Howard lay back in his chair and stared at his host thoughtfully. The conversation had proceeded far otherwise from what he had expected. The man whose opposition to his leaving he had feared, was actually asking his aid. Yet this assistance was asked not slavishly, but as if the asker could compel it if he liked, but preferred to request. Howard felt that he must choose his words warily. “Such a question is hardly worth asking, captain,” he returned. “Of course, I shall be glad to accept. I take it for granted that my friends are included in your invitation!” “Your friends!” Forbes burst into a roar of laughter. “Your friends! That’s good! That’s very good! One of your friends--Mr. Jackson--I intend to leave behind as a special favor to you.” For an instant Howard saw red. Then the fit passed, and he answered quietly, “You astonish me, captain.” “Oh, no, I don’t! Look here, I’m on to you, Howard. You are the convict that Jackson went to Porto Rico for. You are now supposed to be dead. Leave Jackson here, and you can change your name and live anywhere in the world you like in perfect safety.” “And Miss Fairfax?” Howard almost choked as he uttered the words, but the necessity of dissembling was strong upon him. “Miss Fairfax will go with us--as my wife!” “What!” “Sit down, Howard, and keep your shirt on. What’s the use of getting worked up. I know I’m not exactly in Miss Fairfax’s line, but she won’t be the only woman who has married out of her class. I’ll make good with her father, all right.” “You think you can get Miss Fairfax to marry you?” In spite of himself the scorn that Howard tried to hide showed in his voice. Forbes did not notice it. “She can’t help herself,” he declared. “I’ve got her dead to rights. Besides, I’ve got the law--our law--on my side. You don’t suppose ordinary rules govern here, do you? Not much! The sexes are too frightfully disproportionate. Counting your party, there are just twenty-four men and only three women here. The coming of a new woman has always been the signal for trouble. Bad blood, quarrels, and murders have followed inevitably. So we made a law some years ago that every woman must marry within twenty-four hours after her arrival. Under that law I intend to marry Miss Fairfax. What have you to say about it?” With the last word Captain Forbes put his elbows on the table and leaned forward, staring into Howard’s face. Huge, shaggy, and evidently immensely powerful, he towered menacingly above the smaller naval officer. Howard wanted to say a good deal, but forbore. Clearly Forbes took him for an ordinary scoundrel who had his price like other scoundrels. If he was to help Dorothy, the obvious thing was to appear to fall in with the plan until opportunity offered to defeat it, or until action could no longer be deferred. That is, he must gain time, and the only way to gain time was to dissimulate.