re she stood behind Miles and looked over his shoulder.

"If Mr. Selincourt were not there I would go down and call to the
fellow to come over," said Miles impatiently.

"No need," rejoined Katherine quietly, "he is coming without any
calling; don't you see that he is turning his boat across the
river?"

Neither spoke after that until the boat grounded, and Oily Dave
stepped out on to the bank.

"Miles, you must serve him with what he wants: don't call me; I--I
am going to be busy," Katherine said hastily, then beat a rapid
retreat from the door. But she only went to the corner where a lot
of gay-coloured rugs were hanging, and stood there waiting to hear
what Oily Dave might have to tell.

How slowly he walked up from the bank! She could hear his heavy
seaboots squelching through the mud, then the deep, grunting noise
which always accompanied any of his movements.

"Good morning!" said Miles curtly, as the squelching boots crossed
the threshold.

"I don't call it a good morning," snarled Oily Dave.

Katherine drew yet closer into the shadow of the rugs, and clenched
her hands tightly to keep from screaming; something bad had got to
be told, she was sure, and she doubted her ability to bear it.

"What is wrong?" asked Miles.

"A good deal more than will ever be put right in this world, or the
next either, perhaps," replied Oily Dave. "We are afraid the
_Mary_ has gone down."

"Ah!" The involuntary moan escaped the listener who was out of
sight, but Oily Dave did not hear, or at any rate he did not heed,
and, after a brief pause, he went on:

"We was off Akimiski yesterday after walrus, but when it came on to
blow we turned home, for there is no anchorage to run to there in
dirty weather, but plenty of rocks to fall foul of, which are not
quite so pleasant. But we couldn't get home for a while, being
blown along the east coast of the island, with a lively chance of
being wrecked at any minute. We were beating along under the lee
of the island when we saw a boat drifting bottom up, and when we
hooked her we found she was the Mary's boat."

"It sounds bad, but it does not spell disaster quite, because,
don't you see? they might have lost their boat on the way out,"
retorted Miles, in a defiant tone, which meant that he did not
intend to believe bad news until it was proved beyond a doubt.

"There was a water jar and a bag of biscuits tied to the thwarts,"
replied Oily Dave. "It's true there wasn't