, boiling
waters unrolling a gradually narrowing streak of dazzling white through
the blue-green waste of billows, all sparkling in the slanting sunshine.
Wheeling in flapping circles overhead, skimming the crested waves,
settling down and lazily floating on the heaving flood, so many dots of
snow upon the sapphire, the flock of gulls sailed onward with the ship,
white scavengers of the sea, and sometimes dropped so close to the rail
on wide extended wing that Pancha could plainly see the eager little red
beads of eyes, could almost bury her soft cheek in the thick plumage of
their fleecy breasts. Away out toward the invisible coast a three-master
was bowling along under full spread of canvas, and, midway between, some
huge black fish were plunging through the swelling brine. Early as it
was the deck hands had cast astern the stout trolling line, and far in
their wake the spinning, silvery bait came leaping and flashing from the
northward slope of each succeeding wave, and Pancha, who had seen the
previous day a dolphin hauled in to die in swiftly changing, brilliant
hues upon the deck, tested the taut lanyard with her slender fingers,
wondering whether she alone could triumph over the frantic struggles of
the splendid fish, or what she would do if she found she could not. It
was an hour to breakfast time. Only Loring and herself had yet appeared
on deck, and she stole a peep at him. There he was tramping up and down
as though he had to finish a thousand laps within a given time, and
stood at least a hundred laps behind. Four days earlier the child looked
with terror to the possibility of his even drawing near her. Now she was
beginning to wonder if he never would again. Five days before she could
have sobbed her heart out, praying not to be subjected to the
possibility of his asking her a question. Now she was wondering if he
did not even care to ask--if indeed she would ever have a chance to
tell.

She did not know, poor little maid, that late the previous evening,
after consultation between Turnbull and Loring, the latter had asked Mr.
Traynor to place a packet of his within the safe, and that then and
there Traynor had permitted him a peep at the valuable parcel to be
delivered to Escalante's representative in San Francisco. Loring had
been allowed to "heft" it in his hand, to curiously study the seals and
superscription, to satisfy himself it could not be the tin case stolen
from him at Sancho's, for this one was s