st into exclamations of dismay at seeing the dripping
figures.

"We have had an accident, Anna," Frank said, cheerfully, "but I
don't think that we are any the worse for it. Please take your
mistress aft and get her into dry things at once.

"Steward, open one of those bottles of champagne, and give me half
a tumbler full."

He hurried after the others with it.

"Please drink this at once, Bertha," he said. "Yes, you shall have
some tea directly, but start with this. It will soon put you in a
glow. Oh! yes, I am going to have one, too; but a ducking is no
odds to me."

Then he ran up on deck.

"You have saved my life again, George, for that scoundrel would
have drowned us both."

"I saw the knife in his hand as you went down, and knew that you
wanted me more than Miss--I mean Mrs. Mallett did."

"How did you make him let go so quickly?"

"I had a sort of fear that, sooner or later, that villain would be
up to something; and had made up my mind that I would always have a
weapon handy. This morning I stuck that dagger of mine inside the
lining of my waistcoat, so that it might be handy. And it was
handy. You were not five yards from me when you went down, and I
dived for you, but could not find you at first, and had to come up
once for air. Of course, I could not use the dagger until I found
which was which, and then I put an end to it."

"Then you killed him, George?"

"I don't think that he will trouble you any more, sir; and if ever
a chap deserved his fate that villain did. Why, sir, do you know
how it all happened?"

"No, I did not catch what the man at the bow said. There was such a
confusion forward."

"He said that he had staved the boat in somehow. He must have taken
the place of one of the men on purpose to do it."

"Well, George, I can't say that I'm sorry."

"I am heartily glad, sir. I am no more sorry for killing him than
for shooting one of those murderous niggers. Less sorry, a great
deal. The man deserved hanging. He was intending to murder you, and
perhaps Mrs. Mallett, and I killed him as I should have killed a
mad dog that was attacking you."

"Well, say nothing about it at present, George. It would be a great
shock to my wife if she were to know it. Now you had better go and
change your things at once, as I am going to do. Are all the men
rescued?"

"Yes, sir, they are all five on board."

"Hawkins," Frank said, putting his hand in his pocket, "give the
men who came to help u