is face flushed. Certain
stories connected with Archie rose in his mind; some out of his
childhood, others since he had joined the crew.

The captain's eyes filled as he shook the boy's hand, but he made no
reply to Archie's outburst. Pausing for a moment, as if willing to
listen to any further comments, and finding that no one else had any
word for him, he turned on his heel and reentered his office.

Once inside, he strode to the window and looked out on the dunes, his
big hands hooked behind his back, his eyes fixed on vacancy.

"It won't be long, now, Archie, not long, my lad," he said in a low
voice, speaking aloud to himself. "I kin say you're my grandson out
loud when Bart comes, and nothin' kin or will stop me! And now I kin
tell Miss Jane."

Thrusting the letter into his inside pocket, he picked up his cap, and
strode across the dune in the direction of the new hospital.

Jane was in one of the wards when the captain sent word to her to come
to the visiting-room. She had been helping the doctor in an important
operation. The building was but half way between the Station and
Warehold, which made it easier for the captain to keep his eye on the
sea should there be any change in the weather.

Jane listened to the captain's outburst covering the announcement that
Bart was alive without a comment. Her face paled and her breathing came
short, but she showed no signs of either joy or sorrow. She had faced
too many surprises in her life to be startled at anything. Then again,
Bart alive or dead could make no difference now in either her own or
Lucy's future.

The captain continued, his face brightening, his voice full of hope:

"And your troubles are all over now, Miss Jane; your name will be
cleared up, and so will Archie's, and the doctor'll git his own, and
Lucy kin look everybody in the face. See what Bart says," and he handed
her the open letter.

Jane read it word by word to the end and handed it back to the captain.
Once in the reading she had tightened her grasp on her chair as if to
steady herself, but she did not flinch; she even read some sentences
twice, so that she might be sure of their meaning.

In his eagerness the captain had not caught the expression of agony
that crossed her face as her mind, grasping the purport of the letter,
began to measure the misery that would follow if Bart's plan was
carried out.

"I knew how ye'd feel," he went on, "and I've been huggin' myself ever
since it co