and brought her to a halt. She looked down and saw Dan
stretched upon the deck, the mast lying across his legs. She knelt at
his side.

"Dan!"

He drew her head down so that her ear was near his mouth.

"Not hurt," he said coolly. "The wave knocked the mast across me just
as I had almost cut it through. Find the axe. Two strokes will free
me. Hurry. Another wave may drown me."

The girl swept her hands hastily over the deck. She found the axe a
few feet from Dan, and with that frenzied, nervous strength which comes
to women in times of stress, she hacked at the mast, which Dan had
almost cut through when the wave struck him. Three times the edge of
the implement glanced. She ground her teeth, raised it a fourth time
taking careful aim. Then she let fly with all her strength, and the
axe bit deep. She raised it again, smiling now. Two strokes, three
strokes, four strokes. The keen blade severed the last inch of wood,
the hulk pitched forward, and the mast with its boom and its tangle of
rigging and canvas rolled from Dan and plunged into the sea.

He was on his feet in a second, and with his arm about her waist they
ran astern and reached their posts at the wheel in safety. But there
was no need to bother with the wheel now. There was nothing to do, in
fact, but sit inactive and accept what came to them.

And yet, had they but known it, Fate, which it may be said takes the
lives of the young grudgingly, had worked for their ultimate good. The
Gulf Stream had carried them to a point off Hatteras, and there the
storm had enveloped them. As Dan had surmised, it was from the
south-east, and laboring and flailing as sorely as she might, the winds
and the waves had steadily lashed the vessel toward safety.

They could not know that. It was only after an unusual interval in the
powerful wind-blast that Dan looked upward and suddenly held up his
hand. He looked at the vague form of the girl and bared his teeth in a
quick, mirthless smile.

"The wind is changing," he muttered. "What now?"

There came another rush of wind. But it was not so strong as its
predecessors had been; and looking into the sky he could see the cloud
movement. He shook Virginia by the shoulder, and there was a
triumphant ring in his voice as he shouted into her ear,

"The gale is passing!"

Gradually but surely the shrieking of the elements diminished; the seas
were palpably falling. Great, dark shapes could now be seen