“Is—is he as wonderful as he seems?”

“Captain Brack is a remarkable man,” I replied.

“I thought he was wonderful when he was speaking,” she said falteringly. “But when he was gone I—it seemed different.”

“How different?”

“I don’t know just. I loved to listen while he was talking. But after he’d gone I felt relieved. It frightened me a little. That’s why I came out. What do you know about him?”

I was at loss for a reply. To tell her what I knew of Brack, of my first sight of him in the Seattle saloon, of what I had learned aboard the Wanderer, would serve to alarm her in an uncomfortable manner.

“Chanler selected him as his captain,” I said.

She gave an impatient toss to her shoulders as we walked on.

“Oh, that doesn’t mean anything. What sort of a man is he?”

“Very strong.”