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Slowly the vast painting of the sky softened and faded until, at

length, its edges blended with the shadows of the forest There caainst the sky-line the etched outlines of the trees

crowning the bluff on the eastern side of the great river The

onco darkness promised safety for a craft unimportant as ours as

lay in the shadows of the western shore Meanti on board the Belle Helène

go unobserved

The yacht lay--with an audacity of carelessness which I did not like

to note--hardly inside the edge of the regular shipping channel, but

swung securely and gracefully at her cable, held by an anchor which I

had devised e On the deck I

could see an occasional figure, but though I plied ht A , but this I et the evening air Billy, the deck-hand, John, my Chinese

cook, and Peterson, the boat-ht,

as well as Cal Davidson, who had her under charter

We lay thus, separated by some distance of the river's flood, each

craft at anchor, only one observed by the other But to ely slow on board the Belle Helène I was

relieved when at last the rather portly but well grooure of my

friend Davidson appeared on deck Hethe rail,

and I could see him bend over and call down the companionway of the

after staterooms Then, an instant later, he was joined on the after

deck by two ladies The sight of one of these caused my heart to

bound

They stood for a moment, no h The older lady, with the scarf about her head, was