belong to the same gang."

"I suspected that!"

"You did, eh? Did you suspect that I was in the plot to obtain
possession of your pearls?"

"I did not suspect it; I was sure of it, which is why I have carried
my loaded revolver with me."

"That wouldn't have defeated the plan we had laid, for when
twenty-three odd savages, with their spears, war-clubs and a few
muskets, had stolen up to the island in the darkness, and crept
silently into your cabin, what good would your guns and revolvers have
done you?"

"Was that the plan?"

"That was it precisely. By some means or other, which I never could
understand, rumors reached Wauparmur, months ago, that two men and a
child were on an island to the south of us, and that they had an
immense lot of the most valuable pearls. I cannot comprehend how it
was the natives gained such knowledge, for it must have had some basis
of truth, inasmuch as it proved to be true."

"There was a proa which passed close to the island while we were
opening the pearl-oysters," said Storms. "We all saw it."

"The rumor came from them, then," continued Sanders, "and a party was
formed to go down there, and find out whether it was true, and, in
case it was, the white men were to be overcome by treachery, and their
possessions in the shape of pearls taken. Since there is no more
desperate and wicked member of the gang than am I, of course I was one
of the first chosen.

"We started in two boats, and, as we went along, I could see
difficulties in the way which never occurred to them. It was not
likely you carried the pearls about with you, as a person wears his
jewelry; but most likely they were buried, so that if we came down
upon you and made an overwhelming attack, as was first intended, we
might put you all to death, and then be unable to find where you had
hidden your treasures. Besides that, I saw that it was more than
probable you had firearms, with which you could successfully hold out
against a large force, and it would prove no easy thing to subdue
you."

"You were correct in both your surmises," said Storms. "We were always
prepared to make a fight, and, with our guns against your spears, we
would have beaten you off. The pearls, too, were carefully concealed
where you never would have found them."

"I was well convinced of that, so we resorted to strategy. I was to go
with a couple of the men and bring you away, trying all the time if I
could to secure the pearls, which, of co