d,--as an amiable manicurist might
have done--and arose.

"There!" she said, composedly. Her cheek was cool and unflushed, her
eyes serene and smiling. "Now you may go, Mr. Percival. Good luck! Bring
back good news to us. I dreamed last night that we were marooned, that
we would have to stay here for ever."

"All of us?" he asked, a trifle thickly.

"Certainly," she replied, after the moment required for comprehension.
Her eyes were suddenly cold and uncompromising.

"If I never come back," he began, somewhat dashed, "I'd like you to
remember always, Miss Clinton, that I--well, that I am the most grateful
dog alive. You've been corking."

"But it isn't possible you won't come back," she cried, and he was happy
to see a flicker of alarm in her eyes. "What--what could happen to you?
It isn't--"

"Oh, all sorts of things," he broke in, much in the same spirit as that
which dominates the boy who wishes he could die in order to punish his
parents for correcting him.

"Are--are you really in earnest?"

"Would you care--very much?"

She hesitated. "Haven't I wished you good luck, Mr. Percival?"

"Would you mind answering my question?"

"Of course I should care,--very much indeed," she replied calmly. "I am
sure that everybody would be terribly grieved if anything were to happen
to you out there."

"Well,--good-bye, Miss Clinton. I guess they're waiting for me."

"Good-bye! Oh, how I wish I were in your place! Just to put my foot
on the blessed, green earth once more. Good-bye! And--and good luck,
again."

"If you will take a pair of glasses and watch the top of that
hill,--there is a bare knob up there, you see,--you will know long
before we come back whether this island is inhabited or not. I am
taking an American flag with me. If we do not see another flag floating
anywhere on this island, I intend to plant the Stars and Stripes on that
hill,--just for luck!"

She walked a few steps at his side, their bodies aslant against the
slope of the deck.

"And if you do not raise the flag, we shall know at once that--that
there are other people here?" she said, her voice eager with suppressed
excitement. "It will mean that ships--" Her voice failed her.

"It will mean home,--some day," he returned solemnly.

The one remaining port-side boat was lowered a few minutes later and to
the accompaniment of cheers from the throng that lined the rails, the
men pulled away, heading for a tiny cove on the far side of the