m."

"I will not fail to remember every word, Good-bye once more."

At three o'clock in the afternoon Rawlings saw the dinghy leisurely
returning to the brig. She was pulling in close to the shore, whilst
Barry and Velo were walking along the beach, rifles in hand, looking
out for a shot at a chance pig. Barradas heaved a sigh of relief when
he saw them, for his nerves had been at a tension for many days past,
and he feared that something fatal to Barry's plans might occur at the
last moment.

[1] "True, very true."

[2] Sydney.

[3] Truly bound.

[4] "Compensate her relatives."

CHAPTER XIII.

"THE LITTLE CELEBRATION" COMES OFF.

Very smart and clean did the _Mahina_ look as the dinghy ran alongside
and Barry stepped on deck. Her newly-painted sides shone snow-white in
the bright tropic sun, and her decks had been scrubbed and scrubbed
again and again with soft pumice stone till they were as smooth to the
touch as the breast of a sea-bird. Aloft, her brightly scraped spars
and carefully tended running and standing gear matched her appearance
below, and even the cabins had been thoroughly overhauled and
repainted. The two large boats used during the pearling operations yet
lay astern; for Barry, who, as Mrs. Tracey said, "thought of
everything," had his own reasons for delaying to hoist them inboard.

"Leave them till the last thing to-morrow morning," he suggested to
Rawlings, "as the men are having liberty to-day."

"You fellows must cook that pig and the turtle on shore," said Barry to
some of the crew who were leaning over the rail looking into the boat;
"we don't want a dirty mess made on the decks now."

"Aye, aye," responded Joe, and one of the other white seamen, jumping
into the dinghy, followed, at a sign from Velo, by two or three
natives. She pushed off from the side, and was rowed ashore with Velo
in charge. The two whaleboats were already on shore with some of the
crew, and their nude, brown-skinned figures could be seen walking about
on the beach, or gathering a last lot of coconuts for the voyage. At
dark the dinghy returned, having left Velo on shore to superintend the
feast, which the men were to eat on shore.

But before then, and while it was still daylight, and Rawlings was
below, and the Greek on the poop, Barry and the second mate were
standing on the topgallant foc's'le, looking up and apparently
scrutinising the condition of things aloft.

Barry was speaking.