"Ye skunk, ye! Ye ---- ---- ---- white-livered cowardly skunk!"--etc. etc. etc.--to all of which Wulf made no reply, which provoked the furious one more than any words he could have flung at him. He remained there, hurling abuse and invective at the steady-faced man up above, till the night air cooled the boiling in his brain. Then he seized his splintered oar and thrashed away home. Wulf quietly resumed his sentry-go, watched till all was quiet on the 'Jane and Mary,' and then went down. To his surprise The Girl was sitting by the fire. He had supposed her in bed, had hoped she was fast asleep and had heard nothing of the bombardment. "He has gone?" she asked. "Yes, he has gone home to bed. I was hoping you were asleep." "Asleep! ... And you did not kill him?" "He gave me no chance. He invited me on to his raft for a fight----" "I heard it all." "I'm sorry. He is hardly suitable for a lady's ears." "I feel myself a terrible burden to you." "But you are not. Very much the reverse. You are----" he began impulsively, and stopped short. It was too soon to tell all that she was to him. "I am a bone of contention. I bring you in peril of your life----" "And I thank God I am here to protect you. Now, take my advice and go to bed. I will bring my blankets and lie at the foot of the stairs here." XLI The next day passed without any sign of the mate, beyond the thin blue smoke that floated up from his hatchway. Wulf surmised that he was making up his leeway in the matter of food and drink, and would probably not be over-eager for battle for the time being. Nevertheless he relaxed no whit of his vigilance, and after watching on deck for half the night slept the rest at the foot of the companion-way as before. Contrary to his expectations, the gale did not work itself up again, but the sky was still low and dark and full of thin smoky clouds hurrying along towards the north-east, and he was not at all sure that they had done with it yet. On the following day, to their great satisfaction, Macro set off early for the wreckage, and when they had watched him out of sight they went ashore for a ramble, and to get water and fresh meat. The Girl must of course make straight for the place where they had met Mrs Seal and her baby, but, to her great disappointment, there was not a sign of them. "And I did so want to see them again," said she. "She would have known us by this time and not been afraid. Perhaps she would even have let me touch it." "They are much happier in the water," he said, with a smile, for her face made him think of a child who had lost its toy. She would not be satisfied till they had searched far along the shore, but nothing came of it, and she was disconsolate. The day was not cheerful and she would not bathe. They filled their buckets, and he caught some rabbits and they returned early to the ship.