he lay there for a moment utterly helpless, more exhausted from the
nervous strain indeed, than the physical exertion. He had realized
fully the desperate nature of that passage, expecting every step to be
engulfed, and the reaction, the knowledge that they had actually
attained the shore safely, left him weak as a child, hardly able to
comprehend the fact. The girl was upon her feet first, alarmed and
solicitous, bending down to touch him with her hand.

"Sergeant, you are not hurt?" she questioned. "Tell me you are not
hurt?"

"Oh, no," dragging himself up the bank, yet panting as he endeavored to
speak cheerfully. "Only that was a rather hard pull, the last of it,
and I am short of breath. I shall be all right in a moment."

There was a sand-dune just beyond, and he seated himself and leaned
against it.

"I am beginning to breathe easier already," he explained. "Sit down
here, Miss McDonald. We are safe enough now in this darkness."

"You are all wet, soaking wet."

"That is nothing; the sand is warm yet from yesterday's sun, and my
clothes will dry fast enough. It is beginning to grow light in the
east."

The faces of both turned in that direction where appeared the first
twilight approach of dawn. Already were visible the dark lines of the
opposite shore, across the gleam of water, and beyond appeared the dim