eavy lurch, and the gale was on them. A great
blow, and swift darkness, then fierce currents rushing coldly past him;
strange, wild sounds filling his ears; and when his vision cleared
itself, he saw Lois, unimpeded by her light drapery, striking out for
the sunken ledge, half a dozen yards away, over which the spray was
flying furiously. He ground his teeth with impatience as his nerveless
arm fell helpless; but he reached her side at last. A narrow shelf, with
barely sufficient standing room for two. Great, dark waves, with strange
lights flashing through them, whirled blinding deluges high above their
heads, as he held her close. With the instinct of the weaker toward the
stronger, she grasped and clung to him; and the fierce exultation that
thrilled through his veins with actual contact, made him strong as a
giant. And then, close on the gale, came the rain, beating down the
waves with its heavy pour. In the thunder and tramp of the storm no
human voice could have made itself audible, if speech had been needed.

The storm passed as suddenly as it had risen. Through a rift in the
clouds a dash of blood-red light burst over the troubled waters, and
with it a sudden quiet fell about them. They were to have their 'grand
sunset' finally.

'We are too far from the mainland to reach it without help; no boats are
likely to pass this way after this storm; the tide is at its lowest now;
it rises high over this ledge.'

In his quiet voice a half-savage triumph made itself heard. This
near-coming fate, that he believed inevitable, put away completely all
claims of that world that lay behind him--shut out everything but their
own individuality. Time had narrowed to a point; all landmarks were
swept away.

Miss Berkeley's face had lost none of its whiteness; but the pallor was
not of fear. The great eyes burned star-like, and the mouth was like
iron. She looked up as his even tones fell on her ear. Something in his
gaze fixed hers; through fearless, unveiled eyes, the soul looked
straight out to his. What he saw there dazzled and blinded him. He
caught her up to his heart suddenly and fiercely. His lips crushed hers
in a long, clinging kiss, that seemed to drink up her very life. For
them, the brightness that for others is dissipated over long years of
the future, was concentrated into the single intense moment of the
present--this one moment, that seemed to burst into bud and blossom, the
fruition of a lifetime. The sky lift