As It Was in the Beginning

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I.	[A TRUSTED MESSENGER]
II.	[AN UNEXPECTED OUTBURST]
III.	[A MIDNIGHT TRAGEDY]
IV.	[THE NIGHT AND MORNING]
V.	[THE ISLAND]
VI.	[VARIOUS DISCOVERIES]
VII.	[A GREWSOME GUARDIAN]
VIII.	[PRIMITIVE CONDITIONS]
IX.	[THE MOTHER OF INVENTION]
X.	[THE MASTER POACHER]
XI.	[A MYSTERY]
XII.	[AMBITIOUS PLANS]
XIII.	[A MIDNIGHT VISITOR]
XIV.	[TRUANTS OUT OF SCHOOL]
XV.	[A NIGHT IN THE JUNGLE]
XVI.	[A DEAD MAN'S SECRET]
XVII.	[FEVERISH EMPLOYMENTS HALTED]
XVIII.	[AT THE TIGER'S KILL]
XIX.	[GRENVILLE'S RADIANT STAR]
XX.	[A GIRDLE OF GOLD]
XXI.	[MOLTEN METAL AND HOPES]
XXII.	[A TOMB OF STONE]
XXIII.	[A DESPERATE CHANCE]
XXIV.	[A DREADED VISITOR]
XXV.	[AN IRREPARABLE LOSS]
XXVI.	[AFTER TO-MORROW——]
XXVII.	[A FATEFUL EXPLOSION]
XXVIII.	[WHAT THE BLAST DISCOVERED]
XXIX.	[AN INTERRUPTED DIVERSION]
XXX.	[REVEALING AN INTENT]
XXXI.	[THE SILENT VISITORS]
XXXII.	[DEATH AS A BROTHER]
XXXIII.	[THE GIRL BEHIND THE GUN]
XXXIV.	[DYAK DARTS AND METHODS]
XXXV.	[A BATTLE IN THE SMOKE]
XXXVI.	[THE LAST CUP OF WATER]
XXXVII.	[A BREATHLESS MARGIN]
XXXVIII.	[GRENVILLE'S DESPERATE CHANCE]
XXXIX.	[ADDITIONAL HEAD-HUNTERS]
XL.	[PLOT AND COUNTER PLOT]
XLI.	[A LIVING BAIT]
XLII.	[LONG HOURS OF DOUBT]
XLIII.	[THE HOUR OF CLIMAX]
XLIV.	[A LOTUS BLOSSOM]
XLV.	[THE LAST BOMB]
XLVI.	[A GIFT REFUSED]
XLVII.	[A FRIEND IN NEED]

CHAPTER I

A TRUSTED MESSENGER

Grenville was not the type to be readily excited, yet a glow of exceptional brilliance shone in his eyes as he met the searching gaze of his friend, and wondered if Fenton could be jesting.

That he had made no reply whatsoever to Fenton's proposition he failed to realize till Gerald spoke again.

"Well, Sid," demanded that impetuous lieutenant of finance, "gone dumb? Perhaps I haven't made it plain," and he particularized on his fingers. "You get an ocean trip of eight or ten weeks' duration, tropic sun at its best, leisurely business without a fleck of bother, absolute rest, good provender, thorough recuperation, your entire expenses cheerfully paid, vast service rendered to me, no time lost on your equilibrator, time for countless new inventions to sprout in your fertile brain—and the unutterable joy of escaping this abominable climate, practically at once!"