"Is it all ober, Mac?" cried the boy pitifully.
"Yes, Kashie, all over, boy, and we are alone. Come, boy, come."
The sun shot one blood-red glare across the world of waters, then sank, and all was gloom and night.
* * * * * *
Neither Magilvray nor Cassia-bud could ever explain how they found their way back to camp that evening, through the rocky glens and the darkling forest. Perhaps they were beholden entirely to the dog.
But they did reach the beach at long last. The fire had gone very low, and hardly knowing what he did the sailor made it up and sat down near it, while Cassia-bud threw himself moaning on the sands. Hurricane Bob, satisfied in his own mind that the boy was ill or in pain, lay down beside him, and gently licked his face and hands.
Dinner was not even once thought of—grief was all-absorbing.
After a time Cassia-bud probably slept, for he lay there very still and quiet. But Magilvray still sat in the same position, dazedly gazing at the flickering fire.
A bright moon, that had been high in the heavens when the sun went down, sank lower and lower, and at last disappeared behind the western waves, and the clear stars had the sky all to themselves.
Not a sound now was to be heard, save the moan of the breaking water on the reef, and occasionally the eeriesome cry of some belated sea-bird.