of its sense, as one sees a landscape through a mist. When De Sylva
told you to-day that San Benavides was with you heart and soul, he was
lying. There were things said about a ship, and midnight, and a boat.
I watched the officer's face. He was wholly opposed to the landing
to-night. My mind is not so vague now. I think I can grasp his
meaning. Was it not to-night that the _Andros-y-Mela_ was to appear?"

"Yes."

"Well, may they not hope secretly that she will keep to the fixed hour?
Once you and I and the others are on the island, and an alarm is given,
the Brazilians could slip away unnoticed. Yes, that is it. I do not
trust them any more than I trusted Captain Coke. Don't you realize
that he brought the _Andromeda_ to this place in order to wreck her
more easily? It was to supply a pretext for the visit that he made
undrinkable the water in the ship's tanks."

That appealing hand still rested on Philip's shoulder. Its touch
affected him profoundly. With a lightning dart of memory his thoughts
went back to the moment when she lay, inert and half-fainting, in his
arms on the bridge, after he had taken her from the lazarette. But he
controlled his voice sufficiently to say:

"You may be right; indeed, I know you are right, so far as Coke is
concerned. When I went aft to find out if one of the boats could not
be cleared, I noticed that a steering-gear box had been prised open
again. I had time for only a second's glance, but I was sure the
damage had not been done by a bullet. So the _Andromeda_ was doomed to
be lost, no matter what happened. By ----, forgive me, Miss Yorke, but
this kind of thing makes one savage."

"Perhaps it is matterless now. Coke will stand by the rest of us in
our struggle for life, at any rate. But the Brazilians----"

"Have no fear of them. I, too, have watched San Benavides. I don't
like the fellow, and wouldn't place an ounce of faith in him, but De
Sylva has brains, and he knows well enough that no ship from Brazil
will come to Fernando Noronha in his behalf. In fact, he dreads a
visit by a Government vessel, in which event our frail chance of
seizing that launch----"

She felt, rather than saw, that he had suddenly grown rigid. His right
arm flew out and drew her to him.

"Sh-s-s-h!" he breathed, and pulled her behind a rock. Her woman's
heart yielded to dread of the unseen. It pulsed violently, and she was
tempted to scream. Despite his warning, she mus