laid down in any Christian chart," was kept waiting four mortal hours
before the Captain returned to his command, and reported himself to his
officers as follows:

He had found his knowledge of the Polynesian dialects sufficient to
make himself in some degree understood by the natives of the new
island. Under the guidance of the chief he had made a first journey of
exploration, and had seen for himself that the place was a marvel of
natural beauty and fertility. The one barren spot in it was the peak of
the volcanic mountain, composed of crumbling rock; originally no doubt
lava and ashes, which had cooled and consolidated with the lapse of
time. So far as he could see, the crater at the top was now an extinct
crater. But, if he had understood rightly, the chief had spoken of
earthquakes and eruptions at certain bygone periods, some of which lay
within his own earliest recollections of the place.

Adverting next to considerations of practical utility, the Captain
announced that he had seen sandal-wood enough on the island to load a
dozen ships, and that the natives were willing to part with it for a
few toys and trinkets generally distributed among them. To the mate's
disgust, the _Fortuna_ was taken inside the reef that day, and was
anchored before sunset in a natural harbor. Twelve hours of recreation,
beginning with the next morning, were granted to the men, under the wise
restrictions in such cases established by the Captain. That interval
over, the work of cutting the precious wood and loading the ship was to
be unremittingly pursued.

Mr. Duncalf had the first watch after the _Fortuna_ had been made snug.
He took the boatswain aside (an ancient sea-dog like himself), and he
said in a gruff whisper: "My lad, this here ain't the island laid down
in our sailing orders. See if mischief don't come of disobeying orders
before we are many days older."

Nothing in the shape of mischief happened that night. But at sunrise
the next morning a suspicious circumstance occurred; and Mr. Duncalf
whispered to the boatswain: "What did I tell you?" The Captain and the
chief of the islanders held a private conference in the cabin, and the
Captain, after first forbidding any communication with the shore until
his return, suddenly left the ship, alone with the chief, in the chief's
own canoe.

What did this strange disappearance mean? The Captain himself, when
he took his seat in the canoe, would have been puzzled to answer that