still with that nightmare of oppression
at her heart. The crowd of hurrying strangers bewildered her. Her
loneliness appalled her. She had an insane longing to rush back to her
cabin and hide herself. But she pressed on, on into the Customs house,
following her little pile of luggage that looked so ludicrously
insignificant among all the rest.

The babel here was incessant. She felt as if her senses would leave her.
Piteously, like a lost child, she searched every face within her scope
of vision; but she searched in vain for the face of a friend.

Later, she found herself following an official out into an open space
like a great courtyard, that was crammed with vehicles. He was wheeling
her luggage on a trolley. Suddenly he faced round and asked her whither
she wanted to go.

She looked at him helplessly. "I am expecting someone to meet me," she
said.

He stared at her in some perplexity, and finally suggested that he
should set down her luggage and leave her to wait where she was.

To this she agreed, and when he had gone she seated herself on her cabin
trunk and faced the situation. She was utterly alone, with scarcely any
money in her possession, and no knowledge whatever of the place in which
she found herself. Robin would, of course, come sooner or later, but
till he came she was helpless.

What should she do, she wondered desperately? What could she do? All
about her, people were coming and going. She watched them dizzily. There
was not one of them who seemed to be alone. The heat and glare was
intense. The clatter of wheels sounded in her ears like the roar of
great waters. She felt as if she were sinking down, down through endless
turmoil into a void unspeakable.

How long she had sat there she could not have said. It seemed to her
hours when someone came up to her with a firm and purposeful stride,
and stooping, touched her shoulder. She looked up dazedly, and saw
Brett Mercer.

He said something to her, but it was as if he spoke in an unknown
language. She had not the faintest idea what he meant. His face swam
before her eyes. She shook her head at him vaguely, with quivering lips.

He stooped lower. She felt his arm encircle her, felt him draw her to
her feet. Again he seemed to be speaking, but his words eluded her. The
roar of the great waters filled her brain. Like a lost child she turned
and clung to the supporting arm.

IV

Later, it seemed to her that her senses must have deserted h