how
her a different life."

"But, Tom," quickly added Anne, "do not give Polly the opportunity,
again, to suspect you of lover-like intentions. Be a first-class brother
to her, and let _her_ wonder if she has any further interest in you.
Never show your trump card to a girl."

Both men laughed at this sage advice, and John nodded smilingly: "Anne
ought to know, Tom. That was the way she got me."

Anne was about to answer teasingly, when Mr. Dalken came up and said:
"I've been hunting you three everywhere. Hurry and get your wraps, as the
yacht is waiting to return to the City."

The trio then learned that passes had been granted the members in Mr.
Fabian's party, to leave the steamer that night and go back with their
friends, on the yacht. So the cabin baggage had been brought up to the
gang-way, and when Mr. Dalken summoned John and his companions to come
and help the girls get away, the boats were already on their way to the
yacht with the luggage.

Many of their fellow-passengers crowded about the party when they were
ready to go. Good-bys were exchanged and the happy bevy of young folks
left. Then the boat returned for the older members in the party, and soon
the yacht was ready to fly back to her dock, up the River, near 72nd
street. But the thick haze that had made the moon look so romantic,
developed into an impenetrable fog. And anyone who has ever experienced
such a fog hanging over New York Harbor, knows what it is to try to go
through it.

So the vessel had not traveled past the Statue of Liberty, before the
heavy pall of fog suddenly dropped silently over the Bay, and anything
farther than a few feet away from the radius of the electric lights on
the boat, was completely hidden.

The Captain bawled forth orders to the crew and instantly the uniformed
men were running back and forth to carry out the instructions. Before all
impetus to the yacht was closed down, however, the engines had driven her
into the route generally used by the pilots of the boats running to
Staten Island.

Captain Johnson anxiously studied his chart but could not gauge his
position exactly, because of the dense fog and the lack of signals. In a
few minutes more, every fog-horn in the Bay and all the great reflectors
from guiding lights from bell-buoys would be in full operation. But at
the time, there was nothing to tell him that he was in a dangerous zone.

CHAPTER III

THE ACCIDENT

When the party reached the ya