The assurance with which he spoke struck her very forcibly; but something held her back from questioning the grounds of his confidence.
"How did you get here?" she asked him instead.
"I saw you from the corner of the bay," he said. "It was before you left your rock. I climbed round the point over the boulders. I thought at the time that there must be some way up the cliff. Then I saw you start running, and I knew you were cut off. I yelled to you, but I couldn't make you hear. So I had to give chase."
His arm tightened a little about her.
"I am sorry you were scared," he said. "Are you feeling better now?"
She could not understand him. He spoke with such entire absence of anxiety. In spite of herself her own fears began to subside.
"Yes, I am better," she said. "But—tell me more. Why didn't you go back when you saw what had happened?"
"I couldn't," he said simply. "Besides, even if they launched the lifeboat, the chances were dead against their reaching you. I thought of a rope, too. But that seemed equally risky. It was a choice of odds. I chose what looked the easiest."
"And carried me here?" she said.
The light, shining weirdly in upon his face, showed her that he was smiling.