I saw half the men securing
the crate and the other half grovelling around something on the
deck. It was Liosha. She lay white and senseless with blood
streaming from her head.

[Illustration: Before I realized the danger . . . I was flung
aside.]

"In a mortal funk I took her up the ladder with the help of another
fellow, and carried her to her cabin. I never before realised the
appalling length of this vessel. We got her into her bunk aft; I
sent the other chap for brandy and first-aid appliances from the
ship's stores, and did what I could to discover how far she was
injured. . . .

"Thank God, nothing worse had happened than a nasty scalp wound.
But her escape had been miraculous. She had saved my life; for as I
lay on the deck, the crate charging direct would have squashed my
skull into jelly, and crushed my body against the side of the hold.
A fraction of a second later and it would have been her skull and
her body instead of mine; but she just managed to roll practically
clear until she got caught by the swerving side of the crate. I
hope you'll understand what a heroic thing she did. She faced what
seemed to be certain death for me; and it is thanks to Liosha that
I'm able to tell you that I'm alive. And she, God bless her, walks
about with her head bandaged, among an adoring ship's company, and
refuses to admit having done anything wonderful."

And, indeed, to confirm Jaffery's last statement, here is a bit of a
scrawl from Liosha--her complete account of the incident:

"We've just had the most awful storm I ever did see. The cargo go
loose in the hold and we had to fix it up. I got a cut on the head
and had to stay in bed till the storm finished. I must say it gave
me an awful headache, but there I guess I'm better now."

Well, that seems to be the most exciting thing that happened to them.
Afterwards, in the mind of each, it loomed as the great event in the
amazing voyage. A man does not forget having his life saved by a woman
at the risk of her own; and a woman, no matter how heroic in action and
how magnanimous in after modesty, does not forget it either. Although he
had been credited (to his ingenuous delight) by reviewers of "The
Greater Glory" with uncanny knowledge of the complexities of a woman's
nature, I have never met a more dunder-headed blunderer in his deali