r especially the chances were
against a ship being a friend. He decided that on the whole he would
prefer a look at the rescuer before permitting himself to be rescued.

The weather remained beautiful. He had been a month on the island, and
the sea had not been vexed by another storm since his arrival. The
schooner was still wedged in the sand and on the rocks, and he made
several more trips to her, taking off many more articles, which,
however, he left in a heap well back of the beach covered with a
tarpaulin and the remains of sails. He felt that they could lie there
awaiting his need. Perhaps he would never need them at all.

His later visits to the schooner were more from curiosity than from any
other motive. He had a strong desire to learn more about the captain and
his ship. There was no name anywhere upon the vessel, nor could he find
any ship's log or manifest or any kind of writing to indicate it.
Neither was the name of the slaver known to him, nor was there any
letter nor any kind of paper to disclose it. It was likely that it would
always remain hidden from him unless some day he should wrench it from
Adrian Van Zoon.

Robert went into the sea nearly every morning. As he was a powerful
swimmer and the weather remained calm, he was in the habit of going out
beyond the reefs, but one day he noticed a fin cutting the water and
coming toward him. Instantly he swam with all his might toward the
reefs, shivering as he went. When he drew himself up on the slippery
rocks he did not see the formidable fin. He was quite willing to utter
devout thanks aloud. It might not have been a shark, but it made him
remember they were to be expected in those waters. After that he took no
chances, bathing inside the reefs and going outside in the dinghy only.

A few days later he was upon his highest hill watching the horizon when
he saw a dark spot appear in the southwest. At first he was hopeful that
it was a sail, but as he saw it grow he knew it to be a cloud. Then he
hurried toward the house, quite sure a storm was coming. Knowing how the
southern seas were swept by hurricanes, it was surprising that none had
come sooner, and he ran as fast as he could for the shelter of the
house.

Robert made the door just in time. Then the day had turned almost as
dark as night and, with a rush and a roar, wind and rain were upon him.
Evidently the slaver had known those regions, and so he had built a
house of great strength, which, t