could find them. One shot and she was _alone_.... Bedient did
not even adequately care for the pistol he had. There was a large stain
of red upon the breast pocket of his coat,--a coat that had been white
in the morning, but now grimed from the forecastle. The stain terrified
her.... Where was the voyage to end? Certainly they could not go back
to _The Pleiad_ Inlet, nor over the reefs to the main harbor; and this
strain could not last. These were bits of her furious thinking during
the last few moments, while Bedient stood beside the table like a
freshly risen Lazarus.... The Glow-worm moved past her, as a
sleep-walker might have done, murmuring that she must have a glass of
wine or die. Madame Sorenson moaned at being left alone, and followed
the Senora into the cabin. And now Senor Rey asked blandly:

"Why don't you send the two ladies ashore also, Miss Mallory? There is
an extra boat--also an extra Chinese----"

"_You won't do that, dear_?" The Glow-worm turned back to her with a
horrified look. Her tone was not to be forgotten.

"No, Senora," Miss Mallory answered. "It is well to have at least one
small boat."

"Excellent wisdom, I am sure," said Rey, as his eyes settled upon the
Glow-worm.

She drained a glass of wine, and sank into a chair in a still huddled
fashion. There was something unnatural in the fixed inclination of her
head. She had betrayed herself, and watched Rey now out of the corners
of her eyes--and in dissolving fear--quivering under his stare and
voice. Madame Sorenson was sitting near, dazed from sensational
expenditure, her lips moving without sound. There was something hideous
in the tension, and in the whole cabin arrangement. Framtree had taken
a seat across the aft doorway. He could turn from the woman at the
wheel to the light with a movement of his head. He appeared to be much
mixed in mind and resigned to await developments. Bedient stood
silently watching these changes of position. Miss Mallory felt she must
scream before many minutes. She wanted Bedient to know all the fears
that distressed her, but dared not speak lest she betray the weakness
of their position as she saw it. Once she thought Framtree was laughing
at her.

"What a pleasant little party!" Rey remarked at length. "Too bad you
can't join us, Miss Mallory." And now he turned to Bedient with a
scornful laugh: "Why don't you use your men in the forecastle to man
the ship, and relieve the lady at the wheel?"

"They a