d flowed from a jagged cut in his cheek. His face and
hands were raw and blistered, but his eyes were shining with the light
of victory.

In the shadow of the _Pelican_ his arms closed about Dickie Lang and he
drew her to him. "We beat him," he cried. "You, and the boys, and I."

The girl struggled for a moment, then lay passive in his arms. He was
delirious from the fire and the battle. He did not know what he was
doing. Freeing herself with an effort from his clinging arms she drew
away.

"We must put to sea," she cried. "Before the storm breaks."

Gregory roused at her words and turned quickly away.

"Yes," he answered. "You're right. I forgot."

Within a few minutes the cannery fleet was heading down the main harbor
channel in the direction of the open sea.

Then the storm broke. Battling desperately into the teeth of the gale,
the fishing-boats plunged head-on into the curling waves. Lashing the
sea into white-caps, the wind picked up the water and hurled it to the
decks in great clouds of choking, blinding spray.

In a last dying flare the flames leaped upward from the charred hull of
the _Florence_ as she lay pillowed on the rocks. And in the feeble glow,
only Hawkins, who was looking astern, saw the shadowy outline of a long
gray boat nosing her way about the island.

The _Gray Ghost_ was running before the storm.

CHAPTER XXV

THE BANKER AT THE HELM

Foot by foot down the storm-lashed, wind-swept channel the victorious
cannery fleet doggedly fought its way from the Diablo coast and headed
to sea.

"We've got to lay in at San Anselmo," Dickie Lang shouted to Gregory as
she guided the _Richard_ skilfully through the buffeting waves. "Some of
the boats are pretty badly stove up. They're riding too low to try to
make the mainland. We'd have to buck the storm all the way over. Best
run before it as long as we can. Then we can gain the lea of the other
island and head in at Cavalan and leave some of the boats there. May
have to run a few of them on the beach. We ought to make the little
harbor on the south shore of San Anselmo in a couple of hours."

Gregory agreed with some reluctance. When it came to seamanship he was
perfectly willing to leave the management of his craft to Dickie Lang.
The girl was familiar with the coast of the two islands and had fully
demonstrated her ability to handle the _Richard_ in a storm. Still the
idea of running from Diablo rankled in his heart. It looked like