As he finished dressing, and was again standing in utter darkness puzzling over his situation, he was nearly paralyzed by a blinding glare of light that suddenly streamed into the window nearest him.

It was accompanied by the hoarse roar of steam, a confusion of shoutings, and the loud clangor of bells.

Without a thought of the weather, Winn again flung open the door and rushed into the open air.

So intense and dazzling was the flood of yellow light, that he seemed to be gazing into the crater of an active volcano.

It flashed by as suddenly as it had appeared, and the terrified boy became aware that a big steamboat was slipping swiftly past the raft, but a few feet from it.