e island within five hours. We have
everything thought out as far as may be in view of the unknown. At any
rate, Miss Yorke, if we succeed in getting you safely ashore, you
personally will have but slight cause for further anxiety. The
proposal is that Marcel shall take you at once to the hut of an old
convict whom he can trust----"

"A convict!" she gasped. The word was ominous, and she was hardly
awake.

"The population of Fernando Noronha is almost entirely made of convicts
and soldiers," he explained.

"But am I to be left there alone?"

"What else is there to be done? You cannot join in the attack on a
fort--and that offers our only chance, it would seem. Granted an
effective surprise, we may carry it. Then your guardian will bring you
to us."

"What if you fail?"

"We must not fail," he said quietly.

"Please do not hide the alternative from me," she pleaded. "I have
endured so much----"

"Well, don't you see, this man--who, by the way, is married, and has a
daughter aged fourteen--will, if necessary, reveal your presence to the
Governor. By that time, say, in a day or two, the excitement will have
died down, the news of your escape will be cabled to England, you will
be sent to the coast on the Government steamer, and you can travel home
by the next mail."

"That sounds very simple--and European," she said, and the pathetic
sarcasm was not lost on him.

"It is reasonable enough. Unfortunately for us, all the bother centers
round Senhor De Sylva, to whom we owe our lives. He is outside at the
moment, showing our skipper the lay of the land before the light fails,
so I am free to speak plainly. When he is dead there will be no
further trouble, till the next revolution. But why endeavor to look
ahead when seeing is impossible? At present, what really presses is
the necessity that you should eat and drink. We have shared out the
whole of the available food. Here is your portion. We deemed it best
to give the men one square meal. They know now that they must earn the
next one."

With each instant her perceptive powers were quickening. She was aware
that he had deliberately avoided the main issue. De Sylva's probable
death implied a good deal, but it was the supreme test of her courage
that she refrained from useless questioning. Yet she thrust aside the
two bananas and supply of dried meat and crusts that Hozier placed
before her.

"I cannot eat," she murmured, striving to contro