t bite," he said, and the humour of his remark
cheered him. He was ten miles from the shore, and the blue coast was a
dim, ragged line on the horizon. He pulled out a big luncheon basket
from the cabin and eyed it with disfavour. It had cost him two hundred
francs. He opened the basket, and at the sight of its contents, was
inclined to reconsider his earlier view that he had wasted his money,
the more so since the _maitre d'hotel_ had thoughtfully included two
quart bottles of champagne.

Mr. Marcus Stepney made a hearty meal, and by the time he had dropped an
empty bottle into the sea, he was inclined to take a more cheerful view
of life. He threw over the debris of the lunch, pushed the basket under
one of the seats of the cabin, pulled up his anchor and started the
engines running.

The sky was a brighter blue and the sea held a finer sparkle, and he
was inclined to take a view of even Jean Briggerland, more generous than
any he had held.

"Little devil," he smiled reminiscently, as he murmured the words.

He opened the second bottle of champagne in her honour--Mr. Marcus
Stepney was usually an abstemious man--and drank solemnly, if not
soberly, her health and happiness. As the sun grew warmer he began to
feel an unaccountable sleepiness. He was sober enough to know that to
fall asleep in the middle of the ocean was to ask for trouble, and he
set the bow of the _Jungle Queen_ for the nearest beach, hoping to find
a landing place.

He found something better as he skirted the shore. The sea and the
weather had scooped out a big hollow under a high cliff, a hollow just
big enough to take the _Jungle Queen_ and deep and still enough to
ensure her a safe anchorage. A rock barrier interposed between the
breakers and this deep pool which the waves had hollowed in the stony
floor of the ocean. As he dropped his anchor he disturbed a school of
fish, and his angling instincts re-awoke. He let down his line over the
side, seated himself comfortable in one of the two big basket chairs,
and was dozing comfortably....

It was the sound of a shot that woke him. It was followed by another,
and a third. Almost immediately something dropped from the cliff, and
fell with a mighty splash into the water.

Marcus was wide awake now, and almost sobered. He peered down into the
clear depths, and saw a figure of a woman turning over and over. Then as
it floated upwards it came on its back, and he saw the face. Without a
moment's hes