“Evie!” she exclaims, in a low excited voice, “how is it you have come this way? Is anything wrong? We expected you in a smack, and Gloria has gone to meet you.” “A smack!” gasps the young duke. “What do you mean?” But she does not answer him. She has turned, and is addressing the four clansmen. “Ruglens,” she says quickly, “pull to the point for your lives! Pull men, pull; pull with the strength God gave you. God in heaven, pull!” They answer to her appeal, do these young giants. Do they not know her well? Is she not a Ruglen? Are they not Ruglens too? Have they not as children played with their young chief and his sister, joined in their rambles, mingled with their sports? Well do these Highland laddies understand her quick command, understand it and obey. She has crossed to the stern, where the duke sits staring mutely at her. “Give me the helm, Evie,” she says quietly. “I can steer the shortest cut. Don’t look like that, Evie; it may be all a mistake.” But her voice tells him she does not think so. The boat tears through the water; the clansmen are doing their best. There is not a word spoken. Only the splash of the oars, the dull thud of the twisting rowlocks, the hiss of the boat’s keel, break the stillness of Glenuig’s Bay. They have reached the point now. Four more gallant strokes from the men whose brows are thickly studded with the bead drops of extraordinary toil, and the boat rises on the first rolling swell of the open sea. The smack is there; it catches the straining eyes of Evie Ravensdale, as he springs up and gazes across the great grey ocean waste. To her dying day Flora will never forget the terrible groan of agony which bursts from him. Ay, the smack is there, but they come too late. The brown sail is spread, it is already far away, vanishing into the creeping, dull, dark veil of the advancing night and rising storm. [Illustration] CHAPTER III. “All shall come right, everything shall be explained; you shall have immediate liberty, if, on behalf of your mother, you will promise me what I ask. I know perfectly well she will do it if _you_ ask her. Now will you?” The speaker is a middle-aged man, with deep, dark eyes, handsome features, and bold, resolute carriage. Grey hairs peep here and there from out his thick beard, moustache, and whiskers, and there are grey hairs in his once raven hair. He is dressed in a navy-blue serge suit, and wears the buttons of the royal yacht squadron. To all appearance the person he is addressing is a young man of some twenty-three or twenty-four summers. He is tall, and slight, with a face of extreme beauty. He has rich gold-auburn hair, and his eyes are deep blue in colour. Nothing will compare with them but the sapphire. He wears a well-fitting shepherd’s plaid kilt, stockings to match, and silver mounted brogues. A loose white flannel shirt and waistcoat and jacket complete his attire.