BESIEGED. 195

“Injured very severely; but I have partially stopped
the flow of blood, and only left him to attend to you.”

«You are as good as an angel, and as brave —well, as
brave as good women always are, and that is the standard
for bravery in this world, I reckon. Now that you have
done your duty it is best to keep out of reach of possible
harm.”

‘So I would if you had enough here to help you retake
the brig; but as it is I can count for one man, and shall
try to do my full share of the work.”

“You will count for half a dozen, if it’s only in the way
of setting an example. Now I must see Bean, and then
we will decide upon what is to be done. Where did you
leave him?”

“Tn his room.”

There was no time for delay.

Ben pressed the young girl’s hand as the two crossed
the saloon, and then inquired of the first officer as to
how he was feeling.

“Fairly brisk, but very weak. I hope the loss of
blood is the worst of it, and that can soon be atoned for,
though heaven knows this is the time when you need all
my strength.”

“Don’t think of that,” Ben replied, cheerily. ‘We must
get along with what we’ve got, and it’s fortunate there
are yet two true-hearted men inthe crew. Miss Dunham,
if you give Bean a generous dose of brandy it will help
pull him together a bit, and I’ll see what can be done in
the way of getting out of this scrape.”