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“Yes, Helen,” I said, as steadily as I could. “It’s time to get up. Come into the cabin as quickly as you can. I am not at all well.” And I left the little cabin, still like a man in a dream. Helen soon joined me. I asked her if she had slept well. She had. Had she heard no unusual noises in the night? No; she had not awakened once. So it was. Like a tired, healthy child, Helen had slept through all that awful tragedy. I shan’t attempt to try and tell of the task I had in making her comprehend our awful situation. She did not comprehend it. She wept bitterly when I told her of the three dead bodies on the deck. She moaned over my “poor, bruised head,” and with gentle hands bathed and bound it up. Then she said that she was hungry. We found the lockers in great confusion, but the crew had left food enough of one sort or another to satisfy our immediate needs. There was an awful task before us, and I explained it to Helen. We must consign those dead bodies to the sea. She shuddered at the thought, but, like an obedient child, tried to help me. How I managed to encase those silent forms in canvas I hardly know, but I did, and got them to the side of the ship. Then I got my prayer book and read the blessed burial service, while Helen looked on in troubled wonder. Then came the hardest task of all, but it was done, and the bodies, one after the other, fell with a great splash into the still sea. I had thought to bind heavy weights to the feet, and they sank at once, and Helen and I were left quite alone. I am writing this with great difficulty, for we are dying–dying of thirst. Why I write I do not know. There is no water on board. The sailors, after filling their casks from the great casks in the hold, left the water running. When we sought to draw there was not a drop left. There is a change coming over Helen. She sometimes looks at me strangely. She seems almost shy. I wonder what it is. Is memory coming back? Or has she learned that she is a woman and I a man? But she is not for me. There is John Bruce, and I vowed to take her safely to him, and I shall—-. Mother, good—-. I can’t write more. I see that the end is….

V.

The writing in the little water-soaked book became entirely illegible. Indeed, the last few lines were very indistinct, and showed the failing of mental and physical strength. I sat staring at the yellow page and then looked up at Judson. He was gazing intently at me.

“Well, go on; go on,” he said impatiently.

“That’s all,” said I.

He seized the book from my hands, and turned the leaves feverishly. “Yes, yes. That is all. Why man, we’re not much wiser than we were. We’ve got something, but we haven’t solved the mystery of the headless skeletons.”

“No, nor are we likely to,” said I.

“Not likely to? We must!” said Judson, in a sharp, strained voice. He seemed to be much excited. I looked at my watch.

“It’s Sunday morning,” said I, and luckily Sunday, I thought. Judson wouldn’t be good for much in a trial after such an evening as this. As for myself, I was tired and hungry, and I said so.

“So am I,” said Judson, dropping the excited air, but with an effort. “Sit still a moment.” He came back soon with a tray on which were cold meat, and bread and butter, and crackers, and Rochefort cheese, and a bottle of Macon Vieux.

“You evidently know what a hungry newspaper man wants in the middle of the night,” said I.

“I know what a hungry lawyer wants,” and he drew the cork.