g voice: "Dr.
Phillimore, I never wanted that marriage; I was always against it; and
now I am sorry. Poor Frederic! I was a traitor to him."

"No, no," I said, "but a loyal and devoted heart. Why are you here?
Because, even though you mistrusted his judgment, you sacrificed
yourself to your affection for him. The test of true affection is to
stand by when you disapprove. Any one can stand by if he approves."

"And it has all come to this!" she said with a sigh.

"This is not the end," said I stoutly.

Suddenly she laid her hand on my arm. "What has become of her?" she
asked. "What has been her fate?"

To say the truth, I knew not what to reply, and the trouble in her
voice declared itself again. "Can we do nothing?" she asked
distressfully. "I did not like her, but can we do nothing? It is
dreadful to----"

I found my voice then. "Not to-night, but to-morrow," I replied
soothingly. "She will take no harm to-night;" but I wished I had been
as sure as I seemed.

About noon on the following day we took our first sight of the
mutineers. A knot emerged into view on the beach below and spread out
presently towards the wooded valley. This gave me some concern, for I
guessed that they might be searching for us by Holgate's directions. He
had threatened to visit us. Was he now fulfilling that threat? In any
case, if they were hunting for us, we must in the end be run to earth
in that small island. And then would come the final act. We had two
revolvers and a limited amount of ammunition to defend ourselves
against the resources of the mutineers, to whom the yacht was open. We
saw no more of them, however, for two hours, and then they came
straggling back towards the little bluff behind which the _Sea Queen_
lay. If they had been looking for us, they were so far foiled. But that
was not the last of them. The boat which had landed the first lot of
mutineers had returned to the yacht, and now again struck the beach
with a fresh complement of hands. Were they to renew the pursuit? I
looked down from our eyrie, scarcely more than half a mile away, with
some misgivings. Legrand was upon the other side of the hill on an
exploration of his own, and Lane and Ellison were still wounded men. I
peered from behind our pile of brushwood and awaited events. The second
gang of mutineers had brought a keg with them, and I saw them tap it.
Only too clearly was its nature revealed. They had come ashore to an
orgie. I counted ten of them,