"Frightened yet, dearest?" he asked tenderly.
I laughed. There was no fear in my heart. If only he had known.
"No! I am not afraid! I am happy!"
He looked at me, wondering. Well he might!
"How your eyes are gleaming, love! After all, I don't think that we need a lantern!"
"A lantern! What use would it have been to us?"
"To warn anything off from running us down. If the sail holds till morning, and I think it will, we shall be all right if we escape collisions."
"Is that what you are fearing?" I asked.
"Yes. I fancy that we must be getting in the track of the coal steamers. If only the moon would rise! This darkness is our greatest danger! Even if they had a smart lookout man, I am afraid that they would never see us."
He turned round again, and remained gazing with fixed eyes into the darkness. Then I held my breath, and stooping forward, with the penknife in my hand, commenced steadily sawing at the bottom knot which bound the sail to the mast. Directly it parted I cut a great slit in the sail itself.