I have often wished to have a talk with
you. I think you are a man who would not betray a confidence. If you
agree to help me, something may yet be done. At first, I was sure that
Captain Coke would abandon his wicked project as soon as he discovered
that I knew what was in his mind. But now, I am beginning to doubt.
Each day brings us nearer South America, and--and----"

She was breathless with excitement. She drew nearer to the silent, and
impassive man at her side; dropping her voice almost to a whisper, she
caught his arm with an appealing hand.

"I am afraid that my presence will offer no hindrance to his scheme,"
she murmured. "I am terrified to say such a thing, but I am certain,
quite _certain_, that the ship will be lost within the next few days."

Hozier, though incredulous, could not but realize that the girl was
saying that which she honestly thought to be true.

"Lost! Do you mean that, she will be purposely thrown away?" he asked,
and his own voice was not wholly under control, for he was called on to
repress a sudden temptation to kiss away the tears that glistened in
her brown eyes.

"Yes, that is what he said--on the rocks, this side of Monte Video."

"He said--who?"

"The--the captain."

"To whom did he say it?"

"Oh, Mr. Hozier, do not ask that, but believe me and help me."

"How?"

"I do not know. I am half distracted with thinking. What can we do?
Captain Coke simply swept aside my first attempt to speak plainly to
him. But, make no mistake--he knows that I heard his very words, and
there is something in his manner, a curious sort of quiet confidence,
that frightens me."

After that, neither spoke during many minutes. The _Andromeda_ jogged
along steadily south by west, and the threshing of the propeller beat
time to the placid hum of her engines. The sturdy old ship could
seemingly go on in that humdrum way forever, forging ahead through the
living waters, marking her track with a golden furrow.

"That is a very serious thing you have told me, Miss Yorke," muttered
Hozier at last, not without a backward glance at the sailor in the
wheel-house to assure himself that the man could not, by any chance,
overhear their conversation.

"But it is true--dreadfully true," said Iris, clasping her hands
together and resting them on the high railing of the bridge.

"It is all the more serious inasmuch as we are helpless," he went on.
"Don't you see how impossible it is even to hin