were out of here—that fellow, Brown; I'd like to kill him—Annette's not so bad looking—seventy million dollars— Paris, Nice, Monte Carlo—the old fool—Jane is beautiful—I suppose the old fool will live forever—dead, dead, dead —seventy million dollars.'
Over by the fire, Jane was arranging for the guarding of the camp by night. 'I think three four-hour shifts will be long enough,' she said. 'It's just a matter of keeping the fire going. If any animals come around, you'll be able to see their eyes shining in the dark. If they come too close, light a brand and throw at them. They are all afraid of fire.'
'Oh, my dear, do I have to do that?' cried Kitty. 'I never could, really, I mean, do I have to sit out here alone at night?'
'No, my dear,' said Jane, 'you'll be excused from guard duty. How about you, Annette? Do you think you could do it?'
'I can do my share, Madame,' said the girl, 'whatever the others do.'
'Atta girl,' said Brown.
'If I may make so bold as to suggest it, Milady,' said Tibbs, deferentially, 'I rather think the three men should stand guard. It's no job for a lady.'
'I think Tibbs is perfectly right,' said the princess. 'And I really think that Alexis should not stand guard; he's a very susceptible person to colds; and night air always affects him; and now I think that I shall go to bed. Annette, come and help me.'
'You'd better turn in, too, Miss,' said Brown. 'If you're going to start out early in the morning, you'll need all the sleep you can get.' Jane rose. 'Perhaps you're right,' she said. 'Good night.'
When she had gone, Brown glanced at his watch. 'It's nine o'clock now, Tibbs. Suppose you stand guard until midnight, then wake me, and I'll take it until three. After that, his nibs, the grand duke, can watch until morning.'
'Really, Mr. Brown, if you mean the prince, I rather fawncy he won't be caring to stand guard.'
'Well, he's going to,' said Brown, 'and he's going to like it.'
Tibbs sighed. 'If it weren't for the princess,' he said, 'we wouldn't have to stay here at all. I don't fawncy staying here and just waiting. I'm sure something terrible will happen to us if Lady Greystoke leaves us. She's the only one that can do anything.'
'Yes,' said Brown, 'the old girl is a damned nuisance. You might bump her off, Tibbs.' Brown grinned, rose, and stretched. 'I'll be turning in, Tibbsy. Wake me at midnight.'
Sborov was sitting in the entrance of the shelter which was only a few steps from the fire and as Brown entered, he spoke to him. 'I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Tibbs,' he said. 'I am perfectly willing to do my share. Call me at three, and I will stand guard. I'm going to bed now. I am a very sound sleeper, and you may have difficulty in waking me.'
The change in the man's tone and attitude so surprised Brown that for once he had no reply to make. He merely grunted as he passed on into the shelter. Sborov followed and lay down, and in a few moments Brown was fast asleep.
It seemed to him when Tibbs woke him at midnight that he had not slept at all.
He had been on guard but a few minutes when Annette joined him. She came and sat down beside him.
'What the dickens are you doing up this time of the morning, girlie?' he demanded.
'Something awoke me about half an hour ago,' she said, 'and I haven't been able to get back to sleep. I don't know what it could have been, but I awoke with a start; and I had a feeling that there was someone crawling around inside the hut. You know, it's really very dark in there after the curtain is hung up in front of the door.'
Chapter 12 Murder In the Night
'MAYBE it was Lady Greystoke you heard moving around in the hut,' suggested Brown. 'No,' said Annette, 'I could hear her breathing. She was sound asleep.'
'Then it must have been the old girl.'
'It was not she, either. After I woke up, I heard her sort of groaning in her sleep and snoring I guess it was, but she stopped right away.'
'Then I guess you must have been dreaming, girlie,' said Brown.
'Perhaps I was,' said the girl; 'but some unusual sound must have awakened me, for I sleep very soundly; and I was sure that I heard someone afterward.'
'Perhaps you had better go back and go to sleep again now,' he suggested.
'Really, Mr. Brown, I couldn't. I am so wide awake; and then I—I felt funny in there, as though—oh, I don't know.' She lowered her voice to a whisper. 'It was as though there were something terrible in there, something that frightened me. You don't mind my staying out here with you, do you, Mr. Brown?'
'I'll say I don't, girlie. You and Lady Greystoke are about the only human beings in the bunch. The rest of 'em are nuts.'
'You do not like them, Mr. Brown?'
'Oh, the old girl's harmless; she's just a nuisance; and Tibbsy means well, I guess; but when it comes to doing anything more than pressing somebody's pants, he just ain't all there.'
'And the other one?' inquired Annette. 'I think you do not like him so much.'
'Him? He's the last zero after the decimal point.'
'No, I do not like him, either, Mr. Brown. I am afraid of him.'
'Afraid of him? What you got to be afraid of him about?'
'In London he say things to me a man should not say to a nice girl.'
'Well, the dirty so and so,' growled Brown. 'If he ever makes any cracks at you again, honey, let me know. Say, I'd spill him all over the ground and then wipe him up with himself.'
'You would protect me, Mr. Brown?' She raised her dark eyes to his, questioningly.
'And how!'
The girl sighed. 'You are so beeg and strong.'
'You know,' said Brown, 'I like you a lot, girlie.'
'I am glad. I think I like you, too.'
Brown was silent for a moment. 'If we ever get out of here,' he said, presently, and then stopped.
'Yes?' she inquired. 'If we ever get out of here, what?'
He fidgeted uneasily, and threw another piece of wood on the fire. 'I was just thinking,' he said, lamely.
'What were you thinking?'
'I was just thinking that maybe you and me—that may—'
'Yes?' she breathed, encouragingly.
'Say, you don't have to call me Mr. Brown.'
'What shall I call you?'
'My best friends call me Chi.'
'What a funny name; I never hear a name like that before. What does it mean? It is not really your name?'
'It's short for the name of the town where I come from— Chicago ,' he explained.
'Oh,' she laughed, 'then you spell it C-h-i and not S-h-y. I think maybe you should spell it the last way.'
'I ain't never been accused of being shy before,' he said, 'but I guess you're right. When I try to say things to you, my tongue runs out on me.'
'What funny expressions you use. You Americans are all so funny.'
'Oh, I don't know,' he said; 'it's the foreigners that seem funny to me.'
'Am I funny?'
'Well, you got some funny little ways with you, but when you pull them, they're cute.'
'You think so? I am glad that you do, Mr. Brown.'
'Chi.'
'Chi. Have you another name? Maybe that would be easier to say.'
