The White Waterfall

ter above my right eye when he met me on the deck the mo

that patch of shadow l

he qu

lied, touching the plaster

ng wise in a day or two," he murmured. "She said you would when

toward me. "Do you think we'll put

nk so," I re

there," he muttered. "I don't care what you think of the proposition. This t

his words choked my mirth. Whether it was the little brush with the Kanaka or the gloomy forebod

ained by running away if we d

at?" stamm

nd if the captain is in league with Leith, the yacht wouldn't leave till

nly thinks of the silly specimens that he is going to collect down here.

me they insist

n the hands of a scoundrel and they wouldn't let him go alone. They think they c

eauty of it as I saw it in the fresh morning sunlight made my heart pound violently against my ribs. The prettiness of Miss Barbara made the quiet dignity of the elder sister more n

ted my plaster, and I squirmed as I s

y just after I retired and I felt sure that war canoes had surrounded us. They always surround the ill-fated ship, don'

estions at me, and he stood near Miss Edith w

o-day," I replied. "I tripped over a coil of

. Whether it was caused by my hastily constructed lie or by the girl's inquiries I could not tell, but my dislike for the clumsy gia

uld convince me of his ignorance of the

ell of bad weather, Mr. Verslun," he d

are," I replied. "We are ru

fessor was slightly indisposed, and he demanded that his daughters remain with him in the cabin. The selfishness of the

g more than mortal," he growled. "I try to keep on good terms with the old bone me

amused at the you

would send to some old research society in the States. When I didn't show

bled a huge pile of rounded boulders which a sudden puff of wind might bring toppling down upon us. The faint scouting puffs of air-"the devil's breath" of the poetical Polynesians-whined through the stays, but the

instant, as if debating whether she would run or cower before the onslaught, then she dipped her nose into the mad lather that rose around her and plunged forward. T

she sprang out of the lather, those devilish, snarling, snaky waves sprang after her, slapping at her flanks, tearing and biting at her like a pack of wolves. There's an awful likeness to a wolf pack about storm waves. When you see them a

, and it was lucky for us that she was. The storm that came screeching after us from way across the Coral Sea was one of those high-powered freak disturbances that juggle with lumps of water like a vaudeville

ad race to the eastward. The Kanakas became demoralized with fear, and I forgot the trouble hanging over the heads of

mercifully, dragging the screaming islanders back to their work by the hair of their heads, and heaping upon them curses that were strange and blood-curdling. That he was a good sailorm

crew, but from the way he hazed the niggers during the storm I was convinced that it was not through any fear of them that he ordered me to leave my assailant alone. The conviction did not increase my love for h

e song of Black Fernando's hell, was caught by a huge wave and pounded hard against the cabin. The mad turmoil of water swept his nearly l

r memory. Late that afternoon he was holding the wheel with Soma, the big Kanaka who had j

ed, as I put down my head. "I tell

manner in which he tried to express his

He tell it to me one big secret all that talk about

o catch the words the other was shrieking, and as I was more

in the morni

wondering as I clung to the rigging what the pu

g after the flying yacht. A watery sun peeped out from between the driving cloud masses, the rays gl

e on deck, and there was a peculiar look up

t nigger you res

on

es

abou

he remarked. "The fool can't be found, so

be interested in the reasons why Big Jacky, his companion on the wharf at Levuka, wished the whereabouts of the white waterfall to remain a secret, and now his disappearance blocked my inquiries. I felt annoyed with myself

arch and fired a

he was helpe

d slowly. "Why do

ght his narrow escape of the morn

girl poked her head out of the companionway, and I hastened to assist her out on deck. It was her first sight of the damage which the storm had done to

n, we are a wre

've weathered the worst of it and we're still sound. The storm centre has slipped

d I was so busy noting the beauty of the hand that I had no eye for the sallow face that peeped from

place for you, Mi

cross-examine me upon the amount of damage we had sustained. I thought that the white, shapely hand tightened its grip upon my wet sleeve at the moment Leith's ba

nly roused his temper. Very cautiously he climbed along the heaving deck to the point where w

ith!" he

er head sharply.

f those seas is liable to come aboard at any moment, and

l too, Mr. Leith," she retorted. "Mr. Verslun is holding on to me in case one of thos

d shadow across a yellow plain. He slackened

"Your father is too ill to look after you at this moment, so

that resembled talons, but the girl made a

ried fiercely. "How dare

hand, and I thrust my shoulder forward to bump him off. The Waif nearly stood on her end at that instant, and he

king a glance at the brute on the wet planks. Leith picked himself up, gripped a loose backstay with his left hand

he rolled about in the wash; then Soma, the Kanaka who jerked the knife at me, rushed from the galley door and dragged him to his feet. The native steered him to the companionway, where he stood for a momen

g to the rigging, his boyish face wear

e; "but don't think you've walloped him. He'll come back