r.

She could endure it no longer at last, and arose with a wild idea of
going on deck. The narrow walls of her cabin had become unendurable.

With difficulty, grabbing at first one thing, then another for support,
she made her way to the saloon. The place was empty, but a single lamp
burned steadily by the door that led to the companion, and guided her
halting steps.

The floor was at a steep upward angle when she started, but before she
had accomplished half the distance it plunged suddenly downwards, and
she was flung forward against the table. Bruised and frightened, she
dragged herself up, reached the farther door at a run, only to fall once
more against it.

Here she lay for a little, half-stunned, till that terrible slow
upheaval began again. Then, with a sharp effort, she recalled her
scattered senses and struggled up, clinging to the handle. Slowly she
mounted, slowly, slowly, till her feet began to slip down that awful
slant. Then at the last moment, when she thought she must fall headlong,
there came that fearful plunge again, and she knew that the yacht was
deep in the trough of some gigantic wave.

The loneliness was terrible. It seemed like the forerunner of
annihilation. She felt that whatever the danger on deck, it must be
easier to face than this fearful solitude. And so at last, in a brief
lull, she opened the door.

A great swirl of wind and water dashed down upon her on the instant. The
lamp behind her flickered and went out, but there was another at the
head of the steps to light her halting progress, and, clinging with both
hands to the rail, she began to ascend.

The uproar was deafening. It deprived her of the power to think. But she
no longer felt afraid. She found this limbo of howling desolation
infinitely preferable to the awful loneliness of her cabin. Slowly and
with difficulty she made her way.

She had nearly reached the top when a man's figure in streaming oilskins
sprang suddenly into the opening. Above the storm she heard a hoarse
yell of warning or of anger, she knew not which, and the next instant
Pierre was beside her, holding her imprisoned against the hand-rail to
which she clung.

She stood up and faced him, still gripping the rail.

"Take me on deck!" she cried to him. "I shall not be afraid."

She had flung her cloak about her, but the hood had blown back from her
head, and her hair hung loose. Pierre looked at her in stern silence,
holding her fast. She fancied h