Nell paused suddenly, as if in deep thought.
"Are you going right home?" she presently asked.
"Yes."
"Would you mind taking something for Jake? It is a pick-handle which we brought from the wharf last night in our boat. We often bring things for him and he does the same for us. It is a new one, and he may need it. It is right there on the verandah."
Douglas found the stick and placed it over his shoulder, bade Nell good-night, and plunged forth into the darkness.
CHAPTER XVI
TWIN FIRES
Douglas walked slowly toward the main highway, lost in thought. He was much interested in the professor's comments about clergymen. He knew it was a good tonic to hear such plain statements. But he thought mostly about Nell. He had watched her during the time he had been at the house and was more deeply impressed than ever. She was so quiet and reserved. She had never seemed so beautiful as she sat by the table with the light from the shaded lamp falling upon her face. He thought about Ben, and a feeling of anger smote his heart. What right had such a cad to have any claim over such a woman as that? he asked himself. And how could she see anything in Ben to admire? Had they met near the old tree since the night of the dance? he wondered.
Douglas was startled from his musings by a sudden noise to his left. Then, in an instant, the forms of two men hurled themselves upon him. A blow from a stick grazed his head and made him dizzy for a second. In the twinkling of an eye he realised that this was some of Ben Stubbles' mean, dirty work, and the thought maddened him. With the pick-handle he struck vigorously out, and soon had the satisfaction of knowing that he had settled one of his assailants, by the mournful groans he heard. Only one man was now left to deal with, and it did not take long to disarm him. Seeing that he was alone, with his cudgel knocked spinning from his grasp, he started to run away. Douglas, however, sprang after him and managed to seize him by the tail of his coat. To this he held with a bulldog grip while the other struggled frantically to get away. Finding that his efforts were in vain, and that he was in danger of being caught, he slipped out of his coat, leaving it in the hands of his conqueror, and disappeared in the darkness.
"Come back and get your coat," Douglas shouted. "You might need it before morning."