? ? ? ? 'I shall not take any risks,' I said. 'I'll merely peep over the bow and see.' She pressed my hand earnestly and let me go. But the space on deck where I had left him lying was vacant. He had evidently gone below. That night we stood alternate watches, one of us sleeping at a time; for there was no telling what Wolf Larsen might do.
? ? ? ? The next day we waited, and the next, and still he made no sign.
? ? ? ? 'These headaches of his, these attacks-' Maude said, on the afternoon of the fourth day. 'Perhaps he is ill, very ill. He may be dead.'
? ? ? ? 'Or dying,' was her afterthought, when she had waited some time for me to speak.
? ? ? ? 'Better so,' I answered.
? ? ? ? 'But think, Humphrey- a fellow creature in his last lonely hour!'
? ? ? ? 'Perhaps,' I suggested.
? ? ? ? 'Yes, even perhaps,' she acknowledged. 'But we do not know. It would be terrible if he were. I could never forgive myself.
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