the Gate, the whitening bar, and the open sea.

She knew now what it all meant. This was what she had come for; this
was the end! Beyond, only a little beyond, just a few moments longer to
wait, and then, out there among the breakers was the rest that she had
longed for but had not dared to seek. It was not her fault; they could
not blame HER. He would come back and never know what had happened--nor
even know how she had tried to atone for her deceit. And he would find
his house in possession of--of--those devils! No! No! she must not die
yet, at least not until she had warned the Fort. She seized the oars
again with frenzied strength; the boat had stopped under the unwonted
strain, staggered, tried to rise in an uplifted sea, took part of it
over her bow, struck down Mrs. Bunker under half a ton of blue water
that wrested the oars from her paralyzed hands like playthings, swept
them over the gunwale, and left her lying senseless in the bottom of the
boat.

*****

"Hold har-rd--or you'll run her down."

"Now then, Riley,--look alive,--is it slapin' ye are!"

"Hold yer jaw, Flanigan, and stand ready with the boat-hook. Now then,
hold har-rd!"

The sudden jarring and tilting of the water-logged boat, a sound of
rasping timbers, the swarming of men in shirtsleeves and blue trousers
around her, seemed to rouse her momentarily, but she again fainted away.