hadow of the _Jeanne D'Arc_. Save for the running surge of the
waters, all was silence. The pale forerunners of dawn had appeared.
Their swim after the boats of the _Jeanne D'Arc_ had warmed their
blood, so that for a while they were not conscious of the chill of the
water. But as the minutes lengthened, one by one, fatigue and cold
numbed their bodies. It was a test of endurance for a strong man; as
for the girl, Jim wondered at her strength and courage. She swam
superbly, with unhurried, steady strokes. If she grew chatteringly
cold, she would start into a vigorous swim, shoulder to shoulder with
James. If she lost her breath with the hard exercise, she would take
his hand, "so as not to lose you," she would say, and rest on the
breast of the waves. The wind dropped and the sea grew quiet, so that
they were no more cruelly buffeted, but rocked up and down on its
heaving bosom.

Once, while they were "resting" on the water, Agatha broke a long
silence with, "I wonder--" but did not at once say what she wondered
at. Jim said nothing, but she knew he was waiting and listening.

"Suppose this should be the Great Gateway," she said at last, very
slowly, but quite cheerfully and naturally. "I am wondering what there
is beyond."

"I've often wondered, too," said Jim.

"I've sometimes thought, and I've said it, too, that I was crazy to
die, just to see what happens," Agatha went on, laughing a little at
her own memories. "But I find I'm not at all eager for it, now, when
it would be so easy to go under and not come up again. Are you?"

"No, I've never felt eager to die; least of all, now."

Agatha was silent a while.

"What do you think death means? Shall we be we to-morrow, say,
provided we can't keep afloat?" she asked by and by.

"Why, yes, I think so," said Jim. "I don't know why or how, but I
guess we go on somewhere; and I rather think our best moments here--our
moments of happiness or heroism, if we ever have any--are going to be
the regular thing." Jim laughed a little, partly at his own lame
ending, and partly because he felt Agatha's hand closing more tightly
over his. He didn't want her to get blue just yet, after her brave
fight.

But Agatha wasn't blue. She answered thoughtfully: "That isn't a bad
idea," and then cheerfully turned to a consideration of the
possibilities of a rescue at dawn.

James had evolved a plan to wait till enough light came to enable them
to reach the _Jeanne D