triking of the camp and the embarkment of all in
the small boats. I left Peterson and Willy to take the ladies and most
of the duffel in the large boat, assigned John the dingey for his cook
boat, and decided to pole the light draft duck boat over the shallows
direct to the yacht, taking my two associates with me. It was
necessary, of course, to carry our fair passengers out to the long
boat, which was some distance out on the flat beach. Peterson and I
made a cradle for Mrs. Daniver, with our locked hands, and so got her
substantial weight aboard. Helena mutely waited, but seeing her so,
and unwilling myself to be so near to her any more, I motioned her to
step into the flat duck boat, dry shod, and so poled her out to the
long boat; but I did so in silence, nor did she look up or speak to
me.

Our new pilot sat in his own boat, and was towed back, after rendering
some assistance with the cargoes; so now, at last, I was ready to
leave a spot which, in any other circumstances, would have offered
much charm for a man fond of the out-of-doors. As for my young
friends, they were almost in tears as they sat, looking back longingly
at the great flights of all manner of wild fowl continuously streaming
in and out of the lagoon. At any other time, I would have been
unwilling as any to depart, but, now, the whole taste and flavor of
life had left me, and no interest remained in any of my old
occupations or enjoyments. All that remained was the action necessary
to deliver Helena and her aunt back to the usual scenes of their
lives, to make their losses as light as possible, to take my own
losses, and so close the books of my life.

"There they come!" said Jean Lafitte, pointing to a vast gaggle of
clamoring wild geese coming in from the bay. "Right over our point,
Jimmy! Gee! I wisht I was under them fellers right now. Pow! Pow!"

"Aw, shut up!" was Jimmy's reply. "We won't never get no chance like
this again. Why, looky here, we was reg'lar castaways on a real desert
island, an' we had a abandoned ship, an' we c'd 'a' lived chiefly by
huntin' an' fishin'; and we had evaded all pursuit an' run off with
the fair captive to a place o' hidin'--why, it's all just like in the
book. An' what do _we_ do? Why, we go home! Wouldn't it frost you? An'
what's worse, we let the heartless jade get away with it, too! Ain't
that so?"

"Yes, that's true, Jimmy," I replied.

"Well, I was talkin' to Jean Lafitte--but it's so. We started out