n abiding horror. He wanted
Christobal himself to send her away, but the doctor had taken off his
coat and bared his arms. His appearance was grimly business-like.

"Will you tell her how much I am obliged to her for her kind thought.
But you see--it cannot be permitted. Please say that I hope to join
her in the saloon in a quarter of an hour. My work is nearly ended. I
am sure you will make her understand that this is not a place for a
woman."

Again he swept the row of silent bodies with a comprehensive hand. Yet
the trivial thought intruded itself on the sailor that this elegant old
Spaniard delegated the task of explanation to him solely because he did
not wish to appear before Miss Maxwell in a somewhat disheveled state.
He dismissed the notion at once.

"How many?" he asked, glancing at the quiet forms which bore no
bandages.

"Eleven, now. By the way, just one word. What chance have we?"
Christobal put the concluding sentence in French.

Courtenay answered in the same language: "A very poor one. But I shall
come to the saloon and warn you. That will be only fair, don't you
think?"

"Most certainly. Well--I may as well finish here." And the doctor
signed to his helpers to lift the next sufferer on to the table.

Courtenay returned to the stairway. At the top stood Elsie, looking
eagerly for his reappearance. A sense of unutterable anguish shook him
for a second as he saw the sweet face, instinct with life and beauty,
gazing down at him. How monstrous it was to think of such a fair woman
being battered out of recognition against the rocks. He bit his lip
savagely, and it is to be feared the words he swallowed were not those
of supplication. But his eyes were calm and his voice well under
control when he said:

"Dr. Christobal is captain below there, Miss Maxwell, and he absolutely
vetoes your presence. He was exceedingly distressed at being compelled
to send you such a message. However, he will soon explain matters to
you in person, as he is coming aft almost at once."

Elsie was disappointed. She dreaded the return to the saloon, with its
queerly assorted company. When she quitted them, they were in a state
of indescribable distress. Gray and the Englishman were helping the
chief steward to adjust life-belts; but Isobel was in a frenzy of
despair, her maid had fainted, de Poincilit and the Spaniards were
muttering alternate appeals to the saints and oaths of utter
abandonment, and