It'll be an easier death, and in pleasanter company. So, if
you really must shoot then blaze away!"

He lowered his upraised arms, folding them melodramatically on
his breast, while he sought, through the gloom, to note the
effect of his solemnly uttered speech. The effect was far
different and less sensational than he had expected. At the
first sound of his voice that was audible above the collie's
barks, the girl lowered the revolver and leaned forward to get a
clearer view of his face, beneath the shadow of the vine-leaves.

"I--I thought--" she stammered, and added lamely "I thought
you were--were--were some one else." She paused, then she
went on with some slight return of her earlier sternness "Just
the same, your coming here by that path..."

"There is no magic about it," he assured her, "and very little
mystery. I was taking a stroll along the shore, when I
happened upon that mass of dynamite and fur and springs,
yonder. (In his rare moments of calm, he is a collie,--the
best type of show collie, at that.) He ran ahead of me,
through the tangle of mangrove boughs. I followed, and found
a path. He seemed anxious to explore the path, and I kept on
following him, until--"

The girl seemed for the first time aware of the dog's noisy
presence.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, looking at the rackety and leaping collie
in much surprise. "I thought it was the stable dog that had