the wheel demanded
all his attention now, so that he was even forced to take his eyes from
the combatants that he might rivet them upon the narrow entrance to the
cove toward which the Halfmoon was now plowing her way at constantly
increasing speed.

The other members of the ship's company, all unmindful of the battle
that at another time would have commanded their undivided attention,
stood with eyes glued upon the wild channel toward which the
brigantine's nose was pointed. They saw now what Skipper Simms had
failed to see--the little cove beyond, and the chance for safety that
the bold stroke offered if it proved successful.

With steady muscles and giant sinews the mucker stood by the
wheel--nursing the erratic wreck as no one might have supposed it was in
him to do. Behind him Barbara Harding watched first Theriere and Simms,
and then Byrne and the swirling waters toward which he was heading the
ship.

Even the strain of the moment did not prevent her from wondering at
the strange contradictions of the burly young ruffian who could at one
moment show such traits of cowardliness and the next rise so coolly to
the highest pinnacles of courage. As she watched him occasionally now
she noted for the first time the leonine contour of his head, and she
was surprised to note that his features were regular and fine, and
then she recalled Billy Mallory and the cowardly kick that she had seen
delivered in the face of the unconscious Theriere--with a little shudder
of disgust she turned away from the man at the wheel.

Theriere by this time had managed to get on top of Skipper Simms, but
that worthy still clung to him with the desperation of a drowning man.
The Halfmoon was rising on a great wave that would bear her well into
the maelstrom of the cove's entrance. The wind had increased to the
proportions of a gale, so that the brigantine was fairly racing either
to her doom or her salvation--who could tell which?

Halfway through the entrance the wave dropped the ship, and with a
mighty crash that threw Barbara Harding to her feet the vessel struck
full amidships upon a sunken reef. Like a thing of glass she broke in
two with the terrific impact, and in another instant the waters about
her were filled with screaming men.

Barbara Harding felt herself hurtled from the deck as though shot from
a catapult. The swirling waters engulfed her. She knew that her end had
come, only the most powerful of swimmers might hope to wi