they all bes a-lookin' out for!"

"Then I trust the saints may continue their good offices," said Darling,
seriously.

"Aye, sir, an' why not?" she returned. "But here we be, sir. Mother
Nolan an' yer lass bes alone in the house together this minute; an'
Mother Nolan will not be sayin' nay to yer plans o' runnin' away."

She opened the door and drew Mr. Darling after her into the lighted
kitchen. "Here bes yer help, Flora darlin'," she said. "An' 'twas no
letter fetched him, ye kin lay to that, but the drag in his own heart
for ye."

Old Mother Nolan looked up at them with her snapping black eyes.

"Shut the door!" said she. "D'ye want to fill all me poor old bones wid
misery?"

Mary laughed uncertainly and slammed the door; and it was not until then
that Flora Lockhart moved or uttered a sound. She sprang to her feet,
her clear eyes shining like stars.

"Jack! Mr. Darling!" she cried. "You here? Have you come for me?"

The sailor's heart fairly flooded his arteries with joy and tenderness.
She had remembered him at a glance after the three long years! She had
called him by name! Work, ambition, fame and disaster had not driven out
the memory of him.

"Yes, I have come for you," he said, huskily. "I would have come long
ago if I had known--but I heard of it only by chance--a few days ago.
Are you ready to come away with me now? We must hurry--for I fear that I
am not strong enough to risk facing your jailer--just now."

Mother Nolan threw a fur coat about the girl's shoulders.

"Aye, she bes ready," said the old woman. "Mary, snatch her things
together, an' carry 'em along. Step lively, for the love o' heaven! Have
ye a boat, lad? Then get her to it as quick as ye kin, an' into it, an'
away out o' Chance Along wid the two o' ye jist as quick as the holy
saints will let ye!"

John Darling fastened the great coat around Flora with trembling
fingers.

"To find you here!" he whispered. "And yet you seem nearer to me here
than when I read of you--of your glory--out there in the great world."

Their hands touched. Her eyes kindled to his, flame for flame, throb for
throb.

"I am glad--_you_ have found me," she said. "You--you did not forget
me."

At that moment the door was flung open and Black Dennis Nolan sprang
into the room, followed closely by Bill Brennen and Nick Leary. The
skipper had returned to the harbor because the ship in distress had
drifted clear of the coast after all, and was even now fir