"Who knows?"
"It will be all the same wherever she is. If the ship goes, we go."
"Who can tell? These English are stupid. They always try to save
women first. Once, when I was on the--"
A few words in Spanish reached them from Mr. Boyle, and they went on
with their work. But such muttered confidences are eloquent of
mischief when the pinch comes.
At the forward end of the promenade deck, just beneath the bridge,
Elsie received another reminder of the force of the wind, which was
rendered almost intolerable by the lashing of the spray.
"I--can't--go on," she gasped. Courtenay felt, rather than heard, that
she was speaking to him. Without further ado, he picked her up in his
arms, and deposited her, all flushed and breathless, in the shelter of
the fore saloon hatch. If she were so anxious to see her friend the
doctor, he was determined she should not be disappointed.
"No time for explanations," he said, while she tremblingly clutched at
a rail which gave support down the companion-way. "Dr. Christobal is
below. But--I fear you will find a shocking scene. Perhaps you had
better let me take you back.
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