recipice, above which rose the chateau with
its imposing facade, the ramparts, and the towering citadel.

The hands of the phantom clock pointed to ten minutes of nine. But I
knew the gulf lay before me at the end of the short, narrow street that
led down to it, up which I had passed two hours before upon that
journey which so nearly ended in the snow-drifts of Souse-le-Cap.

I reached the wharf and raced along the planks. I was in time,
although the engines were throbbing in the _Sainte-Vierge_. But it was
not she, but the dark _Claire_ I sought at that moment, and I dashed
toward her.

A man barred my approach. He caught me in his strong arms and held me
fast. I dash my fists against his face, but he would not let me go.

"Are you mad, _monsieur_?" he burst out as I continued to struggle.
And then I recognized my captor as Captain Dubois.

"Jacqueline is on the _Claire_!" I cried, trying to make him
understand. "They took her there. They----"

"It is all right," answered Dubois, holding me with one hand, while
with the other he wiped a blood drop from his lip where I had struck
him. "It is all right. I have her."

I stared wildly at him. "She is on the _Claire_!" I cried again.

"No, _mon ami_. She is aboard the _Sainte-Vierge_," replied Dubois,
chuckling, "and if you wish to accompany _mademoiselle_ you must come
with me at once, for we are getting up steam."

I could not believe him. I thought that Leroux had tampered with the
honest man. It was not until he had taken me, half forcibly, aboard,
and opened the cabin door, that I saw her. She was seated upon her
berth, and she rose and came toward me with a glad little cry.

"Jacqueline!" I cried, and clasped her in my arms for joy, and quite
forgot.

A dancing shadow fell upon the wall behind the oil-lamp. The honest
captain was rubbing his hands in the doorway and chuckling with delight.

"It is all right, it is all right; excuse me, _monsieur_," he said, and
closed the door on us. But I called him, and he returned, not very
reluctantly.

"What has happened, captain?" I asked. "You are not going to leave me
in suspense?"

"But what has happened to you, _monsieur_?" he asked, with great
concern, as he saw the blood on my coat-collar, "You have met with an
accident?"

Jacqueline cried out and ran for water, and made me sit down, and began
bathing my head. I contrived to whisper something of what had occurred
during the moments when