latter's shoulder. "Silence!" he said sternly. "Here! I
shall lay Regulus' head in your lap, and you are to watch over him and
not to think of yourself. There's a brave wench!"

Darkeih's lamentations subsided into a low sobbing, and Landless turned
to her mistress.

"Try to keep up your courage, madam," he said. "Our peril is great; but
while there is life there is hope."

"I am not afraid," she said. "I--" The pitching of the boat threw her
against Landless, and he put his arm about her. "You must let me hold
you, madam," he said quietly. She shrank away from his touch, saying
breathlessly, "No, oh no! See! I can hold quite well by the gunwale." He
acquiesced in silence, only lifting her into a more secure position. "I
thank you," she said humbly.

The storm continued to rage with unabated fury. Flash and detonation
succeeded flash and detonation; the rain poured in torrents; and the
wind whooped on the angry sea like a demon of destruction. The Bluebird
pitched and tossed at the mercy of the great waves that combed above
her. Time passed, and to the darkness of the storm was added the
darkness of the night. The occupants of the boat, drenched by the rain
and the seas she had shipped, shivered with cold. Regulus began to stir
and mutter. "He is coming to himself," Landless cried to Darkeih. "When
you see that he is conscious, make him lie still. He must not move
about."

"Do you know where we are?" asked Patricia.

"No, madam; but I fear that the wind is driving us out into the bay."

"Ah!"

She said it with a sob, for a sudden vision of home flashed across the
cold and darkness; and presently Landless could hear that she was
weeping.

The sound went to his heart. "I would God I could help you, madam," he
said gently. "Take comfort! You are in the hands of One who holds the
sea in the hollow of His hand."

In a little while she was quiet. There passed another long interval of
silent endurance, broken by Patricia's saying piteously, "My hands are
so numbed with cold that I cannot hold to the side of the boat. And my
arms are bruised with striking against it."

Without a word Landless put his arm around her, and held her steady
amidst the tossings of the boat. "You are shivering with cold!" he said.
"If I had but something to wrap you in!"

She drooped against him, and the lightning showed him her face, still
and white, with parted lips, and long lashes sweeping her marble cheek.

"Madam, madam!" he cr