But she is gone, and it is best that you and I keep to ourselves a little of what we guess.

I hope you will find her, and if you do--" "I shall send you word." They shook hands, and Captain Rifle's fingers still held to Alan's as they went to the door and opened it.

A swift change had come in the sky.
The stars were gone, and a moaning whisper hovered over the darkened sea.
"A thunder-storm," said the captain.
His mastery was gone, his shoulders bent, and there was a tremulous note in his voice that compelled Alan to look straight out into darkness.

And then he said, "Rossland will be sent to the hospital in Cordova, if he lives." Alan made no answer.

The door closed softly behind him, and slowly he went through gloom to the rail of the ship, and stood there, with the whispered moaning of the sea coming to him out of a pit of darkness.