“Captain Dampier,” she said, “had you any expectation of finding those three men when you sailed the second time?”
“No,” acknowledged the bronzed sailor, with an impressive calmness, “I hadn’t any, and I don’t think Wyllard had either. Still, he meant to make quite certain. He felt he had to.”
The skipper gazed at Agatha, and saw comprehension in her eyes.
“Yes,” she observed with an unsteady voice, “and when you have said that, you could say very little more of any man.”
She turned her head away from them, and for a few moments there was a heavy silence in the room. It cost the girl a painful effort to sit still, apparently unmoved, but there was strength in her, and she would not betray her distress. She felt that her grief must be endured bravely. It was almost overwhelming, but there was mingled with it a faint consolatory thrill of pride, for it was clear that the man who had loved her had done a splendid thing. He had given all that had been given him—she knew she would never forget that phrase of his—willingly, and it seemed to her that the traits with which he had been endowed were rare and precious ones. She recognized the steadfast, unflinching courage, and the fine sense of honor which had sent him out on that forlorn hope. Unyielding and undismayed he had gone down to death—she felt sure of that—amid the blinding snow.
Mrs. Hastings set food before Dampier. By and by Sproatly and Winifred arrived and they heard the story. After that Dampier, who had promised to stay with them a day or two, left Wyllard’s friends for an hour.
“It seems to me you’ll naturally want to talk over things,” he said; “if you’ll excuse me, I’ll take a stroll across the prairie.”
He went out, and Hastings looked at each member of the little group with hasty scrutiny.
“Harry’s friends are numerous, but we’re, perhaps, the nearest, and, as Dampier said, we have to consider things,” he observed, speaking with deliberation. “To begin with, there’s a certain possibility that he has escaped, after all.”
He saw the quick movement that Agatha made, and went on more quickly.