but she stood clinging to the wall, her
bosom heaving, her eyes on Barraclough. I opened the door, and,
stepping out, closed it again behind me. I was determined to find out
what had happened.

After all, it was not a very hazardous enterprise. Holgate had shown no
disposition to take advantage of my visits to the forecastle, and it
was pretty clear that no attack was possible at the moment.
Nevertheless, I will confess that I experienced a little elation in
feeling my way through the dense darkness along the saloon. It is not
always possible to analyse one's feelings, but I think afterwards (not
at the time) I connected this mood with the Princess. I had held her in
my arms, her face to mine, and I was suddenly exalted to be capable of
great things. There was nothing I would not have dared then, no danger
from which I would have shrunk, no risk I would not have taken, however
foolhardy. In a sense I walked on air; I was lunatic; and all because I
had held for an instant of time an adorable woman in my arms with no
consent of hers. I believe now (and I hope it will not be counted
against me) that it was with a little swagger I opened the door and
stepped forth into the rolling fog.

The _Sea Queen_ stirred a little as if to show she still lived, but
there was no motion perceptible. I had buttoned up my coat round my
neck, but even so the mists from the ice-clad hills on either side of
the passage bit hard into me. I groped to the chart-house and then
paused. A twinkle of light was visible ahead and aloft. It was the
bridge. I launched myself suddenly into the vacancy before me, and went
like hoodman blind with arms outstretched towards the railing. I struck
an iron pillar, and guiding myself from it to another, reached at last
the foot of the ladder that ran up. This I mounted very deliberately
and carefully until I had come to the bridge itself, where a dull light
burned by the binnacle. Instantly I was taken by the throat.

I struggled with my assailant at a disadvantage, as I was unable to
reach his face, owing to his superior grip of me; but I managed to get
a leg at the back of his, and though the pressure on my windpipe was
terrible, and I felt that I was weakening fast, I threw him back
against the railings. As I did so a light was thrust into my face, and
I heard Holgate's voice.

"It's the doctor. All right, Pierce. Hands off, man."

Even as he spoke my antagonist loosened his hold, and I drew off, the
re