“It’s all true,” she corroborated, with a catch in her voice. “Only yesterday Mr. Sprigg told me about it. He was wishing for a chance to explore the place, poor fellow. And now——” She broke off and turned to Howard. “Isn’t there any chance at all of our being picked up?” she asked.
Howard shook his head.
“None, I fear,” he answered, gently. “I am sorry, Miss Fairfax, more sorry than I can say; but I fear we shall be on this wreck or on another for weeks and months to come. So far as I can see now we can do nothing till we reach the central wreckage. There we may find a boat or the tools to build one—ours are far under water—or some other way to escape.”
“It will be desperately hard to wait; to drift deeper and deeper into this tangle day after day, hoping that things will change when they come to the worst; but it’s all we can do. Meanwhile we can thank God that we have food, drink, and comfortable shelter, and we are on our way to see what no one has ever seen before and returned to tell it. Let’s make the best of it.”
“The best of it!” Jackson’s face was flushed and his eyes distended. “The best of it!” he vociferated. “By Heaven, it’s well for you to yap! You’re all right here. You’re safe from the electric chair here. You can afford to wait and wait. But how about us? How about me? How about my wife and children?”
“It’s hard,” Howard assented. “It’s bitter hard, but——”
“Bah! You’re lying to us! You’re a sailor and can get us out of this, if you will. You don’t want to get out. You hope that you’ll get a chance to escape, but, by Heaven, you shan’t! I’ll kill you first! By God, I will!”
“It’s your duty to do so!” Howard spoke quietly, but a spot of red glowed on each cheek. “It is your duty to kill me rather than let me escape. But it is not your duty to insult me. I permit no man to do that, and I warn you not to repeat your offense.
“For the rest, Miss Fairfax, there is some reason in what this man says. The catastrophe which has brought death to so many, and suffering, both past and future, to you, has saved me. I am safe from the electric chair. Anywhere else in the wide world I would have to shrink from every casual glance; would have to lie in answer to every wanton question. But no extradition runs to the heart of the Sargasso Sea. So it might seem natural that I should wish to stay here. In so far, our excitable friend is right. But I give you my word of honor, not as a jailbird, but as the gentleman I once was, that I am even more anxious to get out of here than yourself. I have still a task to do in the world; my view is not entirely bounded by the electric chair. If any faintest chance offers for us to escape, be sure that I will seize it. But I am helpless until we reach the central wrecks and see what aid they have to offer. Then I will do what a man may.”
“I do not promise to go on to New York with Jackson, but I do promise to get you and him safely out of this place, if it is within my power to do so—and I believe it will be. Say that you believe me.”