"A warship is one thing," he objected, "a merchant ship another. We should be poising our all on the intelligence of a look-out-man who would be scanning the water, not the land, or of a third officer who might not know the code international."
She sighed.
"So we wait," she said despondently.
"So we wait," he agreed. "But not for long." He was looking westward at the sky.
"You see something?" she said quickly. "What?"
"Wind clouds," he answered. "Cirrus. Fate may be making her preparations for to-night."
"To-night?" She repeated the word faintly, incredulously. "I wonder," she said slowly. "I wonder if, after all my yearning for action, I shall—be brave when it really comes to—to-night?"
He looked down at her.
"And I?" he said. "Have I as good a chance as you to show courage?"
"You?" she answered wonderingly. "You are a man."