Bill Kisseck and the three men who were to go ashore on the west of the Castle Isle must now have landed. Christian was one of them. Within fifty yards five men lay in wait to capture them. See, the Ben-my-Chree was fetching away to leeward. She was doubling the island rock and coming into harbor. How awkwardly the man at the tiller was tacking. That was a ruse, lest he was watched. To Mona the suspense of the moment was terrible. The very silence was awful. She felt an impulse to scream.
What about Danny? Had he reached the Lockjaw?
He must have rowed like a man possessed, to be there already. The Ben-my-Chree would sweep into harbor at the next tack. Could Danny get up onto the pier in time to see the lamp on the pier go down?
Mona could see the black outline of the Lockjaw headland from where she was stationed. Her heart seemed to stand still. She turned her eyes first to the pier, then to the Lockjaw, and then to the cloud of black sail outside that grew larger every instant.
Look again—the fishing-boat is coming in; she is almost covering the lamp on the pier; she has swept it down; it is gone, and all is blank, palpable darkness. Mona covers her eyes with her hands.
Is Danny ready? Quick, quick, Danny; one minute lost and all is lost! No light yet on the Lockjaw.
Bravo! Mona's heart leaps to her mouth. There is a light on the Lockjaw Head! Thank God and poor dear Danny forever and ever.
And now, the lamp down, the gorse burning, the merchantman drawing nearer and nearer, what must
