to help them. Now then, mates! Which
of you is going to help to cheat the devil of his due?" said the man
with the earrings.

Three men proffered their services, but the old seaman with the
telescope checked them.

"Bide a bit, mates, bide a bit; I'm not sure you've a call to go." He
wiped the glasses of his telescope with a red handkerchief, and then
looked out seaward once more.

In the meantime, while their fate was being discussed on the shore,
Raeburn and Erica were face to face with death. They were a long way
from land before the wind had sprung up so strongly. Raeburn, who in his
young days had been at once the pride and anxiety of the fishermen round
his Scottish home, and noted for his readiness and daring, had now lost
the freshness of his experience, and had grown forgetful of weather
tokens. The danger was upon them before he had even thought of it. The
strong wind blowing upon them, the delicious salt freshness, even
the brisk motion, had been such a relief to them after the pain and
excitement of the morning. But all at once they began to realize that
their peril was great. Their little boat tossed so fearfully that Erica
had to cling to the seat for safety; one moment they were down in the
hollow of a deep green wave, the next they would be tossed up upon its
crest as though their boat had been a mere cockle shell.

"I'm afraid we've made a mistake, Eric," said Raeburn. "I ought to have
seen this storm coming up."

"What?" cried Erica, for the dashing of the waves made the end of the
sentence inaudible.

He looked across the boat at her, and an almost paralyzing dread filled
his heart. For himself he could be brave, for himself death had no
terrors but for his child!

A horrible vision rose before him. He saw her lying stiff and cold,
with glazed eyes and drenched hair. Was there to be a yet more terrible
separation between them? Was death to snatch her from him? Ah, no that
should never be! They would at least go down together.

The vision faded; he saw once more the fair, eager face, no longer
pallid, but flushed with excitement, the brave eyes clear and bright,
but somewhat anxious. The consciousness that everything depended on him
helped him to rise above that overmastering horror. He was once more his
strongest self.

The rudder had been left on the beach, and it was only possible to steer
by the oars. He dismissed even the thought of Erica, and concentrated
his whole being on the diffi