of the world--all broken-backed,
as is usual with Findlay, and all marked and scribbled over with
corrections and additions--several books of navigations, a signal-code,
and an Admiralty book of a sort of orange hue, called "Islands of the
Eastern Pacific Ocean," vol. iii., which appeared from its imprint to be
the latest authority, and showed marks of frequent consultation in the
passages about the French Frigate Shoals, the Harman, Cure, Pearl, and
Hermes Reefs, Lisiansky Island, Ocean Island, and the place where we
then lay--Brooks or Midway. A volume of Macaulay's "Essays" and a
shilling Shakespeare led the van of the _belles lettres_; the rest were
novels. Several Miss Braddon's--of course, "Aurora Floyd," which has
penetrated to every island of the Pacific, a good many cheap detective
books, "Rob Roy," Auerbach's "Auf der Hoehe," in the German, and a prize
temperance story, pillaged (to judge by the stamp) from an Anglo-Indian
circulating library.

"The Admiralty man gives a fine picture of our island," remarked Nares,
who had turned up Midway Island. "He draws the dreariness rather mild,
but you can make out he knows the place."

"Captain," I cried, "you've struck another point in this mad business.
See here," I went on eagerly, drawing from my pocket a crumpled fragment
of the _Daily Occidental_ which I had inherited from Jim: "Misled by
Hoyt's 'Pacific Directory'? Where's Hoyt?"

"Let's look into that," said Nares. "I got that book on purpose for this
cruise." Therewith he fetched it from the shelf in his berth, turned to
Midway Island, and read the account aloud. It stated with precision that
the Pacific Mail Company were about to form a depot there, in preference
to Honolulu, and that they had already a station on the island.

"I wonder who gives these directory men their information," Nares
reflected. "Nobody can blame Trent after that. I never got in company
with squarer lying; it reminds a man of a presidential campaign."

"All very well," said I; "that's your Hoyt, and a fine, tall copy. But
what I want to know is, where is Trent's Hoyt?"

"Took it with him," chuckled Nares; "he had left everything else, bills
and money and all the rest: he was bound to take something, or it would
have aroused attention on the _Tempest_. 'Happy thought,' says he,
'let's take Hoyt.'"

"And has it not occurred to you," I went on, "that all the Hoyts in
creation couldn't have misled Trent, since he had in his hand tha