“What do you mean?” she exclaimed unsteadily. “Must I say it all--must I tell you in so many words--are you afraid to--oh, can’t you understand what I want you to know?” “Yes, I think I understand,” and his voice was very gentle. “Look at the liner yonder.” He raised his arm in an eloquent gesture. “You will be aboard soon, and ye will be among hundreds of people that belong to your own world. And ye will sit at dinner with them in the grand saloon, and they will talk to you about the things you have known and lived with all your life. And ye will find out that you belong with them. “As the days go by, Nora Forbes, you will wonder more and more if this voyage of ours ever really happened. ’Twill be like a dream of romance and adventure, and moonshine, that could not have been at all.” “But this is real and all the rest of my life has been just make-believe,” she mournfully whispered. “’Tis the magic of the sea and the strong winds, and the free life, but it will pass and you will be grateful to me that I could see clearly.” “Why are you so sure? Why do you speak for me?” “Because I would have ye happy, Nora Forbes. ’Tis what God made you for. Look at me, a rover and a rough one, and never will I be anything else. I am not fit to be in your company at all. You have talked very plain to me, for a girl like yourself. You thought to yourself that I was afraid of your social station and your money and your friends, and so you would be telling me that I had a chance with you because I would not say it for meself. ’Tis wonderful to have you step down from your throne and be kind to the likes of me. And it will make your memory sweet and fair to me as long as the breath is in me. But you are dreaming dreams, and you will awake when the liner has carried ye back to your own people.” “But I can never again be happy there,” she faltered. “Ah, yes, you can, and you will. And you will thank me.” She stayed to hear no more, but turned and hastened back to her friends, angry, humiliated, unreconciled. The master of the _Fearless_ pulled his straw hat over his eyes and turned in the direction of his hilarious sailors. He hated himself, but he had no regrets. “I had sooner be shot,” he said to himself, “than to talk to her like that. But every word of it was true. And maybe she will find it out. ’Tis a strange, queer world, full of surprisin’ things, and ’tis hard to steer a course that will not fetch you on the rocks. But I held true to me compass bearings this night, and the light that guided me was the right one.” He mustered his men and held them ready for the boats from the liner. An hour later the defenders were welcomed on board the _Caronic_, which promptly sailed without consulting the Spanish cruiser. They were received as heroes and nothing was too good for them. But O’Shea refused to accept the first-cabin state-room offered him.