rted to a sitting position, stung by a sudden
thought. "Perhaps he might die! The fever spreads quickly, and if so,
all this plotting will have been useless. It must be done at once. It
will never do to break down now," and taking the phial from her pocket,
she held it up, to see how much it contained. It was three parts full.
"Enough for both," she said, between her set teeth. The action of
holding up the bottle reminded her of the amorous Blunt, and she smiled.
"A strange way to show affection for a man," she said to herself, "and
yet he doesn't care, and I suppose I shouldn't by this time. I'll go
through with it, and, if the worst comes to the worst, I can fall back
on Maurice." She loosened the cork of the phial, so that it would come
out with as little noise as possible, and then placed it carefully in
her bosom. "I will get a little sleep if I can," she said. "They have
got the note, and it shall be done to-night."

CHAPTER VII. TYPHUS FEVER.

The felon Rufus Dawes had stretched himself in his bunk and tried to
sleep. But though he was tired and sore, and his head felt like lead, he
could not but keep broad awake. The long pull through the pure air, if
it had tired him, had revived him, and he felt stronger; but for all
that, the fatal sickness that was on him maintained its hold; his pulse
beat thickly, and his brain throbbed with unnatural heat. Lying in
his narrow space--in the semi-darkness--he tossed his limbs about, and
closed his eyes in vain--he could not sleep. His utmost efforts induced
only an oppressive stagnation of thought, through which he heard the
voices of his fellow-convicts; while before his eyes was still the
burning Hydaspes--that vessel whose destruction had destroyed for ever
all trace of the unhappy Richard Devine.

It was fortunate for his comfort, perhaps, that the man who had been
chosen to accompany him was of a talkative turn, for the prisoners
insisted upon hearing the story of the explosion a dozen times over, and
Rufus Dawes himself had been roused to give the name of the vessel with
his own lips. Had it not been for the hideous respect in which he was
held, it is possible that he might have been compelled to give his
version also, and to join in the animated discussion which took place
upon the possibility of the saving of the fugitive crew. As it was,
however, he was left in peace, and lay unnoticed, trying to sleep.

The detachment of fifty being on deck--airing--t