le because she
felt that then she must decide. Somebody on deck was babbling excitedly.
She devoutly hoped d'Alcacer would speak first and thus put off the
fatal moment. A voice said roughly: "What's that?" And in the midst of
her distress she recognized Carter's voice, having noticed that young
man who was of a different stamp from the rest of the crew. She came to
the conclusion that the matter could be related jocularly, or--why not
pretend fear? At that moment the brig's yard-arm light she was looking
at trembled distinctly, and she was dumfounded as if she had seen a
commotion in the firmament. With her lips open for a cry she saw it fall
straight down several feet, flicker, and go out. All perplexity passed
from her mind. This first fact of the danger gave her a thrill of quite
a new emotion. Something had to be done at once. For some remote reason
she felt ashamed of her hesitations.

She moved swiftly forward and under the lamp came face to face with
Carter who was coming aft. Both stopped, staring, the light fell on
their faces, and both were struck by each other's expression. The four
eyes shone wide.

"You have seen?" she asked, beginning to tremble.

"How do you know?" he said, at the same time, evidently surprised.

Suddenly she saw that everybody was on deck.

"The light is down," she stammered.

"The gentlemen are lost," said Carter. Then he perceived she did not
seem to understand. "Kidnapped off the sandbank," he continued, looking
at her fixedly to see how she would take it. She seemed calm. "Kidnapped
like a pair of lambs! Not a squeak," he burst out with indignation. "But
the sandbank is long and they might have been at the other end. You were
on deck, ma'am?" he asked.

"Yes," she murmured. "In the chair here."

"We were all down below. I had to rest a little. When I came up the
watchman was asleep. He swears he wasn't, but I know better. Nobody
heard any noise, unless you did. But perhaps you were asleep?" he asked,
deferentially.

"Yes--no--I must have been," she said, faintly.

VIII

Lingard's soul was exalted by his talk with Mrs. Travers, by the strain
of incertitude and by extreme fatigue. On returning on board he asked
after Hassim and was told that the Rajah and his sister had gone off in
their canoe promising to return before midnight. The boats sent to scout
between the islets north and south of the anchorage had not come back
yet. He went into his cabin and throwing hims