Rokoff had visited Jane Clayton but once since he had locked her
in the tiny cabin. He had come gaunt and hollow-eyed from a long
siege of sea-sickness. The object of his visit was to obtain from
her her personal cheque for a large sum in return for a guarantee
of her personal safety and return to England.

"When you set me down safely in any civilized port, together with
my son and my husband," she replied, "I will pay you in gold twice
the amount you ask; but until then you shall not have a cent, nor
the promise of a cent under any other conditions."

"You will give me the cheque I ask," he replied with a snarl, "or
neither you nor your child nor your husband will ever again set
foot within any port, civilized or otherwise."

"I would not trust you," she replied. "What guarantee have I that
you would not take my money and then do as you pleased with me and
mine regardless of your promise?"

"I think you will do as I bid," he said, turning to leave the
cabin. "Remember that I have your son--if you chance to hear the
agonized wail of a tortured child it may console you to reflect
that it is because of your stubbornness that the baby suffers--and
that it is your baby."

"You would not do it!" cried the girl. "You would not--could not
be so fiendishly cruel!"

"It is not I that am cruel, but you," he returned, "for you permit
a paltry sum of money to stand between your baby and immunity from