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The dog made no resistance, but allowed himself to be stowed in the middle of the cloth, which was tied up bundle-wise, the end of the sheet-rope was attached, a signal made, and the animal drawn up and in at the cabin-window without his uttering a sound. A minute more and the rope came down. "Can you bear it round you, my lad?" whispered Gregory to Morgan.
As it happened, a gleam of sunshine tried about half-an-hour after just as I was growing terribly sick of my companion's patronising ways to get in at the little cabin-window, and failed; but it gave notice that the weather was lifting, and I was glad to go on deck, where the planks soon began to show white patches as the sailors began to use their swabs; but the bustle and confusion was worse than ever.
"Take your place. Now, my lads, oars, and give way." There was another shot from the deck, and one of the men uttered an exclamation as the blades were thrust over the side, dipped, and seemed to lift golden water at every stroke. "Good-bye, and God bless you!" came from the cabin-window, and directly after the same words were spoken by Miss Denning, and I heard Mr Frewen utter a groan.
"Well, I should be greatly surprised if it did," he said with a smile. "But we'll be on the safe side. As soon as we mount on deck through the cabin-window, the boat shall be backed out of the way of danger, and our first task shall be to cut loose a couple of the life-buoys. Then, if the ship drags us down, we shall be sure to rise again and float."
She put her hand into her pocket and pulled out a broken morocco case. "Look here. This tells the whole of the story, almost," holding it where the light from the cabin-window fell on it. It was the daguerreotype of a woman: one of those faces that grow out of a torpid, cunning, sensual life; apparently marked, too, by some strange disease, the skin white, and hanging loose from the flesh.
Now humanity must be heard." The captain then spoke a few words to Mr Gregory, and the question of how the boat was to be brought from where she was secured exactly under the cabin-window was discussed and settled by Mark volunteering to go down. "You lower me into the water with a rope," he said, "and I'll soon swim to her and get in."
Still, the knots helped him, the distance was short, and, after a little exertion, he felt a couple of strong hands passed under his arms, when, after a bit of scuffling and plenty of hoist, he felt himself half-lifted in at the cabin-window, and the next instant clasped in a pair of softly-clinging arms. "My poor boy!" whispered Mrs Strong. "Hist! don't speak!
"Let down to the cabin-window," I whispered, full of excitement, for the packet was heavy, and I had my suspicions as to what it contained. I had my knife still in my hand, and my fingers itched to cut the yarn and open the parcel; but I thrust it beneath the blanket on the cot, and went to the cabin-door to listen.
Ask him to climb up and talk the matter over with me, as to what we shall do." "Pst!" came from the cabin-window, and directly after Mr Gregory climbed in. "I could not wait," he said, "and I found the rope would bear me. Now, Strong, how do matters stand?" The captain explained the position. "And the men down below deck?"
I felt myself saved the confrontation of the woman at Mazatlan; but I knew she would pursue me to San Francisco. "The strange dispensation of Providence that brought us into this unknown port gave me another hope of escape and oblivion. While you and the Commander were boarding the Excelsior, I slipped from the cabin-window into the water; I was a good swimmer, and reached the shore in safety.
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