That brought the fair head upwards very swiftly. The blue eyes with their
short black lashes looked straight up to his. "But--but--Captain
Larpent--"

"Oh, never mind Larpent! I'll square him." Saltash's look flashed over
the pale, tear-stained face. His hold, though close, no longer compelled.
"Leave it all to me! Don't you fret! I'll square Larpent. I'll square
everybody. You lie low till they put us ashore! After that--do you think
you can--trust me?"

He spoke with comically twisted eyebrows and a smile half-kindly and
half-quizzical. And the forlorn little creature in his arms turned with a
swooping, passionate movement, caught one of his hands and pressed it to
quivering lips.

"I'll live--or die--for your sake!" the trembling voice told him. "I'm
just--yours."

Saltash stopped abruptly and laid his face for a moment against the
shorn, golden head. Just for that moment a hint of emotion showed in his
strange eyes, but it was gone instantly.

He raised himself again with a grimace of self-ridicule. "Well, look
here! Don't forget to play the game! Larpent--your daddy--is knocked out,
remember. He is unconscious for the present, but the doctor chap seems to
think he'll be all right. A nasty suspicious person that doctor, so watch
out! And let me see! What is Toby short for? I'd better know."

"Antoinette," whispered the lips that still caressed his hand.