impse of the black speck of the canoe taking over Mrs.
Travers. He couldn't find it again with the glass, it was too dark; but
the part of the shore for which it was steered would be somewhere near
the angle of Belarab's stockade nearest to the beach. This Jorgenson
could make out in the faint rosy glare of fires burning inside.
Jorgenson was certain that Lingard was looking toward the Emma through
the most convenient loophole he could find.

As obviously Mrs. Travers could not have paddled herself across, two men
were taking her over; and for the steersman she had Jaffir. Though he
had assented to Jorgenson's plan Jaffir was anxious to accompany the
ring as near as possible to its destination. Nothing but dire necessity
had induced him to part with the talisman. Crouching in the stern and
flourishing his paddle from side to side he glared at the back of the
canvas deck-chair which had been placed in the middle for Mrs. Travers.
Wrapped up in the darkness she reclined in it with her eyes closed,
faintly aware of the ring hung low on her breast. As the canoe was
rather large it was moving very slowly. The two men dipped their paddles
without a splash: and surrendering herself passively, in a temporary
relaxation of all her limbs, to this adventure Mrs. Travers had no sense
of motion at all. She, too, like Jorgenson, was tired of thinking. She
abandoned herself to the silence of that night full of roused passions
and deadly purposes. She abandoned herself to an illusory feeling; to
the impression that she was really resting. For the first time in many
days she could taste the relief of being alone. The men with her were
less than nothing. She could not speak to them; she could not understand
them; the canoe might have been moving by enchantment--if it did move
at all. Like a half-conscious sleeper she was on the verge of saying to
herself, "What a strange dream I am having."

The low tones of Jaffir's voice stole into it quietly telling the men to
cease paddling, and the long canoe came to a rest slowly, no more than
ten yards from the beach. The party had been provided with a torch which
was to be lighted before the canoe touched the shore, thus giving a
character of openness to this desperate expedition. "And if it draws
fire on us," Jaffir had commented to Jorgenson, "well, then, we shall
see whose fate it is to die on this night."

"Yes," had muttered Jorgenson. "We shall see."

Jorgenson saw at last the small ligh