"There came a 'smooth,' and the boat shot in"
They lay with sails shaking and a flare burning over the quarter, and listened for the sound of oars again, with the brig rolling and thrashing under them. They heard it at last, and a voice urging the rowers on; and soon a boat came out of the blackness of the night, reeling crazily over the seas.
Medbury stood on the rail, with the crew clustered behind him, as the boat swung in.
"Steady!" he sang out. "Steady there, or you'll swamp her! Hold off, and watch your chance!"
There came a "smooth," and the boat shot in, and a black little figure leaped upon a thwart, and, steadied by two men, was swung up over the rail and to the deck by Medbury almost before he realized that it was a woman.
As her feet struck the deck, she turned with a little laugh.
"Mon Dieu!" she cried, "eet iss betteh—dees." She watched the others coming over the rail, and, when all were safe, turned to Medbury with a little courtesy. "Eet iss ver' romanteec tow be safed from doze salt wateh by so nize young gentleman," she murmured, with a gleeful face. "Yo' happen tow be a mah'ied man, maybe?"
"No, ma'am," Medbury answered soberly.
She laughed in his face.
"Yo' sad faw das, maybe?" she asked mischievously.