Sorenson and his wife followed her on deck after supper, the other three tarrying below.  There was no moon.  The breeze abaft the beam was a warm, steady pressure that coaxed a whispering of secrets from the sails, and sent the willing craft forward with her bow down to work, and a business-like list.  One Chinese was serving below.  The remaining two were squatted aft by the wheel.  Madame Sorenson took a chair on the cabin-deck, amidship.  Miss Mallory moved past her and forward.  The thought in her brain was:  If Sorenson follows me now, anything that should happen to him is his own fault.  She carried playfully a heavy cane, found in the cabin.  Sorenson embraced his own disaster in joining her.

“How enticing the water looks!” she observed.

“It does ’pon my word,” said the Russian.

Each noted that the foresail hid the face of Madame Sorenson, although her shoulders were expressive....  The look upon Sorenson’s flushed features held Miss Mallory true to her latest inspiration.

“You are a good swimmer?” she asked in a lowered tone, but carelessly.

“Ah, yes, there are many grand swimmers in my country among the coast men.”

“You must have been on shipboard a great deal, Mr. Sorenson....  One can always tell by the way one acts on a small craft.  Many are afraid at first of the low gunwales on a yacht like this.”

Miss Mallory felt the disgust of Madame Sorenson for them both; felt it was deserved.  “Ah, yes, Miss Mallory,” he declared, delighted with her and himself and the world.

He raised one foot to the railing, and his manner became all the more at home, as he lifted his cigar with a flourish.  “Like our host, I have sailed many seas and not a few with him,” he added.

He was standing close to the rail, directly over the forecastle.  Miss Mallory drew a step or two nearer, and announced, as if such a remark had never been thought of: 

“What a perfect little thing of her kind the Savonarola is!...  I believe she is staunch enough to go anywhere....  Just listen how tight and solid her planking is!”

She would have signaled that instant, but her approach had been Sorenson’s cue for a certain fond attention and endearment, which ended in a briny obfuscation....

It had been such a little push, too.  She tossed a lifering after him, saw him come up and catch his stroke—­as she tapped the deck with her stick—­the three doubles sharply....

And now a sunburst of small but striking events.  Madame Sorenson had not seen, but she launched a scream with the splash.  The Chinese, squatted aft, had not seen, but like good servants, with well-ordered minds, they rushed from the wheel to the davits, and proceeded to get a small boat into the water, a temperate thing to do with a man overboard.  Miss Mallory did not scream, so as to disturb anybody, but hurried aft, urging the Chinese.  “Both go!” she called.  “He’s such a big man!”