now Gometra, mem?--wass you ever going out to Gometra?"

"Yes, of course, I remember something about it anyway."

"Ah, well, it is away out past Gometra, mem; and not a good place for an
anchorage whatever; but Hamish he will know all the anchorages."

"What on earth is the use of going there?"

"I do not know, mem."

"Is Sir Keith going to keep me on board this boat forever?"

"I do not know, mem."

Christina had to leave the cabin just then; when she returned she said,
with some little hesitation,

"If I wass mekking so bold, mem, ass to say this to you: Why are you not
asking the questions of Sir Keith himself? He will know all about it;
and if you were to come into the saloon, mem--"

"Do you think I would enter into any communication with him after his
treatment of me?" said Miss White, indignantly, "No; let him atone for
that first. When he has set me at liberty, then I will speak with him;
but never so long as he keeps me shut up like a convict."

"I wass only saying, mem," Christina answered, with great respect, "that
if you were wishing to know where we were going, Sir Keith will know
that; but how can I know it? And you know, mem, Sir Keith has not shut
you up in this cabin; you hef the saloon, if you would please to hef
it."

"Thank you, I know!" rejoined Miss White. "If I choose, my gaol may
consist of two rooms instead of one. I don't appreciate that amount of
liberty. I want to be set ashore."

"That I hef nothing to do with, mem," Christina said, humbly,
proceeding with her work.

Miss White, being left to think over these things, was beginning to
believe that, after all, her obduracy was not likely to be of much
service to her. Would it not be wiser to treat with the enemy--perhaps
to outwit him by a show of forgiveness? Here they were approaching the
end of the voyage--at least, Christina seemed to intimate as much; and
if they were not exactly within call of friends, they would surely be
within rowing distance of some inhabited island, even Gometra, for
example. And if only a message could be sent to Castle Dare? Lady
Macleod and Janet Macleod were women. They would not countenance this
monstrous thing. If she could only reach them, she would be safe.

The rose-pink died away from the long promontories, and was succeeded by
a sombre gray; the glory in the west sank down; a wan twilight came over
the sea and the sky; and a small golden star, like the point of a
needle, told where the Du