第55章

That he did not himself tell her may be forgiven him, for he had only a life of misery to look forward to after she should know that he, too, was equally a soulless monster with the twelve that had preceded him to a merciful death.He would have envied them but for the anticipation of the time that he might be alone with her before she learned the truth.

As he pondered the future there came to him the thought that should they never find Professor Maxon or von Horn the girl need never know but that he was a human being.

He need not lose her then, but always be near her.

The idea grew and with it the mighty temptation to lead Virginia Maxon far into the jungle, and keep her forever from the sight of men.And why not? Had he not saved her where others had failed? Was she not, by all that was just and fair, his?

Did he owe any loyalty to either her father or von Horn?

Already he had saved Professor Maxon's life, so the obligation, if there was any, lay all against the older man; and three times he had saved Virginia.He would be very kind and good to her.

She should be much happier and a thousand times safer than with those others who were so poorly equipped to protect her.

As he stood silently gazing out across the jungle beneath them toward the new sun the girl watched him in a spell of admiration of his strong and noble face, and his perfect physique.What would have been her emotions had she guessed what thoughts were his!

It was she who broke the silence.

"Can you find the way to the long-house where my father is?"she asked.

Bulan, startled at the question, looked up from his reverie.

The thing must be faced, then, sooner than he thought.

How was he to tell her of his intention? It occurred to him to sound her first--possibly she would make no objection to the plan.

"You are anxious to return?" he asked.

"Why, yes, of course, I am," she replied."My father will be half mad with apprehension, until he knows that I am safe.What a strange question, indeed." Still, however, she did not doubt the motives of her companion.

"Suppose we should be unable to find our way to the long-house?" he continued.

"Oh, don't say such a thing," cried the girl.

"It would be terrible.I should die of misery and fright and loneliness in this awful jungle.

Surely you can find your way to the river--it was but a short march through the jungle from where we landed to the spot at which you took me away from that fearful Malay."The girl's words cast a cloud over Bulan's hopes.

The future looked less roseate with the knowledge that she would be unhappy in the life that he had been mapping for them.He was silent--thinking.In his breast a riot of conflicting emotions were waging the first great battle which was to point the trend of the man's character--would the selfish and the base prevail, or would the noble?

With the thought of losing her his desire for her companionship became almost a mania.To return her to her father and von Horn would be to lose her--of that there could be no doubt, for they would not leave her long in ignorance of his origin.Then, in addition to being deprived of her forever, he must suffer the galling mortification of her scorn.

It was a great deal to ask of a fledgling morality that was yet scarcely cognizant of its untried wings;but even as the man wavered between right and wrong there crept into his mind the one great and burning question of his life--had he a soul? And he knew that upon his decision of the fate of Virginia Maxon rested to some extent the true answer to that question, for, unconsciously, he had worked out his own crude soul hypothesis which imparted to this invisible entity the power to direct his actions only for good.

Therefore he reasoned that wickedness presupposed a small and worthless soul, or the entire lack of one.

That she would hate a soulless creature he accepted as a foregone conclusion.He desired her respect, and that fact helped him to his final decision, but the thing that decided him was born of the truly chivalrous nature he possessed--he wanted Virginia Maxon to be happy; it mattered not at what cost to him.

The girl had been watching him closely as he stood silently thinking after her last words.She did not know the struggle that the calm face hid; yet she felt that the dragging moments were big with the question of her fate.

"Well?" she said at length.

"We must eat first," he replied in a matter-of-fact tone, and not at all as though he was about to renounce his life's happiness, "and then we shall set out in search of your father.I shall take you to him, Virginia, if man can find him.""I knew that you could," she said, simply, "but how my father and I ever can repay you I do not know--do you?""Yes," said Bulan, and there was a sudden rush of fire to his eyes that kept Virginia Maxon from urging a detailed explanation of just how she might repay him.