Page:Arthur Stringer - Gun Runner.djvu/249

 "No; he did not see me. It was so hot below—I had been sitting on deck for an hour."

"You must go below!"

"But this means so much—to-night. I should be here, with you!"

The calm impersonality of her declaration seemed to clear the air like a thunder-clap. McKinnon knew but one moment of wavering.

"I'd rather you went below," he found himself saying, at the very moment that he felt most grateful for her presence there.

"Why?" she asked.

"There is going to be trouble here," he warned her. "You must go!"

"I couldn't, now," she answered, very simply. "And we are wasting time in talk when every moment is precious. What did you pick up by wireless?"

"I had the Princeton, at Torreblanca."

"The Princeton! Then we are wasting time—we're getting farther and farther away from her every minute."

"No, that's impossible if she's actually at Torreblanca. We're drawing a little closer to her, if anything. The danger is that the wireless-operator will leave his instrument before I can call again. And I've got to have power from the engine-room."