I think not," said
he. "I do not care for pearls. I am very indifferent to all these...."

"Gewgaws?" suggested Attwater. "And yet I believe you ought to cast
an eye on my collection, which is really unique, and which--O! it is
the case with all of us and everything about us!--hangs by a hair.
To-day it groweth up and flourisheth; to-morrow it is cut down and
cast into the oven. To-day it is here and together in this safe;
to-morrow--to-night!--it may be scattered. Thou fool, this night thy
soul shall be required of thee."

"I do not understand you," said Herrick.

"Not?" said Attwater.

"You seem to speak in riddles," said Herrick unsteadily. "I do not
understand what manner of man you are, nor what you are driving at."

Attwater stood with his hands upon his hips, and his head bent forward.
"I am a fatalist," he replied, "and just now (if you insist on it) an
experimentalist. Talking of which, by the by, who painted out the
schooner's name?" he said, with mocking softness, "because, do you know?
one thinks it should be done again. It can still be partly read; and
whatever is worth doing is surely worth doing well. You think with me?
That is so nice! Well, shall we step on the verandah? I have a dry
sherry that I would like your opinion of."

Herrick followed him forth to where, under the light of the hanging
lamps, the table shone with napery and crystal; followed him as the
criminal goes with the hangman, or the sheep with the butcher; took the
sherry mechanically, drank it, and spoke mechanical words of praise. The
object of his terror had become suddenly inverted; till then he had seen
Attwater trussed and gagged, a helpless victim, and had longed to run in
and save him; he saw him now tower up mysterious and menacing, the angel
of the Lord's wrath, armed with knowledge and threatening judgment. He
set down his glass again, and was surprised to see it empty.

"You go always armed?" he said, and the next moment could have plucked
his tongue out.

"Always," said Attwater. "I have been through a mutiny here; that was
one of my incidents of missionary life."

And just then the sound of voices reached them, and looking forth from
the verandah they saw Huish and the captain drawing near.

CHAPTER IX

THE DINNER PARTY

They sat down to an island dinner, remarkable for its variety and
excellence: turtle-soup and steak, fish, fowls, a sucking-pig, a
cocoa-nut salad, and sprouting cocoa-nut roasted for