to be moored, and in the morning he decided to pay that vessel

a visit in the hope that he might learn something of advantage

about the girl from one of her lascar crew.

The wily Malay had long refrained from pillaging the

Ithaca for fear such an act might militate against

the larger villainy he purposed perpetrating against

her white owner, but when he rounded the point and came

in sight of the stranded wreck he put all such thoughts

from him and made straight for the helpless hulk

to glean whatever of salvage might yet remain within

her battered hull.

The old rascal had little thought of the priceless

treasure hidden beneath the Ithaca's clean swept deck

as he ordered his savage henchmen up her sides while he

lay back upon his sleeping mat beneath the canopy which

protected his vice-regal head from the blistering

tropic sun.

Number Thirteen watched the wild head hunters with

keenest interest as they clambered aboard the vessel.

With von Horn he saw the evident amazement which

followed the opening of the hatch, though neither

guessed its cause. He saw the haste with which a half

dozen of the warriors leaped down the companionway and

heard their savage shouts as they pursued their quarry

within the bowels of the ship.

A few minutes later they emerged dragging a woman with

them. Von Horn and Number Thirteen recognized the girl

simultaneously, but the doctor, though he ground his

teeth in futile rage, knew that he was helpless to

avert the tragedy. Number Thirteen neither knew nor

cared.

"Come!" he called to his grotesque horde. "Kill the

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