Marakinoff again regarded him with that irritating air of benevolence. "You have not the scientific mind, young friend," he said. "The poonch, yes! But so has the mule. You must learn that only the fact is important--not you, not me, not this"--he pointed to Huldricksson--"or its sorrows. Only the fact, whatever it is, is real, yes. But"--he turned to me--"another time--" Huldricksson interrupted him. The big seaman had risen stiffly to his feet and stood with Larry's arm supporting him. He stretched out his hands to me. "I saw her," he whispered. "I saw mine Freda when the stone swung. She lay there--just at my feet. I picked her up and I saw that mine Freda was dead. But I hoped--and I thought maybe mine Helma was somewhere here, too, So I ran with mine yndling--here--" His voice broke. "I thought maybe she was _not_ dead," he went on. "And I saw that"--he pointed to the Moon Pool--"and I thought I would bathe her face and she might live again. And when I dipped my hands within--the life left them, and cold, deadly cold, ran up through them into my heart. And mine Freda--she fell--" he covered his eyes, and dropping his head on O'Keefe's shoulder, stood, racked by sobs that seemed to tear at his very soul. CHAPTER XI The Flame-Tipped Shadows Marakinoff nodded his head solemnly as Olaf finished. "Da!" he said. "That which comes from here took them both--the woman and the child. Da! They came clasped within it and the stone shut upon them. But why it left the child behind I do not understand." "How do you know that?" I cried in amazement. "Because I saw it," answered Marakinoff simply. "Not only did I see it, but hardly had I time to make escape through the entrance before it passed whirling and murmuring and its bell sounds all joyous. Da! It was what you call the squeak close, that." "Wait a moment," I said--stilling Larry with a gesture. "Do I understand you to say that you were within this place?" Marakinoff actually beamed upon me. "Da, Dr. Goodwin," he said, "I went in when that which comes from it went out!" I gaped at him, stricken dumb; into Larry's bellicose attitude crept a suggestion of grudging respect; Olaf, trembling, watched silently. "Dr. Goodwin and my impetuous young friend, you," went on Marakinoff after a moment's silence and I wondered vaguely why he did not include Huldricksson in his address--"it is time that we have an understanding. I have a proposal to make to you also. It is this; we are what you call a bad boat, and all of us are in it. Da! We need all hands, is it not so? Let us put together our knowledge and our brains and resources--and even a poonch of a mule is a resource," he looked wickedly at O'Keefe, "and pull our boat into quiet waters again. After that--" "All very well, Marakinoff," interjected Larry, "but I don't feel very safe in any boat with somebody capable of shooting me through the back." Marakinoff waved a deprecatory hand.