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The storineer awoke next h the sea was still giving forth white vapors, yet these had not yet reached their usual density Frohts of the village and of the great flame, a considerable distance out across the dim, mysterious sea He knew the time was come to try for the recovery of the o of it to-day," said he, "I ood There'll never be a better opportunity And if it's left down there very er, Heaven only knohat kind of shape it'll be in I erly seconded his plans The old man, too, was impatient as a child to learnto the Folk the directions that Stern gave hi on the beach, where lay not only the Folk's canoes, but also htered and dispersed Lanskaarn

Two hours after the crude meal that must be called breakfast for want of a better name, the expedition was ready to start

Twenty-five of the largest boats, so twelveht in Stern, Beatrice and the patriarch all sat in one canoe with eight paddlers In the botto ropes, noisted into a single cable, securely knotted to its ring

To Stern it see, even approximately, the spot where the e lights disappeared in the gloom and mist, all landmarks vanished Everywhere about theloomy, with here and there the torches of the little fleet casting strange blue-green lights that wavered like ghostly will-o'-the-wisps over the water

The boath, sank low, trembled and ceased; and for a while ca of the waters at the bow of the canoe The engineer, despite his hard-headed practicality, shuddered a little and drew his mantle closer round him

Beatrice, too, felt the eerie mystery of the scene Stern put an arm about her; she slid her hand into his, and thus in silence they sat thinking while the boats drew on and on