aid.

"Go on and drink," the big man answered. "That's what you wanted, isn't
it?"

"Y--yes."

"Then drink!"

"Oh, damn you--" Tears were in the girl's eyes. While Craig watched
woodenly, she turned and crawled back to where Mrs. Miller was sitting.

"Craig was only teasing," she said gently. "He's a great teaser. He
meant for you to have the water all the time. Here, Mrs. Miller, this is
for you."

"Thank you, dear; thank you ever so much." Mrs. Miller drank the water
slowly, in little sips. Margy Sharp watched her. Craig could see the
girl trembling. When the last drop was gone, she brought the cup back to
Craig--and flung it in his face.

"I could kill you!" she gasped.

"I gave you what you wanted," he said. His voice was impersonal but the
hardness had gone from his eyes.

Sobbing, Margy Sharp collapsed in the bottom of the boat. She hid her
face in her hands.

"Here," Craig said.

She looked up. He had drawn a fourth of a cup of water and was holding
it toward her.

"I--I gave my share to Mrs. Miller," she whispered.

"I know you did," Craig answered. "This is my share."

"But--"

"Water would only rust my stomach," he said. "Take it."

The girl drank. She looked at Craig. There were stars in her eyes.

He leaned forward and patted her on the shoulder. "You'll do, Margy," he
said. "You'll do."

* * * * *

The boat floated in the glassy sea. The long ground swell of the
Pacific, marching aimlessly toward some unknown shore, lifted it
steadily up and down, giving the boat the appearance of moving. An empty
tin can, thrown overboard three days previously, floated beside the
boat. A school of flying fish, fleeing from some pursuing maw beneath
the surface, skipped from wave to wave.

Besides Craig, Margy Sharp, and Mrs. Miller, there were three other
persons in the boat, all men. They were: English, a blond youth;
Michaelson, a little bird of a man who seemed not yet to have
comprehended what had happened to them, or to care; and Voronoff, whose
chief distinguishing characteristic was a pair of furtive eyes. English
had been wounded. He sat up and looked over the side of the boat.
Pointing, he suddenly cried out:

"Look! Look! There's a dragon! A flying dragon!"

"Easy, old man," Craig said gently. For two days English had been
delirious. The infection that had developed in his wound was quite
beyond the curative powers of the simple medicines carried among