He seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, he turned so suddenly
when Elsie neared him.
"Ah, thank God you are safe!" he said, drawing her to him for an
instant. "Stand there, dear heart!"
He placed her in the forward angle of the bridge rail, and leaned out
over the side. She understood that she must not speak to him then, but
a great joy overwhelmed her, and her eyes melted into tears.
Christobal, who had missed no word of Elsie's frenzied protest in the
saloon, nor failed to note the manner of Courtenay's greeting, seemed
to take the collapse of his own aspirations with the unmoved stoicism
he had displayed in the face of danger.
"The ship's boats--" he began, but the captain raised his gun and fired
twice aft along the side of the vessel. Cries of pain and a good deal
of splashing in the sea proved that he had expedited the departure of
several Indians who were perched on the rails beyond the reach of
Walker's steam jet.
"The ship's boats," went on Christobal calmly, "have turned up in some
mysterious manner, just in the nick of time. A few minutes more, and
they would have been too late.
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