time----?"

A merry laugh interrupted him, as the girl sprang lightly to her feet,
arranged her disordered dress, and brushed back her hair.

"My! that was a surprise," she remarked, glancing at the steps down
which she had just tumbled. "I didn't know they were there."

"Ye didn't, eh?" and Samuel looked curiously at his unexpected visitor.
"Thought ye was walkin' into a parlour, I s'pose."

"Do you own this boat?" the girl suddenly and somewhat anxiously asked.

"Well, I thought I did, Miss, until you arrived, but now I ain't quite
sartin. I feel somethin' like Bill Slocum said he did when a bear
dropped in on him one night when he was campin' out on his back medder."

"What did he do?"

"Oh, Bill, jist lit out an' left the bear in charge, the same as any
sensible man would do."

"I hope you do not compare me to a bear," and the girl smiled.

"No, I wouldn't like to do that, Miss. But ye must have had some
mighty good reason fer comin' down them steps the way ye did. It's a
wonder to me yer neck wasn't broken."

"I have a good reason," was the emphatic reply. "I am running away."

"Runnin' away!" Samuel's eyes opened wide in amazement, and he stared
hard at the girl. He would have been less than human if his pulse had
not quickened, and his heart beat faster, for she was truly possessed
of more than ordinary beauty and grace of figure. Her large dark
expressive eyes betrayed anxiety, and her cheeks were flushed. Once
she gave a slight start and glanced nervously up the steps as if
expecting to see someone following her.

"Yes, I am running away," she repeated, "and I want you to hide me on
this boat."

"Runnin' away, an' want me to hide ye!" Samuel ran his fingers through
his hair, a sure sign of his perplexity. "Ye ain't been stealin' or
murderin' anybody, have ye?"

"No, no; it's not so bad as that. But it might be suicide, though, if
you don't help me. And you will, won't you?" she pleaded, turning her
eyes full upon the captain's face.

The latter made no immediate reply. He picked up his pail and set it
carefully aside. He then unrolled the turned-up sleeves of his coarse
shirt, and deliberately buttoned them about his thick hairy wrists,

"Set down, Miss," he at length ordered, motioning to the only chair the
cabin contained. "Thar, that's better," he said as the girl
immediately obeyed. "Sorry me accommodations are so poor, but then
this ain't no ocean liner. She's nuthin'