The Monster Men | Page 9

do you mean, Sing?" asked the girl in a low voice. "How
perfectly weird and mysterious you are. Why you make the cold chills
run up my spine," she ended, laughing. But Sing did not return her
smile as was his custom.
"You no lememba tallee Lajah stand up wavee lite clothee in plilate
boat, ah?" he urged.
"Oh, Sing," she cried, "I do indeed! But unless you had reminded me I
should never have thought to connect him with our visitor of
today--they do look very much alike, don't they?"
"Lookeelike! Ugh, they all samee one man. Sing know. You lookee out,
Linee," which was the closest that Sing had ever been able to come to
pronouncing Virginia.
"Why should I look out? He doesn't want me," said the girl, laughingly.
"Don't you bee too damee sure 'bout lat, Linee," was Sing's inelegant
but convincing reply, as he turned toward his galley.
The following morning the party, with the exception of three Malays
who were left to guard the Ithaca, set out for the new camp. The
journey was up the bed of the small stream which emptied into the
harbor, so that although fifteen men had passed back and forth through
the jungle from the beach to the camp every day for two weeks, there
was no sign that human foot had ever crossed the narrow strip of sand
that lay between the dense foliage and the harbor.
The gravel bottom of the rivulet made fairly good walking, and as
Virginia was borne in a litter between two powerful lascars it was not

even necessary that she wet her feet in the ascent of the stream to the
camp. The distance was short, the center of the camp being but a mile
from the harbor, and less than half a mile from the opposite shore of the
island which was but two miles at its greatest breadth, and two and a
quarter at its greatest length.
At the camp Virginia found that a neat clearing had been made upon a
little tableland, a palisade built about it, and divided into three parts; the
most northerly of which contained a small house for herself and her
father, another for von Horn, and a common cooking and eating house
over which Sing was to preside.
The enclosure at the far end of the palisade was for the Malay and
lascar crew and there also were quarters for Bududreen and the Malay
second mate. The center enclosure contained Professor Maxon's
workshop. This compartment of the enclosure Virginia was not invited
to inspect, but as members of the crew carried in the two great chests
which the professor had left upon the Ithaca until the last moment,
Virginia caught a glimpse of the two buildings that had been erected
within this central space--a small, square house which was quite
evidently her father's laboratory, and a long, low thatched shed divided
into several compartments, each containing a rude bunk. She wondered
for whom they could be intended. Quarters for all the party had already
been arranged for elsewhere, nor, thought she, would her father wish to
house any in such close proximity to his workshop, where he would
desire absolute quiet and freedom from interruption. The discovery
perplexed her not a little, but so changed were her relations with her
father that she would not question him upon this or any other subject.
As the two chests were being carried into the central campong, Sing,
who was standing near Virginia, called her attention to the fact that
Bududreen was one of those who staggered beneath the weight of the
heavier burden.
"Bludleen, him mate. Why workee alsame lascar boy? Eh?" But
Virginia could give no reason.
"I am afraid you don't like Bududreen, Sing," she said. "Has he ever

harmed you in any way?"
"Him? No, him no hurt Sing. Sing poor," with which more or less
enigmatical rejoinder the Chinaman returned to his work. But he
muttered much to himself the balance of the day, for Sing knew that a
chest that strained four men in the carrying could contain but one thing,
and he knew that Bududreen was as wise in such matters as he.
For a couple of months the life of the little hidden camp went on
peacefully and without exciting incident. The Malay and lascar crew
divided their time between watch duty on board the Ithaca, policing the
camp, and cultivating a little patch of clearing just south of their own
campong.
There was a small bay on the island's east coast, only a quarter of a
mile from camp, in which oysters were found, and one of the Ithaca's
boats was brought around to this side of the island for fishing.
Bududreen often accompanied these expeditions, and on several