Luck and valiant Captain Kissed-by-Margaret were embarked on
the voyage perilous. His left arm over and about the log, his
legs kicking lustily like the legs of a frog, his right hand
paddling desperately for stability, Aladdin disappeared into
the fog. After a few minutes he became so freezing cold that
he would have let go and drowned gladly if it had not been for
the wonderful lamp which had been lighted in his heart.

Margaret, when she saw him borne from her by the irresistible
current, cried out with all the illogic of her womanly little
soul, "Come back, 'Laddin, come back!" and sank sobbing upon
the empty shore.




IV


However imminent the peril of the man, it is the better part
of chivalry to remain by the distressed lady, and though
impotent to be of assistance, we must linger near Margaret,
and watch her gradually rise from prone sobbing to a sitting
attitude of tears. For a long time she sat crying on the
empty shore, regarding for the most part black life and not at
all the signs of cheerful change which were becoming evident
in the atmosphere about her. The cold breath across her face
and hands and needling through her shivering body, the
increasing sounds of treetops in commotion, the recurring
appearance of branches where before had been only an opaque