Beatrice | Page 7

allow, and that was very wide, she heard the report of a
gun behind her to the right. Arguing to herself that some wild-fowler
on the water must have fired it who would be able to direct her, she
turned the canoe round and paddled swiftly in the direction whence the
sound came. Presently she heard the gun again; both barrels were fired,
in there to the right, but some way off. She paddled on vigorously, but
now no more shots came to guide her, therefore for a while her search
was fruitless. At last, however, she saw something looming through the
mist ahead; it was the Red Rocks, though she did not know it, and she
drew near with caution till Geoffrey's shout broke upon her ears.
She picked up the dead bird and paddled towards the dim figure who
was evidently wrestling with something, she could not see what.
"Here is the curlew, sir," she said.
"Oh, thank you," answered the figure on the rock. "I am infinitely
obliged to you. I was just going to swim for it, I can't bear losing my
game. It seems so cruel to shoot birds for nothing."
"I dare say that you will not make much use of it now that you have got
it," said the gentle voice in the canoe. "Curlew are not very good
eating."
"That is scarcely the point," replied the Crusoe on the rock. "The point
is to bring them home. /Après cela----/"

"The birdstuffer?" said the voice.
"No," answered Crusoe, "the cook----"
A laugh came back from the canoe--and then a question.
"Pray, Mr. Bingham, can you tell me where I am? I have quite lost my
reckoning in the mist."
He started. How did this mysterious young lady in a boat know his
name?
"You are at the Red Rocks; there is the bell, that grey thing, Miss--
Miss----"
"Beatrice Granger," she put in hastily. "My father is the clergyman of
Bryngelly. I saw you when you and Lady Honoria Bingham looked into
the school yesterday. I teach in the school." She did not tell him,
however, that his face had interested her so much that she had asked his
name.
Again he started. He had heard of this young lady. Somebody had told
him that she was the prettiest girl in Wales, and the cleverest, but that
her father was not a gentleman.
"Oh," he said, taking off his hat in the direction of the canoe. "Isn't it a
little risky, Miss Granger, for you to be canoeing alone in this mist?"
"Yes," she answered frankly, "but I am used to it; I go out canoeing in
all possible weathers. It is my amusement, and after all the risk does
not matter much," she added, more to herself than to him.
While he was wondering what she meant by that dark saying, she went
on quickly:
"Do you know, Mr. Bingham, I think that you are in more danger than I
am. It must be getting near seven o'clock, and the tide is high at a
quarter to eight. Unless I am mistaken there is by now nearly half a
mile of deep water between you and the shore."
"My word!" he said. "I forgot all about the tide. What between the
shooting and looking for that curlew, and the mist, it never occurred to
me that it was getting late. I suppose I must swim for it, that is all."
"No, no," she answered earnestly, "it is very dangerous swimming here;
the place is full of sharp rocks, and there is a tremendous current."
"Well, then, what is to be done? Will your canoe carry two? If so,
perhaps you would kindly put me ashore?"
"Yes," she said, "it is a double canoe. But I dare not take you ashore
here; there are too many rocks, and it is impossible to see the ripple on

them in this mist. We should sink the canoe. No, you must get in and I
must paddle you home to Bryngelly, that's all. Now that I know where I
am I think that I can find the way."
"Really," he said, "you are very good."
"Not at all," she answered, "you see I must go myself anyhow, so I
shall be glad of your help. It is nearly five miles by water, you know,
and not a pleasant night."
There was truth in this. Geoffrey was perfectly prepared to risk a swim
to the shore on his own account, but he did not at all like the idea of
leaving this young lady to find her own way back to Bryngelly through
the mist and gathering darkness, and in that frail canoe. He would not
have liked it if she had been a man, for he knew that