Page:Barbour--Joan of the ilsand.djvu/49

Rh for an instant an expression akin to shame flitted across his face. Then, quietly, he walked up to Keith and shook hands with him.

"I'm—I'm eternally obliged to you," he said. "Fact is, I oughtn't to have stayed away, but I couldn't help it. Been playing the silly ass, y'know. Mustn't do it again. Got mixed up with the foolish waters. No good. Think I'll turn in for a few hours. Must get my head clear. Things have been happening and some more things are likely to happen in a hurry." "Has anything serious gone wrong, Chester?" the girl asked anxiously.

"M—yes, I'm afraid everything's gone wrong, and it wasn't altogether my fault. I'll have to think this out. But first I must turn in for a while. I haven't had a wink of sleep for forty-eight hours and I'm all in."

Without another word he turned up the path leading to the bungalow, stretched himself in a hammock on the veranda, and promptly fell fast asleep.

Keith noticed a change in him when he awoke a few hours later—a decided change for the better. Chester Trent was intelligent, and the same quiet courtesy that marked Joan was observable in him. His first words were a renewal of thanks to Keith for defending his sister.

"Tell me what happened over at Tamba?" she asked.