torm, and he went before it
undismayed, missing no chance of refuge.

A life-buoy hanging beside the hatch caught his eye as he glanced swiftly
around and in a second he pounced upon it. Toby slipped from his shoulder
as he bent, and slipping awoke. But he only lay and stared with dazed
eyes at the man frantically unlashing the rope, as one who looked on from
afar.

Then Larpent was with them again. He dragged Toby to his feet, and in a
flash Saltash turned, the life-buoy on his arm.

"What the devil are you doing?"

Larpent pointed. "They've got the boat free. Go--while you can!"

But Saltash barely glanced across. He put the life-buoy over Toby's head
and shoulders, and began to wind the rope around him. It did not need a
glance to know that the boat would never get away.

At his action Toby gasped, and sudden understanding awoke in his eyes. He
dragged one arm free, and made as if he would cling to Saltash.

"Keep me with you, sir!" he cried out wildly. "Don't make me go alone!"

Saltash gripped the clutching hand, dropping the end of rope. It trailed
down, and Larpent caught it, flung it round Saltash's body, and knotted
it while he was lifting Toby over the rail.

Then for a second Saltash hung, one hand still gripping Toby's, the other
holding to the rail of his sinking yacht, the two of them poised side by
side above the abyss.

"You'll save yourself, Larpent!" he cried. "I shall want you."

And with that he turned suddenly to his shivering companion and
actually smiled into the terrified eyes. "Come on, Toby!" he said. "We
go--together!"

He flung his leg over with the words, and leapt straight downwards.

Toby's shriek sounded through the tumult as they went into the grey
depths.

CHAPTER VII

LARPENT'S DAUGHTER

The sinking of _The Night Moth_ after being in collision with the liner,
_Corfe Castle_, bound for Brazil, was an event of sufficient importance
to be given a leading place in the newspapers of the following day. Lord
Saltash was well-known as a private yachtsman, and the first account
which reported him amongst the drowned was received with widespread
regret throughout that circle in which he was a familiar figure. Then at
a later hour came its contradiction, and his friends smiled and remarked
that he had the facility of an eel for getting out of tight corners, and
that they would never believe him dead till they had been to his funeral.

Long before the publication of th