witch-fire."
He cast a hurried glance at his watch hanging on the wall beside him.
It had RUN DOWN, although he had wound it the last thing before going to
bed. He had evidently been lying there helpless beyond the twenty-four
hours!
He groaned and turned to rise, but she gently forced him down again, and
gave him some herbal infusion, in which he recognized the taste of the
Yerba Buena vine which grew by the river. Then she made him comprehend
in her own tongue that Jim had been decoyed, while drunk, aboard a
certain schooner lying off the shore at a spot where she had seen some
men digging in the sands. She had not gone there, for she was afraid
of the bad men, and a slight return of her former terror came into her
changeful eyes. She knew how to light the witch-light; she reminded him
she had been in the tower before.
"You have saved my light, and perhaps my life," he said weakly, taking
her hand.
Possibly she did not understand him, for her only answer was a vague
smile. But the next instant she started up, listening intently, and then
with a frightened cry drew away her hand and suddenly dashed out of
the building. In the midst of his amazement the door was darkened by a
figure--a stranger dressed like an ordinary miner. Pausing a moment
to look after the flying Olooya, the man turned and glanced around the
room, and then with a coarse, familiar smile approached Pomfrey.
"Hope I ain't disturbin' ye, but I allowed I'd just be neighborly and
drop in--seein' as this is gov'nment property, and me and my pardners,
as American citizens and tax-payers, helps to support it. We're coastin'
from Trinidad down here and prospectin' along the beach for gold in the
sand. Ye seem to hev a mighty soft berth of it here--nothing to do--and
lots of purty half-breeds hangin' round!"
The man's effrontery was too much for Pomfrey's self-control, weakened
by illness. "It IS government property," he answered hotly, "and you
have no more right to intrude upon it than you have to decoy away my
servant, a government employee, during my illness, and jeopardize that
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