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 watching as the black oarsmen pulled away, then turned to find Falcon's eyes fixed upon him.

"You will not forget, sir," said Falcon slowly, "our conversation on the beach?"

"I shall remember it," Lachlan answered, "and certain other things."

They bowed stiffly and went separate ways.

Lachlan had slept throughout the long row through the placid inland marsh-creeks from Edisto to Charles Town. He had intended finding Almayne immediately but walked first to his lodging to get into a suit of his own clothes. In his room irresistible weariness came upon him suddenly, the cumulative effect of physical and mental strain. He lay down on the bed for a ten-minute rest and slept for twelve hours.

It was near ten o'clock of the following morning, therefore, when he sat down with Almayne at Marshall's tavern and told as much of his story as he was free to tell. Almayne, of course, already knew all that had happened in Falcon's cabin during Lachlan's first visit to the brig; and Lachlan, mindful of his subsequent pledge to Falcon, bade the hunter keep these matters to himself. Almayne sat silent for some moments when Lachlan had finished, his lips puckered under their thin white moustache, his long brown fingers drumming on the table.

"By Zooks!" he exclaimed. "An astonishing bird, this Falcon!"

Lachlan nodded. "On the brig," he said, "I would