"I know just how good you have been to me," she
cried. "I should like to tell you why I came aboard--like that. But I
can not. Look! Look at those wonderful mountains!" With one free hand
she pointed.
"Behind them and beyond them lie the romance and adventure and mystery
of centuries, and for nearly thirty years you have been very near those
things, Captain Rifle. No man will ever see again what you have seen or
feel what you have felt, or forget what you have had to forget. I know
it. And after all that, can't you--won't you--forget the strange manner
in which I came aboard this ship? It is such a simple, little thing to
put out of your mind, so trivial, so unimportant when you look
back--and think. Please Captain Rifle--please!"
So quickly that he scarcely sensed the happening of it she pressed his
hand to her lips. Their warm thrill came and went in an instant, leaving
him speechless, his resolution gone.
"I love you because you have been so good to me," she whispered, and as
suddenly as she had kissed his hand, she was gone, leaving him alone
at the rail.
CHAPTER II
Alan Holt saw the slim figure of the girl silhouetted against the vivid
light of the open doorway of the upper-deck salon. He was not watching
her, nor did he look closely at the exceedingly attractive picture which
she made as she paused there for an instant after leaving Captain Rifle.
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