Part 39 (2/2)

It re cry, for the stir of its frightened prey But we did not fir, and we ed about the deck, hand in hand, like a couple of children chased by a wicked ogre, till Wolf Larsen, evidently in disgust, left the deck for the cabin There was glee in our eyes, and suppressed titters in our mouths, as we put on our shoes and clambered over the side into the boat And as I looked into Maud's clear brown eyes I forgot the evil he had done, and I knew only that I loved her, and that because of her the strength was mine to win our way back to the world

CHAPTER xxxVI

For two days Maud and I ranged the sea and explored the beaches in search of themasts But it was not till the third day that we found them, all of them, the shears included, and, of all perilous places, in the pounding surf of the grim south-western promontory And hoorked! At the dark end of the first day we returned, exhausted, to our little cove, towing the mainmast behind us And we had been compelled to row, in a dead calm, practically every inch of the way

Another day of heart-breaking and dangerous toil saw us in ca I was desperate, and I rafted together the foreaffs The as favourable, and I had thought to tow them back under sail, but the wind baffled, then died away, and our progress with the oars was a snail's pace And it was such dispiriting effort To throw one's whole strength and weight on the oars and to feel the boat checked in its forward lunge by the heavy drag behind, was not exactly exhilarating

Night began to fall, and toup ahead Not only did all forward an to drift back and out to sea I struggled at the oars till I was played out Poor Maud, who to the lith, lay weakly back in the stern-sheets I could row no er close on the oar handles My wrists and arh I had eaten heartily of a twelve-o'clock lunch, I had worked so hard that I was faint froer

I pulled in the oars and bent forward to the line which held the tow But Maud's hand leaped out restrainingly toto do?” she asked in a strained, tense voice

”Cast it off,” I answered, slipping a turn of the rope

But her fingers closed on ed

”It is useless,” I answered ”Here is night and the wind blowing us off the land”

”But think, Humphrey If we cannot sail away on the Ghost, we may remain for years on the island-for life even If it has never been discovered all these years, it et the boat we found on the beach,” I re boat,” she replied, ”and you know perfectly well that if the men had escaped they would have been back to make their fortunes from the rookery You know they never escaped”

I rely, ”it's your idea, and I want to see you succeed”

Now I could hardenpersonal basis, generosity compelled me to deny her

”Better years on the island than to die to-night, or to-morrow, or the next day, in the open boat We are not prepared to brave the sea We have no food, no water, no blankets, nothing Why, you'd not survive the night without blankets: I kno strong you are You are shi+vering now”

”It is only nervousness,” she answered ”I am afraid you will cast off the masts in spite of me”

”Oh, please, please, Humphrey, don't!” she burst out, a moment later

And so it ended, with the phrase she knew had all power over ain I fitfully slept, but the pain of the cold always aroused me How Maud could stand it was beyond me I was too tired to thrash th tiain to chafe her hands and feet to restore the circulation And still she pleaded withshe was caught by a cold cramp, and after I had rubbed her out of that she becaot out the oars and ht she would faint at every stroke

Morning broke, and we looked long in the growing light for our island At last it showed, small and black, on the horizon, fully fifteen lasses Far away in the south-west I could see a dark line on the water, which grew even as I looked at it

”Fair wind!” I cried in a husky voice I did not recognize as my own