"I can manage quite well," she said with an odd petulance. "Please look after that unfortunate Mr. Watts. I am not surprised that he should have been frightened by the rats. They terrified me, too. Oh, how awful they were—in the dark—when their eyes shone!"
Her mind had traveled back to the two nights and a day passed in the lazaretto. She sobbed bitterly, and stumbled over a steep ledge. She would have fallen were it not for Philip's help.
"Watts is all right," he soothed her. "Two of the men are seeing to him. And the rats are all gone now. There are none here!"
"Are you sure?"
"Quite sure."
"What became of them?"
"They are all—we left them behind on the ship."
Suddenly she clung to him.
"Don't let them send me back to the ship," she implored.
"No, no. You are safe now."