voyage over was a
fortune-teller, and he prophesied danger to them all on their next
trip. After they had come into port, the fortune-teller himself died.
And who can blame them for their fear? They are all superstitious; and
as no one ever regarded their fears, now they have no regard for
anybody's feelings but their own."

"But we are in the middle of the Atlantic, no one knows where. We may
drift for days--we may starve--the Lord only knows what will happen to
us!"

Agatha, who had been floating, swam a little nearer and laid her hand
on Jim's shoulder, until he looked into her face. It was full of
strength and brightness.

"'The sea is His also,'" she quoted gently. "Besides, we may get
picked up," she went on. "I'm very well off, for my part, as you see.
Can swim or rest floating, thanks to this blessed cork thing, and not
at all hurt by the fall from the rope. But I must get rid of my shoes
and some of my clothes, if I have to swim."

It is awkward to kick off one's shoes and divest oneself of unnecessary
clothing in the water, and Agatha laughed at herself as she did it.
"Not exactly a bathing suit, but this one black skirt will have to do.
The others must go. It was my skirts that caused the mischief with the
rope at first. And I was scared!"

"You had a right to be." Jim helped her keep afloat, and presently he
saw that, freed from the entanglement of so many clothes, she was as
much at home in the water as he. Suddenly she turned to him, caught by
some recollection that almost eluded her.

"I don't think we are anywhere near the middle of the Atlantic," she
said thoughtfully. James was silent, eating the bitter bread of
despair, in spite of the woman's brave wish to comfort him. They were
swimming slowly as they talked, still hoping to reach the yacht. They
rose on the breast of the waves, paused now and then till a quieter
moment came, and always kept near each other in the pale blue darkness.

"Old Sophie said something--that some one had tampered with the wheel,
I think. At any rate, she said we'd never get far from shore with this
crew."

James considered the case. "But even suppose we are within a mile or
two, say, of the shore, could you ever swim two miles in this heavy
sea?"

"It is growing calmer every minute. See, I can do very well, even
swimming alone. It must be near morning, too, and that's always, a
good thing." There was the shadow of a laugh in her voice.

"Mor