'No, no. I had done my best by them. You know how the Tortoises lie. We were well within a furlong of them. I got there first, and was doffed and ready when they came, waiting to offer them fair. Rhoda, you will carry word of this that some fellows may go to take them off.' 'Not I,' she said vindictively; 'let them wear the night there for due quittance.' 'No. They might be perished. And 'twas I counselled them not to attempt the shore, and said I could send word of their plight; and I meant it honestly, though the fools grew so mad at that, that they took to stoning.' When, later, Rhoda heard the tale more fully, it showed elements of incongruous comedy; later still, she heard it grown into monstrous proportions, when the name of the Tortoises was put aside, and the place was known as the Devil's Rocks thenceforward. The Alien's feats that day, his mighty stroke staving the boat, his swimming of marvellous speed, his confidence and temerity, were not passed on to his credit: adverse was the interpretation, and he never lived it down. 'Tell me, Christian, where you will be, and how we are to get news of you till you dare return.' 'Dare return! If I be not dead, that will I to-morrow.' She cried out against such insanity. 'You must not. It is wicked with a foolhardy parade to torment us--your mother.' 'Have no fear, dear. If I come again, it will be with joy, bearing my sheaves.' She could put an interpretation on his words that loaded her heart. 'Rhoda, dear sister, I owe you much this day, and now I will ask for one thing more.' She said 'Yes,' though foreboding ordeal. It was a minute before he spoke. 'Will you pray for us?' Poor heart, how could she? Anything but that. 'What worth are the prayers of such an one as I? Desire rather your mother's prayers.' 'She for another cause will be praying the night through. Will you do as much for us?' He stopped her, for she did not speak, and held her by the shoulders, trying to see her face to get answered. 'O Rhoda, will you not pray for us?' She made her answer singular. 'I will pray for thee'; but his greater want overcame her into ending: 'and--for Diadyomene.' He stood stock-still and gripped her hard when that name came, but he asked nothing. 'I will, I will,' she whispered; and then he kissed her brow and said: 'God bless you.' She flung her arms round his neck without reserve; her cheek lay against his bare breast, and because she felt a cross there she dared to turn her lips and kiss. He gathered her to close embrace, so that swept from her feet she lay in his arms rapt for one precious instant from all the world. When he had set her on her feet, when he had blessed her many times, she clung to him still, heaving great sobs, till he had to pluck away her hands. 'Yes, go,' she said. 'I will pray for you both,' and down she knelt straightway. 'God be with you.' 'God be with you.'