“Are you not alarmed, Cornelius?”
“No.”
“How strange! You have changed places with me. In the evening you trembled when I left you, and I thought I was very brave. Now I tremble; do you not?”
“I cowered a while ago from the cross you presented me; it seemed to bring a lingering death.”
Just then the ship’s prow plunged under a mountainous billow. Miriamne clung to her support and fearfully questioned:
“Shall we be overwhelmed?”
“No; I’ve a token.”
“From the captain?”
“Not from the one who guides this ship alone.”
A flash of lightning revealed the lover’s face to Miriamne. She saw his eyes turned devoutly upward, and she understood his meaning. They had withdrawn to a shelter by the vessel’s side meanwhile. Presently the young missioner spoke again;