l wait----

Ah!" she broke the measure with a despairing cry and struggled to get
from my arms, as another voice, far away but familiar, began to call my
name. Then slowly my eyes opened and beheld Bilkins looking down at me,
in my own stateroom, where my clothes were lying as I had thrown them
off the night before.

"I've called you twice, sir," he was saying. "It's almost ten o'clock,
and I'm afraid your bath is cold."

"I want it cold," I murmured, staring up at him. "God, Bilkins, I've had
a most extraordinary dream!"

"If it's bad don't tell it before breakfast, sir, whatever you do! Just
hold on a minute, and I'll bring your tray right in!"

CHAPTER V

"TO THE VERY END!"

I dressed hurriedly, wanting to be on deck and get a more searching view
of the yacht near which we had anchored. Stepping out into the cockpit,
therefore, I looked hungrily toward her mooring place, but it was
vacant.

"Where has she gone?" I asked Tommy, who was the only one about.

"The etiquette of this yacht requires its owner first to say 'good
morning' when he comes up at break of day," he grinned at me accusingly.
"The little professor won eight hundred dollars from the proud Castilian
last night--I hope Dame Fortune was as kind to you!"

"She was diverting," I admitted. "Where's Monsieur now?"

"'Sleep. We didn't turn in till an unholy hour. He got up at seven from
force of habit, fussed around a while, took some pictures of the
neighborhood and developed them, but by that time the poor old door-mat
couldn't keep his eyes open. Do you know he wept all the way home last
night, telling me how good we were to him?"

We laughed.

"But, Tommy, where's the yacht that was over there yesterday?"

"Her? Oh, she cleared this morning--and listen to me, boy, if you want
to see a dream just cast your eye on that last film of Monsieur's!"

See a dream! Great heavens, if I wanted to see a dream!

He led the way aft to a ribbon of freshly developed film hanging from
the boom to dry and, as I gingerly raised it to the light, he went on to
explain:

"It was boorish of him, but I'm to blame. We were standing forward after
breakfast snapping the harbor when that yacht weighed anchor and swung
across our bow less than thirty feet off; and, Jack, with the prettiest
girl I ever saw--barring Nell--looking out at us through a porthole.
'Shoot her,' I whispered. So he swung his camera and shot, and she gave
a darling little gasp and