electric light. But he did not press it when he found it. Something made
him change his mind. The faint light of stars upon rippling water came
to him through the open porthole, and he shut himself in and stepped
forward to the couch beneath it to look forth.

But as he moved, another influence caught him, and he stopped short.

"Is anyone here?" he said.

Through the wash of the water he thought he heard a light movement, and
he felt a presence as of some small animal in the space before him.

Swiftly he stepped back and in a moment his hand was on the switch. The
light flashed on, and in a moment he stood staring--at a fair-haired,
white-faced lad in a brown livery with brass buttons who stood staring
back at him with wide, scared eyes.




CHAPTER III

THE GIFT


Saltash was the first to recover himself; he was seldom disconcerted,
never for long.

"Hullo!" he said, with a quizzical twist of the eyebrows. "You, is it?
And what have you come for?"