Part 36 (2/2)

This he had expected The hopelessness of their position ith hi hither or thither; wherefore he eh movement to enable hiain he raised his voice in a louder, clearer call

Stay! What was that? Echo? Echo from the vastness of the liquid solitude? No It was not an echo

There floated out through the mist a fainter, shriller cry Roden's pulses beat like a haed to his head The boats had waited around, then? They would be picked up, saved--for the present Again he shouted, long and loudly

And now a strange, awesoray, as frohty lantern, and upon the curtain of vapour was silhouetted, black and gigantic, the horizontal forain, the head and shoulders of a ht Heavens! what appalling shade of darkness was this, haunting the drear, horrible, inky surface of that sli bore down upon them, was almost over them Roden, convinced that this new horror was a otten of the mist and his own exhausted state, closed his eyes for a ain it had vanished

But in its place was sohter shone the nebulous ray, and now, parting the mist folds a half-moon looked down; looked down on these two heads, mere tiny specks upon the vast ocean surface--down, too, upon that other thing And seeing what it was, the revulsion of hope which shot through their two hearts was terrible

There floated what looked like a plank No, stay! Was it a plank? It see; and upon it, stretched out and clinging wildly to its sides, was the figure of a erated and distorted by the mist, hat had constituted the coffin apparition

In the shock of this blank and bitter disappointh lost consciousness But upon her coorating effect A gleam as of a set, fell purpose shone fro-veileduided hie silently, i of the lurid, predatory look was this:--

_He meant to have that plank_

But the et off it Whatever the support was it certainly would not uphold two, let alone three Mona must have it--must take the place of its present occupant He hi, just aiding hie The man as on it now ain came the cry which they had at first heard, and it had in it the quaver of exhaustion, of terror, of despair This tiht of the floating waif, Roden, with a few noiseless but vigorous strokes, brought his now unconscious charge and hi distance of the concern And as he did so he could hardly control his joy The thing was a solid hatch, and was fitted with two strong ring-bolts, one at each diagonal corner

Just then, alarmed by the faint splash, the ht, and his li convulsively to his support The uished features, revealed the face of Lambert

”What--who are you?” he quavered ”There's no roorave, by God!”

”Yes Musgrave, by God!” answered Roden, a kind of snarling triu won't carryto be Miss Ridsdale So off you get, Lambert”

”But I can't swim another stroke I'o to the bottom then Get off, will you?”

”No, I won't,” yelled the unfortunate ood as other people's I'm here first, and here Idown the side of the impromptu raft which was nearest hi its occupant to the other side, where, losing his hold of the ring-bolt, he rolled off into the sea By the ti out, the hatch was quite a nurave!” shrieked the despairing man, ”for God's sake don't leaveto support et on it I swear I won't”

The only ansas a laugh--a blood-curdling laugh, a de, as it did, from the very jaws of death upon that dark and horrible waste of waters

”I wouldn't believe the oath of such a crawling sneak as you, Lambert, if taken on your deathbed; and that's about where it is taken now

Remember the valuable discovery you ht to ruinyourself with, for if your discovery hadn't driven me from the country I shouldn't be here to-day to take your last plank fro would carry fifty people, _you_ shouldn't get upon it”

While Roden was thus speaking La a sudden last despairing effort, with a sort of spring out of the water, he succeeded in seizing the edge of the hatch, upon which Mona had already been lifted, and was lying unconscious It began to slant perilously

”Let go, will you!” spake Roden, between his teeth, in a voice like the growl of a wild beast ”What? You won't!” And with all his force he struck out, ai a bloeen the other's eyes But Lae and soul-curdling scene, that upon which the ghastly moon looked down, these twoalone in the black oiliness of the , the one for his life, the other for a life that was far more precious to him than his own

And of all the horrific and heart-sickening acts which that pale orb has witnessed, it can seldo

Now La in his frenzy of despair to drag the latter doith hi his hold of the raft for aseized Laainst the hard wood The unfortunate surgeon, more than half stunned, relaxed his hold, and fell back into the sea