"I'll tell you what," he said, "if you will forgive me I will try and
jump back. I once did nineteen feet three inches in--er--in a meadow,
but it makes such a difference when you look at a stretch of water the
same width."

"I wish you would not stand there talking nonsense. The tide will be
over the reef in half an hour," she cried.

Without another word he commenced operations. There was plenty of rope,
and the plan he adopted was simplicity itself. When each package was
securely fastened he attached it to a loop that passed over the line
stretched from the tree to the crowbar. To this loop he tied the
lightest rope he could find and threw the other end to Iris. By pulling
slightly she was able to land at her feet even the cumbrous
rifle-chest, for the traveling angle was so acute that the heavier the
article the more readily it sought the lower level.

They toiled in silence until Jenks could lay hands on nothing more of
value. Then, observing due care, he quickly passed the channel. For an
instant the girl gazed affrightedly at the sea until the sailor stood
at her side again.

"You see," he said, "you have scared every cuttle within miles." And he
thought that he would give many years of his life to be able to take
her in his arms and kiss away her anxiety.

But the tide had turned; in a few minutes the reef would be partly
submerged. To carry the case of rifles to the mainland was a manifestly
impossible feat, so Jenks now did that which, done earlier, would have