unheard, growing from nothing into something with
ghostly subtlety. Iris, a prey to many emotions, managed to stifle the
exclamation of alarm that rose unbidden. But Hozier read her distress
in a hardly audible sob.

"It is our friend, Marcel," he whispered. "So Domingo has made good
his landing. Be brave! The sea is quite calm. This man has been to
the island and back in less than a quarter of an hour."

His confidence gave her new courage. She even tried to turn danger
itself into a jest.

"We seem to be living in spasms just now," she said. "We certainly
crowd a good deal of excitement into a very few minutes."

The catamaran swung round and grated on the shingle. Marcel was in a
hurry.

"Are you ready?" asked De Sylva, bending toward Iris.

"Yes," she said.

"Then you had better kneel behind Marcel, and steady yourself by
placing your hands on his shoulders. Yes, that is it. Do not change
your position until you are ashore. Now you, Mr. Hozier."

Marcel murmured something.

"Ah, good!" cried De Sylva softly. "Domingo, too, has secured a
catamaran. He is bringing it at once in order to save time."

A second spectral figure emerged from the gloom. Without waiting for
further instructions, Marcel swung his paddle, and the one craft passed
the other in the center of the pool. Iris felt Hozier's hands on her
waist. He obeyed orders, and uttered no sound, but the action told her
that she might trust him implicitly. When the narrow cleft was
traversed, and she saw the open sea on her right, there was ample need
for some such assurance of guardianship. Viewed from the cliff, the
swell that broke on the half-submerged reef was of slight volume, but
it presented a very different and most disconcerting aspect when seen
in profile. It seemed to be an almost impossible feat for any man to
propel three narrow planks, top-heavy with a human freight, across a
wide channel through which such a sea was running. Indeed, Hozier
himself, sailor as he was, felt more than doubtful as to the fate of
their argosy. But Marcel paddled ahead with unflagging energy once he
was clear of the tortuous passage, and, before the catamaran had
traveled many yards, even Iris was able to understand that the outlying
ridge of rocks both protected their present track and created much of
the apparent turmoil.

At last the raft, for it was little else, bore sharply out between two
huge bowlders that might well have fallen