Page:Frank Packard - Greater Love Hath No Man.djvu/263

 in his tracks. Two men leaped from behind the rocks that had hidden them—and blocked the path behind him. Warden Rand rose from a stone on which he had been seated and came forward; four other men, men of the coast-guard, their captain amongst them, appeared as if by magic from behind other rocks and clustered about him. Seven to one! A grim smile in which was blended a strange apathy settled on Varge's lips as he faced the warden.

"I am sorry for this, Varge," Warden Rand said gravely. "I had rather it had been any other man than I to trap you. As it is, I have force enough here to make resistance, even from you, but an act of folly."

"I saw you from the beach," said Varge calmly; "but I did not think it was possible that you could recognise me at that distance."

"Nor would I," said the warden, "if I had not known that it was you. The man who drove me over from the station told me of the wreck of a schooner from Gloucester; his description of you aroused my suspicions; I went to the coast-guard station and talked with Captain Sully, and after that I was sure—he said that "Peters" was a stranger to him, but was a very strong man who had lifted unaided a cask weighing five or six hundred pounds from the wharf to the schooner's deck."

"It has grown heavier since yesterday morning," said Varge with a whimsical smile; then quietly: "They told you I had gone to the beach—I see. And now?"

Warden Rand motioned the men a little away. "This will hurt my little girl," he said in a low, sober voice. "It hurts me—but it is my duty. She was with you below there—to warn you of my coming. I