'Then I will ring the bell and have you thrust out of here for your impudence.' 'You shall not ring the bell,' said Edith calmly, putting her hand over the white china plaque that held in its centre the black electric button. 'Do you mean to tell me that you intend to keep me from leaving my own state-room?' 'I mean to tell you exactly that.' 'Do you know that you can be imprisoned for attempting such a thing?' 'I don't care.' 'Stand aside, you vixen, or I will strike you!' 'Do it.' For a moment the two girls stood there, the one flushed and excited, the other apparently calm, with her back against the door and her hand over the electric button. A glance through the window showed Miss Brewster that the mate had got into the boat, and that they were steadily lowering away. 'Let me pass, you--you wretch!' 'All in good time,' replied Edith Longworth, whose gaze was also upon the boat swinging in mid-air. Jennie Brewster saw at once that, if it came to a hand-to-hand encounter, she would have no chance whatever against the English girl, who was in every way her physical superior. She had her envelope in one hand and the gold in the other. She thrust both of them into her pocket, which, after some fumbling, she found. Then she raised her voice in one of the shrillest screams which Edith Longworth had ever heard. As if in answer to that ear-piercing sound, there rose from the steamer a loud and ringing cheer. Both glanced up to see where the boat was, but it was not in sight. Several ropes were dangling down past the porthole. Miss Brewster sprang up on the sofa, and with her small hands turned round the screw which held the window closed. Edith Longworth looked at her without making any attempt to prevent the unfastening of the window. Jennie Brewster flung open the heavy brass circle which held the thick green glass, and again she screamed at the top of her voice, crying 'Help!' and 'Murder!' The other did not move from her position. In the silence that followed, the steady splash of oars could be heard, and again a rousing cheer rang out from those who were left upon the motionless steamer. Edith Longworth raised herself on tiptoe and looked out of the open window. On the crest of a wave, five hundred yards away from the vessel, she saw the boat for a moment appear, showing the white glitter of her six dripping oars; then it vanished down the other side of the wave into the trough of the sea. 'Now, Miss Brewster', she said, 'you are at liberty to go.' CHAPTER XIII.