se as I could for the centre of the
group, without troubling to hunt for O'Gorman's particular island at
all, as I gravely doubted whether it really had an existence outside the
man's own imagination. But, on the other hand, his information was
drawn from a document that, while stained and discoloured with age, had
every appearance--from my casual inspection of it--of being genuine;
and, if so, the island might possibly exist, although uncharted.
Moreover, O'Gorman had not seized the brig and become a pirate merely to
satisfy an idle curiosity as to the accuracy of the document he had
produced; he was going there for a certain definite purpose; to search
for something, probably; and, if so, nothing short of our arrival at
that particular island would satisfy him. So, having laid off the
course upon the chart, I gave it to the helmsman, and called the hands
aft to trim sail.

Of our passage into the solitudes of the Pacific I have nothing to
relate, save that Miss Onslow's demeanour toward me became, if possible,
more perplexing and tantalising than ever. To convey a clear and
accurate idea of her varying moods it would be necessary to relate in
tolerably minute detail the particulars of our daily intercourse
throughout the voyage--a course of procedure which would not only expand
my story far beyond its proper limits, but would also entirely alter its
character--I must therefore content myself with merely stating that I
believe I may, without exaggeration, assert that I never found her upon
any two occasions to behave in a precisely similar manner. She appeared
to regulate her treatment of me by the behaviour of the men. She had
long ago abandoned that almost insolent hauteur of manner that
distinguished her at the outset of our acquaintance; but if the weather
was fine, the wind fair, the men upon their best behaviour--as sometimes
happened--_in_ short, _if_ things were going well with me in other
respects, she invariably kept me at arm's-length by a certain
indefinable, but none the less unmistakable, coolness, indifference, and
distance of manner just sufficiently pronounced to suggest a desire to
be left to herself. But in proportion as difficulties, anxieties, and
vexations arose, so did her manner warm to me until there were times
when it became almost caressingly tender; so that, as my passion for her
grew, I sometimes felt almost tempted to feign an anxiety or a distress
that did not exist, for the mere de