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start now, Larry, by walking over and placing yourself at Mr. Theriere's disposal.

He has promised to help and protect me."

A deep flush mounted to the man's neck and face. He did not turn about to face

the girl he had so grievously wronged--for the life of him he could not have met

her eyes. Slowly he turned, and with gaze bent upon the ground walked quickly

toward Theriere.

Ward was quick to recognize the turn events had taken, and to see that it gave

Theriere the balance of power, with two guns and nine men in his party against

their two guns and seven men. It also was evident to him that to the other party

the girl would naturally gravitate since Divine, an old acquaintance, had cast his

lot with it; nor had the growing intimacy between Miss Harding and Theriere been

lost upon him.

Ward knew that Simms was an arrant coward, nor was he himself overly keen for

an upstanding, man-to-man encounter such as must quickly follow any attempt

upon his part to uphold the authority of Simms, or their claim upon the custody

of the girl.

Intrigue and trickery were more to Mr. Ward's liking, and so he was quick to alter

his plan of campaign the instant that it became evident that Divine had elected to

join forces with the opposing faction.

I reckon," he said, directing his remarks toward no one in particular, "that we've

all been rather hasty in this matter, being het up as we were with the strain of

what we been through an' so it seems to me, takin' into consideration that Mr.

Theriere really done his best to save the ship, an' that as a matter of fact we was

all mighty lucky to come out of it alive, that we'd better let bygones be bygones,

for the time bein' at least, an' all of us pitch in to save what we can from the

wreckage, hunt water, rig up a camp, an' get things sort o' shipshape here instid

o' squabblin' amongst ourselves."

"Suit yourself," said Theriere, "it's all the same to us," and his use of the objective

pronoun seemed definitely to establish the existence of his faction as a separate

and distinct party.

Simms, from years of experience with his astute mate, was wont to acquiesce in

anything that Ward proposed, though he had not the brains always to appreciate

the purposes that prompted Ward's suggestions. Now, therefore, he nodded his

approval of Squint Eye's proposal, feeling that whatever was in Ward's mind

would be more likely to work out to Skipper Simms' interests than some

unadvised act of Skipper Simms himself.

The Mucker