And he waddled off to the engine-room, where the engineer and his assistant were tinkering at the wrecked engine. Darrow went down into the sloppy cabin, where, on a couch, Mrs. Castle lay, ill from the shock of the recent catastrophe; and beside her stood an attractive girl stirring sweet spirits of ammonia in a tumbler. Her eyes were fixed on the open port-hole. Through that port-hole the lagoon was visible; so was Haltren, wading shoreward, a solitary figure against the fringed rampart of the wilderness. "Is Mrs. Castle better?" asked Darrow. "I think so; I think she is asleep," said the girl, calmly. There was a pause; then Darrow took the tumbler and stirred the contents. "Do you know who it was that got us out of that pickle?" "Yes," she said; "my husband." "I suppose you could hear what we said on deck." There was no answer. "Could you, Kathleen?" "Yes." Darrow stared into the tumbler, tasted the medicine, and frowned. "Isn't there--isn't there a chance--a ghost of a chance?" he asked. "I think not," she answered--"I am sure not. I shall never see him again." "I meant for myself," said Darrow, deliberately, looking her full in the face. She crimsoned to her temples, then her eyes flashed violet fire. "Not the slightest," she said. "Thanks," said Darrow, flippantly; "I only wanted to know." "You know now, don't you?" she asked, a trifle excited, yet realizing instinctively that somehow she had been tricked. And yet, until that moment, she had believed Darrow to be her slave. He had been and was still; but she was not longer certain, and her uncertainty confused her. "Do you mean to say that you have any human feeling left for that vagabond?" demanded Darrow. So earnest was he that his tanned face grew tense and white. "I'll tell you," she said, breathlessly, "that from this moment I have no human feeling left for you! And I never had! I know it now; never! never! I had rather be the divorced wife of Jack Haltren than the wife of any man alive!" The angry beauty of her young face was his reward; he turned away and climbed the companion. And in the shattered wheel-house he faced his own trouble, muttering: "I've done my best; I've tried to show the pluck he showed. He's got his chance now!" And he leaned heavily on the wheel, covering his eyes with his hands; for he was fiercely in love, and he had destroyed for a friend's sake all that he had ever hoped for. But there was more to be done; he aroused himself presently and wandered around to the engine-room, where the major was prowling about, fussing and fuming and bullying his engineer. "Major," said Darrow, guilelessly, "do you suppose Haltren's appearance has upset his wife?"