tain had not left the island.

Aimata's resolution to send him away in the darkness was a forgotten
resolution already. She had let him persuade her that he was in no
danger, so long as he remained in the hut on the cliff; and she had
promised, at parting, to return to him while the Priest was still
sleeping, at the dawn of day.

He was alone in the hut. The thought of the innocent creature whom he
loved was sorrowfully as well as tenderly present to his mind. He almost
regretted his rash visit to the island. "I will take her with me to
England," he said to himself. "What does a sailor care for the opinion
of the world? Aimata shall be my wife."

The intense heat oppressed him. He stepped out on the cliff, toward
midnight, in search of a breath of air.

At that moment, the first shock of earthquake (felt in the ship while
she was inside the reef) shook the ground he stood on. He instantly
thought of the volcano on the main island. Had he been mistaken in
supposing the crater to be extinct? Was the shock that he had just felt
a warning from the volcano, communicated through a submarine connection
between the two islands? He waited and watched through the hours of
darkness, with a vague sense of apprehension, which was not to be
reasoned away. With the first light of daybreak he descended into the
forest, and saw the lovely being whose safety was already precious to
him as his own, hurrying to meet him through the trees.

She waved her hand distractedly as she approached him. "Go!" she cried;
"go away in your canoe before our island is destroyed!"

He did his best to quiet her alarm. Was it the shock of earthquake that
had frightened her? No: it was more than the shock of earthquake--it was
something terrible which had followed the shock. There was a lake
near the Temple, the waters of which were supposed to be heated by
subterranean fires. The lake had risen with the earthquake, had bubbled
furiously, and had then melted away into the earth and been lost. Her
father, viewing the portent with horror, had gone to the cape to watch
the volcano on the main island, and to implore by prayers and sacrifices
the protection of the gods. Hearing this, the Captain entreated Aimata
to let him see the emptied lake, in the absence of the Priest. She
hesitated; but his influence was all-powerful. He prevailed on her to
turn back with him through the forest.

Reaching the furthest limit of the trees, they came out upon open rocky