l her voice.

"But you must. It is imperative. You would not wish to break down at
the very moment your best energies will be in demand. Our lives, as
well as your own, may depend on your strength. Come, Miss Yorke, no
woman could have been pluckier than you. Don't fail us now."

The gloom was deepening momentarily. Hozier's back was turned to the
entrance, and, in the ever-growing darkness, she was unable to see his
face; but his anxious protest in no wise deceived her; she even smiled
again at the ruse that attempted to saddle her with some measure of
responsibility for the success or failure of the raid.

"If I promise to eat--and drink this sour wine--will you be candid?"
she asked.

"Well----"

"One must bargain. There is no other way. . . . Promise!"

"I suppose you mean that I must agree to please you by wild guessing
about events that may turn out quite differently."

"Candid, I said."

"Yes--that most certainly."

"In the first place, may we go into the fresh air? I must have slept
many hours. What time is it?"

"About seven o'clock."

"Seven! Have I been lying here since goodness knows what time this
morning?"

"You were thoroughly used up," he said, and he added, with a laugh: "If
it is any consolation, I may tell you that, to the best of my belief,
you never moved nor uttered a sound."

"For instance, I didn't snore," she cried, rising to her feet, and
thanking the kindly night that veiled her untidiness.

"I--don't--think so."

"Oh, please be more positive than that. You send a cold shiver down my
back."

"Several members of the _Andromeda's_ crew also indulged in a prolonged
siesta," he said. "I assure you it was almost out of the question to
divide the sleepers into snorers and non-snorers."

A man will talk harmless nonsense of that sort when he is at his wit's
end to wriggle out of a perplexing situation. Hozier was deputed to
obtain the girl's consent to the proposal he had already put before
her. He feared that she would refuse compliance, for he understood her
fine temper better than the others. He was a young man--one but little
versed in the ways of women--yet some instinct warned him that there
was a nobility in Iris Yorke's nature that might set self at naught and
urge her to share her companions' lot, even though certain death were
the outcome.

They passed together through the cavern. Watts, sound asleep, was
lying there. The majority of the men were s