ke, and we fell together upon the thwarts of the boat,
locked in a deadly embrace. Van Luck was a powerful man, and his
madness seemed to give him double strength. I called to Melannie to
keep away from us, but afraid for my safety, and fearless of her own,
she hurried to my assistance. "Get my knife," I whispered, for I was
unable to draw it myself from its sheath by my side. The brave girl
stooped to do my bidding, when the madman, at the same moment, wrenched
his arm free and struck her. Melannie fell with a low moan upon the
thwart beside me, and Van Luck, snatching the bag of gems from where it
hung at her girdle, retreated with his prize to the stern.

I was soon upon my feet, and lifting Melannie into a more easy
position, I turned my attention to Van Luck. He was sitting in the
stern, handling the gems and mumbling over them, and when he saw me he
clutched the bag, and, springing up, made as though to run from me,
unmindful of the fact that we were tossing in mid-ocean. Without
turning his head from looking back at me, he stumbled blindly into the
sea, where he soon became lost amid the grey waves that rose on every
side.

When I returned to Melannie I could see that she was sinking fast. I
did my best to staunch the blood which flowed from her breast. But her
whitened face, upon which the dews of death were gathering, warned me
she had not many moments to live.

"Kiss me, Peter," she whispered. "It is better that I should go. You do
not love me; you cannot love me as I love you. There is some one else
whom you love. I know it; I have felt it. Go to her, Peter, but do not
quite forget me."

These were her last words, and, when I kissed her, Melannie, Queen of
the Island of Gems, had crossed the waters of the Great Divide. Next
day I consigned her body to the deep wrapped in her robe of white tapa
cloth which formed her shroud.

I was now alone upon the waste of waters, with barely three days'
provisions between me and a slow and painful death. To add to my
anxieties I could see that the weather, which had been calm and fine
since my leaving the island, was about to change. Storm clouds gathered
on the horizon. The sun was obscured. Rain fell, and the wind rose
until it blew with the force of a tempest. I managed, with difficulty,
to unship the sail, and devoted myself to baling the boat, which
threatened at any moment to be swamped by the green water which came
aboard of her. All that day, and the next, I