other passengers, officers,
and crew had been could only be matter of conjecture.

"God grant that they got safely away," she murmured fervently to
herself. "Perhaps they will be picked up by some ship and then they may
come in search of me--unless they come to the conclusion that I'm dead.
I might just as well be dead as here."

She was still ravenously hungry. The little fruit she had eaten had not
satisfied her and she did not know where to go to look for more. She
wondered if she had made him so angry that he would entirely desert her
and leave her to starve. With a shudder she thought of other terrors in
store for her. What about the coming night?

The afternoon was rapidly advancing; before very long the sun would set
and what then? How could she face the coming darkness alone with that
man whom she had angered and with all the unknown terrors the island
contained? Almost panic-stricken from sheer nervousness and anxiety,
utterly discouraged and miserable, she buried her face in her hands and
burst into tears.

Suddenly she heard a footstep, and, looking up, she saw Armitage
approaching. He was making only slow progress, being weighted down with
some heavy object.

"Here's a prize!" he shouted, as he came nearer.

Staggering up to near where she stood he set down a huge iron pot.

"I spied it lying among the drift along the shore," he went on. "It's a
bit rusty, but that'll scrape off. It's worth its weight in gold to us.
We've something to cook in now."

He spoke cheerily, with the utmost frankness. If he still nourished any
resentment his manner did not betray it. In her present state of
depression Grace would have welcomed the apparition of Satan himself.
She made no attempt to conceal her joy at his return. Clapping her hands
with childish enthusiasm, she cried:

"Oh, isn't it perfectly lovely!"

At home she had never been inside a kitchen. It is indeed doubtful if
she knew what a culinary utensil looked like. Perhaps it had never
occurred to her that the kettle and many other things as humble are all
indispensable parts in our civilization. But now she understood.
Necessity is a quick teacher and Grace was learning. The pot was an
ordinary tripod affair, battered and rusty. Judging from its appearance,
it had fallen overboard from some ship and had floated ashore. Otherwise
it was sound and serviceable. She could see that its value to them was
well-nigh inestimable.

"That's splendid--that's bul