too, had lifted,
for I could see stars. But the momentary exultation evoked by this idea
subsided in a new alarm. The sea was getting up, and I needed not a
reminder of the old salt from whom I had hired the boat that the latter
was only good for smooth water. Here was a new peril, and a very real
one. And there was a decidedly "open sea" kind of whiff about the
freshening breeze.

I pulled the boat round so as to keep her head to the waves, which
seemed to be increasing every moment. Their splash wetted me, rendering
the cold more biting than ever, and then--a strange roaring sound
bellowed in my ears. A huge green eye shot forward in the darkness, and
a tall dark mass towered foaming above me. At that moment I opened my
mouth and emitted the most awful yell that ever proceeded from human
throat. Then came the crash--as I knew it would. I seemed to be shot
forward into space, then dragged through leagues of cold and rushing
waters, while gripping something hard and resisting as though life
depended on it. Then another shock, and I knew no more.

CHAPTER TWO.

A WAIF.

"Seems to be coming to, don't he?"

"Not quite. Better leave him alone a bit longer."

Was I dead, and were these voices of another world? Hardly. They had a
homely and British intonation which savoured too much of this one. Then
I grew confused, and dozed off again.

Was I dreaming, or where was I? shaped out the next thought as I heard
the voices again. Lying with closed eyes, returning consciousness began
to assert itself. A certain heaving movement, which could be produced
by nothing else than a ship at sea, made itself felt--a movement not
unknown to me, for I had made a voyage to Australia and back earlier in
my hitherto uneventful career--and a pounding, vibrating sound, which
jarred somewhat roughly upon my awakened nerves, told that the vessel
was a steamship. Opening my eyes drowsily, I saw that I was lying in a
bunk, and the fresh air blowing in through an open skylight was breezy
and salt. There was no mistaking my present quarters. I was in a
ship's cuddy. A table, covered with a faded cloth of many colours,
stood in the middle of the room, and the slant of an apparently useless
pillar running from floor to ceiling, and through the same, could only
be that of a mast.

"Feeling better now, sir?"

Two men had glided into the room and were watching me. One was tall,
slim, and well made, with a clear-cut face