rible bloodless hue which
indicates death. The stern lines in the man's face relaxed, and
something blurred his vision. He was weak from exhaustion and want of
food. For the moment his emotions were easily aroused.

"Oh, it is pitiful," he almost whimpered. "It cannot be!"

With a gesture of despair he drew the sleeve of his thick jersey across
his eyes to clear them from the gathering mist. Then he tremblingly
endeavored to open the neck of her dress and unclasp her corsets. He
had a vague notion that ladies in a fainting condition required such
treatment, and he was desperately resolved to bring Iris Deane back to
conscious existence if it were possible. His task was rendered
difficult by the waistband of her dress. He slipped out a clasp-knife
and opened the blade.

Not until then did he discover that the nail of the forefinger on his
right hand had been torn out by the quick, probably during his
endeavors to grasp the unsteady support which contributed so materially
to his escape. It still hung by a shred and hindered the free use of
his hand. Without any hesitation he seized the offending nail in his
teeth and completed the surgical operation by a rapid jerk.

Bending to resume his task he was startled to find the girl's eyes wide
open and surveying him with shadowy alarm. She was quite conscious,
absurdly so in a sense, and had noticed his strange action.

"Thank God!" he cried hoarsely. "You are alive."

Her mind as yet could only work in a single groove.

"Why did you do that?" she whispered.

"Do what?"

"Bite your nail off!"

"It was in my way. I wished to cut open your dress at the waist. You
were collapsed, almost dead, I thought, and I wanted to unfasten your
corsets."

Her color came back with remarkable rapidity. From all the rich variety
of the English tongue few words could have been selected of such
restorative effect.

She tried to assume a sitting posture, and instinctively her hands
traveled to her disarranged costume.

"How ridiculous!" she said, with a little note of annoyance in her
voice, which sounded curiously hollow. But her brave spirit could not
yet command her enfeebled frame. She was perforce compelled to sink
back to the support of his knee and arm.

"Do you think you could lie quiet until I try to find some water?" he
gasped anxiously.

She nodded a childlike acquiescence, and her eyelids fell. It was only
that her eyes smarted dreadfully from the salt water, but the