u're my patient and must obey orders."

She shook her finger at him and tried to frown with portentous
severity. But the dancing eyes and mutinous dimple belied the frown.

"If you're my nurse, I'm going to be sick for a long time," he warned
her.

He tried to grasp the menacing finger, but she eluded him and playfully
drove him out of the room.

The sun was shining brightly through the porthole of his room when he
awoke the next morning, and on reaching for his watch he found that he
had waked later than usual. He dressed himself quickly. He felt a
little light-headed from the effect of his wound, but nothing more.

There was an exclamation of alarm from Tyke and the captain when they
saw his bandaged head.

"Only a cut," said Allen lightly. And he briefly narrated the details
of his misadventure.

"Lucky it was no worse," commented Tyke.

"Wasn't there any one near by at that time?" asked the captain.

"Why----" began Drew, and stopped. To say that Parmalee had been near
him would have been an indictment of the former for his seeming
heartlessness. He did not want to take advantage of his absent rival.

"If there had been, he'd have certainly picked me up," he evaded,
rather lamely.

Ruth greeted him in her usual gay and gracious manner, but he sought in
vain for any trace of the tenderness of the night before. She was on
her guard again.

"How is my patient this morning?" she smiled.

"Fine," he answered. "If you ever want any recommendation as a nurse
you can refer to me. Only I wouldn't give it," he added.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because I want to be your only patient."

She hastened to get off perilous ground.

"I wonder what's keeping Mr. Parmalee this morning," she observed.
"He's even more of a sleepy head than you are."

"Tired out, I guess," conjectured the captain. "This storm has used us
all up pretty well."

Ruth summoned Namco and told him to knock on Mr. Parmalee's door. The
Japanese was back in a minute.

"Honorable gent no ansler," he reported.

"That's queer," remarked the captain. "I'll step there myself."

He returned promptly, looking very grave. "He isn't there," he
announced.

"Perhaps he's gone on deck to get an appetite for breakfast," suggested
Drew lightly.

"It's not alone that he's absent," said the captain in a worried tone.
"His bed hasn't been slept in!"

There was a chorus of startled exclamations. Drew and Tyke jumped to
their feet and R