Page:Raymond Spears--Diamond Tolls.djvu/203

 dollars' worth of gems, and disappeared from under the eyes of detectives and the world that knew him.

Murdong shivered when he thought what happened to men who pack around a fortune in gems. His poetic instinct prevented him from knowing which way to turn. These might be the gems—they might not be. On the other hand, what was she doing with them? Or did she know about them? And there was Gost. Could it be possible that the beautiful girl was his victim? Was she trusting to the chivalry of G. Alexander Murdong?

Where lies the duty of a poet, who had been mauled sore by civilization and who has fled past the jumping-off place, down Old Mississip'?

Murdong decided that his duty was first to discover the honesty and prove the innocence of the fair Delia. Fair Delia was too lovely not to be helped by a poetic river roamer who cared not for the wealth and baubles of a world that despised his genius.

In a short time the romantic spirit took the place of the panic that the discovery of the gems had given Murdong. He had no thought of the ethical questions which he might or even should have asked himself. Questions of ethics do not trouble beyond the jumping-off place.

He rejoiced in the sweetness of the trust reposed in him by the river lady fair, whose spiritual presence