Say!"

He broke off, startled. He sat up with a jump. A great gust of wind
broke down upon the vessel. It came with a shriek that rose in a fierce
crescendo. His startled eyes were riveted upon a new development in the
sky. An inky cloud bank was sweeping down upon them out of the
north-east, and the wind seemed to roar its way out of its very heart.

The vessel heeled over. Again the wind tore at the creaking gear. It was
a moment of breathless suspense for those seated helplessly looking on.
Then something crashed. A vast sea beat on the quarter and deluged the
decks, and the chairs were torn from their moorings.

Bull Sternford was sprawling in the race of water. Nancy, too, was
hurled floundering in the scuppers. They were flung and beaten, crashing
about in the swirling sea that swept over the vessel's submerged rail.

Bull struggled furiously. Every muscle was straining with the effort of
it. A fierce anxiety was in his eyes as he fought his way foot by foot
towards the saloon companion. The handicap was terrible. There was
practically no foothold, for the vessel was riding at an angle of
something like forty-five degrees. Then, too, he had but one hand with
which to help himself along. The other was supporting the dead-weight of
the body of the unconscious girl.

At last, breathless and nearly beaten, he reached his goal and clutched
desperately at the door-casing of the companion. He staggered within.
And as he did so relief found expression in one fierce exclamation.

"Hell!" he cried. And clambered down, bearing his unconscious burden
into the safety of the vessel's interior.

CHAPTER X

IN QUEBEC

It was the final stage of her journey. Nancy was on her way up from the
docks, where she had left the staunch _Myra_ discharging her cargo.

It was that triumphant return to which she had always looked forward,
for which she had hoped and prayed. Her work was completed. It had been
crowned with greater success than she had dared to believe possible. Yet
her triumph somehow found her unelated, even a shade depressed.

A belated sense of humour battled with her mood. There were moments when
she wanted to laugh at herself. There were others when she had no such
desire. So she sat gazing out of the limousine window, as though all her
interest were in the drab houses lining the way, and the heavy-coated
pedestrians moving along the sidewalks of the narrow streets through
which they were passing.

It