in the boat with Mary and
others.

They sailed down the bay. On the return the wind died away, and when
they got back, the stage had gone with more than half the party, and
Agnes Maine was not among those who were waiting. They came on board,
and the boat headed away for home.

After landing they had to walk across some fields. When near the house,
Mary missed something, and Windham went back for it. He had to cross the
road, and as he came near it the stage passed along, with its merry
company laughing and singing. They did not notice him among the trees,
but he distinctly saw all who were in the open vehicle, and Miss Maine
was not among them.

She had climbed up the cliff by a gradual, roundabout path; and after
Windham saw her, she had wandered on, lost herself for a while, and got
back after both stage and boat had left, each party supposing she had
gone with the other.

Windham found a row-boat and started back. He knew nothing about boats;
but the bay was very smooth, it was yet early, and he got across in due
time. As he neared the island he saw her, in her white dress, standing
on the bluff, and looking out toward him.

Off the shore, rocks and bowlders stood thickly out of the water, and
Windham threaded his way in among them, thinking nothing of those
underneath. The skiff was little better than an egg-shell, being built
of half-inch cedar; and before he knew what had happened, the point of a
sunken rock had cut through the bows, and the boat was filling with
water. With a landsman's instinct, he stood up on a thwart; the boat
tipped over and went from under him. In the effort to right it, he made
a thrust downward with one of the oars, but found no bottom; and the
next minute Agnes saw him clinging to the side of a steep rock, with
only his head and shoulders out of water.

She did not cry out; but after he had struggled vainly to get up the
rock, and found no other support for foot or hand than the one
projection just above him, by which he held, he looked toward her as he
clung there out of breath, and saw her eagerly watching him from the
water's edge. And her voice showed the stress of her feeling, though it
was quite clear when she called:

"Can't you climb up?"

"No, there is nothing to hold by."

"Can you swim?"

"No."

She looked all about, then back to him. There was no one in sight; the
island was out of the lines of communication, and a point just north of
them shut off the open wa