y.

"That, Madame Obosky, is something that will have to come from Captain
Trigger."

"I see. That means it is bad. I see."

The lurching of the ship threw her body against his. She righted herself
promptly, but did not reveal the slightest confusion nor utter a word of
apology.

"By Jove, you're a cool one!" he exclaimed. "I don't believe you know
the meaning of fear. Don't you realize, Madame Obosky, that we are in
the gravest peril? Don't you know this ship has but one chance in a
thousand to pull through?"

"Ah, my friend, but it has the one chance, has it not? Surely I know the
meaning of fear. I am afraid of rats and snakes and thieves--and drunken
soldiers. I am afraid of death,--terribly afraid of death. Oh, yes, I
know what fear is, Mr. Percivail."

"Then, why don't you show it now?" he cried. "Good Lord, I don't mind
confessing that I'm scared half to death. I don't want to die like
this,--like a rat in a trap."

"But you are not going to die," she proclaimed. "I too would be groaning
and praying in my bed if I thought we were going down to the bottom of
zis dreadful ocean. But we are not. I have no fear. We shall come out
all right on top, and some day we will laugh and tell funny stories
about how everybody else was frightened but us,--us apiece, I mean."

"Well, you're a wonder! And how the deuce do you manage to keep your
feet with the ship rolling like this?"

"Two things I have been taught, since I am ten years old. First, to keep
my head, and second to keep my feet. In my profession, one must do both.
You will always find me doing that. Good-bye,--we part here. You will
not forget zat--that I have retain the bandage for you? And you will not
ever despise me?"

As she turned away a roll that must have caused the wallowing vessel to
list thirty-five degrees at the very least, sent her headlong across the
passage. She slipped down in a heap. The same lurch had sent him reeling
against the wall some distance away. She sat up but did not at once
attempt to arise. Instead she clutched frantically at her skirt to draw
it down over her shapely ankles and calves. In the lantern light he
saw the dismayed, shamed look in her eyes and the vivid blush of
embarrassment that suffused her pale cheeks. As the ship rolled back,
he moved forward to assist her, but she sprang lightly to her feet and
hurried on ahead of him, disappearing around a corner.

"Well, by gosh!" he muttered aloud in his surprise. "An