sted the hunters to lower their voices, so she was
not disturbed; and it was not till next morning that she made her
appearance. It had been my intention to have her meals served apart, but
Wolf Larsen put down his foot. Who was she that she should be too good
for cabin table and cabin society? had been his demand.

But her coming to the table had something amusing in it. The hunters
fell silent as clams. Jock Horner and Smoke alone were unabashed,
stealing stealthy glances at her now and again, and even taking part in
the conversation. The other four men glued their eyes on their plates
and chewed steadily and with thoughtful precision, their ears moving and
wobbling, in time with their jaws, like the ears of so many animals.

Wolf Larsen had little to say at first, doing no more than reply when he
was addressed. Not that he was abashed. Far from it. This woman was a
new type to him, a different breed from any he had ever known, and he was
curious. He studied her, his eyes rarely leaving her face unless to
follow the movements of her hands or shoulders. I studied her myself,
and though it was I who maintained the conversation, I know that I was a
bit shy, not quite self-possessed. His was the perfect poise, the
supreme confidence in self, which nothing could shake; and he was no more
timid of a woman than he was of storm and battle.

"And when shall we arrive at Yokohama?" she asked, turning to him and
looking him squarely in the eyes.

There it was, the question flat. The jaws stopped working, the ears
ceased wobbling, and though eyes remained glued on plates, each man
listened greedily for the answer.

"In four months, possibly three if the season closes early," Wolf Larsen
said.

She caught her breath and stammered, "I--I thought--I was given to
understand that Yokohama was only a day's sail away. It--" Here she
paused and looked about the table at the circle of unsympathetic faces
staring hard at the plates. "It is not right," she concluded.

"That is a question you must settle with Mr. Van Weyden there," he
replied, nodding to me with a mischievous twinkle. "Mr. Van Weyden is
what you may call an authority on such things as rights. Now I, who am
only a sailor, would look upon the situation somewhat differently. It
may possibly be your misfortune that you have to remain with us, but it
is certainly our good fortune."

He regarded her smilingly. Her eyes fell before his gaze, but she lifte