th her present dress--the
worn, stained, misshapen jacket covering her shoulders, beneath it the
calico wrapper scant and crude beyond belief, upon her feet the rusty
wrecks that once had been shoes.

As for himself, a casual examination proved that the rags and tatters
adorning him were at least to be recognized as the remains of his own
clothing. His coat was lost, of course, and his collar he had torn away,
together with a portion of his shirt, while in the water after the
disaster; but his once white flannel trousers were precious souvenirs,
even if one leg was ripped open to the knee, and even though the cloth
as a whole had contracted to an alarming extent--uncomfortable as well;
while his tennis shoes remained tolerably intact, and the canvas brace
had shrunk upon his ankle until it gripped it like a vise.

But all these details he absorbed rather than studied, in the first few
moments subsequent to his awakening. His chiefest and most direct
interest centred upon the woman; and he showed it clearly in the
downright, straightforward sincerity of his solicitous scrutiny. And,
for all the handicap of her outlandish dress, she bore inspection
wonderfully well.

Marvellously recuperative, as many women are, she had regained all her
ardent loveliness; or, if any trace remained of the wear and tear of her
fearful experience, he was in no condition to know it, much less to
carp. There was warm color in the cheeks that he had last seen livid,
there was the wonted play of light and shadow in her fascinating eyes;
there were gracious rounded curves where had been sunken surfaces,
hollowed out by fatigue and strain; and there remained the ineluctable
allurement of her tremendous vitality....

"You are not hurt?" he demanded. "You are--all right?"

"Quite," she told him with a smile significant of her appreciation of
his generous feeling. "I wasn't hurt, and I've recovered from my shock
and fright--only I'm still a little tired. But you?"

"Oh, I ... never better. That is, I'm rested; and there was nothing else
for me to get over."

"But your ankle--?"

"I've forgotten it ever bothered me.... Haven't you slept at all?"

"Oh, surely--a great deal. But I've been awake for some time--a few
hours."

"A few hours!" His stare widened with wonder. "How long have I--?"

"All day--like a log."

"But I--! What time is it?"

"I haven't a watch, but late afternoon, I should think--going by the
sun. It's nearly down."