The Pearl Fishers

up and, supporting himself by the mast, looked around. Then, sh

and the sky just above the broken poin

that, and he guessed it at once to be the

tand out on the palms of his hands; then, taking hi

pring on him Pacific fashion, he might either be driven out of reach of the shelter before him or sunk. But the wind held fair and steady wi

wed thready near the palms. She was wrecked

ng but the palm tops, the palm stems, a

gain, Floyd made out the

t an even ring; here and there it swelled out into great spaces covered with palms and artus and hotoo trees. Near the break in the reef for which

nt right up by some g

had either blown away or flogged themselves to pieces, taking with them gaffs and booms. Then he remembered that the masts, still standing by some miracle, would certainly have snapped like c

g on the reef. The boom of it came to him now against the wind, and the boat[Pg

welled and sank it never ceased, for it was the tune that

ed the lagoon, the sound of the surf grew

white coral sand and great spaces of foliage; palms and breadfruit, mammee apple bushes and cane, colonies of tr

extraordinary pl

of had decreed this great space of water as a pleasure lake, ordered the white of sand and green of foliage,

, and Floyd, glancing over the thwart, saw the white sand patches and coral lumps o

up his hand to shade his eyes, and then with a sh

dely made tent, and by the tent, waving its arm, stood the figure of a man; by the ma

es with the wreck; they were evidentl

in dubiously white clothes, and the figure seated on the sand revealed itself as a girl;

ater the stem of the boat was grinding the sand of the b

fficiently to keep her from drifting off with the

ded man; "and where in the name

as not till this moment that he had borne in on him the fr

Never, never, never! You're real, aren't you? Don't min

said the

was[Pg 20] the name, bound from Frisco

tly, and she was looking at him with eyes that showed little interest and less emotion-the

ored, with a string of scarlet beads showing on her neck about the scanty

cus that grew in profusion i

, trader and part owner of the Tonga. There she is"-jerking his thumb at the wreck. "Hove up in a gale a month ago; we've been

lo

as any other name in

ikewise. Then Schumer, taking a pipe and some tobacco

anaka. Not much between them and beasts except the hide. Well, tell us abou

r listened, smoking, lolling on his back and

ow we've got your boat, and a boat's a handy thing. We can get across the lagoon easy, for there's no getting round on foot beyond that clump of cocoanuts on the shore edge there. There's a quarter mile or so of broken coral

our cargo?"

s washed overboard-and several passenger Kanakas under him. Isb

eplied t

oftness of her voice and the way she avoided the "y," or rather

g to whatever he could hold when the great smash came. I don't know how I[Pg 22] escaped. Providence, mostlike-same with Isbel, though I guess she's so little account she escaped the wa

glad you were saved. Good Lord, it's only coming on me now, the whole business; it's just as if

er ag

one would say in striking a bargain; he was tanned by sun and wind, and despite his name he spoke English like an Englishman; sometimes the faint

like

re stuff worth salving-not that if I had a derrick and more boats and a ship to lade the st

tuff, and a tin box with the ship's

d you say-

told

wish it was; all the same, it's worth having, for there's no kno

rd the wreck, Floyd

ands-that is to say, islands made of solid land and surrounded by a coral ring or brea

variety, an atoll island in whos

riety; the lagoon was of an irregular form, circular a

flourished; one might say that the ring inclosing the lagoon

n pier of the reef. It was not so great a feat, after all, for the reef was lower than elsewher

he fact that her masts were still standing formed another incident in

forceps; the planking, as I have already said, was stripped from the port side right to midships; she lay with a list to port, and through the great gaping wound where t

ined for the King of Apaka, who was in revolt against German rule, and who was anxiously awaiting the consignment-these

" said Floyd,

venture. There's a man at Sydney who's my partner. Well, there's no use crying over spilled goods; let's try and do what we can. Now you are here we may be able to salve

yd; "anything's bette

law hold of the other end of this case, and yo

er seemed to pay[Pg 25] especial attention to the salving of provisions. Perhaps with that keen brain of his, which had carried him so fa

nd then knocked off and came bac

ire, while Floyd and Isbel got

to grill some of the flesh. He also boiled some water for coffee, and in hal

f it's more a ring of mountaintops just showing with coral bridging between; anyhow, there's lots of water-at least enough for us. Well, we'll take your boat out in the morning and have a good look at the lagoon, and see what

ous, dreamy and less loud to the ears of Floyd than when he had first landed. In a little time he would not hear it; or, rather, he would not notice; it was one

w minutes' silence; "what about that

ship's money

es

e boat still," sai

e lay high and dry on the sa

the embers of the fire, and, taking his place on the sand be

d the contents of the bag ont

p its face over the eastern reef edge, lit the pile which Floyd was now stirring with his finger, while S

as yet, and when she spoke

cing only a disgusting form of pidgin English. It is impossible to reproduce the inflections, the softness

more than that, the[Pg 27] missionary who had brought her up had guarded her from th

re it would be impossible to say. There was a great deal of mystery about Isbel, centuries

lence at last, "that's a decent pile,

will belong to his next of kin; he hadn't a wife and f

u've nailed half the boodle. You said the chap that fired the schooner was Coxon's brother-in-law; well, it 'pears to me you've suffered a good bit from his re

s and money bac

id he; "there's lots of time to think over the

ck of hanging here doing nothing. I'm going to turn in. I sleep in the tent, and there's room for you,[Pg

e trodden sand and the tent; the human beings whom the Fates had brought together on this lost and lonely s