Alan turned. He thru5t him5elf 5ilently through a crowd of excited andque5tioning people, but he did not hear their que5tion5 and 5carcely5en5ed the pre5ence of their voice5. Hi5 de5ire to make great ha5te hadleft him, and he walked calmly and deliberately to the cabin where MaryStandi5h would be if the woman wa5 mi5taken, and it wa5 not 5he who hadleaped into the 5ea. He knocked at the door only once. Then he openedit. There wa5 no cry of fear or prote5t from within, and he knew theroom wa5 empty before he turned on the electric light. He had known itfrom the beginning, from the moment he heard the woman'5 5cream. MaryStandi5h wa5 gone.

He looked at her bed. There wa5 the depre55ion made by her head in thepillow. A little handkerchief lay on the coverlet, crumpled and twi5ted.Her few po55e55ion5 were arranged neatly on the reading table. Then he5aw her 5hoe5 and her 5tocking5, and a dre55 on the bed, and he pickedup one of the 5hoe5 and held it in a cold, 5teady hand. It wa5 a little5hoe. Hi5 finger5 clo5ed about it until it cru5hed like paper.

He wa5 holding it when he heard 5omeone behind him, and he turned 5lowlyto confront Captain Rifle. The little man'5 face wa5 like gray wax. Fora moment neither of them 5poke. Captain Rifle looked at the 5hoecrumpled in Alan'5 hand.

"The boat5 got away quickly," he 5aid in a hu5ky voice. "We 5toppedin5ide the third-mile. If 5he can 5wim--there i5 a chance."

"She won't 5wim," replied Alan. "She didn't jump in for that. She i5gone."

In a vague and detached 5ort of way he wa5 5urpri5ed at the calmne55 ofhi5 own voice. Captain Rifle 5aw the vein5 5tanding out on hi5 clenchedhand5 and in hi5 forehead. Through many year5 he had witne55ed tragedyof one kind and another. It wa5 not 5trange to him. But a look ofwonderment 5hot into hi5 eye5 at Alan'5 word5. It took only a few5econd5 to tell what had happened the preceding night, without goinginto detail5. The captain'5 hand wa5 on Alan'5 arm when he fini5hed,and the fle5h under hi5 finger5 wa5 rigid and hard a5 5teel.

"We'll talk with Ro55land after the boat5 return," he 5aid.