r; the boy staring curiously, but
not rudely, at the uniformed officers, the girl, timid and shrinking,
holding her father's hand.

"How old is your son?" the commander of the cruiser had asked him
kindly; "and why don't you let him see something of the world? Such a
fine young lad as he ought not to waste his life down here among these
God-forsaken lagoons." And before the trader could frame a reply the boy
had stepped out and answered for himself.

"I wan' to go away, sir. I has been two or three voyages in a whaler,
sir, but I would like to go in a man-o'-war."

The grey-bearded captain laughed good-naturedly, but the kindly light in
his eyes deepened as the girl, with an alarmed look, took her brother by
the hand and sought to draw him back.

"Well, we'll talk about it presently, my lad. I don't think this little
sister of yours would thank me for taking you away."

And, half an hour afterwards, as the rest of the officers strolled about
the native village, the captain and old Jack did talk the matter over,
and the end of it was that the stalwart young half-caste was entered
on the ship's books, and at sunset Ema and her father saw the cruiser
spread her canvas, and then sail away to the westward.

In five years or so Jim would be free to return home again, unless he
preferred to remain in the service altogether.

*****

Three years passed, and then, one day, a Hawaiian trading schooner swept
round the north end of the island, her white sails bellying out to the
lusty trades. A boat was lowered and pulled ashore, and the first man
that jumped out of her on to the beach was Jim Swain.

Half-way between his father's house and the beach the old man met him.

"Well, I be darned! Why, Jim, what hez brought you back?"

"Got tired of it, dad," he answered, in his quiet way, but without
meeting his father's eye. And then he added, "The fac' is, dad, I bolted
from the _Saginaw_ at Valparaiso. Now, don' ask me no more 'bout it."

"Right you are, my boy," said the trader, placidly; "but you'll have to
get out o' the way if another cruiser comes along. But that isn't likely
to happen for many a year. Come along and see Em. She'll jes' go dancin'
mad when she sees you."

*****

For the next twelve months the father and daughter lived at Utiroa, and
Jim voyaged to and fro among the islands of the group, returning every
few months, and again sailing away on a fresh cruise; but never once
had the old man asked him