"O!" cries she, "'Tis joy to be alive, to breathe such air, and behold such a glory of sea and sky! Look around us, Martin, and give thanks!" And truly the sea was smooth enough save for a long, rolling swell out of the East, and with a soft and gentle wind to abate the sun's generous heat. "Are you not glad to be alive, Martin?" says she.

"To what end?" I answered. "Of what avail is life to me cast away on a desolate island."

"Desolate?" says she, starting. "Do you mean we shall be alone?"

"Aye, I do."

"But surely," says she with troubled look, "surely Master Adam will fetch us away?"

"There is a chance!"

"And—if not?"

"God knoweth!" says I gloomily, "'Tis a small island as I learn, little known and out of the track of vessels."

"Yet a ship may come thither to our relief?"

"And if one doth not?"