"No wonder, if you keep on tapping it with the clothes-brush."

"Oh, that won't hurt it, sir, my head's hard as wood. I'm a bit late this morning—over-slept myself. Had the rummiest dream I ever knowed of."

"What did you dream?"

"Dreamt as I come up in the middle of the night, just when it was thinking about getting to morning, and we'd sailed to about the horridest place as ever was, and then I looked round and saw you like a black shadow going about the deck without making a sound."

"I had no shoes on," said Jack.

"Then it wasn't a dream, and it was only that the place looked so dismal drear in the dusk."

"Of course it was, Ned."

The man gave his head a rap with the clothes-brush. "Then that's a lesson for a man never to be in too much of a hurry. 'Pon my word, Mr Jack, sir, when I came just now and had a look, I felt as if I must have been dreaming, for as soon as I went below I lay down for a snooze, and went off like a top."

"The light has made a wonderful change, Ned," said Jack. "Well, what do you think of it now?"

"It's beyond thinking, sir, it's wonderful. We've seen some tidy places as we come along, but this beats everything I ever saw. Seems to me that we'd better stop here altogether. They say 'there's no place like home,' but I say there's no place like this."

"It really is beautiful, Ned. You should have stopped on deck and seen the wonderful transformation as the sun rose."

"Couldn't have been anything like coming upon it sudden, sir, after going below feeling that you'd been cheated. How I should like to send for my poor old mother to see it. But I dunno: she wouldn't come. She's got an idee that Walworth is about the loveliest place in the world. But it ain't, Mr Jack, you may believe me, it really ain't, not even when the sun shines; while when it don't, and it happens to be a bit muddy, or it rains, or there's a fog, it's—well, I don't think there's anything short of a photo to show what it really is like, and one of them wouldn't do it credit. But this isn't Walworth, sir, and the next thing I want to do is to go ashore and see what the place is like."

"All in good time, Ned. I suppose we shall soon begin collecting now."

"Any time you like, Mr Jack, sir, and please remember that your obedient servant to command, Edward Sims, is aboard, and whether it's sticking pins through flies and beetles like Sir John does, or shooting and skinning birds and beasts like the doctor, I want to be in it. My word, there ought to be some fine things here."

"There's no doubt about it."

"Then if you'll remember me, sir, as the song says, there isn't anything I won't do, even to being your donkey for you to ride when you're tired, and," added the man with a smile full of triumph, as if defying any one to surpass his offer, "you can't say fairer than that."

"I'll try for you to come, Ned," he replied.

"Do, sir, if it's only to carry the vittles. Thankye, sir, all the same."



CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

FINDING THE WAY IN.

Meanwhile the captain went forward. The men were piped on deck, and in a short time they were under easy sail in search of the opening, the captain keeping about a mile from the lovely shore, which Jack scanned eagerly with a glass as they glided on, but he saw no sign of inhabitants either in the open or among the palms.

Then he searched the open spots which could be seen here and there among the trees where the ground began to rise, but there was nothing in the shape of hut or shelter of any kind.

"Well, can you make anything out?" said Sir John, coming up to where Jack was resting his elbows on the rail and sweeping the island in a peculiarly effortless way, which only necessitated his keeping the glass steadily to his eye and holding himself rigid, the result being that the object glass had three separate motions given to it by the yacht, namely, its gliding straight on, its fore and aft rise and fall as it passed over the gently heaving swell, and thirdly the careening movement as the Silver Star yielded to the pressure of the wind. Hence every part along the shore was being thoroughly searched.

"No, father, nothing. I thought I should see some canoes drawn up on the shore of the lagoon, but there is no sign of any one being there. Oh, I do hope it is an uninhabited island."

"So do I, my boy; but we may come at any time upon a village. The place is quite big enough to hold towns even on the other side, hidden from us by the mountain."

"But Captain Bradleigh thinks that if we do find any one there it will only be a wandering party who have sailed from some other island. He says that they are famous people in this direction for taking long journeys in their canoes, sailing from island to island, for the sea is dotted with them in every direction for hundreds and hundreds of miles."

"So I suppose," said Sir John thoughtfully; "but I do not see any signs of an opening in the reef to let us through into the smooth water. All depends upon that, for if we do not get into a sheltered part we can only make a few short visits."

The wind began to fall so light when they had sailed a few miles, that it was evident that before long they would have a similar calm to that which they had experienced on the previous day.

"My brain's a little foggy about where the opening in the reef is," said the captain soon after breakfast; "and I am rather anxious to get inside before the wind drops, for one never knows what weather one is going to have in these latitudes at this time of year, especially after a calm."

"Are you sure there is an opening in the reef?" asked the doctor anxiously.

"Oh yes, I'm sure of that," said the captain, "for I rowed through it and landed; but it's some years ago, and one can't recollect everything. Suppose you go aloft, Bartlett, with the glass, and see what you can make out."

"May I come with you, Mr Bartlett, and bring mine?" said Jack eagerly.

"Glad of your company," replied the mate. "You take one side and I'll take the other."

"Ay, that will be best," said the captain; "for our main-top is not like that of a man-o'-war."

Sir John looked a little anxious, but he said nothing, and stood watching as Jack went to the starboard main shrouds and began to ascend rather awkwardly but with a quiet determination which soon landed him in the little top, where he and the mate levelled their glasses, and began to trace the edge of the reef where the great rollers were foaming, but nothing was visible, till all at once Jack said—

"What will the opening be like?"

"A spot where there is no foam—no breakers curling over."

"I've found it then," said Jack quickly, "but it seems to be a very long way off."

"I'm afraid you are mistaken," said the mate, who repeated the process of sweeping the reef with his glass. "My eyes are pretty good ones, but I can make out nothing but breakers. Try again, and see if you see the place now."

Jack had not taken his double glass—a very good one presented to him by his father—from his eyes, and a minute had not elapsed before he said—

"Yes, there it is: a dark bit in the white rollers. It's a long way off, but I can see it quite plainly."

"Make anything out?" cried the captain anxiously, as he watched them from the deck.

"I can't, sir," replied the mate, "but Mr Jack here says he can see it quite plainly."

"Well done, young mariner," cried the captain. "Good for the first voyage. Have another look, Bartlett, and see how far it is off."

The mate looked again through his long glass, and Jack with his short one.

"Yes, there's the dark spot," said the latter. "Can't you see it now?"

"No. Your eyes are better than mine, my lad."

"Perhaps it's my glass that is better than yours," said the lad. "Try."

The mate lowered his own telescope and took the little binocular handed to him, had a look, focussed it a little better for his own sight, and then cried sharply—

"Yes, sir, there's the gap in the reef."

"How far away?"

"About a couple of miles, sir."

"Tut—tut—tut—tut!" ejaculated the captain; "and we shan't make it till the wind rises at night."

"What! be rocking out here all day again?" said the doctor.

"Yes, sir, I'm afraid so."

"But we could land here in the boat."

"What, through that surf, Sir John? Impossible. It looks very trifling from here, but it would be a certain capsize if it was attempted, and the boat smashed to pieces. But we must do better than that;" and giving the orders sharply, the firemen and engine-driver turned to below, and five minutes later the great wreaths of black smoke were pouring out of the funnel and rising high, forming a huge feather that was very slowly left behind.

Before there was steam enough to use they were once more in a dead calm, but the swell consequent on the check given to the current by the obstacle formed by the reef was far heavier than on the previous day, and the captain frowned as the yacht rocked from side to side, her masts describing arcs against the sky.

"I don't like that," he said. "Bad place to be in if we had a bit of a hurricane, with that reef just under our quarter."

"But there seems to be no likelihood of such a misfortune, for the glass promised fine weather."

"All the same, though, sir," said Captain Bradleigh, "I am always anxious when I find myself in a place which might prove dangerous, and I am not so situated that I could get out of it."

At last there was a welcome hissing sound from the valve, the order was given, and once more the yacht began to throb, as if it had its heart pulsating rapidly, and the distance which separated them from the opening in the reef was soon passed, the panorama being lovely in the extreme. Once there the engine was slowed, stopped, and the captain gave orders for one of the boats to be lowered.

"Why not steam in at once?" asked Jack.

The captain smiled.

"It is some years since I was here, my lad. Then we rowed in, with the lead being heaved all the time, and there was plenty of water for a ship to sail in; but since then the coral insects may have been busy building up walls or mushroom-shaped rocks, or a bit of a mountain top ready to make a hole in our bottom, so we must feel our way. Going with them?"

For answer Jack sprang into the boat, and they pushed off, riding easily over the swell caused by the breakers stretching away in a long line to right and left; and as they rowed on, a man in the bows kept on heaving the lead, and sounding to find deep water everywhere.

"Make a pretty loud din, don't they?" said the mate quietly, as, with a feeling of awe beginning to increase as they neared the opening, Jack sat watching the great rollers which came gliding in with the tide, and then, as if enraged at the barrier to their progress, rose up foaming and curved over to fall with a boom like thunder.

This increased as they drew nearer, the opening proving to be about a hundred yards in width, and the water, which had seemed to be so smooth and calm at a distance, being just outside one wild turmoil of eddy and cross currents consequent upon the action of the breakers on either side.

The boat danced about so at last, as they rowed slowly on to enable the man in the bows to sound more frequently in this the entrance part, that Jack was unable to keep back the question he felt ashamed to put.

Out it came.

"Is it safe for such a small boat as this to go through there, Mr Bartlett?"

"If it were not I should row back," said the mate with a quiet smile. "Oh, yes, we could go through far worse places than this. But look there to the right; you see now why the captain said no boat could cross the reef."

Jack could not forbear a shudder.

"The oars are nearly useless in that broken water, nearly all foam. The men can get no grip. But here we could run in twice as fast if we liked. Seems to be deep water. Capital channel. Not a suggestion of a rock."

Then after contenting himself with letting the lead go down a few fathoms in the deep water, the man began to keep to one level length of ten fathoms, and this always went down without finding bottom till they were well in the jaws of the reef, when all at once he cried the depth—"By the mark nine," and repeated the announcement again and again. Then it was eight, then seven, and as they glided out of the turmoil into perfectly smooth water the depth shallowed to six fathoms, and kept at that, no less, wherever they rowed.

"Plenty of good anchorage in shelter," said the mate, slewing the boat round head to the opening once more, and they rowed out, sounding again as they went back, after proving that there was a perfectly clear channel for the yacht to pass in.

Once well outside the mate bade the men lie on their oars, and he hoisted the boat-hook with a handkerchief on the end for the signal agreed upon with the captain.

Then the Silver Star began to move, and glided slowly in, picking up the boat as she passed.

Half-an-hour later the anchors were dropped, and the yacht lay moored in perfectly still water, through which Jack gazed down at a wonderful submarine garden, and then at the line of cocoa-nut trees in the sandy beach to their right. Then his eyes went wandering over the forest, and up and up to the perfectly formed volcano which shot skyward.

And so on till his eyes grew misty, and the back of his neck ached with the way in which it had been bent, and he was still gazing through his glass when the announcement came that the meal was ready.

All too soon, for the boy did not know he was hungry, there had been too much mental food to devour.

But he found that he could eat and pay attention to the conversation too, which was upon the, to him, glorious subject of going ashore that afternoon in the boat for the sake of a little exploring before the night closed in, and ended what was to Jack a most exciting day.



CHAPTER NINETEEN.

THE FIRST RUN ASHORE.

Jack dropped down into the boat with a feeling of pity for the men who had to stay on board with the mate. Sir John, the doctor, and Captain Bradleigh were of the party, all well-armed, and, to Jack's excitement and satisfaction, he found that the crew of the boat all wore cutlasses, with the peculiar hilt which enables the wearers to fix them bayonet-fashion to the muzzles of their rifles.

"Just as well to be prepared, Mr Jack," said the captain, smiling, as he saw the interest the boy took in the men's appearance. "I don't think we shall find a soul in the island. If there had been, they must have caught sight of us, and would have shown themselves, even if they had gone off into the woods when they saw us coming ashore. Well, what do you say to this for a treat? Think it's as good as Doctor Instow described?"

"Better, ever so much," said Jack excitedly; "but please don't talk to me now. There is so much to see, I want to look about me. It is all so fresh and beautiful. But are there cocoa-nut trees?"

"Yes, of all sizes, from little ones a year old, to old ones in full bearing. There they are."

"But I thought cocoanuts grew on a sort of palm-tree which went up from the ground as straight as an arrow."

"No: never. The cocoa-nut sapling springs up with a beautiful curve like you see yonder, all alike, and no matter how the wind blows they keep to it, bending down and springing up again as if they were made of whalebone. They get it badly though when there is a hurricane; scarcely anything can stand that. But look down."

"Look down?"

"Yes, into the sea. You must not pass that over."

The boy glanced over the side of the boat, as the men rowed gently across the lagoon, to find that they had gradually come into a shallow part, whose waters, save for the disturbance made by the boat's passing, were perfectly calm and of crystal clearness. As they neared the sandy shore, the bottom, by the refraction, seemed to come nearer and nearer to the surface, through which he sat gazing into one of Nature's loveliest aquaria, strewn with the most wondrous corals and madrepores, not dry, harsh, and stony, but glowing in colours imparted by the many creatures which covered them. The seaweeds were exquisite, and the flowers of this submarine garden were sea anemones of wondrous tints, some closed like buds, others open wide, aster-like, and as bright in tint, but with a slow, creeping movement of their petal-like arms, as some unfortunate water creature touched them and was drawn into the central mouth.

Shell-fish too of wondrous forms lay or crept about in the grottoes of coral rock. Some were anchored oyster-like, and of gigantic size, lying as traps with shells apart, like the mouth of some terrible monster lying hidden among the weeds; others with strange, striped shells crawled snail-like over the bottom, amidst many so small that they were mere specks. And all the while, as the boat glided on over the surface, there were flashes of gold, silver, ruby, topaz, sapphire, and amethyst, for shoals of fish, startled by their coming, darted through the sunlit water, to hide in the waving groves of sea-weed, or nestle down among the coral stones.

"Stop rowing, please," said Sir John suddenly; and Jack turned to see that his father and the doctor had been gazing down into the water from the other side of the boat. "Only for a few minutes, captain: we must not pass over this too quickly."

"You have only to give your orders, sir," said the captain, smiling with satisfaction; and as the men sat with their oars balanced, the boat glided slowly on, hardly disturbing the surface; but her shadow was sufficient as it darkened the water to still startle the fish from their homes.

"Here's work, Meadows—here's collecting. Jack, boy, what do you think of it?"

"Oh!" ejaculated the lad, without raising his eyes from the wondrous scene he was watching once more.

There does not seem much in that simple little interjection; but the meaning put into it by the tone and the face of the lad who uttered it spoke volumes.

"Ah, it is oh!" cried the doctor. "Here, Jack, it's all nonsense, I can't be thirty-six; I feel only sixteen, and I want to begin wading in here."

"I'd advise you to wear very thick boats then," said the captain. "Some of these things are knife-edged, some sharp as thorns. You'll have to take care."

"Oh, we will; eh, Jack?"

"Yes; but we must get a lot of these as specimens. Here, look—look!"

"Ah, one of those snakes," said Sir John. "One? Look—look! there are dozens of them gliding about."

"Then I shan't wade," said the doctor decisively. "I don't want any patients this trip, and there wouldn't be much fun in laying myself up with a bad leg, and having myself to attend. I shall do my wading in a boat."

"Yes; and we must fish for and catch some of these little fellows. Do, father, look at that one gliding along by that clump of branched stuff, plant or coral, or whatever it calls itself. Why it's like a gold-fish with a great, broad bar of glittering blue across it."

"Lovely!" cried the doctor.

A discordant burst of shrill, whistling screams came from the cocoa-nut grove ashore, and Jack looked up sharply.

"Paroquets," said the captain. "There they are, quite a flock of them."

Jack's hand stole behind him toward the guns and just then there was a fluttering of wings, and a little cloud of green, shot with orange yellow and blue, glided out of the grove and flew inland.

"Let's land," said Sir John. "There is so much to see, that we had better content ourselves with a preliminary look round."

"Yes," said the doctor, "and devote separate days after to some particular branch. Pull away, my lads."

"Yes; but very gently," cried Jack; and they glided on, the men guessing the wishes of those on board by swinging together with a slow, steady motion, and just lightly dipping their oars without a splash, so that, as they glided on toward a patch of sand some four hundred yards away, where the grove of palms was the highest, and the shade from the glowing sun the deepest, a glorious view of the submarine treasures was enjoyed. Jack sighed as the boat's prow touched the sands, the men sprang out on either side in the shallow water, and ran her right up on the shore, close to a great cocoa-nut tree, ready for the painter to be attached in case the tide should rise as high.

Two men were left as keepers, and the party, shouldering their arms, prepared to start inland.

"It will be best, gentlemen," said the captain, "to make our way along the open ground between the lagoon and the forest to-day, and to keep well together. I don't think there is a soul but ourselves on the island, but it is as well to take every step as if we were in face of enemies. For no doubt once upon a time the people who live among these tropical islands were fairly amiable when not provoked; but I'm sorry to say that they have been so ill-used by the sailors and traders of all nations, that whatever they may have been, they are often now ready to behave in a very treacherous manner to white people."

"Quite right," said Sir John; "and it is hard to make them understand that we are perfectly peaceable. I quite agree with Doctor Instow that our pleasant voyage ought not to be made arduous to him and painful to us all by any sad accident. We do not want any patients suffering from spear-thrust, or poisoned arrow sent from blow-pipe or bow, and I beg that every one will understand that I should look upon it as a calamity if, in defence of our lives, we were forced to fire upon a set of ignorant savages. Captain Bradleigh, we trust to your guidance on board, we will continue to do so, please, on shore."

"Thank you, Sir John," said the gentleman addressed; "you have uttered my sentiments exactly, and I am glad to say that I can trust my lads thoroughly. So now, then, we'll go west slowly and easily, so that you can take a look at anything which takes your fancy, and we will just skirt the woodland patches while we go as far as seems reasonable in this direction, our main object being to find out whether we have the island to ourselves."

"But we shall only be examining the narrow band by the water side. What about inland?" said the doctor.

"If we go partly to-day and partly to-morrow round the island, I fancy we shall learn all we want," replied the captain. "If there are any of the black fuzzy-headed Papuans here, or the browner South Sea Islands type of men, more like the Maoris, or lastly the Malay flat-nosed fellows, we are sure to find traces of them by the shore or up the little rivers. They don't care for the inland parts of an island like this, where there is a volcano still more or less active. They generally give these mountains a wide berth, unless there happens to be a tribe of the original people who have been driven inland by the more warlike folk, who go filibustering about searching for new lands in their great outrigger war canoes."

"Hang their war canoes!" said the doctor gruffly, "we don't want them here."

"You, my lads," said the captain to the two men by the boat, "will not leave your posts, and you will keep the cutter just afloat, so that you can leap aboard and keep her off at the first sign of danger. If there is anything you will fire two shots sharply, as a warning to Mr Bartlett, though probably he will see it first and send help to you. Then keep on firing a shot every minute till you get an answer from us, followed by one shot, and then two more, which mean that we have heard you and are coming back. Now I don't expect anything of the kind, but we must be on the look-out till we have examined the place. You understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"That's right. Don't leave your rifles, and don't go to sleep."

"Right, sir."

"Then now, gentlemen, we'll advance in a line. No straggling, mind. When one halts, all will stand fast. Forward!"

Jack shouldered his perfectly new double gun and stepped out, not feeling the weight of either that or the satchel and cartridge pouch slung by cross-belts, while from that at his waist hung a leather holster containing a revolver and a strong, handy sheath knife, suitable for a weapon, for skinning a specimen, or for hacking a way through tangled scrub. A feeling of subdued excitement set his heart beating steadily, and a thrill of returning health made his muscles feel tense, while his eyes flashed with eagerness, and there was an elasticity in his step that sent a feeling of satisfaction home to his father.

He was between Sir John and the doctor as they stepped off in a line over the soft sand, and the latter turned for a moment, looking serious.

"One word to you two," he said,—"medical adviser's word. This is a new country, and you are new to it. Just mind this: with quiet steady going you can do a great deal; but there must be no over-exertion so as to get too much heated. Chills are easily taken in these tropic lands, and they mean fever and weakness, so let there be no false delicacy or shame, and fighting to keep up with men better fit for the work than we are. If either of you feels tired, stop at once and rest."

"That's all meant for me," said Jack, smiling.

"No, it isn't," cried the doctor sharply. "It's meant as much for your father, who has a deal more weight to carry than you have, and if I am not much mistaken, Jack Meadows, Esquire, he is a good deal older. Now you understand. No over-exertion, no drinking cold water while you're hot. As I told you before, I don't want patients till I get back home. I've come out to enjoy my trip, so have a little mercy, if you please."

They tramped on under the blazing sunshine, and where they could under the shade of trees, starting crabs running in all directions, fish which had been basking on the wet sand by the water's edge wriggling and flopping back into the lagoon, and birds of brilliant colours from the trees they passed; all of which excited a desire in Jack to begin trying his skill with his double gun; but it was an understood thing that shooting was not to commence that day, but every hour be devoted to exploring.

Everything looked superlatively beautiful. Metallic-armoured lizards darted over the dry sand to hide amongst the scattered blocks of sun-baked coral, lovely butterflies and other insects flitted amongst low growth, in company with tiny sun-birds which seemed clothed in brilliant burnished mail, and at every few steps larger birds, perfectly new to the visitors, took flight or hurried thrush-like to take refuge beneath the bushes.

On their left the wondrously blue lagoon glittered through the tall stems of the cocoa-nut trees which fringed the shore; on their right they had the open park-like stretches of land, dotted with bush and stately tree; and every here and there, through an opening, they had glimpses of the forest, which rose upward covering the flanks of the mountain.

At the end of an hour, long after—through the curving of the shore—the yacht had disappeared from view, they made their first halt. They stopped at a valley-like opening which ran in a sinuous manner up and up till they had a glimpse of the central mountain nearly to its highest part.

The captain, in his caution, set a man on the highest part to act as sentry and guard against a surprise, and he himself took another and walked a quarter of a mile farther in search of traces on the sands of canoes.

Jack threw himself down beneath a group of cocoa-nut trees, with the soft sand for his couch, and was delighted and puzzled at the pleasant, restful sensations he enjoyed. Sir John and the doctor sat down a little apart, and the sailors chose another group of cocoa-nut trees to indulge in a quiet chat.

Jack had just half-closed his eyes, to lie gazing through the lashes at dazzling light and rainbow-like effects seen in the mist caused by the breakers on the reef, when a rustling sound behind him made him start and find that it was their man.

"Only me, Mr Jack, sir. Hope I haven't woke you out of a nap."

"Oh no. I was not asleep, Ned."

"Tired, sir?"

"No, not a bit."

"Feet hurt you?"

"No. Why should they?"

"With the walking, sir. You see, you're not used to it."

"No, I'm not used to it, Ned; but I soon shall be."

"That's right, sir. If they had been hurting you and your boots felt tight, I was going to say, come down to the water's edge and paddle your feet a bit."

"But they're all right."

"Glad of it, sir. Mine ain't. At least they're better now. That's what I went and did, and it's lovely. Thirsty, sir?"

"Well, yes, I am thirsty."

"Then I'll get you a drink, sir, same as the men's had. Two of 'em's been up one of those trees—these trees like we're under, sir. They calls 'em cocoa-nut, but that's all nonsense. They're not nuts."

"Oh yes, these are real cocoa-nut trees, Ned."

"Well, sir, I don't like to contradick you; it wouldn't be my place. But if these are real cocoanuts, them we buys—I mean I buys—at home are sham ones."

"Oh, they're all the same, Ned."

"Well, sir, 'tain't for me to contradick. I dessay you're quite right and they are all the same, but they're quite different. Them at home's hard shells with rough shaggy hairs on 'em, and inside they're white solid nut."

"So are these, Ned."

"Beg pardon, sir, have you tasted one? You must have seen 'em hanging here in the trees."

"Of course I've seen them."

"Yes, sir, and they're twice as large as ours, with a cover to 'em like a piece of solid door-mat."

"That's the outer husk, Ned."

"Oh, is it, sir? I thought it was something. But you ain't tasted one?"

"No."

"Well, sir, it's hard work to cut them at home with a knife, they're that hard; as for these here they're too soft to cut with a spoon. Have one, sir?"

"Oh no, I'm not disposed to eat nuts," said Jack, laughing.

"But you don't eat 'em here, sir; it's more drinking of 'em. Let me get you one, sir."

"Very well: I do feel as if I could drink something."

"Then these are the very thing, sir," said the man, and he hurried off, Jack lying back watching him till he reached the knot of sailors enjoying the shade.

Then as Jack watched quite out of hearing, a kind of pantomime began, in which the sailors seemed to be laughing, and Ned gesticulating, and holding his hand first to one and then another, slapping his knee afterward, and seeming to go on in the most absurd manner; but the next minute Jack began to grasp dimly what it all meant, and that the sailors were daring their man to do something, and telling him it could not be done.

There it all was: directly after Ned slipped off his straps and belt, pulled off his jacket, and then rapidly got rid of his boots.

Jack did not hear him say, "Now, my lads, I'll show you," but he seemed to say it, after shading his eyes and staring upward for a few moments before spitting in his hands, taking a run and a jump, and beginning to hug and climb one of the cocoa-nut trees, while the sailors all sprang up to stand clapping their hands, and evidently bantering him or urging him on.

This brought Jack into a sitting position, and the next minute he had out his glass, and was watching with the actor apparently close at hand, drawing himself up a few inches at a time, as one would mount a scaffold-pole, and his wrinkled forehead, compressed lips, and determined eyes so plain that Jack could have fancied that he heard him breathe.

"I wonder whether he'll do it," said the lad softly. "He is just one of those obstinate fellows who, if they make up their minds to do a thing, manage it somehow."

And feeling as deeply interested as the man himself, Jack felt ready to run across to the cocoa-nut grove and shout encouragement.

"Look so precious undignified if I did. But how strange it seems! There was he only the other day in his quiet livery and white tie valeting us, and waiting at table, and now he's climbing that tree like a boy."

"Or a monkey, Jack," said the doctor, who had come up behind, and Sir John with him. "I didn't hear you," said Jack, starting. "Not likely when you were talking aloud with your ears glued to that lorgnette. Well, eyes then. But it's the air, my lad; I feel ready to do any stupid thing of that kind. I'd challenge you to climb the two next trees if we were alone."

"I hope the foolish fellow will not meet with an accident," said Sir John.

"Pooh! not he," said the doctor. "The lads have been challenging him, I suppose."

"I think that's it, but he has gone to get a cocoa-nut for me."

"You did not send him to do it, Jack?"

"No, father: he came and proposed it."

"Tree's getting gradually thinner," said the doctor. "Easier to climb."

"I hope he will be successful," said Sir John. "The men will banter him so if he fails."

"How the tree begins to bend!" said Jack anxiously. "Why don't you shake it?" he cried, without considering that his words could not be heard. But, oddly enough, just at that moment the idea seemed to have occurred to Ned, who held on with his legs and shook the tree violently.

"You will not do it like that, my fine fellow," said the captain, coming up; "and lucky for you that you can't. A crack from one of those nuts would be no joke."

"Yes, they must be pretty heavy," said Sir John.

"Heavy enough to kill any one if they fell upon his bare head."

"Oh, look how the tree's bending over!" cried Jack.

"Yes, he had no business to choose such a slight one," said the captain, as the tree swayed beneath the man's weight.

"Had I better stop him?" said Sir John.

"I think perhaps you had better not startle him and make him nervous, father. We don't want any accidents."

"Indeed we don't," said the doctor; "better let him be. Why, if he goes on like this the tree will bend over like a fishing-rod, and he can drop from the top to the ground."

Then silence fell upon the group, and the sailors ceased to cheer, as, with the elastic rod-like tree bending more and more over, and swaying up and down, Ned climbed on, till the last part of his progress was after the fashion of a sloth, hanging back downward, and at every movement coming nearer, till the great crown of leaves and nuts, which had stood forty feet in the air, was not more than twenty.

"Another two or three feet will do it," said the doctor; "but I'm afraid he will not be able to get the nuts off."

"Oh yes; he can screw them off," said the captain.

"What I'm afraid of is—"

Crack!

A sharp loud snap, and the top of the tree came down, the big leafage hiding Ned; but he was standing up close to the broken-off tree, which was now like a thick pole, and rubbing himself hard, with the sailors about him, when the lookers-on reached the spot.

"Oh, Ned!" cried Jack, who was first up.

"Yes, sir, it is 'Oh, Ned!'" replied the man angrily.

"Hurt?" cried the others in a breath.

"Don't know yet, Sir John," said the man, "I think my right leg's broke, though."

"Here, let me see," cried the doctor eagerly.

"No, it ain't, sir," said Ned, giving a kick. "It's the left one."

"Bah!" roared the doctor; "how could you stand upon it and kick out like that if it were broken?"

"Right you are, sir; of course I couldn't. But something's broke, for I heard it go. Maybe it's my arms."

"Maybe it's your head," said the doctor sarcastically, "for you are talking in a very crack-brained fashion. Let me buckle your belt round it tightly to hold it together."

The man stared wonderingly at the doctor, feeling his head all over the while, and his eyes having a puzzled look in them, as if he couldn't quite make out whether the doctor was speaking seriously. But the next moment he took it as a piece of chaff and grinned.

"It's all right, sir, but it did come an awful whack against one of these nuts."

"Better see if you've damaged the nut," said the doctor sarcastically. "No, never mind. Head's too soft."

Ned grinned again, and gave himself a rub as he looked down at the crown of the tree and then at the broken stump, snapped off a good five-and-twenty feet from the ground.

"Here," he said, turning to the group of sailors, "you were precious full of your brag about climbing, and saying I couldn't. But I did, and now let's see one of you do that."

There was a roar of laughter, and Sir John turned away, but the captain spoke rather seriously.

"I wouldn't advise you to do this sort of thing again, young fellow. Now then, how do you feel? Can you go on with us, or will you wait here till we come back?"

"Me wait here, sir?" cried Ned. "What, all alone? No, thank you, I'm all right, sir. Walk as well as any of them."

"Then whoever wants a cocoa-nut had better have it, for we go on in five minutes."

"Will you give me your knife, sir?" said Ned, turning to his young master. "Thankye, sir; I know how it's done;" and chopping off the husk and the top of the soft shell of one of the great nuts, he handed it to Jack, the sailors quickly getting the rest of the others and serving them the same, to hand to Sir John, the doctor, and captain, who all partook of the deliriously cool, sub-acid pulp. Then the word was given and the march commenced once more.

Whether Ned suffered or not he kept to himself, for he resumed his jacket, boots, and belts, clapped on his pith hat, and stalked off with the rest, the way seeming to grow more and more beautiful, and the natural history specimens more attractive at every hundred yards they left behind.

But there was no shooting, the object of the exploration being rigorously kept in mind, and they were just rounding what seemed to be the end of a great artificial dike that ran down from the slope on their right, when one of the men cried—"Look out! They must be close here." Every one stopped short, and guns and rifles were brought to the ready.

"What is it?" said the captain in a low voice. "What did you see?"

"Didn't see nothing, sir," replied the man. "I smelt 'em."

"What do you mean?"

"Must be some huts or cottages close here, where the people keeps pigs."

"Yes, look, sir," cried another man, pointing; "they've been down here to the sea."

He pointed to where, about a dozen yards away, there were abundant traces of a drove of pigs, and as the captain advanced, the odour which the sailor had noticed now became plain to all.

Sir John looked inquiringly at the captain. "A good find," said the latter, smiling. "We shall be able to shoot some fresh young porkers. Wild pig is not bad."

"Wild?" cried the doctor.

"Yes, there is evidently a herd of wild pigs in the island, if not several. They have been down here lately."

"But surely there would not be wild boars and sows in an island like this?" said Sir John.

"No," said the captain, "but pigs that have run wild. You see, the old voyagers left two or three pairs in a good many places, and they have increased largely. This must have been one of the favoured islands."

Further proof was given a short distance farther on, for they had a glimpse of a herd which seemed to be fifty or sixty strong, whose leaders stood grunting and staring at the new-comers for a moment or two before whisking round and dashing off among the trees, to be hidden directly by the low growth, a head or a tail being seen at intervals; and then every sign was gone.

"Well," said the doctor to Jack, "that's another discovery to the good: fresh pork and poultry."

"You can't eat parrots," said Jack, laughing.

"Why?" said the doctor.

"Oh, those highly-coloured birds can't be good."

"Wait a bit, my young philosopher. I never knew that gaily-coloured barn-door cockerels were 'bad', and I know that a young peacock is as good as a pheasant; so where is your theory now?"

"Yes, Jack, you are beaten," said Sir John merrily.

"Oh, but I meant parrots and cockatoos and birds of paradise," said the lad hurriedly.

"Parrots and cockatoos live on fruit," said the doctor; "fruit is good, ergo parrots and cockatoos are good, and I'll have a curry made of the first I skin."

"You are right about the birds of paradise though, my boy," said Sir John. "I should not like to try one of those, because they are so nearly related to the crow."

"A bird of paradise related to a crow—a black crow?"

"Oh yes, you'll find some of the most gaily painted birds out here in the tropics very nearly related to some of our more common friends at home."

"Yes; look, there goes one, Jack. I could bring him down easily."

The lad had already caught sight of a lovely bird upon the ground, which stood looking at them for a few moments before hopping away beneath the bushes and undergrowth, appearing again farther on, and then spreading its wings for a short flight, and displaying the lovely colours with which it was dyed, the most prominent being shades of blue relieved by delicate fawn and pale warm drab.

"What's that?" cried Jack eagerly.

"That's a thrush," said the doctor.

"A thrush!"

"Yes; not one of our olive-green, speckled-breasted fellows, but a thrush all the same, and saving its colouring, wonderfully like one of ours."

There was plenty to say about bird and insect as they went on, keeping just where the sand gave place to firm ground, for the birds were excessively tame, and gave evident proof that they were not much disturbed; while every now and then amid the lovely insects which thronged wherever there were flowers, appeared some magnificent butterfly, several inches across its wings, tempting Sir John to cease exploring for the sake of making captures.

But everything was given up to the main object, and mile after mile was tramped, every step seeming to reveal some new beauty—peeps through the groves at the broad blue sea, or wonderful landscapes up ravines, with the mountain towering up behind.

The natural history objects they encountered were plentiful enough. In fact very few steps were taken without something attracting attention. Lizards which seemed as they basked on pieces of the heated rock to have been cut out of glittering metal, till, at the jar of a footstep, or the shadow of any one cast across them, they darted away. In one place the doctor pointed out sinuous markings on the sandy ground which looked as if freshly made.

"Yes, a snake," said Sir John, "and a good-sized one too."

"How large?" said Jack with suppressed excitement.

"Seven or eight feet long, I should say," replied his father.

Jack looked with an expression of mingled dread and longing at the patch of dense growth into which the track led, and directly after Edward exchanged glances with him, the man's look seeming to say—

"I've marked down that spot, sir."

Glen after glen was passed, every one full of beauty and interest, and at last they were brought up short by what looked like some huge pier running right across their way, down over the sands, and ending suddenly about a hundred feet out in the beautiful blue lake. At the first sight it seemed like some great landing-place or wharf, but there was no sign of handiwork about it, and the lad gazed at it in awe, as the doctor explained that it was the end where it had cooled and solidified in the lake of a huge lava-stream which had flowed down from the mountain, high up on their right.

"But that means it must have run like so much liquid fire for miles."

"Yes, that's exactly what it does mean, Jack," said Sir John; "six or seven or eight. We shall know some day, when we have explored the place."

"And that will be like a high-road to the top," said the doctor, "only I'm afraid it would be a rather rough one."

"We'll try it some day," said Sir John.

"Rather hard for your boots, sir," said the captain. "Look at it: like glass, and as sharp in places."

"Why, it must be quite fresh," said Jack.

The captain smiled and shook his head.

"But some of these pieces look quite bright," said Jack.

"Yes; and these trees look quite green, and many of them may be a hundred or two hundred years old."

"What has that got to do with it?" said Jack. "Oh yes, I see now: they would have been burned up. Of course."

"Yes," said Sir John, as he stood looking at the huge solidified stream; "everything about here must have been burned to ashes, and it would, even with the rapid tropic rate, have taken fully a hundred years for these trees to grow."

"How wide is the stream?" said the doctor; and he led the way to climb up, startling something, which went off with a tremendous rush inland.

"What's that?" said Sir John.

"Couldn't catch a glimpse of it; but it wasn't a man. Four-legged creature of some kind. There, that's its cry."

A peculiarly weird howl rang out, and was answered from a distance off; but though the party waited in the hope of seeing what it was that had been started, they were disappointed.

"Never mind," said the doctor; "we have proof that there are animals about. Now then, how wide do you make the lava-stream to be?"

"About four hundred paces," said Sir John.

"Quite that," said the captain. "Well, gentlemen, what do you say to making a halt just beyond the lava there—under one of those trees, say, beside that stream?"

"Couldn't be a better place," cried Jack. "I am getting hungry."

"I think we all are," said the doctor, smiling, "for we have been tramping quite two hours since Edward had his adventure on the cocoa-nut tree."

"If I might suggest, Sir John, I'd make this the farthest limit of our tramp to-day. We shall be about four hours going back; and to-morrow we might go in the other direction—sail round the island, if you like."

"I think we would prefer to explore it on foot, captain," replied Sir John.

They crossed the remainder of the solidified stream of stone, ascended to the beautiful grove of trees on the other side, where a swift stream of the purest water ran gurgling along to the sea, and here enjoyed, in the cool shade, a delicious al fresco meal, to which every one did ample justice. After which a start was made for the yacht; but the heat proved to be so intense, there not being a breath of air, save a succession of hot puffs which seemed to be wafted down from the mountain, that the men began to flag and show signs of being overcome. Consequently, first one and then another halt had to be called, and when they were still a good three miles from where they had left the boat, the sun went down, and the night came on with startling suddenness, so that at the end of a quarter of an hour it was dark as pitch beneath the trees, and the order was given to bear off to the right, so as to follow the sand.

"Can't go wrong," said the captain, "if we keep within touch of the sea."

"Hark! hark! What's that?" cried Jack.

There was no need for him to speak, for every one had stopped short, and was listening intently to the echoes which ran reverberating along a valley, after what seemed to have been the firing of a heavy gun.



CHAPTER TWENTY.

FLOATING BLACKS.

"Is that Mr Bartlett firing one of the yacht's guns for a recall?" said Sir John.

"No, sir; they could not make a noise like that."

"It could not be thunder," said Jack.

"Oh yes, it could," said the captain. "I've heard short sharp cracks like that often out here, but I don't think that was thunder."

"Must have been," cried the doctor. "Why, I saw the flash. There! Look!"

A bright light suddenly appeared from somewhere inland, followed at a few seconds' interval by a heavy detonation, exactly like the firing of a great gun.

"Now what do you say, Captain Bradleigh?" cried Sir John.

"That it is what I thought at first, sir. The mountain yonder is firing a shot or two. If we had been out at sea, I dare say we should have seen a great red-hot stone flying up and falling back."

"Then there is going to be an eruption," cried Jack in excited tones.

"That does not follow at all. Some of these volcanoes do no more perhaps than make a rumbling, and send up a few red-hot stones now and then. Forward now, gentlemen. Close up, my lads, and follow two and two."

The mountain, if the captain was right, made no farther sign, and now began the most interesting part of the journey. With the exception of having to be careful not to stumble over the blocks of coral limestone which lay here and there in their road, it was easy walking in spite of the darkness, while this latter was modified by the brilliant stars overhead, the dazzling scintillations of the fireflies, which flittered out whenever any of the bushes which fringed the sands were approached— and the soft, luminous, oil-like appearance at the edge of the lake.

But the sand was soft, and it seemed to Jack as if they would never reach the boat.

In the darkness Edward edged up close to his young master, and whispered—

"Tired, Mr Jack?"

"Dreadfully."

"Makes one's legs feel as if they were made of cast lead."

"Or stones," said Jack.

"Well, p'r'aps you're right, sir. Stone is more like it. Let me carry your gun, sir. Seems to get heavier every step, don't it?"

"Yes; and the cartridges too. Thank you, Ned. I should be glad to get rid of them. No, you've got your own to carry, and—I say, how do you feel now? I mean, after your fall."

"Oh, bit stiff, sir. There's nothing broken; but I don't go quite so well as usual. Shan't be sorry to get back to the yacht. Better give me your gun, sir."

"Better give me yours to carry, Ned."

"What, sir? Well, 'pon my word, Mr Jack, you do talk. I do wonder at you."

Just then Jack started, for a hand was laid on his gun.

"Who's that?" he cried.

"Only me, sir—Lenny," said a dark figure behind him. "Let me carry your gun, and pouch too. I heerd what you said. Take hold of t'other's weapon, mate," continued the man to the sailor by him, and Jack and his man tramped the rest of the way relieved of their loads, heartily glad to hear at last a hail from somewhere away in the darkness.

It came from the boat; and directly after a bright light flashed out over the calm lagoon, like a star just rising to shine across the sea, and the men gave a cheer.

"Is that the Silver Star, Captain Bradleigh?" said Jack eagerly.

"Yes, my lad. That's better than a figure-head, eh?"

It was extremely beautiful just then, and looked very attractive and suggestive of rest and a good meal, beside being a guide to them along the lagoon, the men as they bent to their oars having the straight path of light to follow right up to the yacht's bows, and soon after the efforts of the cook and the cheery aspect of everything made Jack forget his weariness.

"Well, gentlemen," said the captain after their late dinner, "I think that there ought to be another exploration to the east to-morrow."

"Certainly," said Sir John; "I want to feel that we can go about in safety."

"I suppose you'll be too tired to go, Jack?" said the doctor.

"Too tired? Didn't I keep up well to-day?" said the lad quickly.

"Capitally; but you look done up."

"I shall be ready in the morning," said Jack shortly.

"Don't attempt too much at first, Jack," said his father.

"Oh no, I will not do that. But I can't be left behind."

There was no need for any question about the matter, for the captain now joined in the conversation again.

"I propose, Sir John," he said, "that we should have the first cutter and the gig to-morrow morning, and let the men row gently along the lagoon, close in shore. It will be a change; we can get along faster, and land as often as you wish. I could have the awning rigged up."

"Yes, capital!" cried the doctor. "If you decide on that, Sir John, I should advise a start at daybreak, and a halt for breakfast when the sun begins to get hot. But, of course, we should have some coffee and biscuit before we start."

The captain's plan was agreed upon, and in what seemed to be the middle of the night, Jack was awakened from a dream of watching a cup-headed mountain playing at throwing up and catching a huge red-hot ball, by a voice at his berth-side saying—

"Coffee's about ready, Mr Jack—t'other gents has begun to dress."

For some moments Jack stared at him stupidly. "What time is it?" he stammered at last. "Some bells or another, sir—I dunno; but the men have got the boats out, and the things in for breakfast and lunch. They were at it before I woke."

"I won't be long," said Jack, yawning, and wishing the expedition at the bottom of the sea, for he felt dreadfully sleepy, and as if he would have given anything for another hour or two's rest. It seemed absurd to be getting up in the dark when there was all the day before them, and altogether he was in that disposition of mind which people say is caused by getting out of bed the wrong way first.

The doctor noticed it as the lad left his cabin to find a comfortable meal spread by the light of the cabin lamp, and the odour of coffee coming fragrantly from a steaming urn.

"Here, look at him," cried the doctor. "Mind, or he'll bite."

"Why, Jack, my boy," cried Sir John merrily; "don't look so fierce as that."

"I didn't know I looked fierce," said the lad in an ill-used tone. "I can't help feeling tired and sleepy."

"Of course he can't," said Doctor Instow. "He had a very hard day yesterday. Here, I'll set him right. You go back to bed, Jack, and lie there till we come back. You'll be as fresh as can be then."

"What, let you go without me?" cried the boy, with a sudden display of animation. "Of course. It is too much for you."

"Give me some coffee, Ned," said the boy irritably. "Is there no new bread?"

"No, sir. Too soon. Dry toast, sir?"

"Bother the dry toast! you know I don't like dry toast."

"Yes, and it isn't well-made, Jack. You go to bed."

The lad gave the doctor an angry glance, spread some marmalade upon the dry toast, and began to eat and sip from his coffee as fast as the heat thereof would allow.

"Well, are you going to take my advice?" said the doctor, who was pretty busy over his own early breakfast.

Jack made no reply, but went on sipping his coffee, and feeling much better.

Sir John looked up, and raised his eyebrows a little.

"Doctor Instow spoke to you, my boy," he said gently, and, to the speaker's surprise, his son said coolly—

"Yes, father, I heard him."

"Then why do you not answer?"

"Because he doesn't expect me, father. He knows what I should say."

"Knows?"

"Yes, father; he's only making fun of me. He only said that to make me speak out."

"Then why do you not speak out? If you are so tired, it is excellent advice for you to go and take a good long rest."

"And be fidgeting in that hot berth, thinking about the adventures you are having? It would do me harm instead of good. Bring, me some more toast, Edward."

The doctor threw himself back in his revolving seat at the table, and clapped his hands on his knees.

"Well done, Jack!" he cried. "Bravo, lad! You've got the stuff in you that good strong men are made of, after all. You're quite right. I did want to stir you up and make you speak. Stop in bed all day! Not you."

The captain came in.

"How are you getting on, gentlemen?" he said in his bluff way.

"Nearly ready," said Sir John. "Then you will not go with us to-day?"

"No, sir. Let Bartlett have a turn, and I'll take care of the yacht. One word though. I don't for a moment think you will come across savages, but if you do I should like you to take the lead. You don't want to fight, only to get back safely to the yacht, so make the best retreat you can."

"Of course," said Sir John, and Jack looked from one to the other in an excited way, "I expect the doctor here would like a fight," said the captain with a grim smile.

"I! Why?" cried Doctor Instow, with a surprised look.

"So as to be getting a specimen or two to take home. I know what you naturalists are."

"Oh, pooh! nonsense! absurd!" cried the doctor, taking a good deep draught of the coffee Sir John's man knew so well how to provide. "Doctors want to save life, not to destroy it—clever doctors do; and I'm not such a very bad one, am I, Jack?"

"I can't talk properly with my mouth full," was the reply.

"But this is not breakfast, my boy," said Sir John, smiling.

"He's quite right, sir," said the captain. "Always make your hay while the sun shines, especially when you're travelling."

There was no sign of any light when they went on deck, to find the men in the boats, and the mate waiting with Edward who had slipped up by his side.

"Hullo!" cried the doctor. "You're not going, Ned?"

"Yes, he is, doctor," said Jack quickly. "I want him."

Sir John said nothing, but stepped down into the large boat.

"I'll go in the other," said the doctor.

"You'll come with us?" said the mate to Jack.

"No; I'll go in the little boat," replied the lad; and he followed the doctor, Edward, whose face by the gleam of one of the lanterns was puckered up by a broad smile of satisfaction, entering the gig after him.

"You'll be able to go a bit farther to-day, sir," said the captain at parting. "I'd halt at the best place you can find at mid-day, and have a good meal, rest for a couple of hours, and then make the best of your way back."

Sir John nodded.

"Save the men all you can, Bartlett. You have the sails."

"Yes, sir," cried the mate. Then the oars dropped into the dark water and they rowed away, the lesser boat about a length behind.

They seemed to Jack to have started too early, for it was very dark, and the lanterns they carried in the bows shed a strange light across the smooth water. There was the black forest on their left, and the ghostly-looking reef with its billows on their right, with the dull thunderous roar sounding strangely awe-inspiring, and the boy could not help feeling a sensation of nervousness as he thought of what the consequences would be if they rowed on in the dark to a part of the lagoon where the protecting coral bank came to an end.

"You're very quiet," said the doctor suddenly, from his seat in the stern sheets. "What are you thinking about?"

The boy told him.

"Shouldn't have much chance then, my lad," said the doctor. "But no fear, we should have ample warning long before we came to such a spot. The water of the lagoon would not be like this. Perhaps, though, there is not another opening, for though the waves are always breaking on the outside, the little coral insects are always building on the in. But only think; we must be passing over the most wonderful specimens here, and we can't see a thing. How long is it going to be before the light comes?"

"It's coming now," said Jack, pointing up to his left at a bright golden speck that seemed almost over their heads, and once more they witnessed all the glories of a tropic sunrise, the change from darkness to light being wonderfully quick, and soon after their eyes were aching with the beauties of coast and lagoon.

"Oh, this is tiresome," cried the doctor; "fancy wasting our time hunting for danger when there are such chances for collecting. Look at those birds flying into that grove."

"Yes, and this glorious garden under us. It's so clear that the bottom seems close enough to touch with the hand."

"Look at those fish too. Did you ever see such colours in the sunshine?" cried the doctor.

"There goes a snake," said Jack, "quite a big one; and what's that long shadowy-looking creature?"

"Small shark," said the doctor. "Take notice. Water's tempting for bathing, but it won't do here. There's a shell! Why, Jack, that great oyster must weigh a couple of hundred-weight!"

"What's that?" cried Jack. "Father's pointing to the shore. I see: a lizard. No, it's too big; it must be a crocodile."

"Couldn't be in a bit of an island like this. It is, though. Ah, I see, there's a little river runs up into the land. Look, it's one of the valleys. I wonder the water's so clear. Comes over rocks, I suppose."

"There he goes," cried Jack, for just then the great heavy saurian, which had crawled out at daybreak to have a nap in the warm sun, divined danger, shut its jaws with a loud snap, and rushed clumsily into the water, giving its tail a flourish as it disappeared in a heavy swirl.

"I should have liked his head," said the doctor, "but he may keep it for the present. We'll remember this place and come and look him up another time."

"Is it true that their horny skulls can't be penetrated by a bullet?" asked Jack.

"I should be sorry to trust to it if a man was taking aim at me with a rifle, Jack. Oh no: I dare say if you shot at one and it hit the beast at a very sharp angle it might glance off, but a fair straight shot would go right through one of them. Look at that butterfly—or moth."

"There's something drinking—two somethings—four or five. What are they?"

"Legs and loins of pork, all alive oh!" said the doctor merrily. "Dear me! and we must not fire at them. What a pity! Look at that little fellow. He's just the size for the larder."

"You mustn't speak so loud, doctor," cried Jack, laughing; "the pigs hear what you are plotting against them."

"Seems like it. My word, how they can run!"

"And swim," cried Jack. "I did not see that fellow in the water."

For one had suddenly appeared from behind a rock about a dozen yards from the sandy shore. It was swimming as easily as a dog, in spite of what old proverbs say about pigs and the water, and it was evidently making eager efforts to reach the sands and rush after its companions, which had probably been making a breakfast off shell-fish, and were now disappearing among the trees.

"Ah! look at that," cried the doctor.

For suddenly the pig threw up its head, screaming dismally, and pawing at the air.

"Stupid thing! it could have reached the sands in another half-minute."

"It won't now," said the doctor, reaching back to pick up his double gun.

"Let's row and try and save it from drowning," cried Jack eagerly.

"It isn't drowning," said the doctor quietly. "Look! there it goes."

Still squealing horribly, the unfortunate little animal suddenly seemed to make a dart backward several yards farther from the shore, but with its head getting lower, till the water rose above its ears, and as it still glided farther, less and less was visible, till only its wail-producing snout was above the surface.

"Poor wretch! it must be in a terrible current," cried Jack. "Row, row, row."

The men pulled hard, but the doctor shook his head and laid down his gun, for the pig's snout disappeared with a horrible last gurgling wail.

"Yes, it's in a terrible current," said the doctor, "going down something's throat."

"What!" cried Jack, upon whom the truth now flashed.

"Yes, crocodile or shark has got him, my lad. Another warning not to try and bathe."

"Yes, and to try and kill all the crocodiles and sharks we can."

"Which comes natural to all men," said the doctor.

"See that, Jack?" came from the other boat.

"Yes, father. Horrible."

A soft wind began to fan them as they rounded a well-wooded point, and the men stepped small masts and ran up a couple of lug-sails which carried the boats swiftly gliding along over the hardly rippled water. But the lovely garden below was now blurred and almost invisible, so the attention of all was taken up by the shore along which they coasted, and for hours now they went on past cocoa-nut groves, park-like flat, lovely ravines running upward, and down which tiny rills of water came cascading; past three huge black buttresses of lava, the ends that had cooled in the water of as many streams of fluent stone; and above all, grey, strange, dotted with masses of rock, seamed, scored, and wrinkled, rose from out of the dense forest, which rail up its flanks, the great truncated cone, above whose summit floated a faint grey cloud of smoke or steam—which they could not tell.

But when mid-day arrived they had seen neither hut nor canoe, and in accordance with the captain's instructions they rowed into the mouth of a little river and landed in a lovely shady ravine, whose waters at a couple of hundred yards from the lagoon were completely shaded by the boughs of ancient trees.

Their halting-place was a pool, at whose head the advance of such salt tide as ran up was checked by a huge wall of volcanic rock, down which trickled the bright clear waters of one stream, while another took a clear plunge only a few yards away right into the pool.

"What a place for a lunch!" said Sir John, as the occupants of the two boats now met on shore, and Mr Bartlett placed one of the two keepers from each boat in good places for observation of sea and land, so as to guard against surprise.

Edward was now in his element, and while men went with buckets to get water from the springs by climbing up the side of the huge lava wall, he spread a cloth for the gentlemen's lunch and emptied a flat basket.

The sailors soon selected their spot a dozen yards away, and their preparations were very simple.

"Hold hard a minute," cried Edward to the men as they returned with the buckets filled. "I want one of those. Let's see which is the coldest. Here, Mr Jack, sir, just you come and try this," he cried the next minute, and on the boy approaching eager enough, the man plunged a glass into the first bucket and dipped it full of the most brilliantly clear water possible, and handed it very seriously to his young master.

"Oh, this won't do, Ned," cried the boy; "it isn't cold—why it's hot."

"Hot it is, sir, but just you taste it. I did."

Jack took a pretty good sip and ejected it directly.

"Ugh!" he cried with a wry face. "It's horrible; hot, salt, bitter, filthy, like rotten eggs; and yet it's as clear as crystal."

"Yes, sir, it's about the worst swindle I ever had."

"Here, father—Doctor Instow," cried the boy; and they came up and tried the water in turn, and looked at each other.

"Regular volcanic water," said the doctor. "Why that would be a fortune in England; people would take it and bathe in it, and believe it would cure them of every ill under the sun, from a broken leg up to bilious fever. There's no doubt where that comes from. Look how full it is of gas."

He pointed to a stream of tiny bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass.

"Sea-water ain't it, sir?" said Edward respectfully; "but how did it get up there?"

"Sea-water? no, my man. Beautifully clear, but strongly charged with sulphur, magnesia, soda, and iron. Which spring did it come from?"

"That one which shoots out into the pool, sir," said one of the men.

"And is the other the same?" cried Jack.

"No, sir; cold as ice and quite fresh."

Jack and the doctor climbed up to see the sources of the two springs, finding the hot not many yards from the edge of the rocky wall, where it was bubbling up from a little basin fringed with soft pinky-white stone, while the bottom of the pellucid source, which was too hot for the hand to be plunged in, was ornamented with beautiful crystals of the purest sulphur.

The source of the cold stream of fresh water they did not find, for it came dancing down the dark ravine, which was choked with tree-ferns, creepers, and interlacing boughs laden with the loveliest orchids, and their progress was completely stopped when they had advanced some hundred yards or so.

"The beginning of the curious features of the place," said Sir John as they sat down to their pleasant meal, gazing through an arch of greenery at the sapphire lagoon and the silver foam of the billows on the creamy reef half-a-mile away.

Never did lunch taste more delicious to the rapidly invigorating boy, never was water fresher, sweeter, and cooler than that of which he partook. Then a good long hour's rest was taken as they all lay about listening to the hum of insects, the whistle, twitter, and shrieking of birds; and beneath it all, as it seemed, came the softened bass from the reef.

"What do you say to a start back, Mr Bartlett?" said Sir John at last, as he glanced at his son, who had just risen and gone knife in hand to dislodge a cluster of lovely waxen, creamy orchids from a tree overhanging the pool.

"I think we ought to be going soon, sir," said the mate.

"Here, Jack, my lad, what's the matter?" cried the doctor, springing up, as he saw the lad holding the flowers he had cut at arm's length. "Ah! stand still! Don't move whatever you do."

"Help, help!" shouted Edward. "Snakes! snakes!"

"Down flat, my lads, quick!" cried the mate; and as the men obeyed he pointed out across the lagoon to where a great matting sail came gliding into sight, looking misty and strange as seen through the veil of foam hanging iridescent about the reef, and twice over rising up sufficiently for the long low hull of a great sea-going canoe crowded with men to come into sight.



CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

AN ADVENTURE.

Jack did not see the canoe, for his attention was taken up by the little serpent which had suddenly flung itself upon his hand, as he disturbed the cluster of flowers, and struck at his arm sharply—twice.

Sharply does not express the way in which the reptile attacked him, for the whole business from its springing, coiling, and striking seemed instantaneous. The effect upon the lad was peculiar. He had man's natural horror of all creatures of the serpent kind, and as he broke off the sweetly-scented bunch of flowers a pang shot through him—a sensation of pain which made him turn cold and wet, while his senses felt exalted, so that sight, smell, hearing, and feeling were magnified or exaggerated in the strangest way, but his muscular power seemed to have failed. His man's cries for help sounded deafening; the fragrant odour of the orchids made him feel faint; the little serpent appeared enormous, and its eyes dazzling, while the cold touch of its scaly body against his bare hand was of some great weight, and when it rapidly compressed his fingers with its folds, to give itself power to strike, and struck twice, the concussion of the lithe neck and jaws felt like two tremendous blows which paralysed him, so that he stood there as if turned to stone, with his arm outstretched staring down at the—as it seemed to him—gigantic head, which glided about over his enormously swollen arm, the sparkling malicious eyes seeming to search into his, and then about his arm for a fresh place at which to venom.

It was in its way beautiful, in its golden-brown and greenish tints, while the back appeared to be shot with violet and steel, as the light which flashed from the glittering sea was thrown up beneath the trees. Jack was so utterly fascinated for the time being that his eyes took in every detail, and he noted how the reptile's tightly-closed mouth resembled a smile of triumph, and thought that the tiny forked tongue which kept on flickering in and out of the orifice in the front part of the jaws mocked at him as the creature laughed silently at his helplessness.

"It has killed me," was the predominant thought in the boy's mind, as he stood there for what seemed to be a long space of time, with Edward shouting for help and calling upon him to act, the words thundering in his ears.

"Throw it off, Mr Jack, sir. Chuck it away. D'ye hear me? Oh, I say, do something, or you'll be stung."

But the lad did not stir, merely remained in the same attitude with his arm outstretched. He was, however, fully conscious of what was going on, and he watched with a feeble kind of interest the action of the man, wondering what he would do.

For Ned, as he grasped his young master's peril, did the most natural thing in the world to begin with, he called loudly for help; but fully grasping the fact that as he was nearest the first help ought to come from him, he dashed to Jack's side.

"Ugh!" he cried angrily, "I can't abear snakes and toads. If I touch him he'll sting me too. Tied himself up in a knot too. Don't try to chuck it off, Mr Jack, the beggar will only be more savage and begin stinging again. If I could only grab him by the neck I could finish him, but he'd be too quick for me. Here, I know. That's right! Stand still, sir."

This last was perfectly unnecessary, for the lad could not have stood more motionless and rigid if he had been carved in marble.

"What a fool I am!" muttered Ned. "Thinking about cutting sticks when there's something ready here to be cut. I don't want a stick."

He whipped his long hunting-knife out of the sheath fitted to his belt, and the light flashed upon the keen-edged new blade which had never yet been used.

"Now then," he said softly, "if I can only get one cut at you, my gentleman, you shan't know where you are to-morrow."

The plan was good, but not easy of performance, for he could not cut straight down at the reptile's neck without injuring Jack's arm, and for a few moments he stood watching and waiting for an opportunity, but none seemed likely to occur, and the serpent still held on by the boy's wrist, and the front of its long, lithe, undulating body kept on gliding about over the brightly-ironed white duck sleeve, the head playing about the hollow of the elbow-joint, turning under the arm, and returning to the top again and again.

"I can't get a cut at him—I can't get a cut at him," muttered Ned; and then a happy thought came: he stretched out the point of the glistening blade toward the serpent's head, till it was a few inches from it.

"I don't like doing it," he muttered fretfully; "it's running risks, and setting a dose myself, but I must—I must;" and he made the blade glitter and flash by agitating his hand.

It had the desired effect, for the head was raised sharply from the lad's arm till it was six or seven inches above it, and the reptile seemed to be attracted for a moment by the bright light flashing from the steel.

Then the head was drawn back sharply, and darted forward as Ned expected, and with a slight jerk from the wrist he flicked the blade from left to right.

"Hah!" he cried joyfully, as the head dropped at his feet, and the long thin body writhed free from the lad's hand and wrist; "a razor couldn't have took it off cleaner. Hurray, Mr Jack! He half killed himself. But don't—don't stand like that. You're not hurt bad, are you?"

"Here, let me look," cried the doctor, who had now climbed up to where they stood, closely followed by Sir John. "Snake, was it?"

"Yes, sir; there's his body tying itself up in knots, and here's his head."

As he spoke, the man stooped down quickly, made a dig with the point of his knife, and transfixed the cut-off portion through the neck just at the back of the skull, and the jaws gaped widely as he held it up in triumph.

"Here, let me see," cried Sir John excitedly. "Yes, look, Instow, the swollen glands at the back of the jaw, and here they are like bits of glass—the poison fangs. Jack, lad, where did it strike you?"

"Strike me?" said the lad feebly, and shuddering slightly, as he stood with his eyes half-closed, and dropped the cluster of orchids.

"Yes; speak out, quick!" cried the doctor, grasping the lad by the arm. "Where are you hurt?"

"Twined round my hand, and bit at my arm twice—just there."

He stood pointing dreamily at the thickest part of his forearm, just where the jacket-sleeve went into wrinkles through the bending of the joint.

"Yes, I see," cried the doctor. "Here, Ned, man, jump down there and get my flask. You'll find it in my coat. A plated one full of ammonia."

Ned leaped in a break-neck way down the lava wall, and the doctor forced his patient into a sitting position and stripped off his jacket. Then he snapped off the wrist button and turned up the shirt-sleeve, to begin examining the white skin for the tiny punctures made by the two bites, while Sir John knelt by him, supporting his son, who looked very white and strange, and as if he were trying to master the sense of horror from which he now suffered.

"See the places?" said Sir John hoarsely.

"No," replied the doctor, shifting his position and raising the arm a little. "The fangs are like needle-points, and make so small a wound. Can't see anything. Whereabouts was it, Jack?"

"Just there," said the lad, speaking more decisively; and he laid his left finger on his arm. "Two sharp blows."

"And a keen pricking sensation each time?" said the doctor, looking curiously at his patient.

"No; I did not feel anything but the blows."

"Here's the silver bottle, sir," panted Ned.

"Hold it," said the doctor. Then to Jack, "Did the snake strike at you anywhere else?"

"No."

"Pray, pray give him something," cried Sir John impatiently; "the poison runs through the veins so quickly."

"Yes," said the doctor quietly, as he wrinkled up his forehead, and, dropping the boy's arm, he caught the jacket from where it lay.

"Nothing here," he muttered. "Pish! Wrong sleeve."

He hastily took the other, and turned the sleeve up to the light.

"Hah!" he cried; "here we are. Look, Meadows!"

"Never mind the jacket, man," cried Sir John passionately.

"Why not?" said the doctor coolly. "Nothing the matter with the lad. Touch of nerves. Horribly startling for him. See this?"

He held up the sleeve, and there upon the puckered part were two almost imperceptible yellowish stains, in each case upon the raised folds.

[Half a page of text missing here.]

"I couldn't help it," said Jack.

"Of course you couldn't," said the doctor.

"But father thinks that I was a dreadful coward."

"Then he ought to know better," said the doctor quickly. "Nothing to be ashamed of, my lad. Imagination's a queer thing. I once fainted because I thought I had cut myself, while I was skinning a dog which had been poisoned. I was a student then, and knew the dangers of wounds from a poisoned knife; and, by the way, we must take care of the wounds from poisoned arrows. Well, when I washed my hand there wasn't a scratch. You couldn't help it, Jack. Any man might be seized like that after seeing Death make two darts at him and feeling him strike."

[Half a page of text missing here.]

"Is any one hurt?" said a voice then; and Mr Bartlett's head appeared above the edge of the lava wall.

"No; all right. Only an alarm, and a narrow escape. How about the savages?"

"They're gone in the direction of the yacht, gentlemen, and we must get back as quickly as we can."

"Ah, look! look!" cried Ned excitedly, as he pointed out to sea; "there's a canoe—two canoes—three."

They followed the direction of his pointing finger, and saw plainly enough three long, low vessels full of men gliding by, with their matting sails glistening in the sun, and not two miles out from where they stood.

"Worse and worse," said the mate. "We must get back to the yacht, gentlemen."

"Of course," said Sir John, drawing a deep breath. "Why, there must be a hundred men in those canoes."

"Quite that, sir, I'm afraid," replied the mate. "Quick, please. It will be terrible if they attack the captain while he is so short-handed."

"But he has the big guns, and the men are well-trained," said the doctor, as they hurried down to the boats.

"What is the use of them, sir, when a crowd of reckless savages are swarming over the sides? He is lying at anchor too, and the yacht is made helpless."

The men were soon in their places, pulling a long, steady stroke, and thinking nothing of the hot sunshine.

"It is of no use to try and hide ourselves," said the mate, "for it is a race between us who shall get there first."

"But they can't know the yacht is there," said Sir John.

"Perhaps not, sir; but they will soon sight us, and then run for the opening in the reef, if they were not already going there."

"Well, there's one advantage on our side," said the doctor; "they can't attack us till they get through the reef, so we're safe till then."

"Yes, sir," said the mate bitterly; "but I was thinking of the captain, and his anxiety, alone there."

"Yes, of course," said Sir John; and he looked at the mate when he could do so unobserved; and it seemed to Jack that he thought more highly of Mr Bartlett than ever.

They had been rowing abreast, with the waters of the lagoon perfectly smooth; but as they began to round one of the huge buttresses of lava which had run down into the lake, they saw that the water all beyond was disturbed by a breeze.

The mate started up and began to give his orders directly. The mast in the bigger boat was stepped, the sail hoisted, and he shouted to one of the men to throw a line from the bows of Jack's boat, to make fast to their stern.

"We can take you in tow, doctor," he said, with the men still rowing and the sail flapping; then a little spar was set up from the stern, and a triangular sail hoisted from the bows to the mast in front.

"Four men in here," cried the mate; "unless you two gentlemen would like to come."

"No; we'll stay here," said the doctor. "Eh, Jack?"

"Yes; we'll stay."

"You'll manage better with men who can work, we shall be in the way."

"I want them for ballast to steady us with all this sail up," said the mate, smiling; and without any pause the second boat was drawn close up astern, four men crept into the leader, and the rope was allowed to run out again.

"Think we're going to have a fight, Mr Jack?" whispered Ned, as the doctor sat forward trying to make out the canoes through the sparkling cloud of spray here about a mile away; "It seems like it, Ned; but I hope not."

"You hope not, sir?"

"Of course."

"Oh, well then, I needn't mind saying I hope not too. I never was anything in that line, sir, even when I was a boy."

"What difference does that make?"

"Difference, sir? Oh, all the difference. Men can fight, of course; but if I was a king, and wanted to have a good army, I'd make it of boys."

Jack stared at him, and in spite of the peril of their position, felt disposed to smile.

"Why?" he said at last.

"Because they can fight so. They're not so big and strong; but then they're not so easily frightened. They're always ready for a set-to, and 'cepting where there's snakes in the way, they never think of danger, or being hurt. And when they are hurt, the more they feel it, the more they go, just like horses or donkeys."

"Excepting in the case of snakes," said Jack bitterly.

"Oh, don't you mind about that, sir. I was as scared as you were, I can tell you. I remember when I was a boy I wasn't good at fighting, and I used to get what we used to call the coward's blow, and that was the rum part of it."

Jack stared.

"Ah, you don't understand that, sir. But it was rum. You see it was like this; t'other chap as was crowing over me because I wouldn't fight, would give me an out-and-out good whack for the coward's blow, and then he wished he hadn't."

"Why?" asked Jack, after a glance at the doctor, who was still in the bows.

"Because it hurt me, and made me wild. And then I used to go at him and give him a good licking. That's what I was when a boy, sir, and I am just the same now; I don't feel at all like fighting, and, coward or no coward, I won't fight if I can help it; but if any one hurts me, or begins to shoot at us, I think I shall get trying what I can do. But you see it won't be fist-fists."

"No," said Jack thoughtfully; "it will not be fists."

"Hi! look out!" shouted Ned. "You'll be over."

For a sudden puff of wind had caught the boat in front, and she heeled over so much with the large spread of sail that the water began to creep in over the leeward side. But at a word from the mate half-a-dozen men shifted their positions to windward, and there were two or three inches clear once more, as the boat with her three sails well-filled began to rush through the water.

"And now they're goin' to take us under," said Ned, nervously seizing the side with one hand. "My word, we are beginning to go."

"Yes; this is different to rowing," cried the doctor, as their boat danced about and ran swiftly through the disturbed water left by their companion. "But, unfortunately, the wind will help the canoes as much as it helps us."

"But if it does not help them more, we shall be up to the yacht first."

"There's another side to that, Jack," said the doctor; "suppose they sail faster than we do. What then?"

This was unanswerable, and they sat back in the boat, running through the water with a little wave ever-widening on either side.

"I hope the painter won't give way," said the doctor at last, "and that they will not leave us behind."

"They'd miss us directly," said Jack. "Their boat would go so much faster."

"Couldn't go faster than she is. Why, Jack, it must be a clever canoe that can beat us."

"Goes too fast to please me," whispered the man at the first opportunity. "Strikes me, Mr Jack, that one of these times when they swing over to the left so they'll drag us under, so that our boat will fill and go down; and if we do, what about that there pig?"

"What pig?" said Jack wonderingly.

"Why, you know, sir, close in there as we came along. If there's things in this water that can pull down pigs, won't they be likely to pull down us?"

"There's plenty of real trouble to think about," said Jack quietly, "without our trying to make out imaginary ones. The boat will not fill."

"Eh? what's that?" said the doctor; "this boat fill? Oh no; she rides over the water like a cork. Can't see anything of the enemy, Jack; the spray along the reef makes a regular curtain, and shuts off everything. I hope it hides us well from our black friends, for I don't want to get into a row of that kind. Well, Ned, if it comes to the worst, do you think you can manage a gun?"

"Cleaned Sir John's guns often enough, sir."

"Yes, but can you shoot?"

"That means holding the gun straight, sir, and pulling the trigger. Oh yes, sir; I can do that."

"That isn't shooting: you have to hit."

"So I suppose, sir; but some of the governor's friends, who come down in September and October, go shooting in his preserves and over the farms, but they don't always hit anything."

"But you will try if we want you, eh?"

"Yes, sir, if the governor orders me. And what about a cutlass? Can you handle that, do you think?"

"Don't see why not, sir. I'm pretty handy with a carving-knife, both with meat and on the knifeboard."

"Well," said the doctor gravely, "I hope we shall not have to come to anything of that kind, for all our sakes."

"How long will it take us to get back?" said Jack, after a silence, during which the thoughts of the danger seemed to be chased away by the beauty of the shore along which they glided.

"Hours yet," said the doctor. "This wind will not last. If it would, we might be there before the canoes."

Very few greetings passed between the two boats, for every one engaged in the race seemed in deadly earnest. There was the possibility of the people proving to be friendly, but as in all probability these great sea-going canoes belonged to a fighting fleet upon some raiding expedition, the hope in the direction of peace was not great.

About half of the way had been accomplished, when, as Jack sat watching the foaming waves break upon the reef, he caught sight of something misty and weird-looking apparently just on the other side, but it was too undefined for its nature to be made out.

He pointed it out to the doctor, who gave his opinion directly.

"One of the canoes," he said. "That's good, Jack. It shows that they have not distanced us."

A hail from the mate told them that they too had sighted the canoe from the boat in front; but though they gazed long and watchfully, they saw no more.

Not long after the wind dropped suddenly, came again, and then fell altogether, the appearances being so marked that the mate had the sails lowered, and stowed after the oars had been going for some time, and now they made out from the boat astern that Mr Bartlett had divided his crew into two watches, one rowing hard while the other rested.

It was all plain enough to those astern that everything was admirably arranged, so that the well-drilled men shifted their places without any confusion or difference in the speed of the boat, the men changing one at a time.

And so the afternoon wore on.

"We shall be no sooner," said Jack at last. "In an hour it will be dark."

"Yes," said the doctor with a sigh. "It would not matter if the blacks are not there first, but the worst of it is, as soon as it's dusk the captain will be lighting up that firework business for a beacon, and that will show the canoes where to steer."

It proved just as he said. The darkness came on with awful rapidity as soon as the sun disappeared beneath the waves, all searching the edge of the reef most anxiously during the last rays which flooded the sea; but in vain; and then for a full hour they rowed steadily on, guided by the gleaming of the fireflies against the black darkness ashore, but all at once a bright star shone out.

"There she is!" cried Jack excitedly. "Look how Mr Bartlett has turned the boat's head straight for the light."

"Yes; we shall follow the bright path straight away now," said the doctor.

"How are you getting on there?" came from the boat in front. "Hungry, or will you wait till we get on board?"

"We'll wait, father," shouted Jack.

"Yes. Only half-an-hour now. Mr Bartlett thinks we've distanced the canoes."

They were soon to learn for certain, as they followed the bright path of light which minute by minute grew clearer, till they could see as it were right up to the anchored yacht.

"Shall we hail the captain?" said Jack.

He had hardly spoken when he felt a jar run through the boat, and found that the towing-line had been hauled upon till the prow of the second boat touched the stern of the first.

"Hist there!" said the mate. "Perfect silence, please. We must creep alongside so as to give warning. There must be no hailing. This is the most dangerous time."

"How far are we away?" said the doctor in a whisper.

"About five hundred yards."

"How is it the oars go so quietly now?" whispered Jack.

"Muffled, and the men are just dipping them, so as to keep a fair way on."

The next two or three minutes were passed in silence, Jack's boat having once more dropped astern to the full length of the rope.

The lad had risen to stand up and watch the line of light extending from them right up to the source of the rays ahead, and from his position he could look right over the foremost boat.

"How deceptive it is!" he thought. "One can hardly tell how near we are, and—ah!—"

"What is it, boy?" whispered the doctor.

For answer Jack pointed right ahead to where something dark could be seen crossing the line of sight.

"One of the canoes," said the doctor quickly. "We shall be right aboard her."

He crept forward, but Jack forestalled him, and was hauling in the line till they wore close up.

"Mr Bartlett—father!"

"Yes; what is it?"

"You are rowing right into one of the canoes."



CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

A SHARP LESSON.

The men ceased rowing, and Jack sat with his heart beating painfully, his mind full of memories of accounts he had read concerning encounters with savages, and wounds inflicted by poisoned arrows and spears.

As he sat in the intense darkness, watching the brilliant star-like lamp, it all seemed to be dreamlike and impossible that he should be there—he who so short a time before was leading that quiet student life in the study or library at home.

But there was the black canoe gliding by the light, and like so many silhouettes the dark, clearly-defined figures of the savages busy paddling.

No, it could not be the canoe he had seen first, it must be another, and the next minute he had proof thereof, in this canoe passing across the disk of radiant light, leaving it for a few moments clear, and then another appeared, and he watched the little black silhouettes steadily moving as they paddled, till the long boat had gone by, when another appeared and passed.

"Give way!" came in a whisper; then the oars dipped silently, and they began to move onward.

"We must make a dash for it, or they will surprise the yacht," whispered the mate. Then he leaned over backward, and the exciting words came—"Astern there. Guns ready and load."

A faint whisper or two from the mate's boat told that the men not rowing had received a similar command, and Jack, as he thrust a couple of cartridges into the breech of his gun, felt that the canoes would be paddling round the yacht, and have reached the other side by the time they were alongside.

"Are we not going to shout and alarm Captain Bradleigh?" whispered Jack to the doctor.

"No; sit still," said that gentleman sternly. "He and your father are the leaders. We have only to obey. Don't fire till you receive orders."

A low deep sigh came from Ned, but it was accompanied by a faint "click—click; click—click."

"Both barrels at full cock," thought the lad. "But how horrible to have to fire at any one, even if he is black."

But all the same, horrible or no, the lad cocked both locks of his own piece, and felt the flap of his cartridge satchel to try whether everything was handy if he had to reload; and just then, as they glided silently along in the full glare of the great artificial star, a feeling of angry resentment ran through him, and he said half aloud—

"Serve them right. Why can't they leave us alone?"

"And so say all of us, Mr Jack," whispered Ned, startling him he addressed, for he was not aware that his words were heard.

The only sounds to be heard now were the regular heavy boom of the breakers on the reef—a sound so deep and constant that it had already begun to count as nothing, and curiously enough did not seem to interfere with their hearing anything else, acting as it did like the deep bass in an orchestra or great organ, and making the lighter, higher-pitched notes more clear—and the light soft dip of the boat's oars as the men silently pulled home.

Then, all at once, as Jack strained his ears to catch the paddling of the canoes, the deep voice of Captain Bradleigh rang out as if from the other side of the yacht.

"Ahoy! What boat's that?"

Then in the midst of a dead silence there was a quick flash, and Jack held his breath, expecting to hear the report of a gun, but his eyes conveyed the meaning of the flash, not his ears.

The darkness was profound, for the light from the great star had been shut off in their direction, and directly after the shape of the graceful yacht stood out clearly, every spar and rope defined against a softly diffused halo as the star was made to perform the duties of a search-light, sweeping the lagoon beyond and showing plainly the long low shapes of four great canoes, each with its row of men, and about a quarter of a mile away.

Then all was black as pitch.

"Now for it, my lads," whispered the mate. "Pull with all your might."

The men made the water hiss as they drew hard at the long tough ash blades, and above this sound they could hear the hurry and rattle of something going on aboard the yacht. Quick short orders were issued; then Captain Bradleigh's voice was heard again.

"Ahoy there! Sir John!"

"Right. Here we are."

What the captain said in reply was confined to the word "Thank—" The rest was smothered by a sharp crash, and a check which took the small boat in which Jack sat sharply up against the other's stern.

The crash was followed by a savage yelling and splashing; and as they went on again directly, the men pulling with all their might. Jack was conscious of struggling and blows, and he grasped the fact that they had rowed at full speed against the stern or bows of another canoe which had been invisible in the darkness, and that some of her occupants had seized the men's oars on the port side. The blows, he found, were delivered by their men to shake off their adversaries, some of whom he dimly saw struggling in the water as the boat passed on; and, unable to control himself, Jack leaned over and caught at a hand just within his reach, the fingers closing upon his in a fierce grasp and nearly jerking him out of the boat, a fate from which he was saved by Ned, who seized him round the middle and dragged him back.

"Got him?" cried the doctor excitedly.

"You should have said 'Got it,' sir," grumbled the man, with a drawing-in of his breath as if in pain. "But he's all right. I wish I was."

"What's the manner, man?"

"Him a-holding his gun like that. Oh, my crikey! What a whack I got on the cheek!"

"What an escape, Jack!" cried the doctor.

"But the poor wretch was drowning. Hark! their canoe must be sinking— men struggling in the water."

"Never mind: let them," said the doctor. "They can swim like seals, and their canoe will float like a log."

"But the sharks!" panted Jack.

"We can't stop to think of them," said the doctor.—"Are you all right there?"

"Yes, and alongside," cried the mate, and there was the rattle of the oars being laid in.

"Thank heaven!" cried the captain from the deck, as both boats ground against the yacht's side. "Quick, all aboard! Now then, hook on those falls and up with the boats."

The boats were run up to the davits in regular man-o'-war fashion, the gangway was closed, and the men who were busy went on rigging up a stout net about six feet wide along from stanchion to stanchion, and shroud to shroud, while, after a word or two of congratulation upon their safe return, the captain went on giving his orders.