“An you’ll report me at the station, hey? Just becuz you was washed ashore here you think you own Montauk! Well, report an’ be——!” “That will do!” said Colton. “Will it? Come up here and make it!” taunted Serdholm. “No? All right, I’ll come down.” Colton met him halfway. It was no fight; for though Serdholm was brawny the young physician was as greatly his superior in strength as in science and condition. The coast-guard rolled to the bottom of the gully and lay there cursing feebly. “He will lose his place for this,” said Helga as they went shoreward. “I hope he will, the beast!” “Do you suppose he really thrashed the juggler, or was that only boasting?” “He has the reputation of being quarrelsome when he has been drinking,” said Helga. “Haynes ought to know about it, then.” “I’ll tell him. But, please, Dr. Colton, say nothing about Serdholm’s rudeness. It would only make Petit Père angry, and cause trouble, and I’ve felt some danger overhanging him. Dr. Colton, do you believe in dreams?” “We men whose business it is to deal with the human body, get to realise how much of mystery there is in the human soul,” said Dick. “Is that an answer?” “I don’t know,” replied the girl doubtfully-“Some day, perhaps, I shall tell you. Meantime,” she added, as they approached Third House, “you won’t forget your promise, will you?” “No.” “As you’ve been interesting yourself in my affairs a good deal,” said the girl with friendly raillery, “I’ll just give you a bit of free advice. Don’t take everything about Dolly Ravenden too seriously. She’s had loads of attention and seen a great deal of the world, and she is pretty high-spirited; but she is in every way a splendid girl and a right-minded one. I imagine she is not always easy to understand.” “Heaven knows I’ve made one awful blunder!” groaned Dick. “Then don’t apologise for it too soon,” said the girl quickly. “There, I’ve been a traitor to my sex. But I like you, Dick Colton. And,” she added as they reached the door, “if you can sue as well for yourself as for another I think you might well win any woman.” “Well, Heaven bless you for that!” said Dick Colton to the closing door. CHAPTER TEN THE TERROR BY NIGHT IN every department of scientific inquiry, Professor Ravenden was, above all else, methodical. The extraordinary or unusual he set aside for calm analysis. When he came to a dark passage in his investigations, he made full notes and relied on patience and his reasoning powers for light. Facts of ascertained relations and proportions he catalogued. In crises of doubt, after exerting his own best efforts, he was not too proud to ask counsel, were there any at hand in whose judgment he felt confidence. But first he strove to make his own mind master of the problem.