a young lady who was well able to look after
herself."

"That's all right," stammered the youngster. "Perhaps I said too much,
but I had to speak to you."

"And I'm mighty glad you did!" I cried.

He gripped my hand and turned away, leaving me to my own reflections. It
was a wonderful night. The silvery sea through which _The Waif_ drove
a path with plunging forefoot awoke strange dreams and fancies within my
brain. All the mystery of the tropic night welled up around me, and my
soul seemed to have suddenly awakened to the beauty of life. The veil of
morbid pessimism that came before my eyes during the weary days I had
spent upon the beach at Levuka was torn aside, and a wave of gladness
entered my being. I felt that the voyage would be an eventful one to me,
and I tramped the poop with a light step. Occasionally the sallow
features of Leith persisted in rising before my mental vision to blot
out the dream face that was continually before me, but I resolutely put
the Professor's partner from my mind and fed myself upon the visions
bred by the splendour of the night.

Holman had left me about an hour when I happened to glance at the patch
of shadow that had attracted his attention while he was talking to me.
I stopped and watched it intently. Some one had crawled into the
velvety strip and was lying perfectly still.

"Who is there?" I asked.

There was no answer. The strip of shadow broadened and narrowed as _The
Waif_ plunged, but I could discern nothing. Outside the captain and
myself, the crew of _The Waif_, together with the six men that were with
the Professor's party, were all natives, and I wondered as I watched the
shadow why one should be crawling around as if afraid of being seen. It
was possible that he was attempting to thieve something from the galley,
and it was also possible that he was spying, as Holman had suggested.

I picked up a small iron pin and tossed it at the spot where I felt sure
the islander was hiding. I didn't throw the pin with any force, although
the yell that came out of the shadow would convince an onlooker that I
had thrown it with murderous intent.

I sprang forward while the shriek of pain was still vibrating in the
air, but the native was determined to have revenge for the rap from the
iron pin. A knife flashed in the moonlight, and I staggered as the blade
touched my forehead like a tongue of flame. A dark figure dashed along
the deck toward the forecastle, and brushing th