llow's
fidelity?"

"Yes," said I, stoutly. "Do not you?"

"Well," answered Sir Edgar, "I _did_, most implicitly. But since the
shameful business of this evening I must confess that I have begun to
entertain doubts of him. All your plans and precautions, you see, have
been framed upon the information with which he has supplied you; and if
he really were in the men's confidence, and anxious to serve you, how
came it that he was not aware of the _coup_ which the men have so
successfully executed, or, if aware of their intentions, why did he not
make an opportunity to warn us? I confess that, to me, it appears very
much as though the men had all along feared some suspicion on your part,
and had employed him to throw you off your guard."

"No," said I, meditatively, "no; I cannot think that. There are
certainly one or two circumstances connected with his behaviour that I
cannot at present fully understand, and perhaps we shall now never know
whether he was really faithful or not; but I still believe him to be so,
and I feel confident that, if he cannot help us in any other way, he and
Forbes between them will devise some means for procuring our speedy
rescue. Now, I am off for the beach. You, I suppose, will remain here;
you can scarcely do better to-night, and it is desirable that I should
know exactly where to find you again without difficulty, should any
unforeseen contingency arise."

While I was speaking, Miss Merrivale had risen to her feet impetuously,
with all the eager, determined look in her face of one who is about to
say or do something of a very decisive character; but if such was her
intention she checked herself, seemingly, at the moment when the words
were about to escape her lips, and contented herself by saying instead--

"Pray be _very_ careful what you do, captain; remember that we are all
now utterly dependent upon _you_!"

I assured her that she might depend absolutely upon my discretion--
smiling, rather bitterly, meanwhile, at the reflection that, throughout
this business at least, my discretion had been by no means brilliantly
conspicuous--and so, with a bow, left the little party clustered
together upon the white sand; a curious, yet pretty, picture to any one
who could have been suddenly transported from the surroundings of
civilisation to that lonely island of the Pacific.

Making my way rapidly along the margin of the basin, close to the
water's edge, where the sand was firm and th