The idea of her husband's honour made the thing absurd to her. There was no such thing as that honour. She had plotted to get Carline out of the way now that she heard he was clear of the pirates. On second thought, she was sorry that she had been so hasty in returning to the boat, wishing that she had followed up Terabon. She walked out onto the bow deck, and standing in the dark, with her door closed, looked up and down the slough. A dozen boats were in sight. She heard a number of men and women talking in near-by boats, and the few words she heard indicated that the river people had a pretty morsel of gossip in the killing of Palura. She heard men rustling through the weeds and switch willows of the boatmen's pathway, and she hailed; she was now a true river woman, though she did not know it. "Say, boys, do you know if Terabon and Carline landed here to-night?" "We just landed in," one answered. "I don't know." "Going up town?" "Yes----" "I want to know about them----" "Hit's Nelia Crele!" one exclaimed. "That's right. Hello, boys--Despard--Jet--Cope!" "Sure! When'd you land?" "Late this evening; I was up to Palura's when----" "That ain't no place fo' a lady." She laughed aloud, as she added, "I was there when Palura was killed by the policeman." "Palura killed a policeman!" Despard said. "He's killed----" "No, Palura was killed by a policeman. Shot him dead right on the dance-hall floor." The pirates choked. The thing was unbelievable. They came down to the boat and she described the affair briefly, and they demanded details. They felt that it would vitally affect Mendova. They whispered among themselves as to what it meant. They learned that a policeman had been stationed in front of the notorious resort and that that policeman had done the shooting during a fight with waiters and bouncers and with Palura himself. "We hadn't better get to go up town," Jet whimpered. "Hit don't sound right!" They argued and debated, and finally went on their way, having promised Nelia that they would see and tell Terabon, on the quiet, that she had come into the slough, and that she wanted to see him. She waited for some time, hoping that Terabon would come, but finally went to sleep. She was tired, and excitement had deserted her. She slept more soundly than in some time. Once she partly awakened, and thought that some drift log had bumped into her boat; then she felt a gentle undulation, as of the waves of a passing steamer, but she was too sleepy to contemplate that phenomenon in a rather narrow water channel around a bend from the main current. It was not till she had slept long and well that she began to dream vividly. She was impatient with dreams; they were always full of disappointment.