Page:Weird Tales v33n05 (1939-05).djvu/125

a man already in the throes of death. Quick as a pouncing leopard, Lèla had launched her lithe body at the would-be murderer the moment his intention had rushed to her mind. One brown hand closed over the man's wrist, jerking the pistol so that the bullet flew wide; the other rose and fell twice, sideways, with a flash of steel. Making a convulsive movement, Mark crumpled forward on his outstretched hands, then slowly slid to the deck, coughing out his life with the hilt of a native dagger protruding just below his armpit.

With a glance of silent gratitude to the girl, Dave hastened out on deck. There came a quick succession of shouted orders, the thudding of many bare feet on the deck; then the wild pitching gave place to the steady slant of a ship under sail, and the roar of the breakers grew fainter.

Turning my eyes shoreward, I saw that the foam-ringed island was slipping past as the ship gathered way. Patches of waving green appeared amid the tossing waters—the tropic brilliancy of the sky gave place to a duller hue, as the scene faded like breath upon a window-pane. I realized that I was looking out on the trees of my own garden, and that someone was gripping my shoulder and shaking me to and fro.

"Wake up, old man! Are you having nightmares in the daytime?"

I slowly raised myself to a sitting posture. George, his hand still upon my shoulder, was looking down at me with an expression of concern on his usually cheerful countenance.

"You've been pulling such pretty faces during the last ten minutes that I thought it a kindness to wake you up," he told me. "You looked as though you were seeing more spooks."

"That's just what I have been seeing," I answered, and then went on to tell him what had occurred. At the conclusion he gave a little cough.

"It's queer, of course—very queer," he murmured, shaking a smiling head at me. "Still, if you will persist in eating heavy lunches this hot weather——"

"Wait a moment before you laugh," I warned him as I rose to my feet. "Lend me your pocket-knife."

He did so, being careful, I noticed, to keep the width of the table between us. Opening the largest blade, I stepped onto the top of the locker and began to pry among the carved foliage which ornamented the junction of the wall and roof.

"I say," began George, "what's the big idea?"

"This!"

I thrust my hand into the space which had at that moment been revealed by the opening of the cunningly contrived door, and drew out a leather bag.

"You mean that it is true—really true?" stammered George, his eyes beginning to bulge.

"Judge for yourself," I returned in a tone of very pardonable triumph as I severed the thong which bound the mouth of the bag, and shot the contents out on the table.

There, with their satiny luster somewhat dulled by their dark hiding-place, but scarcely less precious for that, lay a heap of shimmering pearls.