im such love for her as had made him save her
from doing what she thought wrong at any cost; but the inspiration did
not extend to this. It appeared to him the lesser evil of the two.

"I will go with the boat," said Caius. "It is the quicker way."

He felt that for some reason this pleased O'Shea, who began at once to
hurry off to get the luggage, but as he went he only remarked grimly:

"They say as it's the longest way round that is the shortest way home.
If you're tipped in the ice, Mr. Doctor, ye'll foind that true, I'm
thinking."

Caius found that O'Shea's boat, a heavy flat-bottomed thing, was
already half launched upon the beach, furnished with stout boat-hooks
for pushing among the ice, as well as her oars and sailing gear. He was
glad to find that such speedy departure was to be his. He had no thought
of saying good-bye to Josephine.

CHAPTER X.

"DEATH SHRIVE THY SOUL!"

It was an immense relief to stand in the boat with the boat-hook, whose
use demanded all the skill and nerve which Caius had at command. For the
most part they could only propel the boat by pushing or pulling the bits
of ice that surrounded it with their poles. It was a very different sort
of travel from that which they had experienced together when they had
carried their boat over islands of ice and launched it in the great gaps
between them. The ice which they had to do with now would not have borne
their weight; nor was there much clear space for rowing between the
fragments. O'Shea pushed the boat boldly on, and they made their journey
with comparative ease until, when they came near the channel made by the
steamship, they found the ice lying more closely, and the difficulty of
their progress increased.

Work as they would, they were getting on but slowly. The light wind blew
past their faces, and the Gaspe schooner was seen to sail up the path
which the steamer had made across the bay.

"The wind's in the very chink that makes her able to take the channel.
I'm thinking she'll be getting in before us."

O'Shea spoke with the gay indifference of one who had staked nothing on
the hope of getting to the harbour first; but Caius wondered if this
short cut would have been undertaken without strong reason.

A short period of hard exertion, of pushing and pulling the bits of ice,
followed, and then:

"I'm thinking we'll make the channel, any way, before she comes by, and
then we'll just hail her, and the happy bridegroom ca