nd Dan, after a second look at the wreck of
the bow, knew that he must be the sole survivor of the catastrophe.

"Too bad about the boys," he muttered through teeth that chattered,
for the cold water had already chilled him. "And poor old Larsen."

He thought again of the warning flashed from the shore. "Guess there
must be something hellish afoot after all," he muttered again. "The
flicker of green that stopped the signals, and the green fire that got
us--what can they mean?" He looked toward the looming black shadow of
the island, and began divesting himself of his clinging, sodden
garments. "I don't wonder somebody wanted battleships. But even a
battleship, if that green ray hit it--"

He drew a deep breath and ducked his head while he unlaced his shoes
and kicked out of them. Then, with a final look at the burning wreck
of the _Virginia_, he tore off the last bit of his underclothing and
swam for the shore in an easy crawl.

* * * * *

The rocky ramparts of Davis Island were three or four miles away. But
there was no wind; the black sea was calm save for a long, hardly
perceptible swell. A strong swimmer and in superb condition, Dan felt
no anxiety about being able to make the distance. There was danger,
however, that a shark would run across him, or that he could not find
a landing place upon the rocky shore.

Four bells had rung when he had seen the first flash; it had been just
ten o'clock. And it was some four hours later that Dan touched bottom
and waded wearily up a bit of smooth hard beach, through palely
glittering phosphorescent foam.

He rubbed the brine from his tired limbs, and sat down for a time, in
a spot where a fallen boulder sheltered his naked body from the cool
morning wind. In a few moments he rose, flexed his muscles and peered
through the starlit darkness for a way up the cliff behind the beach.
He found it impossible to distinguish anything.

"Got to keep moving, or find some clothes," he muttered. "And I may
stumble onto what made the green light. Darn lucky I've been so far,
anyhow. Larsen and the others--but I shan't think of them. Wonder who
was flashing the signals from the island. And did the green fire get
him?"

He turned to look out over the black plain of the sea. Far out, the
_Virginia_ lay low in the water, a pillar of yellow flame rising from
her hull. As he watched, the flame flickered and vanished: the old
schooner, he supposed, had sun