"If I didn't know the dear old fellow so well by now,"Tennington remarked to Miss Strong, "I should be quite certain that he was--er--not quite right, don't you know.""If it were not so pathetic it would be ridiculous," said the girl, sadly."I, who have known him all my life, know how he worships Jane; but to others it must seem that he is perfectly callous to her fate.It is only that he is so absolutely impractical that he cannot conceive of so real a thing as death unless nearly certain proof of it is thrust upon him.""You'd never guess what he was about yesterday,"continued Tennington."I was coming in alone from a little hunt when I met him walking rapidly along the game trail that I was following back to camp.His hands were clasped beneath the tails of his long black coat, and his top hat was set firmly down upon his head, as with eyes bent upon the ground he hastened on, probably to some sudden death had I not intercepted him.
"`Why, where in the world are you bound, professor?' Iasked him.`I am going into town, Lord Tennington,' he said, as seriously as possible, `to complain to the postmaster about the rural free delivery service we are suffering from here.
Why, sir, I haven't had a piece of mail in weeks.There should be several letters for me from Jane.The matter must be reported to Washington at once.'
"And would you believe it, Miss Strong," continued Tennington, "I had the very deuce of a job to convince the old fellow that there was not only no rural free delivery, but no town, and that he was not even on the same continent as Washington, nor in the same hemisphere.
"When he did realize he commenced to worry about his daughter--I think it is the first time that he really has appreciated our position here, or the fact that Miss Porter may not have been rescued.""I hate to think about it," said the girl, "and yet I can think of nothing else than the absent members of our party.""Let us hope for the best," replied Tennington."You yourself have set us each a splendid example of bravery, for in a way your loss has been the greatest.""Yes," she replied; "I could have loved Jane Porter no more had she been my own sister."Tennington did not show the surprise he felt.That was not at all what he meant.He had been much with this fair daughter of Maryland since the wreck of the LADY ALICE, and it had recently come to him that he had grown much more fond of her than would prove good for the peace of his mind, for he recalled almost constantly now the confidence which Monsieur Thuran had imparted to him that he and Miss Strong were engaged.He wondered if, after all, Thuran had been quite accurate in his statement.He had never seen the slightest indication on the girl's part of more than ordinary friendship.
"And then in Monsieur Thuran's loss, if they are lost, you would suffer a severe bereavement," he ventured.
She looked up at him quickly."Monsieur Thuran had become a very dear friend," she said."I liked him very much, though I have known him but a short time.""Then you were not engaged to marry him?" he blurted out.
"Heavens, nol!" she cried."I did not care for him at all in that way."There was something that Lord Tennington wanted to say to Hazel Strong--he wanted very badly to say it, and to say it at once; but somehow the words stuck in his throat.
He started lamely a couple of times, cleared his throat, became red in the face, and finally ended by remarking that he hoped the cabins would be finished before the rainy season commenced.
But, though he did not know it, he had conveyed to the girl the very message he intended, and it left her happy--happier than she had ever before been in all her life.
Just then further conversation was interrupted by the sight of a strange and terrible-looking figure which emerged from the jungle just south of the camp.Tennington and the girl saw it at the same time.The Englishman reached for his revolver, but when the half-naked, bearded creature called his name aloud and came running toward them he dropped his hand and advanced to meet it.
None would have recognized in the filthy, emaciated creature, covered by a single garment of small skins, the immaculate Monsieur Thuran the party had last seen upon the deck of the LADY ALICE.
Before the other members of the little community were apprised of his presence Tennington and Miss Strong questioned him regarding the other occupants of the missing boat.
"They are all dead," replied Thuran."The three sailors died before we made land.Miss Porter was carried off into the jungle by some wild animal while I was lying delirious with fever.Clayton died of the same fever but a few days since.
And to think that all this time we have been separated by but a few miles--scarcely a day's march.It is terrible!"How long Jane Porter lay in the darkness of the vault beneath the temple in the ancient city of Opar she did not know.
For a time she was delirious with fever, but after this passed she commenced slowly to regain her strength.
Every day the woman who brought her food beckoned to her to arise, but for many days the girl could only shake her head to indicate that she was too weak.
But eventually she was able to gain her feet, and then to stagger a few steps by supporting herself with one hand upon the wall.Her captors now watched her with increasing interest.The day was approaching, and the victim was gaining in strength.
Presently the day came, and a young woman whom Jane Porter had not seen before came with several others to her dungeon.
Here some sort of ceremony was performed--that it was of a religious nature the girl was sure, and so she took new heart, and rejoiced that she had fallen among people upon whom the refining and softening influences of religion evidently had fallen.They would treat her humanely--of that she was now quite sure.