e was visible but the loom of the funnel and the stack of the
state-rooms turning night into deeper night. Noises now arose from the
saloon and streamed up to me. I put my hands on the rope, and then a
voice wheezed almost in my ear.

"I'll lay it's the doctor."

It was Holgate, as civil and indifferent as if he were greeting a
friend on the quarterdeck. I started and gripped my revolver tightly.

"It couldn't be any one else," pursued Holgate; and now his bulk was a
blacker shadow than the empty blackness around. "Got a little party
down there, I dare say? Well, now, I never thought of that, doctor. For
one thing, I hadn't an idea that you would have left a lady all alone
in a faint. It wasn't like your gallantry, doctor. So I didn't tumble
to it. But it's no odds. You're welcome. I make you a present of your
party. Good-night, doctor."

I slipped down the rope and reached the boat ere this astounding speech
was ended. He was a fiend. Why did he torture us thus?

"Let her go, man," said I fiercely to Legrand. "He's the Devil in the
flesh."

The rope was overboard, and the oars dipped. A lantern flashed from the
side of the yacht, and a trail of light spread faint over the quiet
water.

"Shall I give him a barrel, sir?" asked Ellison respectfully.

"No," said I shortly; "we shall have enough to do with our barrels
presently. Besides, you wouldn't hit him."

The boat sped out beyond the channel of light.

"Good-night, doctor," called out Holgate. "We've got a little business
on, but when that's over I hope to drop in to tea. You're not going
far."

No one answered, and the wash of the water foamed about the nose of the
boat as she turned seaward.

CHAPTER XXI

ON THE ISLAND

We were not, however, bound to sea, a course which would in our
situation have been madness. Better have perished under the bloody
hands of the mutineers than adventure on a wide ocean, without sail or
food or compass, to die of thirst, exposure, or starvation. Legrand
took the boat well out upon that tranquil water before swinging her
round to reach the island far away from the _Sea Queen_. We had no
guess as to what size the island might be, but hoped that it might be
sufficiently large to provide us a hiding-place, as well as with
opportunities of securing food.

The night was placid, and the sea like a smooth lake. When we had got
some way out, and the sounds of the water on the yacht, together with
the human noises o