fectious ring in
his voice, that even our Kanaka steward, who was bringing us our coffee,
laughed too. The dingy, he said, was very light, and there was no need
for him to call one of the men to help him. As we drank our coffee he
chatted very freely with us, and drew our attention to the lovely
effect caused by the rising sun upon a cluster of three or four small
thickly-wooded islets, which lay between the two vessels and the
mainland of New Britain, whereupon King, who had no romance in his
composition, remarked that for his part he could not see much difference
between one sunrise or sunset and another. "One means a lot of wind, and
another none at all; one means decent weather and another means rotten
weather, or middlin' weather."

"Ah, Mr. King, you look at everything from a sailor's point of view," he
said good-naturedly. "Now, there's nothing gives me more pleasure than
to watch a sunset and sunrise anywhere in the tropics--particularly if
there's land in the foreground or background--I never miss a sunrise in
the South Seas if I can help it."

Presently we began to talk of the voyage, and I asked him a
question--which only at that moment occurred to me--concerning himself
before we met.

"I wonder, Captain Yorke, when your crew were cut off, that it did not
occur to you to run down the west coast of New Ireland, between it and
New Britain, to Blanche Bay, where there is a German station, and where
you could have obtained assistance. It would have been much easier for
you instead of that long buffeting about on the east coast."

He made no answer at first, and I saw that his face had changed colour.
Then he answered slowly:

"Just so. I knew all about the Germans at Blanche Bay, but I did not
want to go there--for very good reasons. Will you come aboard and have
some breakfast with me? I'll send you back again any time you like;
the sea is so smooth, as far as that goes, that I could run the cutter
alongside, and let you step off on to your own deck."

Just as we were pushing off from the brigantine, Guest came on deck,
glass in hand, to have a look at the cluster of islands, at the same
time calling out to Yorke and myself to wait a little. After scanning
the islands from the deck, he went aloft for a better view, then
descended and came aft again to the rail.

"Good morning, Captain Yorke. I've just been taking a look at those
islands over there, and an idea has just come to me. But, first of
all, ar