Had there been good news he would have given a sailors' hurrah at sight
of them, and bounded on, waving his cap in welcome. But, still in dead
silence, he turned into the little broken gate, and walked up the path
to the door.

Sara, quite white now, and leaning for support against the jamb, kept
her piercing eyes on his face, though his would not meet their gaze;
while Morton rolled great frightened orbs from one to the other, as from
within came unconscious Molly's gleeful babble, and the baby's sweet
little trills of laughter.

"Jasper!" gasped Sara in desperation, "why--why don't you speak?"

He looked up, and made a hopeless gesture with his hands.

"Don't, Sairay," he said huskily, "don't give way, but--but I've bad
news."

A great trembling now shook her limbs, and she lifted her hands as if to
ward off a blow, but her agonized eyes seemed dragging the words out of
him.

"Your father, Sairay, he's--he's--the Nautilus went to pieces, like the
tub she wor, and he's"--

"_Drowned!_" screamed Morton, putting his hands to his ears.

"Who's drowned?" cried Molly, running to them. "Why, Jap, that you?
Where's pa?"