As she worked she failed to hear the scraping of naked
bodies clambering over the ship's side, or the padding
of unshod feet upon the deck above her. She was about
to give up her work at the hatch when the heavy wooden
cover suddenly commenced to move above her as though
actuated by some supernatural power. Fascinated, the
girl stood gazing in wide-eyed astonishment as one end
of the hatch rose higher and higher until a little
patch of blue sky revealed the fact that morning had
come. Then the cover slid suddenly back and Virginia
Maxon found herself looking into a savage and terrible face.

The dark skin was creased in fierce wrinkles about the
eyes and mouth. Gleaming tiger cat's teeth curved
upward from holes pierced to receive them in the upper
half of each ear. The slit ear lobes supported heavy
rings whose weight had stretched the skin until the
long loop rested upon the brown shoulders. The filed
and blackened teeth behind the loose lips added the
last touch of hideousness to this terrible countenance.

Nor was this all. A score of equally ferocious faces
peered down from behind the foremost. With a little
scream Virginia Maxon sprang back to the lower deck and
ran toward her stateroom. Behind her she heard the
commotion of many men descending the companionway.


As Number Thirteen came into the campong after quitting