Captain's Island is not far from civilisation as one measures space. Dealing with the less tangible medium of custom, it is--or was--practically beyond perception.James Miller didn't know this. When ho had thought at all of his friend Anderson's new winter home he had pictured the familiar southern resort with hotels and cottages sheltering Hammonds peerage, and a seductive bathing beach to irritate the conservative.That background, indeed, was given detail by his own desires. For he had received Anderson's letter concerning the new move while still in bed with a wearisome illness. Now, after two months' convalescence in quiet waterways, he was ready to snare pleasure where it was most alluring before returning to the North and Wall Street. So he sent a telegram from Allairville, instructing Anderson to meet him in Martinsburg and conduct him to the revels of his tropical resort. As a matter of fact it was this wire, despatched with such smiling anticipation, that became the leash by which he was drawn into the erratic, tragic, and apparently unaccountable occurrences which at the time added immeasurably to the lonely island's evil fame.