And so they sat there in the deepening shadow,
whispering in faint low whispers, thrilling with a great rapture,
their lips meeting in long kisses. Why should he think of Lilian?
Never once had he touched _her_ mouth like this, had his arms closed
round her so, had he felt the sighing of her breath. As a pale white
rushlight burns in the sun, that love seemed now, compared with this
great sweet flame. He bowed his face over Helen's as she sat trembling
in his embrace, and neither of them remembered past or future in the
passion of the present; neither of them felt the yacht swing idly up
and down with scarcely a movement forward; neither of them heard the
listless flapping of the sails against the masts, or noticed that no
dew lay on the rail, or once looked up to see how black and close the
air had gathered round them, how deadly hot and sulphurous--till
suddenly, and as if by one accord, men were running and voices were
crying all about them. They sprang to their feet to hear the
sailing-master's shout as one beholds lightning fall out of a blue
sky: "See your halyards all clear for running."
"Ay, ay, sir!" came the ringing answer.
"Stand by your halyards and down-hauls."
"Ay, ay, sir!"
"Haul down the flying jib: take the bonnet off the jib, and put a reef
in her," came the strong swift sentences.
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