Once through the ragged doorway in the fence, he made his way more slowly, gasping. Out of the shelter of the trees, the wind tore at them and the ocean roared. Moonlight glistened, now on the spine of black wet rocks, now on the foaming surf. Jack realized that the girl in his arms was speaking rapidly, disjointedly, but he couldn't quite make out the sense of the words and then they were lost in the crash of the surf. She struggled, but he told himself that it was only because she was afraid of the menacing waters. He pushed recklessly into the breaking surf, raced gasping across the middle of the spine as the rocks uncovered, sprang to the higher ones as the next wave crashed behind, showering them with spray. His chest burning with exertion, he carried the girl the few remaining yards to where the _Annie O._ was tossing. A sudden great gust of wind almost did what the waves had failed to do, but he kept his footing and lowered the girl into the boat, then jumped in after. She stared at him wildly. "What's that?" He, too, had caught the faint shout. Looking back along the spine just as the Moon came clear again, he saw white spray rise and fall--and then the figure of Kesserich stumbling through it. "Mary, wait for me!" The figure was halfway across when it lurched, started forward again, then was jerked back as if something had caught its ankle. Out of the darkness, the next wave sent a line of white at it neck-high, crashed. Jack hesitated, but another great gust of wind tore at the half-raised sail, and it was all he could do to keep the sloop from capsizing and head her into the wind again. Mary was tugging at his shoulder. "You must help him," she was saying. "He's caught in the rocks." He heard a voice crying, screaming crazily above the surf: "Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world--" The sloop rocked. Jack had it finally headed into the wind. He looked around for Mary. She had jumped out and was hurrying back, scrambling across the rocks toward the dark, struggling figure that even as he watched was once more engulfed in the surf. Letting go the lines, Jack sprang toward the stern of the sloop. But just then another giant blow came, struck the sail like a great fist of air, and sent the boom slashing at the back of his head. His last recollection was being toppled out onto the rocks and wondering how he could cling to them while unconscious. VII The little cove was once again as quiet as time's heart. Once again the _Annie O._ was a sloop embedded in a mirror. Once again the rocks were warm underfoot. Jack Barr lifted his fiercely aching head and looked at the distant line of the mainland, as tiny and yet as clear as something viewed through the wrong end of a telescope. He was very tired. Searching the island, in his present shaky condition, had taken all the strength out of him.