“I have marked a change in her manner lately, as though she had just awakened to the difficulties before her. Shall we ask her to go back?”
“She is very proud, and if we did so she would be deeply humiliated—”
“Well, Frank?”
“I could not bear to lose her.”
“Nor could I.”
They remained for some time silent, looking at the starry heavens, when Hume spoke again.
“We are friends, you and I. When she is with us day by day in the lonely veld we may both of us grow to love her, and how, then, will our friendship bear the strain of rivalry?”
Webster leant forward with a sigh.
“It is best to face the danger,” said Hume, in a low voice.
“I love her already, my lad;” and the sailor threw his head up, with a deep flush in his cheeks. “How could I help it?”