Mona at first was so faint and weary from her exertions that she did not pay much attention to her surroundings. She lay with her eyes closed for a while, but finally the air made her feel better, and she began to look about her.
An expression of wonder and anxiety instantly overspread her white face.
Where were the banks of the river, so green and bright, which had made the southward trip so delightful?
The sun was shining brightly, for the storm had passed and the sky was cloudless, but, looking in every direction, she could discern no land—all about her was but a wide waste of deep blue water.
"Why!" she cried, "I should think we were out at sea!"
She looked greatly disturbed, but just at that moment she saw Louis Hamblin coming toward her, and she noticed that he also looked somewhat pale, as if he, too, had been suffering from sea-sickness.
"You are really better," he smilingly observed as he reached her side; "you have had a severe siege as well as I."
"Then you have been sick?" Mona observed, but turning away from the intense look which he bent upon her.
"Indeed, I have. I have but just ventured out of my berth," he returned, shrugging his shoulders over painful memories.
"How is Mrs. Montague? I have not seen her since we left New Orleans,"
Mona inquired.