Produced by David Clarke, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE SIGN OF THE SPIDER BY BERTRAM MITFORD AUTHOR OF "A VELDT OFFICIAL," "'TWIXT SNOW AND FIRE" DODD MEAD AND COMPANY 1897 COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY. [Illustration: "DON'T FIRE THIS WAY ... KEEP THE FOOLS IN HAND."] CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. "SWEET HOME," 1 II. ADAM'S FIRST WIFE, 11 III. "BEWARE SUCH UNHOLY SPELLS," 26 IV. THE LAND OF PROMISE, 41 V. KING SCRIP, 54 VI. "PIRATE" HAZON, 67 VII. "THE WHOLE SOUL PRISONER ..." 82 VIII. DARK DAYS, 94 IX. HIS GUARDIAN ANGEL, 106 X. PREPARATION, 120 XI. "AT THE TWELFTH HOUR," 130 XII. "THE DARK PLACES OF THE EARTH," 145 XIII. THE MAN HUNTER, 155 XIV. A DREAM, 163 XV. AN AWAKENING, 174 XVI. AN ANGEL UNAWARES, 184 XVII. DISSENSIONS, 195 XVIII. TWO PERILS, 205 XIX. THE SIGN, 215 XX. TO WHAT END! 223 XXI. "THE STRONG WIND THAT BURNS FROM THE NORTH," 235 XXII. THE SHADOW OF THE MYSTERY, 246 XXIII. LINDELA, 257 XXIV. AS FROM THE DEAD, 268 XXV. HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIEND, 279 XXVI. THE PLACE OF THE HORROR, 290 XXVII. THE HORROR, 301 XXVIII. "ONLY A SAVAGE!" 313 XXIX. "A DEEP--A SOLITARY GRAVE," 324 XXX. "GOOD-BYE, MY IDEAL!" 334 XXXI. CONCLUSION, 348 THE SIGN OF THE SPIDER. CHAPTER I. "SWEET HOME!" She was talking _at_ him. This was a thing she frequently did, and she had two ways of doing it. One was to talk at him through a third party when they two were not alone together; the other to convey moralizings and innuendo for his edification when they were--as in the present case.