her
cloak she saw David coming over the moor, and he was carrying Vala
in his arms.

"So," she said, "I see that I will not need to run after my fate; it
will come to me; and there will be no use striving against it. For
what must be is sure to happen."

Then she turned back into the house, and David followed with unusual
solemnity, and laid Vala upon her bed. "She is sleeping," he said,
"and there is something to tell you, Nanna."

"About my husband?"

"Yes."

"Say it out at once, then."

"Last night he was carried to his own ship." And David's face was
grave almost to sternness.

"Carried! Have you then hurt him, David?"

"No; he is a self-hurter. But this is what I know. He went from
here to Matilda Sabiston's house. She had gone to kirk with two
of her servants, and when she came back she found him delirious
on the sofa. Then the doctor was sent for, and when he said the word
'typhus,' Matilda shrieked with passion, and demanded that he should
be instantly taken away."

"But no! Surely not!"

"Yes; it was so. Both the minister and the doctor said it was right
and best for him to be taken to his own ship. The town--yes, indeed,
and the whole islands were in danger. And when they took him on
board the _Sea Rover_, they found that two of the sailors were also
very ill with the fever. They had been ill for a week, and Sinclair
knew it; yet he came among the boats, and went through the town,
speaking to many people. It was a wicked thing for him to do."

"It was just like him. Where is the _Sea Rover_ now lying?"

"She has been taken to the South Voe. The fishing-boats will watch
lest the men are landed, and the doctor will go to the ship every day
the sea will let him go."

"David, is it my duty--"

"No, it is not; there are five men with Sinclair. Three of them are,
I believe, yet well men, and three can care for the sick and the
ship. On the deck of the _Sea Rover_ a woman should not put her foot."

"But a ship with typhus on board?"

"Is a hell indeed! In this case, Nanna, it is a hell of their own
making. They got the fever in a dance-house at Rotterdam. Sinclair
knew of its presence, and laughed it to scorn. It was his mate who
told the doctor so. Also, Nanna, there is Vala."

She went swiftly to the side of the sleeping child, and she was sure
there was a change in her. David would not acknowledge it, but in
forty-eight hours the signs of the fatal scourge were unmistakable.
Then Nanna's