do they take it at the house?" he inquired, again with a note of
+anxiety.
+
+"Not that I know of, but we'll rake one up somewhere, don't you fret.
+And, I say, this is a fine way to welcome a visitor; you haven't even
+said how-do to your host and hostess. I'm most awfully sorry."
+
+"Don't be an ass, Ronnie," said Dennis, cheerfully. "With the utmost
+respect, as you barrister chaps would say, I hadn't noticed your
+departure from the requirements of conventional hospitality. I
+wouldn't have missed this for all the world and a bit of Bond Street."
+
+So then we hurried to the house with a nervous energy, which spoke
+eloquently to our state of suppressed excitement.
+
+"All the same," Den muttered dolefully, as we hurried down the stable
+path, "it's going to be what the Americans would call 'some' wireless
+invention that can plant a grown-up mountain in the middle of an
+innocent river in the twinkling of an eyelash."
+
+"It is, indeed, old fellow," I agreed, "but don't let us worry about
+that. We'll get in and see Myra and the General, and then have a look
+round for the _Pictures_--the paper you were looking at."
+
+We found Myra sitting on the verandah and wondering what on earth had
+kept us, and if we had changed our minds and gone straight back south
+with Garnesk.
+
+"I'm most awfully sorry, darling," I apologised. "It's all my fault,
+of course. We went to Glasnabinnie, and since then I've been showing
+Dennis the river and generally forgetting my duties as deputy host."
+
+"What did you go to the river for?" Myra asked, suspiciously.
+
+"Oh! just to have a look round, you know, dear. It's a very nice
+river," I replied, airily.
+
+"Ronnie, dear, please," she said gently, laying her hand on my arm and
+turning her veiled and shaded face to mine, "please don't joke about
+it. I can't bear to think of you running risks there."
+
+I looked at my beautiful, blind darling, and a pang shot through me.
+
+"God knows I'm not joking about it, dearest," I said sadly.
+
+"I know you weren't really, Ronnie. But, please, oh! please, keep away
+from the river."
+
+"Very well, dear," I promised, "I will, unless an urgent duty takes me
+there. We must solve this mystery somehow, and it may mean my going to
+the river. But I promise not to run any unnecessary risks."
+
+"I'll keep an eye on him and see that he takes care of himself, Miss
+McLeod," said Dennis, coming to the rescue.
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Burnham," the girl replied, "but you know it applies
+to you as well. You must look after yourself also."
+
+"By the way, dear," I asked, changing the subject, "have you a copy of
+this week's _Pictures_?"
+
+"I'm afraid not," she answered. "Must it be the _Pictures_? I've just
+been looking at another illustrated paper."
+
+"Looking at what?" I cried, jumping to my feet. "Darling, who's
+talking about running risks?"
+
+"Oh, it's all right, dear," she assured me. "I got Mary to bring my
+dark-room lamp down to the den and just glanced at the pictures by the
+red light. But I won't do it again, if it alarms you, dear. All the
+same, I'm quite sure I could see by daylight."
+
+"You promised Garnesk you wouldn't till you heard from him, darling,"
+I urged. "It might be very dangerous, so please don't for my sake."
+
+"Very well, then," Myra sighed, "I'll try to be good. But I hope he'll
+write soon."
+
+"Where do you think we could get a copy of the paper?" I asked
+shortly.
+
+"If it's frightfully important, dear, you might get one in Glenelg,
+and, failing that, Doctor Whitehouse would lend you his. I know he
+takes it in. Why are you so keen about it?"
+
+"We'll go into the den and tell you everything in a minute or two,
+dear," I promised. "Is there any objection to my sending Angus in to
+the doctor?"
+
+"None whatever," Myra declared, "he can go now if you like."
+
+So after I had despatched Angus into the village with strict
+instructions not to come back without a copy of the paper if he valued
+his life, we all adjourned to Myra's den, and my friend and I told her
+in detail everything that had happened. About an hour and a half later
+Angus returned with the paper. I took it from him with a hurried word
+of thanks and nervously turned over the pages.
+
+"Ah! here's a page I didn't see," I exclaimed excitedly, but the only
+thing on the whole page was a photograph of a new dancer appearing in
+London. Without waiting for me to do so, Dennis leaned over me and
+turned the page over with a quick jerk of the wrist.
+
+"Phew!" I exclaimed involuntarily, and Dennis gave a long, low
+whistle.
+
+"Oh! what is it? Tell me!" pleaded Myra, anxiously.
+
+"It's a photograph of our friend Fuller," I replied slowly, in a voice
+that shook with excitement. "And he's wearing court dress, and
+underneath the photograph are the words 'Baron Hugo von Guernstein,
+Secretary of the Military Intelligence Department of the Imperial
+German General Staff.'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+DISCLOSES CERTAIN FACTS.
+
+
+"There's no doubt about it," I remarked as soon as we had partially
+recovered from our surprise. "That's Fuller right enough."
+
+"Oh! there's no doubt it's our man," said Dennis emphatically. "Even
+if we had not the evidence of the torn page to corroborate it, the
+likeness is perfect."
+
+"Yes," I agreed, "but what do you think his game can be? I'm coming
+round to Garnesk's wireless theory."
+
+"Whatever it is, we've stumbled on something of real importance this
+time. We must find out what it is and show it up at once."
+
+"I hope you'll take care," said Myra anxiously. "I shouldn't mind so
+much if I could be with you to help, but it's dreadful to sit here and
+know you are in danger and not be able to do anything at all."
+
+"I'm very glad you can't, darling," I said heartily, as I threw my arm
+round her shoulders. "I don't want you to come rushing into these
+dangers, whatever they may be. In a way I am glad you are not able to
+join us, because I know how difficult it would be to stop you if you
+were."
+
+"I suppose this is all one affair," she said doubtfully. "You don't
+think this is something quite different from the green ray? It might
+be two quite separate things, you know."
+
+"I don't think we are likely to meet with two such interesting
+problems in such a remote locality unless they are connected with each
+other, Miss McLeod, and especially as everything else apart from the
+photograph of Baron von Guernstein points to Fuller as the culprit. I
+think we can take it that in solving one mystery we provide the
+solution to the other."
+
+"I quite agree with you, Dennis," I said, "but what I am worrying
+about now is, what we are going to do."
+
+"The first thing you must do is to dress for dinner, and not let
+anyone imagine there is anything untoward about," Myra advised. "And
+please don't tell father you have been lunching with one of the
+Kaiser's principal spies, if that's what the Baron's title really
+means. I would much rather you said nothing to him at all about it for
+the present, and in any case you must have something definite in mind
+as to your plans before you put the matter to him. If you tell him you
+don't know what to do about it he will be in a dreadful state. He is
+very far from well, and all this business has told on him dreadfully."
+
+"That is very excellent advice, Miss McLeod," Dennis agreed warmly.
+"Ronald, we'll go and disguise ourselves as ordinary, undisturbed
+human beings and hide our fears and doubts behind the breastplate of
+a starched shirt. Come along."
+
+So Dennis dragged me away, and then, realising his indiscretion,
+allowed me to return to my _fiancee_ "just for two minutes, old
+fellow."
+
+Dinner was a curious meal, though not quite so strange as the meal the
+General and I had together the night, less than a week before, that
+Myra lost her sight.
+
+I hope I shall never live through a week like that again. Even now, as
+I look back, I cannot believe that it all happened in seven days. It
+still seems to have been something like seven months at the very
+least.
+
+We had one thing in our favour as we sat down to the table; we all had
+a common object in view. We were each of us determined to forget the
+green ray for a moment. Fortunately the old man took an immediate
+fancy to Dennis and that brightened me considerably. There are few
+things so pleasant as to see those whose opinion you value getting on
+with your friends. Only once, and that after Mary McNiven had come to
+take poor Myra away, did the subject of the green ray crop up.
+
+"Mr. Burnham knows about it all, I suppose?" the General asked.
+
+"I've told him everything, and Garnesk and I went over the whole thing
+with him before the train went."
+
+"Good!" said the old man emphatically. "Excellent fellow
+Garnesk--excellent; in fact, I don't know when I've met such a
+thundering good chap. No new developments, I suppose?"
+
+I hesitated. I could not have brought myself to lie to him, and in
+view of the startling complications with which we had so recently been
+confronted, I was at a loss for an answer. Dennis came to my rescue
+just in time.
+
+"I think Ron's difficulty is in defining the word 'developments,'
+General," said he. "If we said there were developments it would
+naturally convey the impression that we had something definite to
+report. I think perhaps the best way to put it would be that we
+believe we are getting on the right scent, by the simple process of
+putting two and two together and making them four. We hope to have
+something very decided to tell you in a day or two."
+
+"I shall be glad to hear something, I can assure you," said the old
+man, "but in the meantime we will try to forget about it. You have had
+a tiring journey, Mr. Burnham, followed by a strange initiation into
+what is probably a new sphere of life altogether--the sphere of
+mysteries and detectives, and so forth. No, Ronald, we'll give Mr.
+Burnham a rest for to-night."
+
+But just as I was congratulating myself that we had escaped from the
+painful necessity of putting him off with an evasive answer, if not a
+deliberate lie, the butler entered and announced that he had shown
+Mr. Hilderman into the library.
+
+"Well, as we are ready, we had better join him," said the old man, and
+we adjourned to the other room.
+
+Now if Hilderman should by any tactless remark betray our strange
+experience in the afternoon there would be the devil to pay. I
+followed the General into the library, beckoning to the American with
+a warning finger on my lip. He saw at once what I meant, fortunately,
+and held his tongue, and we all talked of general matters for some
+little time. Then Hilderman took the bull by the horns.
+
+"As a matter of fact, General," he announced boldly, "I ran over to
+have a word with Mr. Ewart about a certain matter which is interesting
+us all. I don't suppose you wish me to worry you with details at the
+moment?"
+
+"I should be very glad to hear what you have to tell us, Mr.
+Hilderman, but unfortunately I--er--I have a few letters I simply
+must write, so I hope you will excuse me. My daughter is in the
+drawing-room, so perhaps you fellows would care to join her there. Her
+counsel will be of more use to you than mine in your deliberations, I
+have no doubt."
+
+However, when we looked for her in the drawing-room Myra was not
+there, and I found her in her den.
+
+"Why not bring him in here?" she asked. "He won't bite, and it will
+be more conducive to a free and easy discussion. I should like to
+hear what he has to say for himself in view of his running away this
+afternoon, and I shouldn't feel comfortable in the drawing-room with
+this shade on. In here I feel that he must just put up with any
+curiosities he meets."
+
+So we made ourselves comfortable in the den, and Hilderman sat in a
+chair by the window.
+
+"Of course, you know what I have come to speak about, Mr. Ewart," he
+began at once. "You must have thought my conduct this afternoon was
+very strange--very unsportsmanlike, to say the least."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," I replied as lightly as I could. "It was a very
+strange affair, and it rather called for strange conduct of one sort
+or another."
+
+"Still, you must have thought it cowardly to run away as quickly as I
+could," he insisted.
+
+"It was some time before we even noticed you had left us," I laughed,
+"and then, I confess, I couldn't quite make out where you had got to
+or why you had gone."
+
+"As a matter of fact we were rather scared," Dennis put in. "We
+searched for you in the river."
+
+"It sounds a very cowardly confession to make," Hilderman admitted,
+"but I went back to the landing-stage, got into my boat, and cleared
+off as quickly as I could. I must ask you to believe that I was under
+the impression that it would be best for us all that I should. But my
+idea proved to be a bad one and nothing came of it. So here I am to
+ask you if you have learned anything or have anything to suggest."
+
+"I'm afraid we're more at a loss than ever now," I admitted. "The
+further we get with this thing the less we seem to know about it,
+unfortunately."
+
+Hilderman was exceedingly sympathetic, and though he made numerous
+suggestions he was as puzzled as we were ourselves. I had some
+difficulty in defining his attitude. We knew as much as was sufficient
+to hang his friend "Fuller," but I could not make up my mind whether
+he really was a friend of von Guernstein's or not. It was a small
+thing that decided me. On an occasionable table beside the American
+lay a steel paper-knife, a Japanese affair, with a carved handle and a
+very sharp blade. Hilderman picked up the knife and toyed with it.
+
+"I should be careful with that, Mr. Hilderman," I advised. "That is a
+wolf in sheep's clothing; it's exceedingly sharp."
+
+"Oh, yes!" cried Myra. "If you mean my paper-knife, it ought not
+really to be used as a paper-knife at all, the point is like a needle.
+I must put it away or hang it up as an ornament."
+
+The American laughed and laid the knife down again on the table, and
+we resumed our discussion. Both Dennis and I knew that we must be very
+careful to conceal our suspicions, but at the same time we did our
+best to reach some sort of conclusion with regard to Hilderman
+himself.
+
+"And, I suppose, until you have searched about the Saddle," he
+remarked, "you will be no further on as to who stole Miss McLeod's
+dog. It seems to me that the dog was taken by the man who wished to
+conceal an illicit still, and the green flash, or green ray, or
+whatever you call it, is simply a manifestation of some strange
+electrical combination in the air."
+
+"I'm afraid we shall have to leave it at that," I said with an
+elaborate sigh of regret.
+
+"Not when you have Mr. Burnham's distinguished powers of deduction to
+assist you, surely, Mr. Ewart?" said Hilderman, and waited for an
+answer.
+
+"Flukes are not very consistent things, I fear," Dennis supplied him
+readily, "and if we are to make any progress we shall hardly have time
+for idle speculation."
+
+"Fortune might continue to favour you," the American persisted. "Don't
+you think it's worth trying?"
+
+"I'm afraid not," said Dennis, with a laugh that added emphasis and
+conviction to his statement.
+
+"By the way," Myra suggested, "I don't know if anybody would care for
+a whisky and soda or anything. I won't have drinks served in here, but
+if anybody would like one, you know where everything is, Ron. I always
+say if anyone wants a drink in my den they can go and get it, and
+then I know they really like being in the den. You see I'm a woman,
+Mr. Hilderman," she laughed.
+
+"I must say I think the idea of refreshment would not enter the head
+of anyone who had the pleasure of your company here, Miss McLeod,
+unless you suggested it yourself."
+
+We laughed at the rather heavy compliment, and I went into the
+dining-room to fetch the decanters, syphons and glasses.
+
+"I'll help you to get them," called Dennis, and followed me out of the
+room.
+
+"Well?" I asked as soon as we reached the other room. "What do you
+make of it?"
+
+"I'm not sure," Dennis admitted. "I'm puzzled. I shouldn't be
+surprised if he turned out to be a Government secret service man
+keeping an eye on Fuller-von-Guernstein, and that when he has quite
+made up his mind that the mystery of the green ray is connected with
+his own business he will show his hand."
+
+"Something of the same sort occurred to Garnesk," I said. "Well,
+at present we'd better avoid suspicion and go back before he thinks
+we're holding a committee meeting."
+
+So I led the way to the den. I was walking carefully and slowly,
+because I was unaccustomed to carrying trays of glasses and things,
+and consequently I made no noise. I pushed the door open with my
+shoulder, Dennis following with a couple of syphons, and as I did so
+I chanced to glance upwards.
+
+In a large mirror which hung over the fireplace I saw the reflection
+of Hilderman's face, knitted in a fierce frown, gazing intently at
+some object which was outside my view. Myra was talking, though what
+she was saying I did not notice. I went into the room and put the tray
+on the big table, and as I filled the glasses I looked round casually
+to see what Hilderman had been looking at. Lying on the sofa on which
+Myra was sitting was the copy of the _Pictures_, open at the page
+bearing the incriminating photograph!
+
+I mixed Hilderman's drink according to his instructions--for by this
+time he had entirely recovered his equanimity--and handed it to him.
+As I did so I happened to look in the direction of the small table
+beside him. Myra's Japanese paper-knife was still there, but the point
+had been stuck more than an inch into the mahogany top of the table. I
+turned away quickly, with a laughing remark to Myra, which did not
+seem to raise any suspicion at the time, though I have no recollection
+now what it was I said.
+
+A few moments afterwards I quietly and unostentatiously slipped out of
+the room. Surely there could be no doubt about it now. The whole thing
+was obvious. Hilderman had noticed the paper, jumped to the conclusion
+that we suspected everything, and in the sudden access of baffled rage
+had picked up the paper-knife and stabbed it into the table.
+
+There was only one possible reason for that--Hilderman was an enemy.
+In that case, I thought, he has come here to try and find out how much
+we know and to keep an eye on us. Possibly he might be attempting to
+keep us there so that Fuller could get up to some satanic trick
+elsewhere. I decided to act at once. I turned back to the den and put
+my head round the door.
+
+"Will you people excuse me for a bit?" I said lightly. "The General
+wants me." And with that I left them. I had almost asked Hilderman not
+to go till I came back, but I was afraid it might sound suspicious to
+his acute ears. I hardly knew what to do. I should have liked to have
+been able to speak with Dennis, if only for a moment. Indeed, I am
+quite ready to confess that just then I would have given all I
+possessed for ten minutes' conversation with my friend. I stole
+quietly out of the house, and thought furiously.
+
+If Hilderman wanted to keep us from spying on Fuller, where was
+Fuller? Would I be wiser to wait and try to keep an eye on Hilderman,
+or was my best plan to ignore him and try and locate his German
+friend? I decided on the latter course. I went back and wrote a short
+note to Dennis and slipped it inside his cap.
+
+"I'm convinced they are both enemies. Take care of Myra. I may be out
+all night. Don't let her worry about me; I may not be back for some
+time, but I shall come back all right.--R."
+
+I left this for my friend, knowing that sooner or later he would find
+it, and went down to the landing-stage. The _Baltimore II._ and Myra's
+boat, the _Jenny Spinner_, were drawn up alongside, and I realised
+that if I took the _Jenny_ I should be raising Hilderman's suspicions
+at once. Anchored a little way out was another small motor-boat--the
+first the General had--which Myra had also called after a trout
+fly--the _Coch-a-Bondhu_--though the play upon words was lost on most
+people. The boat was still in constant use, and Angus and Hamish
+continually went into Mallaig and Glenelg in it to collect parcels and
+so on. I ran to the petrol shed, and got three tins of Shell, put them
+in the dinghy and pushed out to the _Bondhu_, climbed on board,
+sounded the tank, filled it up, and started out across the Loch. I can
+only plead my anxiety to get well out of sight and hearing before
+Hilderman should think of leaving the house, as an excuse for my
+lamentable thoughtlessness on this occasion. Indeed, it was not till
+long afterwards that I realised I had forgotten to anchor the dinghy,
+and I left it, just as it was, to drift out to sea on the tide.
+
+I made all the pace I could and reached the other side in about twenty
+minutes. I was sadly equipped for an adventurous expedition! I had no
+flask to sustain me in case of need, no weapon in case I should be
+called to defend myself; I was wearing a dinner-jacket, no hat, and a
+pair of thin patent-leather pumps!
+
+I ran the boat right in shore, heedless of the danger to the
+propeller, in a small sandy cove round the point, so that I was hidden
+from Glasnabinnie. Then I realised that I had been a little too
+precipitate in my departure. There was no anchor-chain on board, and
+the painter was admirably suited for making fast to pier-heads and
+landing-stages at high tide, but was nothing like long enough to
+enable me to make the craft secure on short. However, I dragged her as
+far up as I could, and prayed that I might be able to return before
+the tide caught her up and carried her away. In those circumstances I
+should have been stranded in the enemy's country, by no means a
+pleasing prospect!
+
+Having done the best I could for Myra's faithful motor-boat, I made my
+way round the hill, climbing cautiously upwards all the time, my
+dinner-jacket carefully buttoned in case a gleam of moonlight on my
+shirt-front should give me away at a critical moment. It was a rocky
+and difficult climb, and I soon regretted that I had not taken the
+bridle path to Glasnabinnie and made my way boldly up the bed of the
+burn. However, it was too late to turn back, and eventually, after one
+or two false steps and stumbles, I succeeded in reaching a spot from
+which I could obtain a good view of the hut. No, there was no light
+there, no sign of movement at all. I decided to work my way round to
+the other side and then, if I continued to get no satisfaction, to
+descend to the house. The windows of the hut, or smoking-room, as the
+reader will no doubt remember, extended the whole length of the
+structure; and surely, I thought, if there were a light in the place
+it would be bound to be visible. I edged round the face of a steep
+crag, floundered across the stream between the two falls, getting
+myself soaked above the knees as I did so, and crouched among the
+heather on the other side of the building. No, there was no one there,
+the place was deserted. I knelt down and peered about me listening
+intently.
+
+Not a sound greeted my expectant ear save the incessant rumble of the
+falls. Then as I turned my attention to the house itself and looked
+down the course of the burn to Glasnabinnie, I could scarcely suppress
+a cry of astonishment. For there below me, moving to and fro between
+the house and the hut, was a constant procession of small lights, like
+a slowly moving stream of glow-worms, twenty or thirty yards apart. I
+was rooted to the spot. What could it mean? Was this another weird
+natural manifestation, or was it, as was much more likely, a couple of
+dozen men bearing lights? Yes, that was it, men bearing lights--and
+what else besides? Men don't climb up and down steep watercourses in
+the night for the sake of giving an impromptu firework display to an
+unexpected visitor, I told myself. There was only one thing to do, and
+that was to investigate the matter and chance what might happen to me.
+I crept down to the hut, and lay on my face among the heather and
+listened. Here and there a mumble of voices, now and then a subdued
+shout, apparently an order to be carried out by the mysterious
+light-bearers, broken occasionally by the shrill call of a gull,
+conveyed nothing to me that I could not see. I looked up at the hut.
+No, there was no one there, and the windows were not screened, because
+I could see the moonlight streaming through the far side. Yet, surely,
+the hut must be their objective, I thought. Where else could they be
+going to? Fascinated, I crawled on my hands and knees till I could
+touch the walls of the smoking-room by putting out my arm. I heard a
+great commotion coming, it seemed, from the very ground beneath my
+feet.
+
+I laid my ear to the ground and listened. The noise grew louder, and
+the voices seemed to be shouting against a more powerful sound--the
+waterfall, possibly. I thought perhaps the floor of the hut would give
+me more opportunity to locate the source of the disturbance. I threw
+caution to the winds and slipped through the wide windows into the
+room. I moved as carefully as I could, however, once my feet found the
+floor, for if there should be anyone below they would probably hear me
+up above. I turned back the carpet in order to hear more distinctly,
+and as I did so I noticed a rectangular shaft of light which trickled
+through the floor. There was a trap-door. I knelt down and lifted it
+cautiously by a leather tab which was attached to one side of it and
+peered through. I can never understand how it was I did not drop that
+hatch again with a self-confessing crash when I realised the
+extraordinary nature of the sight that greeted my eyes. There was I in
+the smoking-hut of a peaceful American citizen, where only a few hours
+before I had spent a pleasant hour in friendly conversation, and now I
+was lying on the edge of the entrance to a great cavern.
+
+Below me there was a confused mass of machinery and men. Some were
+working on scaffolding, others were many feet below. The nearest of
+them was so close to me that I could have leaned down and laid my hand
+on his head. I tried to make out what they were doing, but except that
+they were dismantling the machinery, whatever it might be, I could
+make nothing of it. I watched them breathlessly, trembling lest at any
+moment one of them should look up and detect my presence.
+
+The place was lighted by electricity, though there were not enough
+lamps to illuminate the cavern very brightly, and as my eyes got
+accustomed to the lights and shadows I was able to make out the cause
+of this.
+
+Evidently there was a turbine engine below, driven by the water from
+the falls, which supplied the necessary power. After a moment or two
+it dawned on me how the cavern came to be there; it was, or had been,
+the course of a hidden river, such as are common enough among the
+mountains, but the stream had been diverted, probably by some sort of
+landslide, and had left this tumbler-shaped cave, resembling a pit
+shaft. Now, I thought, I have only to find out what all this machinery
+is for and the whole mystery is solved. I opened the trap a little
+further, and allowed my body to hang slightly over the edge.
+
+Then for the first time I saw, to my right, fixed so that it almost
+touched the floor of the hut, a great round brass object, mounted on
+an enormous tripod, which, again, stood on a platform. In front of
+this was a large square thing like a mammoth rectangular condenser,
+such as is used for photographic enlarging and other projection
+purposes. Had it not been for this condenser I should have taken the
+whole thing to be an elaborate searchlight. But, I asked myself, what
+would be the good of a searchlight there? Suddenly the whole truth
+dawned upon me.
+
+The searchlight must operate through a trap in the wall of the hut
+just below the floor. I leaned further in, forgetting my danger in the
+intoxication of sudden discovery.
+
+Only a foot or two away from me a man was working on the searchlight.
+Carefully taking it to pieces, he was handing the parts to another
+man, who was perched on the scaffold below him. He was so close to
+me that I could hear him breathing. I was about to wriggle back to
+safety when he looked up. He gave a sudden loud shout. I lay there
+fascinated. After all, I thought, before they can reach me I can slip
+out and edge round the cliff, run down on to the shore, and get away
+in the motor-boat. But I had reckoned without my host. Even as the man
+shouted, and the others left their work to see what was the matter,
+Fuller dashed out from behind the platform, gave one terrified look at
+me, and, flinging himself at the wall of the cavern, threw all his
+weight on a rope which dangled there. I scuttled to my feet, intending
+to make a bolt for it. But the boards shivered beneath me, and, before
+I could realise what was happening, I found myself hurtling through
+the air to the floor of the cavern below.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+SOME GRAVE FEARS.
+
+
+And now, as the reader will readily understand, I must continue the
+story as it was afterwards related to me.
+
+Myra, the General, and Dennis sat up and waited for me till the
+early hours of the morning, but I did not return. The young people did
+what they could to assure the old man that my sudden and unexpected
+disappearance had been entirely voluntary, and Dennis, who had found
+my note, as soon as he put on his cap to stroll out casually, and see
+where I had got to, gave him subtly to understand that it was really
+part of a prearranged plan, and Myra at length persuaded him to go to
+bed at midnight.
+
+When I failed to put in an appearance at breakfast-time, however, even
+they began to be a trifle alarmed, but they did their best to conceal
+their fears. They scoured the hillside and then went down to the
+landing-stage. Dennis had reported the previous night that the
+motor-boat was still in its place when he saw Hilderman off, and it
+never occurred to Myra that I might make my departure in the
+_Coch-a-Bondhu_.
+
+"He hasn't gone by the sea, any way," Dennis announced again, as he
+and the girl stood on the landing-stage.
+
+"You mean the _Jenny_ is still there?" she asked.
+
+"Yes," said Dennis, "she's just where she was when we arrived from
+Glasnabinnie in Hilderman's boat yesterday."
+
+"Mr. Burnham!" Myra cried suddenly, "is there another boat, a brown
+motor-boat, anchored just out there?"
+
+"No," said Dennis, realising how terribly handicapped they were by
+Myra's inability to see.
+
+"Are you sure?" the girl asked anxiously.
+
+"Quite sure," said Dennis positively. "There is one motor-boat here,
+and that is all."
+
+"I suppose he took that to put Hilderman off the scent," Myra mused,
+"and in that case he is probably quite safe. I daresay he's gone to
+look for our friend von What's-his name's yacht or his house at Loch
+Duich."
+
+Dennis clutched at the opportunity this theory gave him to allay her
+fears, and declared that it was ridiculous of him not to have thought
+of it before, and he gave Myra his arm to the house. But he was not at
+all satisfied with it, and, as it turned out afterwards, Myra was not
+very confident about it either. Dennis knew me well enough to know
+that I should never have set out with the deliberate intention of
+stopping away overnight without leaving some more definite message for
+my _fiancee_. However, their thoughts were speedily diverted, for they
+had hardly reached the house before a strange man made his way
+towards them through the heather.
+
+"Mr. Ewart, sir?" he asked.
+
+"Do you wish to speak to Mr. Ewart?" Dennis asked cautiously.
+
+"I have a parcel and a message for him from Mr. Garnesk," said the
+stranger, a young man, who might have been anything by profession.
+
+"Oh, indeed," said Dennis, his suspicions aroused at once. Garnesk, he
+knew, had only arrived in Glasgow the night before.
+
+"I see you are wondering how I got here and why I came down the hill,
+instead of up a road of some sort," said the youth with a smile.
+
+"Frankly, I was," Dennis admitted.
+
+"Then, perhaps, I had better explain who I am and how I come to
+be here. My name is McKenzie. I am employed by Welton and Delaunay,
+the Glasgow opticians, makers of the 'Weldel' telescopes and
+binoculars. Mr. Garnesk has a good deal to do with our firm in the
+matter of designs for special glasses to withstand furnace heat, for
+ironworkers, etc. He arrived at the works last night in a car, and,
+after consulting with the manager, they kept a lot of us at work all
+night on a new design of spectacles.
+
+"I was sent with this parcel in the early hours of the morning.
+There was no passenger train, but Mr. Garnesk got me a military pass
+on a fish train, and here I am. I was to deliver the parcel to Mr.
+Ewart, or, failing him, to Miss McLeod. When I saw this lady with
+the--er--the shade over her eyes I thought you were probably Mr.
+Ewart, sir."
+
+"I'm not, as a matter of fact," said Dennis. "But where have you come
+from, and why didn't you come up the path?"
+
+"Mr. Garnesk gave me instructions, sir, which I read to the boatman
+who brought me here. Mr. Garnesk said I would find several fishermen
+at Mallaig who had motor-boats, and would bring me across. He also
+gave me this paper, and told me on no account to deviate from the
+directions he gave."
+
+Dennis held out his hand for the paper. He glanced through it, and
+then read it to Myra.
+
+"Take a motor-boat from Mallaig to Invermalluch Lodge," he read. "Tell
+the man to cross the top of Loch Hourn as if he were going to Glenelg,
+but when he gets well round the point he is to double back, and land
+you as near as he can to the house, but to keep on the far side of the
+point. You are on no account to be taken to the landing-stage at the
+lodge. When you arrive at the lodge insist on seeing Mr. Ewart, or
+Miss McLeod personally, if Mr. Ewart is not there. Then rejoin your
+motor-boat, and go on to Glenelg. Wait there for the first boat that
+will take you to Mallaig, and come back by the train. Do not return to
+Mallaig by motor-boat."
+
+"Those are very elaborate instructions, Mr. Burnham," said Myra. "It
+would seem that Mr. Garnesk is very suspicious about something."
+
+"Evidently," Dennis agreed. "You'd better let Miss McLeod have that
+parcel," he added to McKenzie. The youth handed him the parcel, and at
+Myra's suggestion Dennis opened it. Topmost among its contents was a
+letter addressed to me. Dennis tore it open and read it.
+
+"Miss McLeod is to wear a pair of these glasses until I see her again.
+She will be able to see through them fairly well, but she must not
+remove them. The consequences might be fatal. The three other pairs
+are for you and Burnham, and one extra in case of accidents. It will
+also come in handy if you take Hilderman into your confidence. Wear
+these glasses when you are in any danger of coming in contact with the
+green ray. I have an idea that they will act as a decided protection.
+I also enclose one Colt automatic pistol and cartridges, the only
+one I could get in the middle of the night. If you decide to ask
+Hilderman's help tell him everything. I am sure he will be very useful
+to you. Keep your courage up, old man! The best to you all. In
+haste.--H.G."
+
+"We're certainly learning something," said Dennis, as he finished.
+"Obviously Garnesk is very suspicious of somebody, but it's not
+Hilderman. He writes as if he were pretty sure of himself. Probably he
+has proved his theory about Hilderman being a Government detective."
+
+"I have a message for Mr. Ewart, sir," the messenger interrupted.
+
+"You had better tell it me," Dennis suggested.
+
+"I'd rather Miss McLeod asked me," McKenzie demurred. "Those were Mr.
+Garnesk's instructions. He said 'failing Mr. Ewart, insist on seeing
+Miss McLeod.'"
+
+"Very well," laughed Myra. "I quite appreciate your point. May I know
+the message?"
+
+"Mr. Ewart was to take no notice whatever of anything Mr. Garnesk said
+in his letter about Mr. Hilderman. He was on no account to trust Mr.
+Hilderman, but to be very careful not to let him see he was suspected.
+The gentlemen were always to wear their glasses whenever they were in
+sight of the hut above--Glas.--above Mr. Hilderman's house."
+
+"Whew!" Dennis whistled. "But why didn't he----? Oh, I see. He was
+afraid the letter might fall into Hilderman's hands."
+
+"I wonder where Ron can have got to?" Myra mused wistfully.
+
+"We're very much obliged to you for all the trouble you have taken,
+Mr. McKenzie," said Dennis. "You've done very well indeed."
+
+"Oh, Mr. Garnesk also said that Miss McLeod was to put on her glasses
+by the red light."
+
+"Yes; that's important," Dennis agreed. "We'll go up to the house now,
+shall we, Miss McLeod?"
+
+"Yes," said Myra, "and Mr. McKenzie must come and have a meal and a
+rest, as I'm sure he needs both after his journey. I'll send Angus to
+look after the boatman." So the three strolled up to the lodge.
+
+"By the way," said Dennis, "of course it's all right, and you've
+carried out your instructions to the letter, but how can you be sure
+this is Miss McLeod, and how do you know I'm not Hilderman?"
+
+"Mr. Garnesk described everybody I should be likely to meet," McKenzie
+replied, "including Mr. Hilderman and Mr. Fuller. I know you are Mr.
+Ewart's friend because you have a small white scar above your left
+eyebrow. So, being with you, and wearing a shade and an Indian bangle,
+I thought I was safe in concluding the lady was Miss McLeod."
+
+"Garnesk doesn't seem to miss much!" Dennis laughed.
+
+"He made me repeat his descriptions about twenty times," said
+McKenzie, "so I felt pretty sure of myself."
+
+When they got up to the lodge, and the messenger's requirements had
+been administered to, Dennis unpacked the parcel. The spectacles
+proved to be something like motor goggles; they fitted closely over
+the nose and forehead, and entirely excluded all light except that
+which could be seen through the glass. The only curious thing about
+them was the glass itself. Instead of being white, or even blue, it
+was red, and the surface was scratched diagonally in minute parallel
+lines. Myra and Dennis hurried upstairs, and lighted the lamp in the
+dark-room. When the girl came down again she declared that she could
+see beautifully. Everything was red, of course, but she could see
+quite distinctly.
+
+"Have you any idea why these glasses are ruled in lines like this?"
+Dennis asked McKenzie.
+
+"I couldn't say for certain, sir," the youth replied. "But I should
+think it was because Mr. Garnesk thought the glasses would be so near
+the eye as to be ineffective. In photography, for instance, you can't
+print either bromide or printing-out paper in a red light. But if you
+coat a red glass with emulsion, and make an exposure on it, you can
+print the negative in the usual way. I don't know why it is."
+
+"Perhaps there is no space for a ray to form," Myra suggested.
+
+"You must tell Mr. Garnesk how deeply grateful we all are to him,"
+said Dennis. "I'll give you a letter to take back to him. It has been
+a wonderfully quick bit of work!"
+
+"I should think he has got some hundreds of the glasses finished by
+this time," said McKenzie, "and he has already asked for an estimate
+for fifty thousand of them."
+
+"Whatever for?" Myra exclaimed.
+
+"I couldn't say at all, but Mr. Garnesk probably has it all mapped
+out. He always knows what he's about."
+
+A couple of hours later McKenzie left for Glenelg, with ample time to
+catch his boat, and the others sat down to lunch. Myra was delighted
+that she could see, even though everything was red. Just as they had
+finished lunch a telegram was delivered to Dennis. It was handed in at
+Mallaig, and it read: "Don't worry about me. May be away for a few
+days.--EWART."
+
+"Oh, good!" exclaimed Dennis. "A wire from Ron. He's all right. 'Don't
+worry about me. May be away for a few days.' Sent from Mallaig. He may
+have got something he feels he must tell Garnesk about, and has gone
+to Glasgow."
+
+"I expect that's it," Myra agreed. "I'm glad he's wired. I do hope
+he'll write from wherever he is to-night. Do you think I shall get a
+letter in the morning?"
+
+"Certain to," Dennis vowed, laying the telegram on the mantelpiece.
+"He's sure to write, however busy he is."
+
+Though Myra was disappointed that there was no personal message for
+her, she tried to believe that everything was all right. Dennis went
+on what he called coastguard duty, and watched the sea and shores with
+the untiring loyalty of a faithful dog. That night, after dinner, he
+went out to keep an eye on things, and left Myra with her father. She
+has told me since that she felt miserable that I had not wired to her,
+and went to fetch my telegram in order to get what comfort she could
+from my message to Dennis. She held the telegram under the light, and
+read it through. The words were: "May be away for a few days.--EWART."
+She made out the faint pencil writing slowly through the red glass.
+She read it twice through, and then suddenly collapsed into an
+armchair in the horror of swift realisation. "Ewart!" she whispered,
+"Ewart! He would never sign a telegram to Mr. Burnham in that way. If
+Ronnie didn't send that wire, who did?"
+
+In a moment she jumped to her feet. She must act, and act quickly.
+
+She ran into the den, and picked up the revolver and cartridges which
+Garnesk had sent, and which she had put carefully away until I should
+come and claim them. She loaded the revolver, and tucked it in the
+pocket of the Burberry coat which she slipped on in the hall. Then she
+tore down to the landing-stage, and made straight for Glasnabinnie in
+the _Jenny Spinner_. She had got about half a mile when Dennis, coming
+up to the top of the cliff on his self-imposed coastguard duties, saw
+her and recognised her through his binoculars.
+
+He ran down to the landing-stage, putting on his red glasses as he
+went. His horror was complete when he found there was no craft of any
+kind about, not even a rowboat. Alas! I had idiotically allowed the
+dinghy to drift away. He ran along the shore, every now and then
+looking anxiously through his binoculars for any sign of any kind of
+boat that would get him over to Glasnabinnie in time to fulfil his
+promise of looking after "Ron's little girl."
+
+Myra has since admitted--and how proud I was to hear her say it--that
+she forgot about everything and everybody except that I was in danger,
+and probably Hilderman knew something about it. Her one thought was to
+hold the pistol to his head and demand my safe return.
+
+She came ashore a little beyond the house, having made a rather wide
+detour, so that she should not be seen. She knew the best way to the
+hut, and there was a light in it. She thought Hilderman would be
+there. She had passed well to seaward of the _Fiona_, and noticed that
+she was standing by with steam up. Myra climbed the hill to the hut
+with as much speed as she could.
+
+Hilderman was standing below the door of the smoking-room talking to
+three men. She knew that she would have no chance, even with a
+revolver, against four men. She might hurt one of them, but she
+recognised, fortunately, that the others would overpower her.
+
+Eventually Hilderman went into the hut, and two of the men stayed
+outside talking. The other went down the hill. It was in watching
+this man that Myra saw the sight that had astonished me, the
+continuous stream of lights down the bed of the burn. She waited, so
+she said it seemed, for hours and hours, before she could see a real
+chance of attacking Hilderman.
+
+Indeed, neither she nor Dennis can give any very clear idea precisely
+how long it was that she waited there, but it must have been a
+considerable time. At last Hilderman was alone. Myra crept to the edge
+of the little plateau on which the hut stood, and then made a dash for
+the door. She thrust it open and stepped inside, pulling it to behind
+her. Hilderman sprang to his feet with an oath as he saw her.
+
+"Heavens!" he cried. "You!"
+
+Myra drew the revolver and presented it at him.
+
+"Put up your hands, Mr. Hilderman," she said, with a calmness that
+astonished herself, "and tell me what you have done with Ronnie--Mr.
+Ewart."
+
+"I must admit you've caught me, Miss McLeod!" Hilderman replied. "I
+can only assure you that your _fiance_ is safe."
+
+"Where is he?" Myra asked.
+
+"He is quite close at hand," Hilderman assured her, "and quite safe.
+What do you want me to do?"
+
+"You must set him free at once," said Myra quietly.
+
+"And if I refuse?"
+
+"I shall shoot you and anyone else who comes near me."
+
+"Now look here, Miss McLeod," said Hilderman, "I may be prepared to
+come to terms with you. If you shot me and half a dozen others it
+would not help you to find Mr. Ewart. On the other hand, it would be
+awkward for us to have a lot of shooting going on, and I have no wish
+to harm Mr. Ewart. If I produce him, and allow you two to go away, are
+you prepared to swear to me that you will neither of you breathe a
+word of anything you may know to any living soul for forty-eight
+hours? I think I can trust you."
+
+Myra thought it over quickly.
+
+"Yes," she said, "if you will----"
+
+But she never finished the sentence. At that moment someone caught her
+wrist in a grip of steel, and wrenched the pistol from her.
+
+"Come, come, Miss McLeod," said Fuller. "This is very un-neighbourly
+of you."
+
+Myra looked round her in despair. There must be some way out of this.
+She cudgelled her brains to devise some means of getting the better of
+her captives. Fuller laid the pistol on the table and sat down.
+
+"You need not be alarmed," he said. "We shall not hurt you. You will
+be left here, that is all. And we shall get safely away. After this we
+shall not be able to leave your precious lover with you, but Hilderman
+insists that he shall not be hurt, and we shall take him to Germany
+and treat him as a prisoner of war."
+
+Then Myra had an inspiration. She turned her head towards Fuller, as
+if she were looking about two feet to the right of his head.
+
+"You may as well kill me as leave me here," she said calmly.
+
+"Nonsense," said Hilderman. "If we leave you here, and see that you
+have no means of getting away by sea, you will have to find your way
+across the hills or round the cliffs. There is no road, and by the
+time you return to civilisation we shall be clear."
+
+"That's very thoughtful of you," said Myra. "You bargain on my falling
+over a precipice or something. A blind girl would have a splendid
+chance of getting back safely!"
+
+"Good heavens!" Hilderman cried. "I thought you must be able to see.
+Fuller, this means that that fellow Burnham came with her, and is
+close at hand. What in the name----"
+
+But he, too, was interrupted, for a great, gaunt figure flashed like
+some weird animal through the window. A long bare arm reached over
+Fuller's shoulder and snatched the pistol.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Burnham is with her," said Dennis quietly, as he stood in
+front of them, stripped to the waist, the water pouring off him in
+streams, and covered them with the revolver.
+
+Hilderman and Fuller von Guernstein held up their hands as requested.
+
+"This is very awkward," said Fuller. "We shall have to let that
+wretched Ewart go."
+
+And then Dennis swayed, threw up his arms, and fell sideways, full
+length on the floor. Myra glanced at him, and threw herself on her
+knees beside the prostrate form.
+
+"Dead!" she screamed. "_Dead!_"
+
+Hilderman pushed her gently aside, and knelt down to examine Dennis.
+
+"It's his heart," he announced. "Come Hugo. We're safe now, and the
+girl's blind. Let's get away."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE TRUTH REVEALED.
+
+
+I will here resume my own narrative.
+
+When I came to myself I was dazed and aching, but, so far as I could
+discover, there were no bones broken. The curious part about it was
+the rapidity with which I recalled my fall into the cavern. When I
+found I could move my limbs freely I sat up, and discovered that I was
+in a small cabin on board a steamer. I stood up and stretched myself.
+I was feeling weak and ill, but that would pass off I thought. A
+minute's speculation decided me that I was on board the _Fiona_, in
+which case I was shanghaied.
+
+I knew that if I valued my life I must act at once. I opened the door
+of the cabin, and was surprised to find that it was unlocked. Then I
+crept cautiously in the shadows of the dawn up the companion-ladder to
+the deck. Though I heard voices I could see no one close to me. I
+stole along the deck and listened. The voices were talking quite
+freely in German. Where could we be? And, more important still, where
+were we going?
+
+I looked around me, and saw that we were steaming slowly down a narrow
+loch, surrounded by mountains which stretched right down to the
+shores. I looked across the deck and almost shouted out in my
+surprise. For there, moving gracefully alongside of us, was a
+submarine. There were two officers on the deck of the submarine
+chatting with Hilderman and Fuller, who were leaning over the rail of
+the _Fiona_. A submarine! A German submarine in a peaceful Scottish
+loch! Then this was the secret base we had discussed. I looked up at
+the wheel-house. In front of it was the very searchlight, with its
+curious condenser that I had seen in the cavern.
+
+What could it mean? I decided to slip overboard unseen, if possible,
+swim to the shore, and get back over the rocks to the mouth of the
+loch, and give the alarm if I should be fortunate enough to attract
+the attention of any passing steamer.
+
+But suddenly an idea struck me. I crept quickly up the ladder to the
+deckhouse, threw my arms round the man at the wheel, flung him down on
+to the deck, and swung the wheel round with all the strength I had in
+me. There was a dull, crunching sound as the yacht lurched round. A
+groaning shiver shook her, and, if I may be pardoned the illustration,
+it felt exactly as if the ship were going to be sick. There were
+hoarse cries from the men, and as the _Fiona_ righted herself I looked
+astern. There was a frothy, many-coloured effervescence of oil and
+water.
+
+The submarine had disappeared! The yacht was nearing the head of the
+loch. It was now or never. I made a dash for the side, but Fuller was
+before me. He tripped me up, and I fell heavily to the deck, bruising
+myself badly and giving my head a terrible bump. I put up my arm in a
+last feeble attempt to defend myself. Fuller's hands closed on my
+throat and nearly choked the life out of me, and as I sank back,
+struggling for breath, a loud cry rang out from Hilderman.
+
+"Guernstein! Guernstein!" he yelled.
+
+Fuller let me go and ran to Hilderman. I lifted myself on my elbow.
+Somehow or other I would crawl to the side, and get away before he
+came back to finish me, but as I looked out over the stern I was
+rooted to the spot by the sight that met my eyes. Or was I deluding
+myself with the fantastic delirium of a dying man? Not four hundred
+yards away was a motor-boat. It was Hilderman's _Baltimore II._, and
+in it were Myra, my poor Myra, and Garnesk and Angus, all wearing
+motor-goggles. But, strangest of all, a British destroyer was puffing
+serenely behind them. No, I must be dreaming. Garnesk had told me he
+was sending glasses for Myra. He had mentioned his connection with the
+naval authorities. This must be the nightmare of death-agony.
+
+Then Fuller rushed up the wheel-house ladder and jumped on to the
+searchlight platform. Suddenly there flashed out on the grey light of
+the dawn a vivid green ray. So, then, the mystery was solved--but,
+alas! too late. The green ray was produced by a searchlight, and every
+man on the destroyer would be blind. I looked back, and as I did so I
+remembered, with an uncanny distinctness, old General McLeod's words,
+"The rock came to me." The warship seemed suddenly to grow double its
+size, and then double that, and so on, growing bigger and bigger until
+it appeared to fill the entire loch, and spread out the whole length
+of the horizon. I could even see a gold signet-ring on the finger of a
+young officer on the bridge. I looked round at the details of the
+boat; it stood out in amazing clearness. If one man on that ship,
+hundreds of yards away, had opened his mouth I could have counted his
+teeth. Suddenly I gasped with astonishment as I awoke to the fact that
+every man on board the destroyer was wearing motor-goggles! I had no
+time to speculate about this new surprise, for then the _Fiona_, left
+to her own devices, suddenly crashed ashore. The ship shook and
+shivered, and Fuller was thrown on his face beside the searchlight,
+and as I looked again the destroyer had resumed its normal
+proportions.
+
+Then the crew of the _Fiona_ rushed about the deck in mad terror,
+until, evidently at the wise suggestion of one of their number, they
+decided to wait calmly and give themselves up. Hilderman, closely
+followed by Fuller, sprang ashore, and made for the mountains. Half a
+dozen shots rang out from the destroyer, and a rifle bullet checked
+Fuller's progress before he had gone more than a few yards.
+
+Hilderman, however, managed to reach the shelter of a ridge of rock,
+and I watched him as he scuttled up the mountain side, and made
+straight for a long grey rock which protruded from the foot of a steep
+crag. And as I looked, and saw him go to the rock and open a door in
+it, I realised that it was really a great, grey, lean-to shed,
+cunningly concealed. Hilderman had scarcely opened the door when a
+huge, dark shadow seemed to fall out of the shed and envelop him. It
+was Sholto. Blind, and half-mad with fury, he sprang at Hilderman's
+throat with the unerring aim of his breed. The wretched man staggered
+and fell, and Sholto----.
+
+I turned away from the sickening sight, and looked over the side, and
+saw Myra standing up, waving to me, as they drew alongside the wrecked
+_Fiona_.
+
+And then I'm afraid I must have fainted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I lay on the sofa in Myra's den, and Myra--God bless her!--was
+kneeling beside me. Sholto was with us too, looking incredibly wise in
+a pair of motor-goggles.
+
+"So you see, darling," said Myra, "the glasses cured me completely,
+and I can see just as well as ever." And I shall not repeat what I
+said in reply to such glorious news.
+
+"Tell me, dear," I asked shortly, "what exactly happened with Dennis?
+I haven't quite got that."
+
+"Well, he saw me on my way to Glasnabinnie," she explained, "and was
+determined to follow. He couldn't find a boat of any kind, so he swam!
+Angus saw him in the water and ran and told daddy. When they found
+there was no boat they went and fetched the one on the loch, carried
+it down to the sea, and called Hamish. Then they pulled across. Then,
+you see, when Dennis had his heart attack, I thought he was only
+pretending. I thought he saw that we should never be able to get away
+again, and that if he pretended to be dead they would leave us alone.
+So I followed his lead. I was terribly frightened when I couldn't make
+him answer me after they had gone, but before I could do anything
+daddy and the men arrived. Angus stopped with me, and told me where
+the _Fiona_ had gone. We took the _Baltimore_ because she is much
+faster than our boat. He must have been a duffer to lose that race we
+had. And then daddy and Hamish took Dennis--I refuse to call him Mr.
+Burnham after this--and brought him here and sent for Dr. Whitehouse."
+
+"I'm thankful he's out of danger," I said fervently.
+
+"But the doctor says he must take it very, very gently for a long
+time, and he won't be able to walk much for months. Did he know he
+had this heart trouble?"
+
+I had scarcely finished explaining the extent of Dennis's heroism when
+Garnesk arrived.
+
+"Hilderman's dead!" he said. "He made a full confession. It seems he
+is a German, and his name's von Hilder. He has lived most of his life
+in America. He is a brilliant physicist, and has done some big things
+with electricity and light. He was here to prepare the submarine base
+you found, and he also got on with a new invention--The Green Ray. Of
+course he didn't give the secret of that away, but we have the
+searchlight, and I have already tumbled to it partly. It is
+practically a new form of light.
+
+"It is formed by passing violet and orange rays through tourmaline and
+quartz respectively. The accident to Miss McLeod was their first
+intimation of its blinding properties, and to the end he knew nothing
+about the suffocation part of it. I find by experiment that when the
+two rays are switched on simultaneously the air does not become
+de-oxygenised, but when you put the violet ray first it does, and it
+remains so until the orange ray is applied. The effect that Hilderman
+imagined, and succeeded in producing, was a ray of light which should
+so alter the relative density of the air as to act as a telescope.
+He's done it, and it's one of the finest achievements of science.
+However, I have a piece of wonderful news for you."
+
+"What is it?" we both demanded at once.
+
+"The Secret of the Green Ray is ours, and ours alone. Hilderman has
+admitted that the reason why they did not clear it out at the first
+sign of suspicion was that, in their final calculations, they were
+unsure of their figures. That means, put popularly, that though he
+knew what he was trying to do, and how he meant to do it, the actual
+result was something of a fluke. It very often is with inventors. They
+had no drawings that they could rely on to make another searchlight
+by, so they were bound to take the whole thing back with them. They
+could send no figures, because the relative distances and other
+quantities baffled them. They could not take the searchlight back in
+pieces, because if any piece had been broken they might not have been
+able to reconstruct the proportions with critical accuracy, as we say.
+So what was to have been Germany's hideous weapon of war is now ours.
+We have a searchlight which acts as a telescope, which will pierce the
+deepest fog, and which will dispel the most ungodly poisonous gases
+ever invented. You can see for yourself that no gas could make headway
+against the atmosphere you encountered the other day. Armies and
+navies will be absolutely powerless to advance against it. The green
+ray is the fourth arm of military power. So you see what you've done
+for your country, you lucky dog!"
+
+"_I!_" I cried. "I like that! I've had less to do with it than
+anyone. What about you, eh?--coming running up with a gunboat at the
+critical moment. How did you manage that?"
+
+"Well," he replied, "as soon as I was in the train on my way back I
+solved the problem of the fateful hour--with your help, of course. You
+pointed out that only then was the whole of the gorge flooded with
+sunshine. Now, it struck me that, if it were not electricity, it would
+be heat or some other form of light. Then it flashed into my mind that
+if it were done from a searchlight possessed of some devilish
+properties the light would not be visible, but the properties would
+continue to act. _Voila!_ Then I had already--also with your help--had
+some doubt of von Hilder; and the hut was _the_ place from which a
+searchlight would operate on the river. As soon as I got out of the
+train I taxied to my naval chief, under whom I am working throughout
+the war, and simply paralysed him with the whole yarn. I pitched him
+such a tale that he got through to the gunboat to stand by at Mallaig.
+They were at Portree, nice and handy. I rushed and got the glasses
+done for the men, picked up the destroyer at Mallaig, and made round
+here to find out what was happening. Then we sighted Miss McLeod and
+Angus, and you know the rest. Miss McLeod refused to take the shelter
+the warship offered, and Angus refused to leave her, so I stayed with
+them. We acted as pilot-boat, and there you are. That's the lot! Are
+you satisfied?"
+
+"I'm satisfied, old man," I said, holding out my hand. "Some day I'll
+try and tell you _how_ satisfied."
+
+"Oh, that's all right," he laughed, and left us in great spirits to
+return to the searchlight.
+
+And so I was left alone with Myra, who a month ago became my wife. For
+my services rendered in connection with the remarkable affair I
+received an appointment in the Naval Intelligence Department, while
+many of our recent successes on land and on sea have, though the truth
+has been withheld from the public, been due to the employment of The
+Green Ray.
+
+                         THE END.
+
+_Printed in Great Britain by Wyman & Sons, Ltd., London and Reading._
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
+
+Minor changes have been made to correct typesetter's errors; otherwise,
+every effort has been made to remain true to the author's words and
+intent.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Mystery of the Green Ray, by William Le Queux
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERY OF THE GREEN RAY ***
+
+***** This file should be named 26637.txt or 26637.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/6/3/26637/
+
+Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.