Such an idea had not occurred to Reynolds before, but as he thought it all over that night as he sat silent in the smoking-room, it did indeed seem most reasonable.  Why should he think any more about the girl? he mused.  He had been a fool for allowing his heart to run away with his head.  How could he for one instant imagine that such a girl would be left until now without many admiring suitors, with one successful over all the others?  And no doubt that one was Jack, whose name had fallen from the captain’s lips.

Although Reynolds felt that the girl was not for him, yet he could not banish her from his mind.  She had aroused him from the paralysis of indifference, for which he was most grateful.  He would make a desperate effort not to be again enmeshed in such a feeling.  He would throw himself ardently into the search for gold, and then turn his attention to Henry Redmond, and strive to solve the mystery surrounding the man.

After breakfast the next morning he went out on deck, and found the girl already there comfortably seated in a large steamer chair.  She had evidently been reading, but the book was now lying open upon her lap, and her hands were clasped behind her head.  Reynolds caught the gleam of a jewel on one of her fingers, and he wondered if it was an engagement ring she was wearing.  Her eyes were looking dreamily out across the water, away to a great fog-bank hanging and drifting over the face of the deep.  Reynolds, too, looked, and the sight held him spellbound.  The mass of fog slowly rose and rolled across the newly-bathed sun.  Then it began to dissolve, and dim forms of trees and islands made their appearance, growing more distinct moment by moment.  The scene fascinated him.  It was truly a fairy world upon which he was looking.

And as he looked, his eyes rested upon a dark speck just beneath the overhanging fog.  For a few minutes it made no impression upon his wandering mind.  But slowly he began to realize that the object was in motion, and moving toward the steamer.  Then he saw something dark being waved as if to attract attention.  He was all alert now, feeling sure that someone was hailing the steamer.  In a few minutes she would be past, when it would be too late to be of any assistance.

Turning almost instinctively toward the pilot-house, Reynolds’ eyes fell upon the captain, who was again talking to the girl.  Only for an instant did he hesitate, and then walking rapidly along the deck, he reached the captain’s side and touched him lightly upon the arm.

“Excuse me, sir,” he began, as the officer wheeled suddenly around.  “Someone seems to be signaling to you over there, just where that fog-bank is lifting,” and he pointed with his finger.

The captain and the girl both turned, and their eyes scanned the watery expanse.

“Can you see anything, Glen?” the captain asked.  “My eyes must be failing me.”