osition of
that craft, and the course that I judge her to be steering, I fear that
she will pass too far to windward of us to permit of our attracting her
attention. The fact that we shall be to leeward of her when she passes
will be against us; for a sailor looks half a dozen times to windward
for once that he glances over the lee rail. And my efforts during the
last hour have convinced me of the impossibility of driving this
ungainly structure to windward by merely swimming. If I only had an
oar, or a paddle of some sort, I might be able to do something; but
then, you see, I haven't, so it is of no use to think further of that.
The wind is dropping, which is a point in our favour, inasmuch as it
will lessen the speed of yonder craft in coming down toward us, and so
give us more time in which to act. I believe that, for instance, it
would be possible for me, alone and unencumbered, to swim out to
windward far enough to intercept her; but I certainly do not like the
idea of leaving you here, alone, even on such an important errand as the
one that I have in my mind; for if the wind should happen to shift, or I
should by any other means fail to reach her, I might meet with some
difficulty--it might perhaps even prove impossible--to find you again."

"Oh, pray do not allow consideration for me to interfere with your
freedom of action," retorted the girl, bitterly. "If you can save
yourself by leaving me here to die alone, I beg that you will not
hesitate."

"Stop, if you please," answered Leslie, with some sharpness of tone.
"You have no right to think or to suggest that I should do any such
thing. Perhaps, however, you may have misunderstood me," he continued,
more gently. "What I had in my mind was this. It occurred to me that
it might not be difficult for me to swim out and intercept that ship,
attract the attention of those on board her, and get picked up. Then I
could explain to the skipper that you were down here to leeward, afloat
upon a raft; upon learning which he would of course at once bear up and
run down to look for you. And, as in all probability you would only be
some two miles away at the moment when I should be picked up, there
would be absolutely no possibility of missing you. Still," he
continued, thoughtfully, "there remains the chance of my failure--as I
said just now; and I scarcely like to risk it. If it were not for the
fact that you are in so weak and exhausted a condition, I would sug