Nor had he ever considered marriage as possible in any case when there was not love on both sides.  Although he commiserated Sheila Macklin’s situation most deeply, he could not dream of those depths of despair into which the girl’s heart had sunk before he came upon the scene of action.  He did not understand that she was at that bitterly desperate point where she would grasp at any means of rescue which promised respectability.

He almost feared to put before her the proposition he did have in his mind.  In the dusk, even, those violet eyes seemed to look to the very bottom of his soul.  Fortunate for him that its clarity was visible to the girl at that moment.

He bent closer.  His lips almost brushed her ear.  He whispered several swift sentences into it.  She listened.  Some of that glow of exaltation drained out of her countenance, but it registered no disagreement.  They sat for some time thereafter, talking, planning, this desperate young girl and the captain of the Seamew.

* * * * *

“What do you know about this?” Orion Latham growled.  “The mate bunkin’ in with cooky and the skipper slingin’ a hammock in the fo’c’s’le while the whole cabin’s to be given up to a girl.  A woman aboard!  Never knew no good to come of that on any craft.  What is this schooner, a passenger packet?”

“You was sayin’ she was already hoodooed,” chuckled Horace Newbegin.  “I cal’late a gal sailing one trip won’t materially harm the Seamew nor her crew.”

“Who is she?  That’s what I want to know,” said the supercargo, who seemed to consider the matter a personal affront.

“Skipper says she’s going to live with Cap’n Ira Ball.  She’s some kin of his wife’s.  And they need somebody with ’em, up there in that lonesome place,” said the ancient seaman reflectively.  “That’s what the skipper was doin’ all day yesterday, lookin’ this gal up and making arrangements for her going back to the Seamew.  He’s gone up town to get her now.  We’ll get away come the turn of the tide, if he’s back in time.”

The taxicab with Tunis and the girl arrived in season for the tide.  It was quite dark on the dock to which the Seamew was still moored.  The Captain hailed, and two of the hands were sent up for the trunk.  Tunis carried the girl’s hand bag.

Every member of the crew was loitering on deck, even Johnny Lark and Tony, the boy, to get a glimpse of the mysterious passenger.  They saw only a slender, graceful, quick-stepping figure, her face veiled, her hands neatly gloved.  Just how she was dressed and what she really looked like only daylight would reveal.

Tunis went below with her and remained until the men brought down the trunk.  It was a small trunk and brand-new, as was the bag.  Had one observed, the hat she wore, and even her simple frock, were likewise just out of the shop.  At least the girl who was going with the Seamew to Big Wreck Cove seemed to have made certain preparations for a new life.