lk as did the captain and mate of the
schooner _Coral_, the conclusion is inevitable. The decision was made
to go on to the Paumotu Islands, after which the voyage would be made
to Japan, and, alas! that it was so.

CHAPTER IX

GROPING IN THE DARK

Life on board the schooner _Coral_, bound for the South Seas, now
became like one delightful dream.

The sails, fanned by the steady trade-wind, hardly ever required
attention, since the course of the craft never varied more than a few
points for days at a time, and whoever it was at the wheel, he might
as well have lashed it fast and gone to sleep, for all the necessity
there was of keeping awake.

There had been some elemental disturbances which required seamanship
to weather, but nothing like that usually encountered in the Atlantic.
But there came a long spell of weather, faultless in every respect,
and whose only drawback was the dread that each day would be the last
of such delight. The sun rose clear and bright, and at high noon, as
they approached the equator, it was sometimes hot, but the breeze
which continually swept the deck tempered it to the crew and
passenger. Had they been caught in a calm the heat would have been
suffocating; but Providence favored them, and they sped along like a
seagull toward their destination. There seemed to be times when the
green surface of the sea was at perfect rest; but the regular rising
and sinking of the _Coral_ showed that the bosom of the great deep was
heaving as it always does, though the long swells came only at
extended intervals.

The water was of crystalline clearness, and, looking over the gunwale,
one could see far into the depths, where strange-looking fish were
sporting, sometimes coming to the surface and then shooting far down
beyond the reach of human vision. Now and then, too, as little Inez
leaned over the side of the vessel and peered downward, she caught
sight of something like a shadow, gliding hither and thither,
apparently without the slightest effort to keep pace with the
schooner, which was bowling along at a rapid rate. It was one of those
monstrous sharks, that will snap a man in two as quickly as if he were
but an apple, should he fall overboard.

Not a day passed without descrying one or more sails at varying
distances, but our friends did not hail or approach any. Both Captain
Bergen and Mate Storms were in a nervous condition, and were morbidly
apprehensive of being anticipated by s