it cannot yet be afternoon."

"Flatterer," I laughed, showing him my watch. "It is past five o'clock."

He looked round as he gathered in the sail, and a shade of anxiety crept
into his face. Especially he looked with bewildered eyes at the faint
blue line where land lay.

"What an idiot I have been," he said, knitting his brows. "Port,
Margharita! The left string! That's right! Now, sit firm, and when we go
down, lean to the other side. You mustn't mind if you get a little wet.
We are running in the teeth of the wind, and it will be roughish."

It was deliciously exhilarating. The breeze, without our noticing it,
had been gradually freshening, and now it was almost a gale. The sky
above was mackerel-hued and wind-swept. The sea seemed to be getting
rougher every minute. Lord Lumley had to pass his arm round the frail
mast which creaked and bent with the straining of the sail. Once we
heeled right over, and were within an ace of being capsized. I only
laughed, and the color came into my cheeks. Death would be a sweet and
welcome thing, I thought--death here on the ocean, with my lover's arms
around me. So I had no fear, and Lord Lumley found time to glance at me
admiringly.

"You're the pluckiest woman I ever knew in all my life!" he exclaimed
lightly. "Gad! that was a shave! It's no use, dear, we must tack. This
is too good to last."

Round we swept, first one way then another, but we made no headway. In
an hour's time we were no nearer land, and in the gathering twilight the
coast line was dim and blurred. Here and there we could see a few lights
burning from the villages along the shore, and away northward the
revolving light from Gorton headland shone out like a beacon.

"What will become of us?" I asked softly, for Lord Lumley had ceased his
exertions for a moment with a little gesture of despair. His face was
very pale, but it might have been from fatigue.

"Nothing very serious. Fortunately the sail is a new one, and very
strong. I think it will hold, and while it does, I can keep her in
position. We shall be tacking about most of the night, though, I am
afraid. It is such a provoking shifty wind. I can't depend upon it for a
moment."

"And supposing the sail went?"

"We have the oars. It would be uncommonly hard work, rowing, but it
would keep us afloat. It was just a chance that I put them in--a lucky
one as it happens."

"Supposing you had forgotten them, and that we had no oars?"

Lord Lumley s