ey."

"Ah, it was true then. He was acting secretly, and the men broke loose
as soon as they heard of it."

Elsie found this recurring suspicion of Courtenay's motives harder to
bear than the preceding paroxysm of unreasoning rage. She had heard
the shooting, bellowing, and tramping on deck, and she knew that some
terrible scene was being enacted there, while the mere fact that the
captain himself placed the female passengers in his cabin proved that
he was doing his best for all.

"I do not believe for one instant that Captain Courtenay was acting
otherwise than as a brave and honorable gentleman," she said; and then
the fantastic folly of such a dispute at such a moment overcame her.
She drew apart from Isobel, leaned against the wall of the cabin, and
wept unrestrainedly.

Her companions in misfortune did not realize how greatly her calm
self-reliance had comforted them until they witnessed this unlooked-for
collapse. The Spanish maid slipped to her knees, Mrs. Somerville began
to rock in her chair in a new agony, and Isobel, to whom a turbulent
spirit denied the relief of tears when they were most needed, buried
her face in a curtain which draped one of the windows.

It was thus that Courtenay found them, when he appeared at the door
after a lapse of time which none of them could measure.

"Now, Miss Maxwell, you first," he said with an air of authority which
betokened some new move of utmost importance.

"First--for what?" she managed to ask.

"You are going off in a boat. It is your best chance. Please be
quick."

"No, Miss Baring goes before me. Then the others, I shall come last."

"Have it as you will. I addressed you because you were nearest the
door. Come along, Miss Baring."

He waited for no further words. He grasped Isobel's arm and led her
out into the darkness. It seemed to be a very long time before he
returned.

"Now, Mrs. Somerville," he said, but that unhappy lady was so unnerved
that he had to carry her.

"Can you manage to bring the maid?" he asked over his shoulder to
Elsie. This trust in her drove away the weakness which had conquered
her under Isobel's taunts. She stooped over the maid, but the girl
wrestled and fought with her in frantic dread of the passage along the
deck and of facing that howling sea in a small boat.

Elsie herself was almost worn out when Courtenay came back. He took in
the situation at a glance. He picked up the shrieking maid in his
strong