-boats which got away before the boilers exploded, there
was not a sign. Nothing but a desolate waste of tossing gray water met
his eyes everywhere.

As far as he could make out they were on an island. He had no idea how
large it was, or if it was deserted or inhabited. He had heard his
shipmates talk of islands in the Indian Ocean that were a peril to
navigation, and he supposed this was one of them. When it got lighter he
would be better able to take his bearings.

He was exhausted and weak after his long struggle with the waves, and
his brine-soaked clothes hung heavily on him. Yet he no longer looked
the same man he had been on the ship. The transformation in his
appearance was startling; the long swim had effected a wonderful change.
All trace of coal-dust had disappeared from his face and neck; once more
he was a white man. His hands were cut and bleeding from the sharp
rocks, and his body was bruised from head to foot, but nothing could
conceal the fact that his bearing had distinction, that his head was
well shaped, his features clean cut, that he had a strong mouth and a
clear eye.

But he was supremely unconscious of how he looked. He was desperately
hungry. His throat was dry and parched. His brine-soaked clothes hung
heavily on him. His senses and consciousness seemed numbed. In truth, he
marveled to find himself alive. Why had he exhausted and bruised himself
struggling with the waves, fighting death, when he had no desire to
live? Yes, he remembered now. It was the girl's fault. She had cried out
to him, and somehow, in spite of himself, he had clutched at her and
saved her from drowning.

He clenched his fists and muttered an oath as he turned to look at her.
She was still lying, apparently unconscious, in the spot where he had
carried her after they both staggered out of the jaws of death, and
fell, exhausted, on the wild, storm-swept beach. His first instinct on
gaining a foothold safe from the deadly suck of the thundering breakers
had been to find for his helpless companion some kind of shelter from
the wind and rain, and as he was assisting her over the slippery stones,
green with slimy sea grass, they accidentally stumbled across a wide
opening in the face of the precipitous cliff. Nearer inspection showed
it to be a deep crevice, hollowed out of the solid rock in past ages by
the action of the water. The sea had since receded, leaving a kind of
cave, of no great height or depth, yet large enoug