.

THE HOSPITAL.
The hospital was nothing more nor less than a partitioned portion of the lower deck, filched from the space allotted to the soldiers.

It ran fore and aft, coming close to the stern windows, and was, in fact, a sort of artificial stern cabin.

At a pinch, it might have held a dozen men.
Though not so hot as in the prison, the atmosphere of the lower deck was close and unhealthy, and the girl, pausing to listen to the subdued hum of conversation coming from the soldiers' berths, turned strangely sick and giddy.

She drew herself up, however, and held out her hand to a man who came rapidly across the misshapen shadows, thrown by the sulkily swinging lantern, to meet her.