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They watched the strange birds disappear over the water Forfor the about caht caive a fresh impulse to conversation Conjecture battled with

theory and fact jousted with fancy But one conclusion was as futile as

another

Frank Merrill tried to make them devise sohed at him Talk as he would, he could

not seeer Indeed, their state of mind

was entirely different from his Mentally he seemed to boil with

interest and curiosity, but it was the sane, calm, open-minded

excitement of the scientist The others were alert and preoccupied in

turn, but there was an ele off into space, fixing there until their look beca question They avoided conversation They avoided each other's

gaze

Gradually they drew off from the fire, settled themselves to rest, fell

into the splendid sleep that followed their long out-of-doors days

In the ht, Billy Fairfax ca hiently, firmly, furtively

"Don't move!" Honey Smith's voice whispered; "keep quiet till I wake the

others"

It was a still and hted world Billy Fairfax lay quiet, his

wide-open eyes fixed on the lu

brushed out of his brain as though by a ue sensation of confusion, of excitement, of a

miraculous abnormality He heard Honey Smith crawl slowly from man to

man, heard him whisper his adjuration once, twice, three times "Now,"