was doing poorly with Captain Jack Benson, evidently she was now seated
beside an absent-minded sphinx.

"What place is that over there?" inquired Hal, coming out of a brown
study as he felt some reproach in the stiffening attitude of his
companion.

Hal's eye had been caught by what looked like the ruins of an old castle.
Such sights are at least rare in the United States.

"That ruin, do you mean?" asked Mlle. Nadiboff. "Oh, it is a quaint bit
of a castle, only some three hundred years old, though long past in
ruins. I believe it was erected as a stronghold by some wealthy man,
in the old days when the pirates from Havana now and then swept along
the coast on their raids. Would you like to see the place, Mr.
Hastings?"

"Very much indeed," Hal admitted, "if you have the time."

"The time?" Mlle. Nadiboff's laughter rippled out merrily. "Why, I have
all the time in the world, Mr. Hastings. I live only to enjoy myself."

"That must be rather a dull existence, then," thought Hal, while his
pretty companion leaned forward to give the order to the chauffeur, who
turned up a road leading to the ruined castle of the old piratical days.

Jack had heard the conversation, and so knew, without asking, for what
they were now heading.

As they drew closer they discovered other automobiles near the old