lf
towards the light. "Sarah!" he cried, in shrill sharp tones. "Sarah!"
and swooped with a lean arm through the dusk, as though to seize her.

The girl leapt out of the cabin like a panther, struck the lantern out
of her lover's hand, and was back at the bunk-head in a moment. The
convict was a young man of about four-and-twenty. His hands--clutched
convulsively now on the blankets--were small and well-shaped, and the
unshaven chin bristled with promise of a strong beard. His wild black
eyes glared with all the fire of delirium, and as he gasped for breath,
the sweat stood in beads on his sallow forehead.

The aspect of the man was sufficiently ghastly, and Miles, drawing
back with an oath, did not wonder at the terror which had seized Mrs.
Vickers's maid. With open mouth and agonized face, she stood in the
centre of the cabin, lantern in hand, like one turned to stone, gazing
at the man on the bed.

"Ecod, he be a sight!" says Miles, at length. "Come away, miss, and shut
the door. He's raving, I tell yer."

The sound of his voice recalled her.

She dropped the lantern, and rushed to the bed.

"You fool; he's choking, can't you see? Water! give me water!"

And wreathing her arms around the man's head, she pulled it down on her
bosom, rocking it there, half savagely, to and fro.

Awed into obedience by her voice, Miles dipped a pannikin into a small
puncheon, cleated in the corner of the cabin, and gave it her; and,
without thanking him, she placed it to the sick prisoner's lips. He
drank greedily, and closed his eyes with a grateful sigh.

Just then the quick ears of Miles heard the jingle of arms. "Here's the
doctor coming, miss!" he cried. "I hear the sentry saluting. Come away!
Quick!"

She seized the lantern, and, opening the horn slide, extinguished it.

"Say it went out," she said in a fierce whisper, "and hold your tongue.
Leave me to manage."

She bent over the convict as if to arrange his pillow, and then glided
out of the cabin, just as Pine descended the hatchway.

"Hallo!" cried he, stumbling, as he missed his footing; "where's the
light?"

"Here, sir," says Miles, fumbling with the lantern. "It's all right,
sir. It went out, sir."

"Went out! What did you let it go out for, you blockhead!" growled the
unsuspecting Pine. "Just like you boobies! What is the use of a light if
it 'goes out', eh?" As he groped his way, with outstretched arms, in the
darkness, Sarah Purfoy slipped past him unn