She flashed up at him the merest hair's-breadth of a glance, and with her hands pressed to her bosom, said softly, "I never could have forgiven you if you hadn't come."
He simply stooped over and took her unceremoniously in his arms, and it was several moments before she had breath and presence of mind to protest.
"Heavens!" she cried with mock terror. "Am I in the arms of a pirate? Jack, I never knew anything so shocking in my life! How could you do it?"
"I had to get across the Atlantic to you," he answered, as if that were an excuse all-sufficient.
And the sun shone down on the sea and on Vesuvius and on Vergil's tomb, and on that which is more enduring than all these,—the sweetness of young love.
Chapter Thirteen A BID FOR THE ODD TRICK
While the captain was looking with Katrine down on the Merle, as the yacht lay quietly at anchor in the harbor, a notable conversation was taking place on board. At no very early hour Tab had risen, tubbed with difficulty, and, with some aid, got into his clothes. His left arm was stiff and very sore, but beyond that he felt no discomfort. His magnificent physique, improved by the hardy life he had been leading, saved him from any consequences more serious; so that the archæologist, who was in capital spirits, rallied him on the prodigious appetite he displayed at breakfast.