And it was Sandy who came down to greet them when Ericksen dropped his anchor in shallow water.
They leaped out, thigh-deep, and waded to the beach, and in the door of the cabin beyond Alan saw a woman looking down at them wonderingly.
Sandy himself was young and ruddy-faced, more like a boy than a man.
They shook hands.

Then Alan told of the tragedy aboard the _Nome_ and what his mission was.

He made a great effort to speak calmly, and believed that he succeeded.

Certainly there was no break of emotion in his cold, even voice, and at the same time no possibility of evading its deadly earnestness.

McCormick, whose means of livelihood were frequently more unsubstantial than real, listened to the offer of pecuniary reward for his services with something like shock.