r away."

"_Will_ she? Are you sure? Does she seem to you any further off now
than she was a quarter of an hour ago? I don't think she is. I can see
her just as distinctly. Ah! I believe I understand it now. She has
drifted on to a sandbank, and is not moving at all. Good old Rob! He
knows what he is about. If he can only hold out, he'll get her sure
enough."

"If--yes, but if he does not? If he gets cramped or exhausted, there is
no one to help him. We should have to stand here helpless, and see him
sink. It was mad--mad--he should not have risked it! I'll give him a
piece of my mind when he gets back!" cried Arthur hotly, and then, "Good
old Rob!" he added in another voice. "Good old Rob! Just like him to
steal away without saying a word to a soul. Just like him to think of
every one else before himself. Give him a cheer, boys! Give him a
cheer to help him along."

And what a cheer that was that burst forth in response to his words! It
rang over the sea, eloquent with all the hope, and fear, and longing
that were beating in eight anxious hearts; once and yet again it
sounded, with Peggy's high treble ringing out over all the rest.
"Bravo, Rob! Bravo! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!"

The dark head turned, a white arm waved in the air, and then Rob settled
himself once more to his task, while his friends watched in tense
anxiety. The professor drew Esther's hand through his arm and clasped
it unashamed, and Arthur turned abruptly aside, putting his hands to his
face.

"I can't watch him;" he cried brokenly. "I must go away. Come and talk
to me till it is over--help me to bear it!" His eyes met Peggy's as he
finished speaking, passed on with an unsatisfied expression, and
fastened upon Eunice. "You!" his expression said as plainly as words
could say it, "I mean _you_!" and Eunice followed without a word.

At another time the episode would have attracted universal attention,
but the four remaining members of the party were so much engrossed with
their own thoughts that hardly a glance was cast after the retreating
couple. Mrs Bryce was eager to take Major Darcy aside, and ask his
advice as a soldier and campaigner as to what steps could be taken to
prepare for a possible night's vigil. "Hope for the best and prepare
for the worst," was her motto; and she had already hit on a spot where,
by pegging down the branches of trees, and fastening cloaks over the
gaps, a very fair tent could be manuf