ferer's chest, keeping it close to his heart. The captain bent
nearer. Jane, who, crazed with grief, had been caressing Archie's cold
cheeks, lifted her head as if aware of the approach of some crisis, and
turned to where the doctor knelt beside the rescued man. Lucy leaned
forward with straining eyes and ears.

The stillness of death fell upon the small room. Outside could be heard
the pound and thrash of the surf and the moan of the gale; no human
voice--men and women were talking in whispers. One soul had gone to God
and another life hung by a thread.

The doctor raised his finger.

The man's face twitched convulsively, the lids opened wider, there came
a short, inward gasp, and the jaw dropped.

"He's dead," said the doctor, and rose to his feet. Then he took his
handkerchief from his pocket and laid it over the dead man's face.

As the words fell from his lips Lucy caught at the wall, and with an
almost hysterical cry of joy threw herself into Jane's arms.

The captain leaned back against the life-boat and for some moments his
eyes were fixed on the body of his dead son.

"I ain't never loved nothin' all my life, doctor," he said, his voice
choking, "that it didn't go that way."

Doctor John made no reply except with his eyes. Silence is ofttimes
more sympathetic than the spoken word. He was putting his remedies back
into his bag so that he might rejoin Jane. The captain continued:

"All I've got is gone now--the wife, Archie, and now Bart. I counted on
these two. Bad day's work, doctor--bad day's work." Then in a firm
tone, "I'll open the doors now and call in the men; we got to git these
two bodies up to the Station, and then we'll get 'em home somehow."

Instantly all Lucy's terror returned. An unaccountable, unreasoning
panic took possession of her. All her past again rose before her. She
feared the captain now more than she had Bart. Crazed over the loss of
his son he would blurt out everything. Max would hear and know--know
about Archie and Bart and all her life!

Springing to her feet, maddened with an undefinable terror, she caught
the captain's hand as he reached out for the fastenings of the door.

"Don't--don't tell them who he is! Promise me you won't tell them
anything! Say it's a stranger! You are not sure it's he--I heard you
say so!"

"Not say it's my own son! Why?" He was entirely unconscious of what was
in her mind.

Jane had risen to her feet at the note of agony in Lucy's voice a