rried and focused them eagerly.

"Islands!" he cried, "and big ones, too!"

"How odd!" whispered Iris, more concerned in the scrutiny of her
immediate surroundings. Jenks glanced at her sharply. She was not
looking at the islands, but at a curious hollow, a quarry-like
depression beneath them to the right, distant about three hundred yards
and not far removed from the small plateau containing the well, though
isolated from it by the south angle of the main cliff.

Here, in a great circle, there was not a vestige of grass, shrub, or
tree, nothing save brown rock and sand. At first the sailor deemed it
to be the dried-up bed of a small lake. This hypothesis would not
serve, else it would be choked with verdure. The pit stared up at them
like an ominous eye, though neither paid further attention to it, for
the glorious prospect mapped at their feet momentarily swept aside all
other considerations.

"What a beautiful place!" murmured Iris. "I wonder what it is called."

"Limbo."

The word came instantly. The sailor's gaze was again fixed on those
distant blue outlines. Miss Deane was dissatisfied.

"Nonsense!" she exclaimed. "We are not dead yet. You must find a better
name than that."

"Well, suppose we christen it Rainbow Island?"

"Why 'Rainbow'?"

"That is the English meaning of 'Iris,' in Latin, you know."

"So it is. How clever of you to think of it! Tell me, what is the
meaning of 'Robert,' in Greek?"

He turned to survey the north-west side of the island. "I do not know,"
he answered. "It might not be far-fetched to translate it as 'a ship's
steward: a menial.'"

Miss Iris had meant her playful retort as a mere light-hearted quibble.
It annoyed her, a young person of much consequence, to have her kindly
condescension repelled.

"I suppose so," she agreed; "but I have gone through so much in a few
hours that I am bewildered, apt to forget these nice distinctions."

Where these two quareling, or flirting? Who can tell?

Jenks was closely examining the reef on which the _Sirdar_ struck.
Some square objects were visible near the palm tree. The sun, glinting
on the waves, rendered it difficult to discern their significance.

"What do you make of those?" he inquired, handing the glasses, and
blandly ignoring Miss Deane's petulance. Her brain was busy with other
things while she twisted the binoculars to suit her vision. Rainbow
Island--Iris--it was a nice conceit. But "menial" struck a discordant
not