billiards.

For once in a way Myra did not feel particularly energetic, and she sat
down on a comfortable deck chair beside her aunt and several other
women and girls seated in a group gossiping and exchanging badinage
with two or three men of the party standing by their chairs or lounging
against the rail.

Tony Standish and Don Carlos were standing together, both leaning
against the rail, and Myra lay back in her chair with her hands clasped
behind her head, studying and comparing them through half-closed but
keenly-observant eyes.

She noticed that as Don Carlos talked and laughed he was fingering a
bolt under the rail behind him, saw him slide the bolt back, and she
was in the act of sitting up and calling out to him to be careful, to
point out that the part of the rail against which he and Tony were
leaning was that which is swung open to make way for a gangway, when
Don Carlos straightened himself and took a pace forward.

The rail swung loose at the same instant, and Tony, who had been
leaning heavily against it with his arms folded, was precipitated
backwards into the sea!

Screams of horror and consternation broke from all the women, and Myra
sprang to her feet and made a dash towards the side of the yacht.
Whether or not she intended to fling herself into the sea in the hope
of rescuing Tony, she could not afterwards have told. As it was, Don
Carlos seized her, hurled her aside, and flung off his coat.

"Man overboard!" he yelled at the top of his powerful voice, and as he
did so he dived overside.

His cry was heard and repeated instantly by several of the crew. There
was a clang of bells in the engine room as the chief officer on the
bridge shot over the indicator, signalling "Full Speed Astern," at the
same time shouting orders that sent men racing to swing out a boat from
the davits, while others ran with life-buoys to the stern of the
vessel, ready to fling them to the men in the water if the opportunity
presented itself.

The _Killarney_ had been going full speed ahead when Standish went
overboard, and at first Myra, when she began to recover her scattered
wits, could see no trace of either Tony or Don Carlos. Then she
glimpsed a black head, and saw Don Carlos swimming strongly towards a
fair head, which she knew was Tony. A pair of hands shot up and the
fair head disappeared just when Don Carlos had almost reached it, and a
sob of anguish broke from Myra's white lips.

"He's gone down!