Howard swung his legs over the edge of the berth. “That’s fair,” he said. “Go ahead. I’ll follow.” Hastily, Jackson led the way up the slanting passage to the topsy-turvy stairway, and so to the deck. A single glance about him and he turned on the other in fury. “Curse you,” he roared, “you’ve drowned us both with your infernal palavering!” The decks were deserted; not a human being remained on them. Tossing on the waves, just visible in the glowing light, were two of the ship’s boats, crowded with passengers. The nearest was already a hundred yards away, and rapidly increasing its distance. The guard stared at it hungrily. “There goes our last chance!” he muttered. Howard eyed the tiny craft dispassionately. “Oh! I don’t know,” he said. “If that boat was your best chance, it was a slim one. Never mind, Jackson; take comfort from me. Nobody doomed to hang was ever drowned. I’ll send you home to your wife and babies yet--I suppose you have a wife and babies; people like you always do.” “Here! Don’t you take my wife’s name on your lips!” “Look! I thought so.” The boat, poised for an instant on the crest of a great wave, suddenly lunged forward, raced madly down a watery slope, and thrust its nose deep into an opposite swelling wave. It did not come up. Long did the two men on the steamer watch, but nothing, living or dead, appeared amid the heaving waves. At last Howard’s tense features relaxed. “Well,” he remarked, carelessly. “That’s a mark to my credit, anyhow. I’ve saved your life, Jackson. Please see that you do me no discredit in the ten minutes that you will retain it.” The other glared at him stupidly. “Susan didn’t want me to come,” he mumbled. “She said I’d never come back----” His voice died away into incoherent murmurs. Howard looked at the man, and his lip curled contemptuously. He said nothing, however, but turned in silence toward where the boat had sunk. The next instant he started and glanced swiftly around him. His eyes fell on a life-preserver lodged in the broken doorway by the last wave that had retreated from his feet. He snatched it up and buckled it round him; then fastened one end of a rope beneath his arms and thrust the other into the hands of the stupefied officer. “There! Wake up, man!” he ordered. “Wake up and stand by!” Jackson stared at him. “Where? What? How?” he mumbled. “Wake up, man! Don’t you see it’s a woman?” As he saw the returning intelligence dawn in Jackson’s eyes, Howard slipped to the toppling brink of the bulwarks and stood watching for the next heave of the sea. As it came, with a white rag sopping foolishly on its crest, he waved his hand to the other. “Give my love to Susan!” he cried, and plunged downward. Chaos! The sea into which he dived was without form and void. Like a grain of corn in a popper, he was tossed hither and thither, twisted, wrenched at--all sense of direction stripped from him.