ith a blow from a club; then
was he cast into a deep pool to drown amid the surf. How else could
such a strong man die?"

Barry examined the man's body and was quickly satisfied that his
backbone had been broken by a violent blow.

"Justice shall be done upon the slayer of this man," he said, turning
to his boat's crew who stood around with vengeful faces; "but not yet
is the time for it. So make no loud complaint, and make no quarrel
with the 'man-eaters.' When the time comes, it will come suddenly."

"_E rai rai! E rai rai!_" ("It is good!") answered the natives,
smiling grimly and patting Barry on the hands and shoulders; "we will
wait for the word to strike."

That morning when he reported the death of Harry to Rawlings he watched
Warner's coarse, bloated face.

"It's a most mysterious affair. He was picked up on the reef quite
dead. The poor fellow's back was broken--the bone was crushed to a
pulp," he said.

"Guess a crayfish nipped him by the big toe, and he kinder turned a
back somersault and landed on his spinal collums," said Warner, with a
brutal laugh.

Barry made no reply. How did Warner know that the man had been out
crayfishing when not a word had been said about it? He rose from the
table without further remark and went on deck, for the boats were
awaiting him alongside. As he passed the main-hatch he caught sight of
the hideous face of the savage Togaro, the man whose ribs he had
broken. He was squatting on the hatch, and gave the officer a
malevolent glance.

"Ah!" thought Barry, "that explains how that fellow Warner knew that
poor Harry was out crayfishing. I suppose that black brute himself is
the murderer and came off on board early this morning with the news."

Later in the day he found his surmise to be correct. Two or three of
his own men always remained on board at night to keep anchor watch, and
one of them told him that that morning at daylight Togaro had paddled
off in a canoe and had at once gone below to Warner's cabin and
remained there for nearly half an hour, emerging on deck with a bottle
of gin--a present doubtless for his murderous work in the night.

That day's fishing was particularly successful, for the divers began
work upon a new bed of shell, most of which were of great size and
contained some magnificent pearls. Five especially huge oysters were
opened by Barry himself in the presence of his men, and from them were
taken seven pearls, each one larger