"Then the attack has really failed?" was Elsie's greeting. "I saw some
of the canoes turn and scurry away. That was the first good sign. And
then Joey came."
"You saw them?" repeated Courtenay, his bent brows emphasizing the
question.
"Yes. I was looking through one of the ports. Was that wrong?"
"Which one?"
She pointed. "That one," said she, wondering that he had never a smile
for her.
"Then you must obey orders more faithfully next time. A man was shot
dead by a stray bullet not three feet above your head."
She paled, and her eyes fell before his stern gaze, which did not
deceive her at all, for she read the unspoken agony of his thought.
"I am sorry," she murmured, "not so much on my own account, though I
shall be more careful in future, but because some one has suffered.
Who is it? Not one of our own people, I hope?"
"A fireman; I think his name is Gama. You have hardly seen him, I
fancy, but I regret his loss exceedingly. It must have been the merest
accident."
The captain of the _Kansas_ was certainly preoccupied, or he would
never have failed to inquire the extent of Joey's injury.
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