sked.

"You mean--?" she asked, and I knew she had guessed aright.

"Yes, I mean just that," I replied. "There is nothing left for us but
the open boat."

"For me, you mean," she said. "You are certainly as safe here as you
have been."

"No, there is nothing left for us but the open boat," I iterated stoutly.
"Will you please dress as warmly as you can, at once, and make into a
bundle whatever you wish to bring with you."

"And make all haste," I added, as she turned toward her state-room.

The lazarette was directly beneath the cabin, and, opening the trap-door
in the floor and carrying a candle with me, I dropped down and began
overhauling the ship's stores. I selected mainly from the canned goods,
and by the time I was ready, willing hands were extended from above to
receive what I passed up.

We worked in silence. I helped myself also to blankets, mittens,
oilskins, caps, and such things, from the slop-chest. It was no light
adventure, this trusting ourselves in a small boat to so raw and stormy a
sea, and it was imperative that we should guard ourselves against the
cold and wet.

We worked feverishly at carrying our plunder on deck and depositing it
amidships, so feverishly that Maud, whose strength was hardly a positive
quantity, had to give over, exhausted, and sit on the steps at the break
of the poop. This did not serve to recover her, and she lay on her back,
on the hard deck, arms stretched out, and whole body relaxed. It was a
trick I remembered of my sister, and I knew she would soon be herself
again. I knew, also, that weapons would not come in amiss, and I
re-entered Wolf Larsen's state-room to get his rifle and shot-gun. I
spoke to him, but he made no answer, though his head was still rocking
from side to side and he was not asleep.

"Good-bye, Lucifer," I whispered to myself as I softly closed the door.

Next to obtain was a stock of ammunition,--an easy matter, though I had
to enter the steerage companion-way to do it. Here the hunters stored
the ammunition-boxes they carried in the boats, and here, but a few feet
from their noisy revels, I took possession of two boxes.

Next, to lower a boat. Not so simple a task for one man. Having cast
off the lashings, I hoisted first on the forward tackle, then on the aft,
till the boat cleared the rail, when I lowered away, one tackle and then
the other, for a couple of feet, till it hung snugly, above the water,
against the schooner's si