i^^
 
 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP
 
 SEEING NO MOTION IN THE MAN*S BODY, HE ... TURNED 
 
 rx OVER WITH A JERK " (see page 150)
 
 THE CRADLE 
 OF THE DEEP 
 
 cAn cAccount of the cAdventures of 
 Eleanor Channing and John Starbuck 
 
 BY 
 
 JACOB FISHER 
 
 DU NLAP 
 NEW YORK 
 
 With a frontispiece In full color from 
 
 a painting by 
 MODEST STEIN 
 
 GROSSET 
 PUBLISHERS :
 
 Copyright, 1912, by 
 THE FRANK A. MUNSEY COMPANY 
 
 Copyright, 1912, 
 
 BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY 
 (INCORPORATED) 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 THE COLONIAL PRESS 
 C. H. 8IMONDS & CO., BOSTON, U. 8. A.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 I. THE WRECK 
 
 II. ON THE BREAST OF THE WATERS . . 
 
 III. THE SECOND OFFICER TAKES CHARGE 
 
 IV. IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT 
 V. THE BATTLE WITH THE WAVES 
 
 VI. MONSIEUR AUBERT EXPLAINS . 
 
 VII. Two MEN AND A WOMAN . 
 
 VIII. STARBUCK ISLAND .... 
 
 IX. WITH DEATH IN THE CUP . 
 
 X. THE CLEAN AIR OF MORNING . 
 
 r . XI. WHAT MANNER OF MAN . 
 
 XII. THE RAISING OF THE DINGHY . 
 
 XIII. IN THE BONDS OF SERVICE 
 
 XIV. THE HUSK OF CONVENTION 
 XV. THE GIVING AND THE TAKING . 
 
 XVI. TREASURE 
 
 XVII. SHANGHAIED 
 
 XVIII. ALONE 
 
 XIX. THE ESCAPE 
 
 XX. BY DEAD RECKONING .... 
 
 XXI. BY THE WORDS OF MEN . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I 
 
 13 
 27 
 
 38 
 
 57 
 
 73 
 
 93 
 
 US 
 
 131 
 
 156 
 
 171 
 
 185 
 207 
 
 221 
 232 
 
 243 
 251 
 263 
 272 
 290 
 299 
 
 2135401
 
 THE CRADLE OF THE 
 DEEP 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE WRECK 
 
 " HERE, damn you, get back ! " 
 
 The spat of a bare fist on soft flesh accompanied 
 the oath and was followed by the thud of a man's 
 body striking the deck. 
 
 " This ain't the Bourgogne, you frog-eater. 
 Women go first on this ship, savvy that ? " 
 
 The second officer of the South Pacific liner Mar- 
 quesas, San Francisco for Manila, leaned for an 
 instant to gaze into the face of the man he had 
 struck, but, before he had time to satisfy himself as 
 to the extent of the damage done, another dull roar 
 shook the ship and the deck heaved sickeningly as 
 the whole fabric of the steamer shuddered under her 
 death blow. 
 
 1
 
 2 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 The second shock was not so heavy as the first, 
 which had come without warning some few minutes 
 before, when, for some reason probably never to 
 be explained, the dynamite stored under the cargo 
 in the forward hold had awakened the slumbering 
 passengers with its sullen detonation. The force 
 of the explosion apparently had torn the bottom 
 out of her, and, though the discipline that made 
 possible the shutting of the few compartment 
 doors she possessed was admirable, the Marquesas 
 was already several feet down by the head when 
 the second shock burst the forward bulkhead and 
 sent the water p6uring into her fire-room. 
 
 To add to the predicament, the disaster came in 
 the dark of a moonless, starless night. The flash of 
 rockets and the glare of the Coston signals burning 
 on the superstructure illumined the sea round about, 
 but with the dynamo stilled and the ship's lights 
 out, the decks below were too dark to distinguish 
 more than the hurrying to and fro of vague shapes, 
 as the remnants of the crew stood to stations and 
 the officers here and there tried to quiet the fright- 
 ened passengers. The order, " Stand by to aban- 
 don ship," had been given, pending an examination 
 as to the extent of the steamer's wounds, but now it 
 was evident that she was doomed and that no time 
 was to be lost in getting out of her. 
 
 Worn out as they were by a four days' northeast
 
 THE WRECK 3 
 
 gale into which the ship had run some days after 
 leaving Honolulu, during which the starboard pro- 
 peller had raced itself off the tailshaft and one blade 
 of the remaining screw had dropped into two thou- 
 sand fathoms of water, the passengers as well as the 
 crew were too fatigued both in body and mind to 
 feel to its full extent the portent of this new dis- 
 aster. Officers, who had hardly left the bridge 
 during the gale, were being wearily kept on duty 
 by the fact that the nearly unmanageable steamer 
 had been blown far to the southward of her course, 
 and by dead reckoning and such observations as 
 they were able to make, was in dangerous proximity 
 to the reefs and countless islands that dot the 
 Pacific in the region north of the equator and to the 
 west of the one hundred and eightieth meridian. 
 
 The full force of the first explosion, coming 
 directly under the forecastle where most of the 
 men except the deck watch and the engine-room 
 force were sleeping, had killed or maimed the 
 greater number, so that in the stress that followed, 
 work with the boats was slow and all were under- 
 manned though they bid fair to be filled to over- 
 burden with the passengers, of which the ship had 
 nearly a full list. Curiously enough, with the sec- 
 ond detonation, which increased the peril many fold, 
 the screaming and hubbub on deck lessened, and, 
 save for the sobbing cry of a woman here and there,
 
 4 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 order was fairly restored. Sharp and decisive now 
 came the orders of the captain from the super- 
 structure of the deckhouse aft, where he had taken 
 his station since the bridge had been wrecked by the 
 first blast. 
 
 " First officer's boat." 
 
 " Ready, sir." 
 
 " Lower away." 
 
 And the craft, crowded with huddled humanity, 
 sank from the davits to the washing sea alongside. 
 Safely launched, the boat pulled away from the 
 ship and lay at a little distance, the crew resting 
 on their oars. 
 
 "Second officer!" 
 
 Again came the high note from above and the 
 crispness and businesslike cadence of its tone in it- 
 self inspired confidence in the throng of men and 
 women who were awaiting their turn. But the 
 second officer did not answer. 
 
 " Mr. Steinway," called the captain to the third 
 officer, who stood near the rail working over a 
 jammed fall with bleeding fingers, " where is Mr. 
 Starbuck?" 
 
 " Haven't seen him since the last blow up, sir." 
 
 " Then take charge of his boat," continued the 
 captain as he peered through the darkness. " All 
 clear there?" he questioned as the third officer 
 finally jerked the rope free. " Then stand by to
 
 THE WRECK 5 
 
 lower. Lower away," he added as the last man took 
 his place, followed by Mr. Steinway in the stern- 
 sheets. 
 
 The other boats followed, one by one, until six 
 were in the water. All these were loaded deep with 
 passengers and such of the wounded members of 
 the watch below as had been got out of the wreck 
 before the second explosion made further rescue 
 impossible. The four boats that lay at the forward 
 davits had been so badly damaged as to be useless, 
 but by close packing the others were made to hold 
 the ship's company without resorting to the use of 
 the life-rafts. Though several were overcrowded 
 they were seaworthy enough in quiet weather and 
 the chance that they would be lightened through 
 the death of several of the injured men seemed al- 
 most certain. The boats in charge of the first and 
 third officers, the chief engineer, first assistant, 
 steward and purser all having gone, the captain 
 looked about him. 
 
 " Are all out of the ship ? " he bellowed to the 
 chief, whose boat lay nearest. 
 
 " I think so," came back the answer. 
 
 " Have you seen Mr. Starbuck? " 
 
 " No, sir, not since the second explosion. He 
 must have gone below for something and got 
 caught." 
 
 " Stagg," .called the captain to the boatswain's
 
 6 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 mate, who stood by the after gangway rail, " go 
 below and see if you can find the second officer." 
 
 The man started on his mission while the captain 
 stood waiting, viewing for the last time the wreck 
 of his command. No sound came save the gurgle of 
 the water pouring through the rent forward bulk- 
 head. The scream of exhausting steam from the 
 open escape valve had stopped and no more than a 
 murmur of voices rose from the nearby boats. The 
 people in the captain's boat sat silent, benumbed 
 with the suddenness of disaster, waiting for what- 
 ever else should come to them. The deck sagged 
 and rose, heavy and lifeless, and now and then the 
 ship tossed her stern high as the sea-filled fore part 
 settled lower. 
 
 " Can't find him, sir," came the hurried voice of 
 the boatswain's mate, as he appeared with a lighted 
 engine-room torch dropped by a fleeing oiler. 
 " I've looked everywhere for him," he added. 
 " She won't swim much longer, sir ; the 'midship 
 bulkhead is goin' soon." 
 
 " Take your place then and stand by," was the 
 captain's order as he made his way to the boat deck. 
 
 A last glance forward, where the water was al- 
 ready washing over the deck with the sluggish 
 movement of the ship, and the captain climbed 
 over the boat's gunwale. 
 
 " Lower away," he ordered.
 
 THE WRECK 7 
 
 !A moment before the second explosion the second 
 officer, Mr. Starbuck, was leaning over the man he 
 had knocked down. As he bent forward there 
 came to his ears a low cry, a woman's voice, with 
 grief and despair in its muffled note, from some- 
 where below him. An open port might have carried 
 the sound. Starbuck started as the roar of the de- 
 tonation shook the steamer and leaving the French- 
 man in the shadow where he lay, stepped across to 
 where the doorway of the forward companion gaped 
 black against the surrounding paintwork. Feeling 
 in his pocket for matches, he groped his way to the 
 stairs and stopped to listen. A faint sound caught 
 his ear and he descended quickly and listened again. 
 For a moment he heard nothing but the swash of 
 the flooded hold and the clatter of the loose wreck- 
 age and floating cases among the cargo. Then he 
 caught the sound again, unmistakable this time, as 
 that of a human voice which led him quickly to the 
 port side, forward, where the gangway past the 
 stateroom doors ended in a jumbled mass of de- 
 bris. Hurrying on, he could hear some one strug- 
 gling weakly with breath coming in laboured gasps. 
 Bending low, with a lighted vesta he explored a 
 gaping hole in the side of a stateroom and caught 
 a glimpse of a foot, a woman's, in motion, twist- 
 ing and turning in an effort to free itself from some 
 obstruction. With a shout of encouragement Star-
 
 8 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 buck tried the stateroom door but it was jammed 
 immovable. With fierce blows of his feet and fists 
 he attacked the panels of the side, the lower of 
 which, already splintered, came easily away, leav- 
 ing a hole large enough to admit his head and 
 shoulders. Squirming through the narrow space, he 
 lighted another match and saw, lying on the deck, 
 a young woman, held down by a broken beam 
 which lay across her legs. He pulled himself 
 quickly inside, and, as he did so, the feeble strug- 
 gling ceased. 
 
 " Fainted," he thought, as he peered at her. 
 " That couldn't have killed her." 
 
 Stooping, he braced himself for an effort and with 
 all the strength in his body pitted his weight against 
 that of the fallen beam. At first it would not give. 
 Angered by this, Starbuck suddenly increased his 
 effort and, with a heave, wrenched the timber up- 
 ward. It came a few inches only, but it was 
 enough, and grasping the woman by the shoulders 
 he drew her from underneath. He could not see 
 her features and lighted another match, looking 
 about meanwhile for water. There was a carafe 
 in the rack above the wash-bowl. He seized it and 
 poured the water liberally over her face as she lay 
 with her head on his knee. With the shock she 
 opened 'her eyes, and as the circumstances came 
 dimly back she stared at him in fright.
 
 THE WRECK 9 
 
 " Are you much hurt? Can you get up? " asked 
 Starbuck, as he raised her to a sitting posture. 
 " You will have to hurry. The ship is sinking 
 fast." 
 
 She made an effort to rise but fell back with a 
 cry of pain. 
 
 "Is your leg broken?" he asked, and receiving 
 no reply stooped to examine. " Move your legs, if 
 you can, and let me see," he ordered sharply. 
 
 He struck a match and held it up. The woman 
 started and rose to her knees, looking at him with 
 Staring eyes. 
 
 " Good," he said, " you can walk well enough. 
 You're Miss Channing. We'll have to be getting 
 out of here in a hurry. Grab what you can lay your 
 hands on and follow me through." 
 
 He made as if to raise her, and at last she spoke. 
 
 " My aunt," she faltered, " there, in the berth 
 I came to find her. I couldn't see and she I'm 
 afraid " 
 
 Quickly he made a light, and for the first time 
 saw the form of a woman in the berth, lying hud- 
 dled as if in pain. As he looked closer he discerned 
 a long sliver of wood from the splintered partition 
 protruding from her breast and a heavier fragment 
 wedged across her throat. A glance was enough, 
 but to make sure he placed his hand on her heart. 
 
 " She's dead," he said. " Come."
 
 10 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 Seeing that the girl stood in a daze he seized 
 her roughly by the shoulder and shook her, ex- 
 claiming as he felt the ship lurch drunkenly under 
 his feet: 
 
 " You've got to come quick or we'll be caught. 
 She's going down any moment." 
 
 In the darkness he felt for the hole with one 
 hand, and holding the girl with the other, squeezed 
 himself through, pulling her after him. Outside, 
 with his arm around her he groped to the stairway 
 and up it to the deck. Bearing her, he swiftly made 
 his way aft, shouting as he ran in a voice that rose 
 to a bellow when he realized there was no answer- 
 ing hail. Dropping her against the rail, he sprang 
 up a ladder to the top of the deck-house. It was 
 dark; the ship was deserted. 
 
 He sought for a Coston light in the after signal 
 locker but it was empty, the captain having taken 
 the last of the rockets and torches when he left the 
 ship. He could see the shadows of the life-rafts 
 and of the forward boats still hanging at the davits 
 but the latter he knew to be useless and the former 
 no one man could handle. Back he dropped to the 
 promenade deck and ran to the girl, who clung 
 silently to the rail. Grasping her arm he hurried 
 aft, and saw, swinging from its tackles, the small 
 work boat, made ready for launching but left still 
 above the deck. Leaping in he made sure it con-
 
 THE WRECK 11 
 
 tained a full water breaker and the small tin case 
 of biscuit always kept there. Oars, sail and mast, 
 boathook and oarlocks were in their places. He 
 hurried again to the girl. 
 
 "We're all right," he shouted. "We've got a 
 chance." 
 
 The sucking sound from below warned him to 
 hurry, and dragging her to the boat's side, he helped 
 her in and told her to sit still. Diving into the 
 nearest stateroom, one of the cabins of the upper 
 tier, he was seizing the bedding when he felt some- 
 thing round. It was a bottle. Without stopping 
 to learn the contents he dropped it into the pocket 
 of his coat and made for the deck again. As he 
 turned toward the boat his foot struck something 
 soft, and bending down he felt the moustache and 
 imperial of the Frenchman. The head moved. A 
 groan of awakening consciousness and the man 
 stirred and raised himself. 
 
 " Get up, if you want your life saved," rasped the 
 second officer, as he grasped the fallen man's collar 
 with his free hand. " It's lucky for you I thought 
 of getting this stuff. Get along there." 
 
 He hauled, pushed and kicked the half conscious 
 man into the boat, shoved the bow fall rope into his 
 hands and hurriedly gave directions for lowering 
 that a landsman might understand. He himself 
 manned the stern tackle and at a word the boat
 
 12 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 slowly dropped down the ship's lessening free- 
 board. 
 
 The sea was not rough and there was no difficulty 
 in launching the light craft. When she was in the 
 water the blocks were unhooked, and seating him- 
 self at the oars, with the girl in the stern and the 
 man in the bow, Starbuck pulled rapidly from the 
 steamer's side. 
 
 Black and monstrous lay the rolling bulk, dipping 
 farther down with each slow, lifeless heave, the 
 water frothing about her bows as she rose and sank 
 in the trough of the sea. They had not gone more 
 than a hundred yards when a muffled crash told the 
 second officer that the midship bulkhead had burst. 
 With a giant effort the ship threw her stern high 
 in the air, then lurched and settled, heaved again 
 and was gone for ever in the black depths. The 
 sucking whirlpool and the tossing flotsam alone 
 were left in the ghostly glow of the sea's phospho- 
 rescence. 
 
 As they watched, even this faint gleam disap- 
 peared, leaving them in their frail boat, alone with 
 the sea, rising and falling on its bosom, oven- 
 whelmed by its mystery, its treachery and its utter 
 loneliness. 
 
 It was very dark.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 ON THE BREAST OF THE WATERS 
 
 STARBUCK, at the oars, for a time sat silent. He 
 mechanically kept the boat's head to the seas, which 
 now and then lifted bubbling crests, throwing the 
 spume over the bow as the craft danced on the 
 rhythmic heave. The Frenchman, too far overcome 
 by the situation for words, cowered where he had 
 dropped down with his head on the forward 
 thwart. In the stern the girl sat, rigid and ter- 
 rified, with a hand convulsively clutching at either 
 gunwale. 
 
 Starbuck was listening. The other boats, he 
 knew, would lay a course to the north in an at- 
 tempt to reach the steamer lane between Honolulu 
 and Manila, from which the Marquesas had been 
 driven by the storm, and with straining ears he tried 
 to catch any noise of oars or voices that might be 
 borne to him on the breeze, but the only sound was 
 that of the wind itself and the tireless wash of the 
 sea. Standing erect he made a trumpet with his 
 hands and bellowed into the wind's eye, but only 
 
 13
 
 14 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 once or twice for he knew it was useless. The 
 steamer's lifeboats, manned with husky rowers, 
 loaded down though they were, could far outstrip 
 his single-handed efforts; but he must make an 
 attempt, he knew, to gain their company at once or 
 the chase would be hopeless. Catching a sound 
 from the man in the bow he turned on him 
 savagely. 
 
 " Here, you," he shouted, " get up on that thwart 
 and take an oar. You'll have to work your pas- 
 sage from this out." 
 
 As he spoke he reached for the man's collar and 
 hoisted him from the bottom of the boat, shaking 
 him into partial activity as he thrust an oar into his 
 hands. 
 
 " Now you keep stroke with me, and row. 
 Savvy? " he growled over his shoulder as he seated 
 himself at his task. 
 
 The Frenchman made a poor oar of it, though 
 roused by the apparent necessity of obedience he 
 tried to do his best; but his unskilled strength was 
 far below that of the other and the boat's head con- 
 stantly swung off. The sailor looked around in 
 disgust. 
 
 :< You're a pretty apology for a man, now, ain't 
 you?" he sneered. "Why, a wooden Injun could 
 keep his end up better than that." 
 
 He took possession of the oar again and for the
 
 ON THE BREAST OF THE WATERS 15 
 
 first time seemed to turn his attention to the woman 
 in the stern. 
 
 " Miss, do you think you could steer? " he asked. 
 
 She started at his sudden question. " I have 
 steered boats in quiet water," she answered, " but 
 perhaps that is very different. At any rate, I could 
 try." 
 
 " That's proper talk," was the approving answer. 
 " It'll give you something to think about anyway." 
 
 Bending over the stern to ship the rudder he dis- 
 covered, though the weather was warm, that she was 
 shivering. 
 
 "Cold?" he inquired. 
 
 And, in spite of her protest that it was nervous- 
 ness and excitement, he gathered up the bedding he 
 had taken from the steamer and wrapped it clumsily 
 about her. 
 
 " Now," he continued, " keep the wind square in 
 your face. I can't tell one point of the compass 
 from another, but the wind ought to be about 
 no'theast, so we'll head that way till morning and 
 then we'll maybe sight the other boats. The com- 
 pass of this dinghy is gone," he explained, as he 
 settled himself at the oars again. " And you," he 
 went on, with his head half turned to get an eye on 
 the Frenchman, " if you can't do any better, lie 
 still and trim the boat. You'll need your rest, too, 
 because you don't want to think your bein' a land
 
 16 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 lubber is going to let you sodjer out of work aboard 
 of this one." 
 
 With that he commenced to pull in short, regular 
 strokes with a seemingly tireless jerk of his arms 
 and the boat began to move, slowly, almost imper- 
 ceptibly among the heaving masses of black water, 
 but the momentary whirls of phosphorescence left 
 by the oar blades showed progress as they slid 
 astern, as did the faint streak of light in the boat's 
 wake. The steady click, clack of the oars in the 
 rowlocks, the regular dip and rise of the boat as it 
 crossed the long, slow swells, were calming in their 
 influence, and gradually, as the girl's nervous tension 
 relaxed, she found herself going back over the 
 events that had so shaped themselves as to place 
 her in such desperate straits. 
 
 Miss Eleanor Channing, only daughter of Major 
 Horace Channing, U. S. A., born and bred inside 
 the charmed circle of Boston's best culture, sat in 
 a cockle-shell of a ship's dinghy, in mid-Pacific, 
 with two strange men, to neither of whom had she 
 ever spoken a word before that night, and of whose 
 very existence she had been only dimly aware. 
 
 On her way to Manila, where her father was sta- 
 tioned for three years, with her aunt as chaperone, 
 she had all in an instant been cut off from relatives, 
 friends, and even the encircling arms of civilization 
 itself, and dropped, as it were, into an emotional
 
 ON THE BREAST OF THE WATERS 17 
 
 and physical chaos that she could hardly grasp, so 
 completely overturned was her mental and material 
 world. At first she had hardly realized, but now 
 that the first shock was over, her imagination began 
 again to assert itself and to reveal the impossibili- 
 ties of her position. 
 
 Brought up, as she had been, in the family of her 
 mother's sister, Mrs. Hartley, who took her when 
 a motherless infant of a week, she had never even 
 dimly imagined that the things of which she had 
 read as happening to those strange people who fall 
 in with wild adventures on land and sea, could, 
 within the bounds of probability, ever happen to 
 her. Her life in Boston had been the normal, regu- 
 lar existence, as child, school-girl and debutante, 
 of the typical young woman of her class ; very cor- 
 rect and with few excitements. She had studied 
 privately at home, attended a select and exclusive 
 school in the Back Bay, and had been duly presented 
 to the best circles of society. After two winters of 
 dinners and dances, luncheons and opera, she had 
 become engaged to Mr. Ellery Oldsworth, a young 
 man of her own caste, whom she had known from 
 early childhood, and who, just from Cambridge, 
 was making a pleasant start on the preassured road 
 to local importance by running errands for a bank- 
 ing firm, the name of which was a State Street 
 classic. It was not that he needed the seven dollars
 
 18 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 a week the position paid, but because it had been 
 ordained when he was born, just as his name had 
 been entered as a future attendant at the school in 
 which he prepared for college, and for membership 
 in the club which was a family tradition. Nothing 
 had been overlooked or left to chance in this young 
 man's life; all had been prepared, as it were, gen- 
 erations in advance, and, as a result, he naturally 
 enough came to look on the world as more or less 
 his indivdual oyster, which, already opened for him, 
 was being properly and duly presented on the half 
 shell, with condiments ready to his hand. 
 
 This atmosphere of security and well being 
 Eleanor Channing had shared. To her, adventure, 
 or any misplaced happening, was essentially vulgar. 
 At twenty-one she had already developed the half- 
 cynical viewpoint common to her type, from which 
 she looked out upon life as from an eminence from 
 which there could be no descent. She shared with 
 Mr. Ellery Oldsworth the knowledge that they were 
 admirably fitted to view the mildly amusing world 
 together from the same pinnacle, in the comfortably 
 uncrowded companionship of the common friends 
 who occupied that high position with them. 
 
 Her engagement having been announced in the 
 fall, she was now going on a short visit to her father 
 before the wedding, which was to take place the fol- 
 lowing September. Major Channing, being an
 
 ON THE BREAST OF THE WATERS 19 
 
 active and ambitious member of his profession, had 
 given but little time to the up-bringing of his only 
 child. Moved at rather frequent intervals from one 
 post to another, both at home and abroad, some- 
 times with his regiment, but more often on detached 
 duty on departmental boards or as military attache 
 to some embassy or legation, the reason for his 
 neglect was adequate. Having little beside his pay, 
 which was more than swallowed up in necessary 
 expenses incurred in the line of duty, he had been 
 well content to leave his daughter in the kindly 
 hands of her mother's people, who, having no chil- 
 dren of their own, had cheerfully and delightedly 
 accepted the trust. 
 
 The prospect of the trip was something of a bore 
 to Miss Channing, but after the whirl from coast to 
 coast in the chill of March, the warming breezes 
 of the Pacific had been welcome, and until the hur- 
 ricane she had been enjoying the rest the voyage 
 had brought from a winter of social gaiety. As 
 there was no one on board the Marquesas who could 
 for any possible reason be called interesting, she and 
 Mrs. Hartley had settled down to the monotony 
 of the long sea trip when their calm was interrupted 
 by the discomfort of the storm. This over, though 
 the accident to the ship's propeller had been an 
 annoyance, routine had been fairly restored, when, 
 with the appalling suddenness of a blow in the dark,
 
 20 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 the disaster had come which at once had robbed the 
 girl of every shred of the fabric of her environment 
 and cast her out on the breast of the waters, help- 
 less, comfortless, and alone. 
 
 The roar of the first explosion, the crashing tim- 
 bers, the cries of the passengers, the gurgling of 
 the water in the hold and the horrible uncertainty 
 had tried her to the utmost, but the second shock, 
 which gave the ship its death blow, and, in an in- 
 stant, had crushed out the life of her foster mother, 
 was a stunning impact on her mind that came back 
 to her with recurring horror. The sickening 
 thought of the moment when, hurled to the floor 
 of her stateroom, she realized that her aunt had 
 been killed, and that she herself was pinned down 
 to drown like a rat in a sinking ship, now and again 
 swept her with a cold wave of terror. 
 
 Her present predicament brought the thought of 
 her rescuer, the second officer. She had a remem- 
 brance of having seen him about the deck, but he 
 had only shared in the casual notice she had be- 
 stowed upon her circumstantial companions, as one 
 of the persons who hurried back and forth attending 
 to the running of the ship. Beyond that Starbuck 
 had made no impression on her. She did not even 
 know his name. The other man in the boat, the 
 Frenchman, she had been aware of as a rather 
 loudly dressed foreigner, whose manners were ap-
 
 ON THE BREAST OF THE WATERS 21 
 
 parently agreeable to a number of women he had 
 met, and to whom he assiduously devoted his atten- 
 tion. That he was anxious to enlarge his acquaint- 
 ance in her direction was plainly shown when, at 
 Honolulu, he had stood near her at the rail and 
 pointed out with carefully planned pseudo-sponta- 
 neity of manner, the tricolour of the French con- 
 sulate as the steamer neared her anchorage. An 
 absent and distinctly well-bred bow was all she had 
 vouchsafed to this advance, and even a shipboard 
 acquaintance needs a firmer foundation for con- 
 tinuance. From the passenger list she knew that 
 his name was Henri Aubert. His present cowering 
 attitude and the evident enmity of the second officer 
 did not rouse her sympathy, for even at the mo- 
 ment of leaving the ship, she had divined that there 
 was some good reason for the man's being left by 
 the others. 
 
 Coming back to the present she saw, or rather 
 felt, that something had changed. She remembered 
 that she had been instructed to keep the wind 
 squarely in her face, but now there was no wind. 
 Peering at Starbuck, she perceived that he was no 
 longer rowing. He sat at the oars with drooping 
 head, and, while the blades still held the water, they 
 no longer moved. 
 
 " He's asleep," she thought. " How can he sleep 
 at such a time? "
 
 22 
 
 She bent over and touched him on the arm. 
 Broad awake in an instant, the sailor looked quickly 
 around. 
 
 " I must have dropped off for a wink or two," he 
 said, as the oars began to move again. " You 
 should have waked me before," he added. " Not 
 that it's much use to pull, but I suppose we ought 
 to keep moving. The wind has dropped altogether," 
 he explained, " and they will be making better time 
 still, but we may have a chance in the morning when 
 we get our bearings. I can't tell how we're heading 
 with this smudge overhead." 
 
 " What are we to do if you don't find them ? " 
 asked the girl, leaning forward and speaking in a 
 low voice. " What chance have we to be picked 
 up?" 
 
 " Well, Miss, you see, it's like this. We were 
 blown off our course a long way by that rampaging 
 no'theaster, and we're pretty well out of the steamer 
 track. There's some trading vessels that come down 
 this way to the Marshalls and the Gilberts' but not 
 many this time of year, when the monsoon's chan- 
 ging and hurricanes like what we went through are 
 lying around loose. I should say our best chance 
 is to make one of these islands that must lie here- 
 abouts and wait until something comes along to 
 take us off." 
 
 " But that may be days," said the girl in hor-
 
 ON THE BREAST OF THE WATERS 23 
 
 ror, " and we have no provisions or clothes 
 or " 
 
 A short, low laugh from the man stopped 
 her. 
 
 " There'll be provisions enough I guess," he 
 said, " breadfruit and cocoanuts and yams and 
 bananas. We sha'n't starve on any island in these 
 waters." 
 
 The thought of provisions evidently started a new 
 train of thought, for, abruptly breaking off his ex- 
 planation, he felt beneath the thwart, groping for 
 something in the darkness. Not finding it, he 
 peered into the stern where the girl sat. 
 
 " Is there a small tin case under you there?" he 
 asked, leaning forward. 
 
 She felt but reported nothing. Quickly Starbuck 
 turned and stepped to the bow. Stooping over, he 
 uttered an exclamation of anger and smothered an 
 oath as he lifted to view a canister of ship's bis- 
 cuits, the top of which had been pierced with a 
 knife blade and turned back. 
 
 "You damned hog! " he fulminated, shaking his 
 fist at the man in the bottom of the boat. " I beg 
 your pardon, Miss," he broke off, turning back to 
 the girl, " but this this fellow here has been 
 
 
 
 broaching the provisions and he's made a hole in 
 'em that looks like he had been at it pretty steady. 
 Just keep your eye on that case for the rest of the
 
 24 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 voyage. I'll promote you from passenger to 
 steward, and nobody is to touch that tin without the 
 skipper's orders. Let's see if he's emptied the water 
 breaker." 
 
 Plunging forward again and seizing the wooden 
 keg that lay in its place on the boat's bottom, he 
 shook it. The swash of the water inside told him 
 that it had been tapped, though it was still nearly 
 full. 
 
 " Say," he drawled to the Frenchman, who now 
 sat up in an attitude of half-expectant anxiety and 
 fear of an attack, " what do you think this is, 
 Thanksgiving ? " 
 
 " I felt a faintness," spoke the Frenchman, depre- 
 catingly, " I have not had food for many hours and 
 the terrible excitement has made me ill. I saw no 
 harm." 
 
 " No," replied Starbuck, in deep disgust, " you 
 saw no harm in filling your skin with victuals that 
 may have to keep the three of us God knows how 
 long. You can understand right now, my friend, 
 that I am the skipper of this craft, and if you so 
 much as look at that tin or that water breaker with- 
 out my permission, I'll throw you overboard. 
 Now," he continued, " you need exercise to digest 
 that full meal, so get up there and have a rowing 
 lesson." 
 
 The man clambered to the midship thwart and
 
 ON THE BREAST OF THE WATERS 25 
 
 clumsily grasped the oars. At Starbuck's direc- 
 tion he began to ply them with more or less effect, 
 and the boat moved again, slowly onward through 
 the darkness. 
 
 The three spoke no more and the minutes 
 dragged by, the silence broken now and then by a 
 sigh from the toiling man as he shifted his grip on 
 the oars and straightened his bowed back in fatigue. 
 But Starbuck, merciless, sitting behind him, held 
 him to his task until a faint streak of light marked 
 the east and presaged the coming of a new day. 
 The first false gleam of dawn left the night blacker 
 than before, and worn out at last with thoughts and 
 fears, the girl slipped gently to the grating beneath 
 her feet and slept, huddled in the tangle of bedding 
 Starbuck had thrown around her shoulders, her 
 head resting upon her arm. 
 
 Finally, after a period that seemed interminable, 
 the day broke. The clouds on the horizon lightened 
 and lifted in a rosy streak, and the red ball of the 
 tropic sun shot up from the sea like a globe of 
 molten metal. Almost at once it was broad day- 
 light and Starbuck wearily 'stood up on his thwart 
 to gaze about the narrow circle within his vision. 
 His trained eye quickly scanned the wave crests but 
 saw only a waste of waters, gray-green under the 
 clouds overhead but turning white, then blue in the 
 distance, as the sky cleared before the growing day.
 
 26 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 No boats were to be seen, and with a glance at the 
 sleeping girl and a low growl of caution to the man, 
 he motioned him back to the bow and took the oars 
 again.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE SECOND OFFICER TAKES CHARGE 
 
 ALMOST immediately after finishing" his task Au- 
 bert fell asleep in his old place. The girl did not 
 stir and Starbuck hardly rowed, fearing to wake 
 her with the clump of the oarlocks. He sat looking 
 about him, now and then taking a short stroke to 
 keep the boat's head to the seas, for the man was 
 deadly weary, not having slept for two days before 
 the wreck. With consciously dulling mind he 
 conned the situation carefully; at the time of the 
 explosion he knew the Marquesas had been driven 
 into the region of the Eastern Carolines, but that 
 they now must be still at a considerable distance 
 south was apparent from the fact that after the 
 storm no land had been sighted. Since the wreck 
 the boat could have made but little progress in any 
 direction, for although it had been kept headed well 
 to the north, no very strenuous rowing had been 
 done and it was doubtful if they had fairly held 
 their own against the light breeze and the ocean 
 
 27
 
 28 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 currents, which, in this locality, followed the direc- 
 tion of the monsoon at a rate of about three miles 
 an hour. 
 
 Starbuck could see no possible hope of overtaking 
 the other boats, which, being larger and deeply 
 loaded, had probably been able to beat to the north- 
 ward under sail. This he was unable to do, the 
 dinghy being a light, shallow craft, which, though 
 fitted for a sail, could do little except before the 
 -wind. The possibility of their being picked up by 
 any vessel was extremely remote, in the mind of 
 the sailor, for trading vessels were scarce in these 
 parts, the Carolines and the Marshall group being 
 unremarkable for their wealth in either pearl shell 
 or copra. Most of the islands in this latitude being 
 of coral formation, either mere atolls or raised at 
 most a few feet above the level of the sea, vegeta- 
 tion was limited, and the population sparse and 
 shifting. 
 
 The idea of working far enough to the north to 
 intercept the Manila liners had been given only 
 slight consideration by the sailor. Against wind 
 and current it was a hopeless task, and now that 
 the chance of overtaking the boats was utterly lost, 
 the plan was not to be thought of. It seemed better 
 to bear to the southwest, and, taking advantage of 
 natural conditions, endeavour to make one of the 
 scattered islands that he certainly knew to be near
 
 SECOND OFFICER TAKES CHARGE 29 
 
 enough for practicable effort. Accordingly, he 
 swung the boat's head toward the mounting sun. 
 A flat calm prevailed and it was already uncomfort- 
 ably warm. 
 
 The boat lay sluggishly on the smooth swell, 
 rippleless, save where occasionally a small school 
 of flying fish rose and skimmed away to the south- 
 ward. The progress to be made with the oars was 
 slight, but he pulled gently. As the sun rose higher 
 the stillness and the heat became oppressive and he 
 remembered that he had neither eaten nor drunk 
 since leaving the steamer. He reached for the case 
 of ship's biscuit that lay beside the girl, and peer- 
 ing in, he now discovered that more than a third 
 of them were gone. 
 
 Angrily, with a smothered imprecation, he turned 
 to where the Frenchman lay with gaping mouth 
 and eyes that showed the whites beneath their bluish 
 lids. He started toward him, but remembering in 
 time the sleeping girl, stopped and sat down, exam- 
 ining again the half-emptied tin. 
 
 " How could the dog have eaten that much? " he 
 thought. " He couldn't have done it while I was 
 awake, and I didn't drop off for more than five 
 minutes." 
 
 He rose, slowly this time, and crept forward. 
 A coat the man had worn until forced to take his 
 turn at the oars, lay doubled and jammed into the
 
 30 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 bow. Stepping over the body of Aubert, he lifted 
 the garment and felt of the pockets. Each was 
 stuffed with biscuits and even the lining of the back 
 had been slit to serve as a hiding place for more. 
 Starbuck turned white with rage under his deeply 
 bronzed skin. His hands twitched and his chest 
 heaved as he restrained his righteous anger at the 
 sleeping man before him. Had he been alone he 
 might have strangled him as he lay, but something 
 in the sight of the still figure in the stern held his 
 hand. Slowly he emptied the coat of its contents, 
 placing the biscuits carefully back in the canister. 
 He even forebore to waken Aubert, for he did not 
 dare to trust himself to speak lest his rage should 
 loose itself. Grimly he stepped back to the mid- 
 dle of the boat and sat looking at the huddled 
 girl. 
 
 The wraps about her had fallen so as to almost 
 cover her face, shielding it from the sun, which now 
 was beating down in tropical fierceness. The heat 
 was great and the girl must be sweltering under 
 her coverings, he thought. Still she slept on and he 
 did not think of wakening her. Once more he 
 scanned the sea, standing on the thwart and shield- 
 ing his eyes with his hands. Nothing was visible 
 but the gleaming, satin-smooth, heaving water, 
 whose long, calm roller followed them, passed un- 
 derneath, and on, and on.
 
 SECOND OFFICER TAKES CHARGE 31 
 
 He was becoming restless and his mouth was 
 parched and dry. His tongue felt rough and his 
 eyes burned from want of sleep. Raising the water 
 breaker, he pulled out the bung and drank one or 
 two long swallows. The relief was grateful but he 
 wished for sleep more than for food or drink. Still 
 he did not dare to rest while both the others slum- 
 bered. He must never sleep, he reflected as he 
 caught a movement of the unconscious Frenchman, 
 except when the girl was awake; one must always 
 w^tch this man. To turn his attention from him- 
 self, he took up the oars and pulled steadily for 
 some time. He decided, on thinking it over, to say 
 nothing for the present of the attempt of Aubert to 
 secrete the biscuits. It would do no good and 
 would only serve to alarm the girl. He would take 
 good care that nothing of the sort should happen 
 again, and acting on this thought he moved the keg 
 of water from its place between the forward and 
 middle thwarts to the space between him and the 
 stern, where it would be constantly under his own 
 eye. As he did so he knocked his elbow against the 
 handle of an oar as it swung in the rowlock, and 
 stirring slightly, the girl awoke. 
 
 Drawing back the covering from her head, she 
 sat up, staring around her in a quick, startled way, 
 blinking sharply at the glare of light and stretching 
 her cramped limbs. As she noted Starbuck she
 
 32 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 nodded and lifted herself to the thwart behind 
 her. 
 
 " I must have slept for hours," she said as she 
 put her hands up to adjust her disordered hair and 
 to straighten the tie at her throat. 
 
 " It has cleared off, hasn't it," she went on, " and 
 it is so very warm." 
 
 She threw off the blankets with relief and dipped 
 her hands into the water alongside, passing them, 
 dripping, over her face and forehead, which she 
 presently dried with a minute handkerchief. 
 
 Starbuck watched these little operations with in- 
 terest. 
 
 " You're hungry, aren't you, and thirsty too, I 
 guess," he said, with a motion toward the water 
 keg at his feet. 
 
 The taste of salt water on her lips brought home 
 the dryness of her throat and she replied that she 
 would both eat and drink, if viands were plentiful 
 in mid-Pacific. 
 
 " Better eat one or two of these first," said Star- 
 buck, offering the open canister to her. " They're 
 dry, but the water is pretty warm by now and it will 
 taste better afterwards." 
 
 Miss Channing nibbled gingerly at the bread, 
 crunching the crumbs between strong, white teeth. 
 As she ate, she gazed about at the sea as if it were 
 a new thing. The calmness and the steadiness of
 
 SECOND OFFICER TAKES CHARGE 33 
 
 the boat gave her almost a sense of security as she 
 watched the strong, short strokes of the man at the 
 oars. 
 
 " I do not see any great shrinkage in our pro- 
 visions," she said, as she felt in the tin for another 
 biscuit, " I cannot believe that the man has taken 
 more than his share, and I believe you have not had 
 yours at all." 
 
 Words sprang to Starbuck's tongue that he had 
 difficulty in stopping. 
 
 " I have had enough," he said shortly, though as 
 a matter of fact he had eaten nothing. 
 
 " And now," said Miss Channing as she brushed 
 the fragments from her skirt, " may I have some 
 water, please ? " 
 
 " I'm afraid you'll find our cut glass rather 
 rough," answered Starbuck. " Will you have it 
 straight, out of the bung hole, or will you use the 
 bailing dish?" 
 
 The galvanized dipper that swung on a lanyard 
 from a brace, she inspected with a slight expression 
 of disgust as she viewed the greasy-looking, brown 
 bilge-water in the boat's bottom. 
 
 " I believe I prefer the keg," she said, and leaned 
 forward to lift it. 
 
 " Here," intervened Starbuck, " I'll hold it for 
 you. I could pour it into your palms but we mustn't 
 waste it. It's all we are likely to get."
 
 34 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 He held the breaker carefully while she applied 
 her lips to the somewhat large hole in its side and 
 awkwardly drank a few swallows. 
 
 The water was warm and evil smelling, but the 
 thirst of a night and a forenoon was compelling, 
 and though it sickened her, she felt better for the 
 grateful moisture in her throat and turned to ques- 
 tion Starbuck on the matter that was now uppermost 
 in her mind. 
 
 " You have not seen the other boats? " was her 
 question. 
 
 Starbuck shook his head. 
 
 " As I said last night," he replied, " they have 
 outrowed us four to one and we could not catch 
 them now if we had a motor. Our best chance is 
 land of some sort, if we can find it, and we are cer- 
 tain to do that. It is only a question of time. I 
 expect we shall catch a breeze later in the day," 
 he added, glancing to the northward, " and then we 
 may be able to use the sail and get on faster. 
 There's nothing to do now but keep moving as best 
 we can with the oars." 
 
 " And have you been rowing all this time? " she 
 asked. " You will wear yourself out. Have you 
 slept at all?" 
 
 Her anxiety seemed to have little sympathy in 
 it for the man himself, but the question was asked 
 more as one of the formal civilities which the occa-
 
 SECOND OFFICER TAKES CHARGE 35 
 
 sion seemed to demand. Strong and muscular as 
 Starbuck was, -his life as a watch officer of the 
 Marquesas had involved but little physical labour, 
 and, having grown somewhat soft, the exertions 
 of the past twelve hours had tired him more than 
 he would have supposed. Still, there was some- 
 thing of a challenge in the words of the young 
 woman before him, and though he knew that he 
 should take his sleep, he said nothing and buckled 
 to his work once more. 
 
 Sitting silent in the stern, Miss Channing, for the 
 first time, thoroughly inspected the man before her. 
 
 Starbuck was little more than thirty, somewhat 
 above medium "height, with a well knit figure, 
 straight-backed and of good proportions. He had 
 a broad brow and a firm, well cut jaw. His nose 
 was straight and his mouth wide. He still wore his 
 uniform cap with the insignia of the line, and under 
 it grew thick, crisp hair of a tawny colour, that was 
 not unbecoming to the red-brown face and neck it 
 shadowed. Withal, it was a somewhat stern but 
 ordinarily a pleasant face to look upon, and though 
 just now there were in it certain lines of fatigue and 
 care, there were other lines that plainly showed that 
 this was a man of resource, firmness and determina- 
 tion. He had taken off his coat early in the day, 
 and with sleeves rolled above his wrists, the girl 
 saw the blue and red marks of tattooing on one of
 
 36 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 his forearms. She looked closely, but could not 
 make out the design. It seemed to be some sort 
 of a fish. 
 
 Beyond Starbuck she saw the form of Aubert, 
 still sleeping, with his face now buried in his arms. 
 
 " That poor man ! " she exclaimed, " he will roast 
 alive." 
 
 To Starbuck there seemed to be a note of sym- 
 pathy in her voice, which had been absent in her 
 inquiries concerning himself. This he vaguely re- 
 sented, though he could not but admit that her re- 
 mark was reasonable. However he did not offer to 
 rouse the Frenchman and showed but little interest 
 in his comfort. The desire for sleep was becoming 
 irresistible, and it was only with the greatest effort 
 that he kept at the oars. 
 
 Finally he stopped rowing. The wind was still 
 absent, and though he scanned the sky with a 
 sailor's glance, he discovered no sign of a breeze. 
 
 Stooping, he picked up the biscuit tin and helped 
 himself to two. As he munched, Miss Channing 
 watched the hard muscles of his jaw that made 
 bulges come and go in his cheeks, and a little dis- 
 gusted with the fervour of his mastication, she 
 looked off over the dazzling sea, where the heat 
 waves were now rising in trembling, gaseous spirals 
 from the low wave crests. 
 
 His meal quickly finished, Starbuck washed it
 
 SECOND OFFICER TAKES CHARGE 37 
 
 down with a single swallow of water and turned to 
 her. 
 
 " Miss Channing," he said, " I must get a little 
 sleep. You must understand this; so long as we 
 three are in this boat, either you or I must always 
 be awake. That man, asleep there, is not to be 
 trusted. I have had good proof of it. Do you un- 
 derstand ? It is necessary that you keep awake, and 
 that you wake me if he wakes. I will give you my 
 watch and you must not let me sleep more than an 
 hour. If you notice any change in the weather or 
 if you see any cloud in the sky, no matter how small, 
 please call me at once." 
 
 Unused to taking orders from any one, much less 
 those of an almost common sailor-man, Miss Chan- 
 ning's chin went up a trifle and her eyelids lowered. 
 
 " Why, yes," was the reply, " of course, if any- 
 thing happens I will waken you." 
 
 He took out his watch, hanging by a leather 
 thong. 
 
 " Place this over your wrist," he said, handing it 
 to her. " There is nothing for you to do but keep 
 awake." 
 
 He rolled his coat into a ball, and, curling up in 
 the bottom of the boat between the centre and for- 
 ward thwarts, was almost instantly asleep.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT 
 
 THE long, hot, dazzling day crept on. The sun, 
 now almost at the zenith, sent down its impacting 
 rays upon the sea until it quivered with the reflected 
 heat. The dinghy was of iron and the paint began 
 to blister and bubble as the metal grew so hot 
 that it almost burned the flesh if a hand was 
 laid upon it. 
 
 Miss Channing, left to her own devices, thought 
 of forming some sort of shelter of the bedding on 
 which she now sat, but the best she could do was to 
 throw the heap over the grating to keep it fairly 
 cool against the time when it should be her turn 
 to sleep. The sun, beating on her unprotected head, 
 made her feel a little faint. She wished for a 
 parasol. 
 
 At last, fearing a heat stroke, she soaked in sea 
 water the neck and shoulders of the serge coat she 
 had worn when she left the ship and threw the gar- 
 ment over her head like a hood. The protection 
 was not great but it afforded some relief from the 
 
 38
 
 IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT 39 
 
 scorching rays, which seemed ever to increase in 
 intensity. Remembering vaguely of reading that 
 evaporation from a wet cloth would cool water in a 
 vessel, she dipped one of the light blankets in the 
 sea, and wrapped it about the water breaker, which 
 lay at her feet. She was thirsty again, but did not 
 attempt to lift the heavy keg. These things seemed 
 to be nearly the sum total of her possible activities 
 and after a time she sat still, suffering in the stifling, 
 parching heat from which there was no relief. The 
 calm was absolute. 
 
 Glancing from time to time at the huddled form 
 of Aubert, she wondered how the man could sleep 
 on so steadily. A slight snore from time to time 
 broke the stillness. All at once, as the boat heaved 
 to a large wave, she heard a clink of glass against 
 iron and at the same time caught sight of the neck 
 of a bottle, rolling slightly on the dinghy's bottom 
 and almost under the Frenchman's body. The ex- 
 planation was clear. The man was drunk. How 
 and where he had procured liquor was a mystery, 
 but the swollen eyelids and the redness of an ex- 
 posed cheek, together with the occasional stertorous 
 breathing, told the story well enough. For a time 
 she was undecided what to do. Her first thought 
 was to awaken Starbuck, but he had dropped so 
 instantly asleep that she knew that he must be in 
 great need of rest. The Frenchman could do no
 
 40 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 harm so long as he was in his present condition, she 
 reflected, and if he waked she would then only be 
 following instructions in rousing the sailor. So she 
 waited, disgusted and disturbed. 
 
 Her thoughts turned back to the steamer and to 
 her aunt, Mrs. Hartley, whom she had left there 
 lying dead by violence; she who had nursed her 
 from infancy, who had been the only mother she had 
 known and whose entire life had been spent so far 
 from the hateful turmoil of the world that her fate 
 was hardly to be realized. Utterly lonely, hopeless 
 and miserable, the girl pulled the coat further over 
 her face and wept softly. 
 
 As she raised her hand to dry her wet cheeks the 
 watch Starbuck had given her swung dangling from 
 its leather thong and she remembered that he had 
 said an hour. The hour was already gone and an- 
 other well begun. Still she did not arouse the 
 sleeper. What good, she thought ; he could do noth- 
 ing for her. Two hours passed, and looking up 
 from a long reverie, she noticed, far away, a small 
 gray cloud lifting over the horizon. It had little 
 meaning for her, but she recalled that Starbuck had 
 given it as a reason for disturbing him. She leaned 
 over the thwart and touched him on the shoulder. 
 He turned, opened his eyes and looked into hers in- 
 quiringly, at once awake and alert. 
 
 " I'm afraid' I have disregarded your instruc-
 
 IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT 41 
 
 tions," she said as he rose and stood erect, " but you 
 seemed so comfortable in your unconsciousness of 
 the heat that I had scarcely the heart to rouse 
 you." 
 
 He reached out for the watch, and glancing at it, 
 smiled. 
 
 " Perhaps it was just as well," he said. " I feel 
 like a new man." 
 
 " The thing that finally compelled me to speak to 
 you," she said, pointing with her hand, " was that 
 little cloud over there. It seemed so insignificant 
 that I thought it a slight reason, but as you specified 
 the smallest kind of cloud, I thought it best for you 
 to know." 
 
 Starbuck followed her slim, outstretched finger 
 with his eye and was about to speak when he was 
 interrupted by a cry of surprise from the girl. 
 
 " Why," she exclaimed, " it has grown so much 
 bigger!" 
 
 The gray dot had spread rapidly and was now the 
 size of a blanket, growing, even as they gazed. 
 
 Starbuck looked long and fixedly. His smile was 
 gone and a look of quiet grimness took its place. 
 
 " Well," he said at last, " it is likely to be cooler 
 before long." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " asked the girl, anxiously 
 searching his face. 
 
 " I mean," he answered, dropping his gaze to
 
 42 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 meet hers, " that it is likely to that we may get 
 a breeze," he finished. 
 
 " Do you mean by that that it will be a ' breeze 
 of wind,' as you sailors call a gale?" she asked. 
 
 " Well," he answered more volubly, " you see, in 
 this latitude, and at this time of year, when the sea- 
 son is changing, you can't always be certain what 
 may come up. It is nearly time for the no'theast 
 monsoon to shift to a sou'easter and the process is 
 sometimes one that kicks up a good deal of fuss. 
 But," he continued, reassuringly, " that don't look 
 to me like a blow though we may get a squall out of 
 it and some rain, and it will be just as well to make 
 things snug before it comes." 
 
 He turned to more firmly secure the boathook and 
 an extra pair of oars that were lashed under the 
 thwarts, when the girl touched his arm. 
 
 " I think," she said in a whisper, " that Monsieur 
 Aubert may need a little attention. Just before I 
 wakened you I noticed the reason, perhaps, for the 
 soundness of his sleep. There it is, you can see it 
 rolling just beneath his arm." 
 
 Starbuck looked and stiffened. With a growl he 
 was starting forward when the girl stopped him. 
 
 " Please," she said, " please don't have a scene 
 with him. He brought it from the steamer, I sup- 
 pose, and has an unfortunate habit. We, all of us, 
 are in a common danger here, and we should be
 
 IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT 43 
 
 tolerant of each other's shortcomings, don't you 
 think?" 
 
 " But," exclaimed Starbuck, anger rising red in 
 his face, " I brought that bottle from the ship. I 
 found it in a stateroom where I got the bed clothes 
 and took it along for emergencies. This hog must 
 have stolen it from my coat while I was rowing, and 
 he has probably drunk all there was. Such things 
 as this cannot go on. Why," he exclaimed, " if he 
 was to get what is coming to him he would go to 
 feed the sharks, under some captains I have sailed 
 with. It's more than stealing. It's mutiny. Sup- 
 pose he had stolen what little food and water we 
 have, and had the power to keep it. Why, he might 
 sit and watch us dry up and starve, while he 
 laughed in our faces." 
 
 " But why," returned the girl, " why should he 
 wish to do any such thing? There is food and 
 water enough to last us to land, isn't there? There 
 is no danger of our starving or going insane for 
 want of water, as I have read of shipwrecked people 
 doing?" 
 
 Starbuck was silent. He did not wish to frighten 
 her, but it seemed necessary that she should under- 
 stand. 
 
 " I hope," he said rather brusquely, " that in a 
 case like this my judgment is fit to be taken. I do 
 not want to alarm you needlessly, but the fact of
 
 44 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 our position is this ; we are somewhere in the mid- 
 dle of the Pacific Ocean in a small boat that is none 
 too seaworthy in such weather as we may meet. 
 We stand little chance of a rescue in these waters. 
 I intend to make an island, if possible, before our 
 food and water give out. How long it will take I 
 do not know. Every crumb of biscuit and every 
 drop of water must count for something. The bot- 
 tle of brandy that this French hound has drunk to 
 satisfy his thirst for alcohol might have swung the 
 balance in our favour at the last. Do you see now 
 what I mean? He is a thief; he is the sort who 
 would rob a baby of its bottle. And this is not the 
 first time," Starbuck went on. " This morning, 
 early, while you were asleep, I took from his pockets 
 and the lining of his coat more than a dozen bis- 
 cuits that he had hidden." 
 
 " Oh," cried the girl, " I knew there was some- 
 thing behind your treatment of him. And on the 
 ship, why was it that you kicked him into the boat 
 when we came away?" 
 
 "That!" Starbuck laughed grimly. "Oh, that 
 was because he was there at all. When I went for 
 the blankets I found him lying on the deck, where 
 he fell when I knocked him down as he was trying 
 to crowd into one of the boats ahead of the women. 
 I left him when I heard your cries from below and 
 forgot him when we came on deck. I stumbled
 
 IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT 45 
 
 over him again as I came from the stateroom and 
 hauled him along." 
 
 The explanation was given simply, as merely a 
 history of facts, with no hint of brutality or bluster, 
 but out of it stood one inference that caused Eleanor 
 Channing to pause and wonder, with a growing 
 tightness around her heart. " Because he was there 
 at all." Was it possible, then, that this man desired 
 to be alone with her, that he sought a pretext for 
 the elimination of the other? To have her to him- 
 self? This was a new thought and it struck her 
 almost as a physical blow. Up to that moment she 
 had only considered their common danger and the 
 chances of escape. That she was alone in a boat 
 on the open sea with two strange men was embar- 
 rassing, but the complication of personal peril on 
 her own account had not before shaped itself. Now 
 she not only saw the hideous possibility, but she 
 saw no escape. Such weakness and selfishness as 
 the Frenchman had shown certainly did not point 
 to him as a possible protector. On the other hand, 
 the attitude of Starbuck, up to the present time, 
 had been as impersonal as was possible under the 
 circumstances, and though brutal he might be, his 
 frank blue eye seemed to belie him. She tried to 
 put away the suspicion as unworthy, but doubt 
 lingered and grew in spite of her. The thing was 
 so impossible, yet so terrible in its possibility.
 
 46 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 Before she had time to formulate any attitude in 
 the light of her new fear, she noticed that Starbuck 
 was leaning over the prostrate Aubert. He raised 
 him bodily from the bottom and sat him down 
 heavily on the forward thwart. The man wobbled 
 soddenly, inert, his head bobbing, the saliva drool- 
 ing from his chin. She watched Starbuck scoop 
 water in his hand from overside and dash it in the 
 stupid face. Again and again he did it, but the 
 water was too warm to afford much of a shock, and, 
 seeing that his efforts were useless, he let the limp 
 body sink to the bottom of the dinghy, where it lay 
 on its face until the man, disturbed, rolled over on 
 his back, an ugly sight. She turned away. 
 
 Starbuck had picked up the bottle and was exam- 
 ining it. The cork was still in but the brandy was 
 at low ebb. Not more than a gill or two was left. 
 He came aft with it and handed it to her, saying : 
 
 " I blame myself for not looking out for this. 
 You must keep it carefully." 
 
 The sky had grown quickly overcast, and, as he 
 spoke, a puff of wind was visible, marking the water 
 to the northeast and turning the glassy surface to a 
 dark purple as it came on rapidly. Starbuck, erect, 
 watched it for a moment and abruptly seating him- 
 self, took up the oars. The first breath of breeze 
 cooled the hot air gratefully, but it soon passed and 
 though the sun was hidden, the atmosphere seemed
 
 IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT 47 
 
 to grow suddenly more oppressive than before. Its 
 stillness was the stillness of death. The sky had 
 turned to a sickly yellow, and the water, rippled a 
 moment before, now became a smooth, oily mass, 
 that rose and fell ceaselessly, without life or vigour. 
 
 Miss Channing could see the anxiety in Starbuck's 
 face as he scanned the clouds, which were now scud- 
 ding fast before an unfelt wind. Of a sudden the 
 squall broke. A driving blast seemed almost to 
 raise the boat bodily and hurl it forward with a 
 rushing and gurgling of waters as the stern lifted, 
 burying the nose of the craft in the sea. Shipping 
 the short tiller, Starbuck gave it into the girl's 
 hands, and shouted instructions for her to steer with 
 the wind. He steadied the boat with the oars, keep- 
 ing out of the trough of the fast rising sea. The 
 squall was coming now in sharp gusts that tore the 
 spindrift from the waves and sent it whirling over 
 the boat as the craft leaped forward. Cowering 
 under the blankets she had thrown about her head 
 and shoulders, the girl gripped the tiller with des- 
 peration, holding against the jerk of the rudder with 
 all her strength. Starbuck, battling with the oars, 
 but pulling effectively, nodded encouragement from 
 time to time as he dashed the salt water from his 
 eyes with his sleeve. 
 
 The sea was mounting rapidly, but by skillful 
 watermanship the sailor kept the dinghy's head
 
 48 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 before it and prevented the breaking masses of 
 water astern from engulfing them. It was hard 
 work at best, but doubly so with a novice at the 
 tiller. However, the excitement of battle growing 
 in her heart, the girl quickly caught the feel of the 
 water as it leaped and fell away behind her and 
 learned instinctively to humour the craft in its 
 course, thereby lightening to some extent the work 
 of the oarsman. 
 
 The wind gradually became steadier as the first 
 squall passed, the sky took on a grayer shade, and, 
 though it still blew heavily, it was apparent that the 
 worst was over for the time being. The seas grew 
 more regular, the short chop giving place to larger 
 but longer rollers that broke less often, decreasing 
 their menace to the boat. Starbuck, with watchful 
 eye, noted the signs and breathed a sigh of relief at 
 the passing of the flurry. No rain fell. 
 
 " That's the worst of it," he cried, as he shook 
 the water from his hair. " We shall get more wind, 
 perhaps, but it will be wind that we can count on 
 and I'm not sorry to see it. It was mighty hot 
 awhile back, and besides, it will help us on our way." 
 
 Cautioning the girl to keep the boat's head as it 
 was, he rose and unlashed the mast with its rolled 
 up sail, which lay beside him on the thwarts. 
 
 " I guess she'll stand a part of this," he said, as 
 he picked it up and crawled over the Frenchman.
 
 IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT 49 
 
 Quickly he stepped the light spar in place. It 
 was a leg o' mutton sail that he unfurled but, on 
 second thought he reefed the peak down some dis- 
 tance, so that the short boom rose at an acute angle 
 when the sail filled. Leading the sheet aft, he took 
 a turn around a cleat and motioned Miss Channing 
 to make room for him beside her in the stern. She 
 started to move from her seat, but the stern was 
 wide enough and he signed for her to sit still. He 
 took the tiller from her hand and settled back while 
 the boat leaped forward under its new impulse. 
 
 " Now we can feel that our day's run may amount 
 to something," he said. " I hate a pair of oars. 
 I've handled so many of 'em." 
 
 Steadied by the bit of cloth, the dinghy handled 
 well and as the wind did not increase perceptibly in 
 vigour, Starbuck had no difficulty in keeping her 
 running before it. By this time it was past mid- 
 afternoon and the desire for food and drink was 
 once more becoming oppressive. At his suggestion 
 the contents of the biscuit tin was counted and they 
 found to their dismay that during the squall, salt 
 water had splashed through the cut top, soaking and 
 ruining the upper layers. Minus these, less than 
 twenty biscuits were left in good condition. 
 
 ' Three goes in twenty, six times and two over," 
 counted Starbuck, as he caught Miss Channing's 
 look of dismay. " That makes six meals for each
 
 50 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 of us, one biscuit apiece and two over for the first 
 cabin, which must mean you," he grinned. " You 
 better eat one of those now along with your regular 
 ration. It's easier to keep your strength than to get 
 it back. How are we off for water? " he continued, 
 tapping the breaker with his foot. " She's pretty full 
 yet. It'll last longer than the bread, I'm thinking. 
 Why," he exclaimed, " I've been in a lot harder fix 
 than this, as far as food goes, and as for chances, I 
 would take a lay that we'll be eating bananas and 
 drinking cocoanuts by this time to-morrow, so 
 cheer up, Miss Ghanning. You've been a good 
 castaway so far," he added, smiling down at her. 
 
 She shivered a little and pulled the blanket closer 
 about her face. 
 
 Aubert, who all through the storm had lain as 
 one dead, now showed signs of life. With a groan, 
 he raised himself on his elbow, and looked about, 
 dazed, apparently, by the change that had taken 
 place. He groped cautiously with his hand, evi- 
 dently feeling for his precious bottle, and failing to 
 find it, sank back with a sigh. Starbuck watched 
 him narrowly. That the man was suffering he had 
 no doubt. A good portion of a quart of brandy on 
 an empty stomach is an insult that nature does not 
 soon forget, and the torture of a burning thirst was 
 not the least of the Frenchman's pains. Soon he 
 raised himself again and motioned Starbuck toward
 
 IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT 51 
 
 him. The sailor did not move, and finally Aubert 
 cried hoarsely that he wanted water. 
 
 " I expect he'd like some of that brandy mighty 
 well," muttered the sailor under his breath, " but 
 he won't get it." 
 
 Urged by the girl, who had been watching the 
 little scene, Starbuck poured a cupful of water from 
 the keg into the bailing dish and shoved it forward 
 into the Frenchman's grasp, scarcely leaving the 
 tiller. 
 
 " Toss him a biscuit, too," cried the girl impul- 
 sively, reaching toward the precious tin. 
 
 " No," Starbuck interfered, " food is the last thing 
 he'll want just yet. And dry food at that. I know 
 the signs." 
 
 After his drink of water the Frenchman subsided 
 and lay muttering now and then to himself, his 
 fingers twitching and his body a-quiver with nervous 
 spasms. 
 
 It was evident now that the sun was dropping. 
 The water' took on a darker tinge and the frosted 
 wave caps began to show white against the greenish 
 seas. The wind had fallen to a steady sailing breeze, 
 which, though it seemed almost a gale to the girl, 
 was really no more than the small boat could easily 
 stand. 
 
 " If I were you," spoke Starbuck, almost in the 
 girl's ear, " I should sleep if I could. You have a
 
 52 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 good chance now while things are holding steady. 
 Curl up on the grating there and you can rest your 
 head against my knee to brace you when she 
 pitches." 
 
 The idea of personal contact with this man after 
 the fears he had awakened in her, was so repugnant 
 that involuntarily she shrugged and moved farther 
 away from him. But she did not wish him to read 
 her thoughts and made preparations to rest, though 
 she did not expect to sleep. Curled in the bottom, 
 she made a pillow of her blanket and settled herself. 
 The tropic night fell rapidly. No stars came out 
 and the boat sailed on with a steady helm, the way 
 lighted dimly by the shining crests of the surround- 
 ing seas. 
 
 Starbuck knew that the progress the boat was 
 making under sail, added to the drift of the ocean 
 current, should sweep him into the region of scat- 
 tered islands in no great length of time. Aware 
 that most of the groups were of low, coraline forma- 
 tion, he kept a sharp lookout and listened intently 
 to catch the sound of breakers on reefs, which might 
 now crop out anywhere. But as the night wore on 
 he heard and saw nothing. After a time the 
 heavens began to clear, and, one by one, the hidden 
 stars came out, giving him his course to the south- 
 east. Fully cognizant of the danger of the season's 
 shifting winds, he, desired to the utmost to make a
 
 IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT 53 
 
 landfall at the earliest possible moment, and to this 
 end he shook out the reef he had taken in the sail. 
 The boat stood the additional canvas well enough, 
 though occasionally she buried her bows deep in the 
 hollows, sending showers of spray over Aubert, 
 who, though awake, except for now and then a 
 groan of alcoholic misery, lay silent on his back. 
 
 The brandy, his empty stomach and the uneasy 
 motion of the boat had combined to make him very 
 ill, but Starbuck had no feeling for the man, though 
 he knew what he must suffer. At intervals the girl 
 at his feet shifted her position with a little moan 
 of discomfort. It must be tough for her, he 
 thought, the entire experience. He divined the 
 shock that her relative's death had been, but even 
 greater, he imagined, was the isolation from every 
 tradition of security and ease to which she had 
 doubtless been accustomed from her very birth. He 
 knew nothing of her except her name as it appeared 
 on the steamer's passenger list, and her place of 
 residence. 
 
 Being from the East himself, though he had spent 
 little time there since boyhood, he knew perfectly 
 the sort of people she had lived among, the cultured 
 Boston type, ultra-refined, perhaps, from common 
 standards, but at least representative of the best 
 civilization. Rough sailor though he was, his ex- 
 perience was perhaps beyond that of many lands-
 
 54 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 men of his years, his seafaring career from early 
 youth having carried him into many ports and asso- 
 ciated him with many kinds of people. Untutored 
 in the niceties of life and caring little for them, Star- 
 buck was of better than the average mental calibre, 
 and had drawn wide knowledge from his observa- 
 tion of human life until it had become a habit with 
 him to label and file away the people he met in the 
 category of his mind, whence he could recall the 
 widely variant types for the addition of some new 
 individual. This girl, at first, had been hard to 
 place. 
 
 His experience with her sex had not been mark- 
 edly limited, but she was a new type to him. Her 
 bravery he admired. The lack of all signs of 
 feminine hysteria in a difficult situation had puz- 
 zled him not a little, but her purely impersonal man- 
 ner, disdainful even in the face of perfectly appar- 
 ent danger, was a new sensation. None of the 
 women he had known would have taken such an 
 attitude; still, pending more definite conclusions 
 concerning her, he was willing to accept it and to 
 guage his own behaviour in accordance. One fact 
 was clear in his mind; she considered him far be- 
 neath her in every way and her distant civility told 
 him plainly that he was not expected to encroach 
 upon their acquaintance. He did not resent this but 
 was rather amused by it, since he knew that there
 
 IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT 55 
 
 must, sooner or later, come a time when she would 
 be forced to seek his protection and his services, 
 divorced from the present remnant of formality 
 which he conceived to be demanded by his duty as 
 a ship's officer. 
 
 Of her appearance he distinctly approved. Her 
 figure, in its short serge skirt, was trim, even though 
 the shirtwaist she wore was soiled and crumpled. 
 And her hair, abundant and golden brown, though 
 roughened by the wind and dampened by the spray, 
 shone with health and good grooming. Her face, 
 ordinarily rather pale as he had seen her aboard the 
 ship, was now reddened by the sun. During the 
 blow, excitement had added to its colour, and, with 
 her deep gray eyes bright, and her figure tense in its 
 struggle with the bucking rudder, the picture that 
 had faced him from the stern was still pleasant to 
 his mind. But her type, so far as he was able to 
 place it, was one that he did not particularly admire, 
 though he never before had been in such close con- 
 tact with it, and this feeling, together with the habit 
 of duty, still strong in him, perhaps reduced to a 
 minimum his efforts toward a more personal rela- 
 tionship. 
 
 After a time Starbuck's thoughts turned again in 
 the direction of land and safety. The Carolines, 
 he knew, were sparsely inhabited by a fairly peace- 
 ful people of the mixed races of Micronesia, num-
 
 56 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 bering between thirty and forty thousand souls, the 
 majority of whom occupied the groups of islands 
 farther west. The chance, he thought, was rather 
 against any of the atolls in this eastern region being 
 inhabited, at least by more than a shifting popula- 
 tion, which moved from group to group, often for 
 no apparent reason. 
 
 The Carolines were, he was aware, loosely admin- 
 istered by Germany, whose traders were scattered 
 among the more important localities, and whose 
 ships made more or less regular calls throughout the 
 archipelago. To reach land, even if nothing more 
 than the flimsy annulus of a coral atoll, and to be 
 taken off by the first ship that sailed near enough to 
 make out a signal, was now Starbuck's principal 
 aim. To gain shelter, food and water meant life. 
 To continue in this open boat with what provisions 
 they now had, was death. The issue was very 
 plain. 
 
 All through the long, tropic night he steered to 
 the southwest, following the wind and scarcely 
 taking his eyes from the stars that were his guide.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE BATTLE WITH THE WAVES 
 
 TOWARD dawn, when the tide of human life is at 
 its lowest ebb, a chill in the tropic air, combined 
 with lack of food, sent Starbuck shivering. The 
 thought of the brandy bottle crossed his mind, and 
 on impulse he reached to where it lay under his feet 
 and held it up. Its lightness stopped his hand as he 
 was about to draw the cork, and he replaced the 
 bottle with care. The movement had taken only a 
 moment, but the gleam of the glass had caught the 
 Frenchman's eye as he lay restlessly awake between 
 the thwarts forward. The sickness of combined al- 
 coholism and mal de mer had wrought in him a 
 frenzied desire for drink to still his quivering 
 nerves, and the sight of liquor so close at hand sud- 
 denly increased his longing to a complete obses- 
 sion. He could see Starbuck, plainly outlined 
 against the silvery light from the sea, and he 
 thought and planned how he could gratify the thirst 
 that now was burning him with the fires of hell. 
 He watched and waited. 
 
 57
 
 58 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 In the darkest hour, that in the tropics precedes 
 the day, the strain of an all-night vigil was begin- 
 ning to tell upon the sailor. His form in the stern- 
 sheets grew huddled and limp. He swayed as he sat 
 and his head nodded once or twice, though he still 
 mechanically held the tiller in a loose grip, subcon- 
 sciously keeping the boat steady before the wind. 
 The picture was not lost upon the Frenchman, who, 
 now alert and crafty, raised his head and slowly 
 brought himself to his hands and knees. He crept 
 softly to the centre of the boat, waited, watched a 
 moment, then eased himself over the thwart and 
 reached a trembling and tentacle-like arm aft to 
 where the bottle lay. His hand touched something 
 soft and covered with a cloth. He quickly withdrew 
 it, but as he did so a scream burst from the girl, 
 whose body it was he had encountered. 
 
 Starbuck came to his feet with a start. Instantly 
 he spied the half-crouching form of Aubert, and 
 quicker than thought itself his right fist shot out, 
 catching the man squarely on the mouth. He went 
 over backward with a crash, his head striking hard 
 against the thwart, and there he lay, half senseless, 
 as, fully alive to his intent, Starbuck stepped across, 
 bent only on punishment. 
 
 But guideless, the boat gibed and the light boom, 
 swinging across with force, struck Starbuck a pain- 
 ful blow, barely grazing the head of the girl as,
 
 THE BATTLE WITH THE WAVES 59 
 
 she half rose to stay his hand. Abandoning his pur- 
 pose, he leaped back to the tiller and brought the 
 dinghy again before the wind. 
 
 "What was it?" whispered the girl. "Some 
 one touched me ! " 
 
 Starbuck sought to control himself. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " that scum of a frog-eating 
 Frenchman touched you. I must have fallen asleep 
 at the helm, a nice thing for a man to do, and he 
 was after what is left of that bottle of brandy. In 
 the dark he didn't see you lying there and his hand 
 struck you. Your scream roused me and I hit him. 
 You saw that part of it." 
 
 The dawn was coming with equatorial suddenness 
 and for a second time they saw the sun leap above 
 the horizon and begin his scorching course through 
 the heavens. The wind, holding in the same quar- 
 ter, now freshened, blowing the spray again into 
 their eyes, not ungratefully, for the cool, salt smell 
 was refreshing as the new day broke. 
 
 Miss Channing glanced at the form of Aubert. 
 His lips and nose were cut and bleeding from the 
 heavy blow, and, still lying as he had fallen, he was 
 ghastly. 
 
 " You you don't suppose you have hurt .him 
 badly?" she said, with a shuddering but anxious 
 look at the man's blood-spattered countenance. 
 " See, he doesn't move. He must be stunned."
 
 60 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 Starbuck gave a short laugh from which mirth 
 was absent. 
 
 " Stunned ? " he said, grimly, " I hope he is. 
 Better men have been stunned just that way for 
 less than that. He ought to be hung, not stunned." 
 
 " But aren't you going to do anything for him ? 
 Are you going to let him lie there bleeding? " asked 
 the girl indignantly. " It's brutal. It's inhuman." 
 
 " Well, Miss," returned Starbuck, sarcastically, 
 " as I'm at present the man at the wheel, and as it's 
 no part of a helmsman's business to tend battered 
 mutineers, I guess I am going to let him lie. He'll 
 come to right enough. They generally do." 
 
 Angry and insulted at the man's cool refusal to 
 act on her suggestion, Eleanor Channing rose to 
 what she considered the occasion. Finding a hand- 
 kerchief in the pocket of her coat, she dipped it in 
 the sea and had started to step over the water 
 breaker toward the prostrate man when a large 
 hand barred her way and a low, stern voice bade her 
 stop. 
 
 " Excuse me, Miss," it said, " but I must make 
 this man understand. There would be no safety 
 now, either for you or for me if I did not. Please 
 sit down, and do not look at him if the sight dis- 
 gusts you. I appreciate your feelings. You are 
 unused to violence and," he smiled, " bloodshed. 
 But it was not brutal; it was necessary."
 
 THE BATTLE WITH THE WAVES 61 
 
 Trembling and furious at being treated so like 
 a child by this man, she did as she was bid. Pres- 
 ently Starbuck asked her to hold the tiller, appar- 
 ently not noticing the tears of anger and humiliation 
 that swam in her eyes nor the nether lip that 
 twitched. Seizing the bailing dish he scooped it 
 full of water, and stepping toward Aubert, soused 
 its contents full in the man's face. The treatment 
 was at least efficacious, for almost instantly he came 
 to, looking up and dodging in time to escape an- 
 other ducking. His swollen lips were drawn back 
 in a snarl as he muttered an imprecation in 
 French. 
 
 " Here," rasped Starbuck, " this lady has pleaded 
 mercy for you. You don't deserve it but you're 
 going to get another chance; just one. The next 
 move you make to interfere in any way with my 
 plans concerning this boat or anything in it, I'll tie 
 you up hand and foot, and if I feel like I do now, 
 I'll heave you overboard. If it wasn't for her I'd 
 have done it long ago." 
 
 As he turned to take the tiller from her hand she 
 noticed how white and pinched he looked. The 
 ruddy colour was a sickly olive, and his eyes were 
 sunken in his head. His hair, drenched with the 
 night-dew, was straggled about his forehead. He 
 had lost his cap, and the sun was beginning to beat 
 down once more in merciless rays. Realizing the
 
 62 THE 'CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 man's condition, sleepless, except for the scarce two 
 hours of rest he had snatched the day before, she 
 was shocked at his appearance. 
 
 He sat down silently and her little feeling of vic- 
 tory at having made him do as she had wished, was 
 gone as she noted the weariness of his perfunctory 
 scanning of the horizon. Refreshed by her own 
 rest, her feeling grew to pity, and without realizing 
 that she did so, she laid a hand on his arm. 
 
 " You must have rest and food, you know," she 
 said. " Shall we eat a little now ? " 
 
 His hunger was intense, but with the biscuit tin 
 in close proximity to her as she slept, he had for- 
 borne to move it lest she awake. Now, however, 
 he took the two crackers she handed him and 
 munched one rapidly. The other he tossed forward 
 to Aubert, but the man's teeth had evidently been 
 loosened by his fist and it was with some difficulty 
 that he chewed the pieces which he broke off with 
 the aid of a pocket knife. Starbuck eyed the knife 
 sharply as he ate. Water was served out to all 
 three and the day was begun. 
 
 With the stiff breeze the heat of the sun was not 
 so intense as the day before, and good headway 
 was being made. Starbuck, anxious to sight land 
 before the fall of another night, showed his skill 
 as a small boat sailor, humouring his frail craft and 
 getting all her ability in return. He had refused to
 
 THE BATTLE WITH THE WAVES 63 
 
 rest and with tired eyes kept a sharp lookout for 
 any speck that might show itself above the sea. 
 
 Miss Channing sat with her elbows on her knees, 
 raising her head now and then to shake back the 
 hair that swept across her face with the following 
 wind. Once in a while she rose, as if cramped by 
 want of exercise. On one of these occasions she 
 stood longer than usual, gazing off to the south. 
 Suddenly she turned to Starbuck and pointed ex- 
 citedly in the direction she had been looking. 
 
 " There! " she cried, " don't you see? Off there, 
 to the left? It shows just above the water. Oh, is 
 it land ? Tell me, is it land ? " 
 
 Starbuck was beside her in an instant. Quickly 
 he followed her gaze and looked long and earnestly 
 at what he saw. 
 
 " Yes," he broke out, " it's land ; thank God for 
 it." 
 
 He put the helm over slightly, and trimming his 
 sheet aft, headed for the little mound that now ap- 
 peared, growing as they approached. 
 
 " It's land," he said, as he looked, " but it isn't 
 what I expected to see. Most of these islands here- 
 abouts are low, and you generally see them in clus- 
 ters, two or three or sometimes more together or 
 within a few miles. This one looks to be high, and 
 there is only one, unless the others are hidden be- 
 hind it."
 
 64 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 " We may have sailed farther than you think," 
 said the girl, still with her eyes fixed upon the dis- 
 tant island. " Aren't we going faster with the sail 
 hauled in ? " 
 
 Starbuck made no answer but gave all his atten- 
 tion to the boat. The wind had increased consider- 
 ably as the sun rode higher, and he was having hard 
 work to keep the light skiff on her course without 
 shipping water. The wind, too, seemed to be haul- 
 ing slightly to the east and the yellowish tint of the 
 sky off toward the southern horizon was disquiet- 
 ing. 
 
 Twenty miles away the island had been when 
 first they sighted it. Now it was nearing fast and 
 they saw clearly that it was not a low island but one 
 evidently of volcanic origin. The low peak rose 
 two or three hundred feet above the sea, and as 
 nearly as Starbuck could judge, had a length of 
 about three miles. In an hour they were close 
 enough to make out the green of the trees that 
 fringed the shore, and the white line of breakers 
 that beat on the enclosing reef. 
 
 This barrier now became the problem that Star- 
 buck had to solve. The reefs, which are character- 
 istic of most of the islands of the Pacific, are gen- 
 erally circular, often completely surrounding the 
 islands they protect, with the exception of one or 
 more openings, generally found, in islands of any
 
 THE BATTLE WITH THE WAVES 65 
 
 size, opposite the mouth of a brook or stream. Of 
 coral formation, they are most often barely awash 
 and the breakers pile up over them in roaring 
 combers, which, even in moderate weather might 
 well spell the fate of a small boat. 
 
 To seek out an opening in the sea that was now 
 running, and to navigate it without mishap was a 
 work of nicety and calculation, and Starbuck anx- 
 iously examined the line of breakers for a gap. 
 The reef looked to be half to three-quarters of a 
 mile from shore on this side of the island, but on 
 the westerly side it was apparently much closer. 
 Satisfied that on the windward side no entrance 
 could be found, Starbuck eased off his sheet and 
 took the wind astern again. Close, now, the waving 
 cocoanut palms on the shore stood inviting with 
 their shade, and other trees and shrubs darkened 
 the background farther inland. No signs of human 
 occupation were to be seen and Starbuck mentioned 
 this fact in surprise, for here was an island worth 
 the while of any Micronesian dweller. Richly fer- 
 tile, it teemed with vegetation growing in the rank 
 profusion of the tropic seas. Greens of every pos- 
 sible shade embowered the land, with here and there 
 a spot of crimson where a scarlet hibiscus bloomed. 
 Back from the shore line the terraced side of the 
 volcano rose steeply, its summit gray and weather- 
 beaten above the line of verdure. The highest peak
 
 66 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 was to the west, running up into a broken cone, its 
 contour showing ragged against the sky. No smoke 
 issued from it, and the seams and gullies in its sides 
 seemed to tell that it had been inactive for some 
 length of time. 
 
 As the dinghy bore farther to the westward, Star- 
 buck saw at last a break in the line of white, but it 
 was in such a position that in order to enter under 
 sail he would have to round to and run in on the 
 wind, which, in the light, unballasted boat, was a 
 dangerous trick to attempt. The seas were breaking 
 heavily on the coral barrier, sending their long 
 shreds of spray whipping across the quieter lagoon 
 within and agitating the shallow water into long, 
 undulating rollers, that swept on until they broke 
 upon the beach. The reef at the point of the break 
 was not above a quarter of a mile from shore, but 
 across the gap the wash of the waves churned the 
 water into an angry froth. 
 
 Starbuck rapidly decided that his only plan would 
 be to sail almost to the break, bring the boat into 
 the wind, and if possible by luffing, work her 
 through; if not, the oars in a last pinch might 
 save him. The gap was perhaps thirty yards in 
 width and evidently formed the entrance to a deep 
 water channel within the barrier. The water toward 
 the shore on each side of this was apparently much 
 shallower as told by its lighter colour.
 
 THE BATTLE WITH THE WAVES 67 
 
 With eyes still on the line of foam ahead, Star- 
 buck reached out and pushed the girl gently to the 
 bottom of the boat. Aubert, wakened now from his 
 lethargy, excited by the sight of land and fearful of 
 the coming attempt to reach it, squatted by the 
 slight mast, pointing and gesticulating, talking rap- 
 idly in his own tongue. 
 
 " Lie close," cautioned Starbuck, in a voice loud 
 enough to be heard by the Frenchman, " we're com- 
 ing about." 
 
 As he spoke he shoved the tiller hard down and 
 the light boat rounded to and swung up into the 
 wind. Rocking on the crest of a huge sea that swept 
 under her, the frail craft nearly swamped in the 
 wash that' came overside, and Starbuck, instantly 
 seizing the bailer, tossed it to the Frenchman with 
 instructions to bail for his life. The boat paid off 
 slowly, and under a slackened sheet, heeled down 
 and headed for the churning, wave-swept streak of 
 water in which lay their only hope. Interminable 
 seemed the approach. Aubert, roused to the fact 
 that upon bis efforts his life might depend, hurled 
 water like a madman. 
 
 Near Starbuck's feet crouched Eleanor Channing, 
 white, with staring eyes, her glance shifting from 
 the reef ahead to the rigid figure at the tiller and 
 sheet, whose set and hardened jaw showed the 
 grimness of the coming effort. The roar of the
 
 68 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 breakers, incessant and fearful, rilled her brain with 
 tumult. It was impossible to think or to speak. 
 Luffing to the harder puffs, Starbuck eased the boat 
 toward the point where a final dash must be made. 
 Lacking a centreboard the skiff was making rapid 
 leeway and unless he could reach the break on this 
 tack he would have to stand out and try again, 
 and the prospect of getting clear of the breakers 
 under his lee was small indeed. 
 
 Edging nearer and nearer, he was now opposite 
 the windward end of the gap and not more than 
 fifty yards away. Fearing to be caught and hurled 
 on the shoulder of the reef, he dared not work closer, 
 and with a cry to the others, Starbuck let the boat's 
 head fall off for the last run. Onward they swept, 
 the great rollers bearing down upon them with 
 white crests like the gnashing teeth of some ele- 
 mental monster chortling over its certain prey, the 
 blue green seas bearing them on with resistless 
 
 grip- 
 Now, with headway and leeway nearly equal they 
 were at the mouth of the gap. Fifty yards farther 
 and they would be safe. Spray, hurled high in the 
 air and drifted by the wind, blinded Starbuck with 
 its stinging lash, as in the mighty heave and roar 
 of waters the tiny craft struggled bravely on. Cat- 
 aracts of green rose above them, curling, swirling, 
 threatening to engulf but sinking with unaccom-
 
 THE BATTLE WITH THE WAVES 69 
 
 plished purpose in a spread of milky froth, only to 
 rise again with a swinging heave and rush forward 
 toward their plaything, the boat, that seemed a chip 
 in a whirling maelstrom, tossed and wrenched by a 
 titanic force. 
 
 Hurled by a billowing mountain of water, sinking 
 in the trough until the bottom must surely be 
 touched, rising again, up, up, with a sickening, tot- 
 tering heave, on the foaming crest of a great sea, 
 the wind caught the shaking sail in its rush, and 
 though Starbuck, with the sheet in his hand ready 
 to let go, was quick, the sudden onslaught of force 
 hove the little skiff down till the water poured in 
 over the gunwale. A cracking split, hardly to be 
 heard amongst the babel of waters, and the frail 
 mast went by the board. Relieved of the pressure, 
 and steadied by an instant's calm in the trough, the 
 dinghy righted, but uncontrolled now, wallowed 
 broadside on. Starbuck seized an oar and pulled 
 with all his strength. The stout ash broke like a 
 splinter. Kept right side up by a miracle, the boat 
 was carried, whirling and tossing, straight across 
 the break toward the opposite end of the barrier, 
 where the water, though quieter, was yet sending 
 up its sheets of spray as it dashed over the sub- 
 merged rock. With the other oar the sailor strug- 
 gled manfully to gain way enough to clear the inner 
 corner of the reef. The veins on his forehead
 
 70 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 swelled and his knotted forearms were rigid as steel 
 with the effort. Three fathoms, two fathoms; an- 
 other would make it, but in the midst of a stroke 
 the sea dropped out from under, and, whirled into 
 the trough, the next wave caught the craft, flinging 
 it on high and dropped it, crashing, on the rocks. 
 
 In an instant Starbuck, Aubert and the girl were 
 in the water. While calm compared with the vor- 
 tex outside, the sea here was full of eddies that 
 caught at Starbuck's legs as he came up. Shaking 
 the water from his eyes and looking about him he 
 saw the black head of the Frenchman rise some 
 yards away. Near the man floated an oar, which 
 Starbuck saw him seize. At the same instant the 
 girl's head bobbed up suddenly, almost within arm's 
 length. He reached out and seized it by its stream- 
 ing hair, shouting to Aubert as he did so in mean- 
 ingless cries, half choked as the weight of the girl 
 bore him down. A wave washed over them and as 
 they emerged her strangling sputter awoke his 
 stunned faculties. He struck out strongly with his 
 free hand, not daring to shift his grip for fear she 
 might be torn from him. Holding still by her hair 
 over his shoulder he battled his way farther behind 
 the reef, where the seas no longer broke angrily but 
 rolled on in the shallower depth, shoreward. The 
 Frenchman, swimming with his oar some distance 
 away, was slowly nearing the beach. Starbuck
 
 THE BATTLE WITH THE WAVES 71 
 
 caught the bobbing of his black head in fleeting 
 glimpses as he was lifted from the hollows to the 
 height of the long waves. The water was shoaling 
 rapidly and beneath him he could see the speckled 
 red and yellow coral and the shells that formed the 
 lagoon's bottom. 
 
 Swimming on his back now, he released his hold 
 of the girl's hair, and raising her head out of the 
 water on his breast, kicked his way onward. He felt 
 himself weakening fast. His breath came in gasps 
 as he blew the water from his mouth. The girl's 
 weight was intolerable, dressed as she was in long, 
 entangling skirts. He caught her at the waist with 
 one hand and tried to rip the garment free. Fail- 
 ing, he lay back, righting for air and resting as well 
 as he could. Her limp stillness caused him to shake 
 her until he remembered that it is easier to save 
 an unconscious person than one who struggles in a 
 panic of fear. So he began to swim again, slowly 
 now, still on his back with her head on his breast. 
 Driven by the long waves, he began to hear the roar 
 of the combers as they climbed the beach and the 
 sucking rush of the undertow as it rasped the riffle 
 of shells and coral fragments in its receding torrent. 
 Saving his strength until, when his feet touched 
 bottom, he should need it most against this treach- 
 erous enemy, Starbuck let the waves sweep him on. 
 At last he felt the ground beneath, but only for an
 
 72 
 
 instant as a wave rushed by with green, curling 
 comb that toppled, broke and spread into a swirl of 
 foam. Again he touched, this time getting a grip 
 on the sand only to be torn loose again. 
 
 Battered in the very midst of the breaking seas 
 he fought with what strength was left to him to 
 gain his feet. Failing, he turned on his breast and 
 with the girl under his left arm, his hand strongly 
 twisted in her floating hair, he struck out with 
 feebling strokes. At last, after an eternity of heart 
 breaking effort, he felt his feet touch firmly. Stand- 
 ing for an instant, clasping the girl in his arms, he 
 pushed forward and was dragged to his knees by 
 the tide of the undertow. The next wave caught 
 and flung him with his senseless burden to the beach 
 itself, receding and leaving him for an instant, and 
 then returning in a final, impotent effort to reach 
 what it had cast away. Starbuck staggered up 
 toward the line of litter that marked the tide's flood. 
 Reaching it he reeled, and with the winds of all the 
 world roaring in his ears, his burden slipped from 
 him and he sank beside it on the sand.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 MONSIEUR AUBERT EXPLAINS 
 
 THE world came back slowly to Starbuck and re- 
 luctantly he greeted the discomforts of returning 
 consciousness. A dream of peace and rest that 
 seemed like an eternity passed from him, leaving 
 him weak and dizzy as with an effort he sat up. 
 Close by, almost touching him, lay the girl as she 
 had fallen, stretched face downward on the sand, 
 her head turned a little to one side, her wet hair 
 lying in a sodden mass along her back. The sight 
 recalled Starbuck's senses to him in a flash. Seizing 
 her shoulders he turned her body over, and ripping 
 her collar loose, felt and listened to her heart. 
 Faintly he could hear a murmur. He raised her 
 quickly between clasped hands with her head hang- 
 ing downward for a moment, then, laying her 
 gently on her back over- a hastily kicked up heap 
 of sand, alternately drew her arms above her head 
 and pressed them to her sides. Anxiously he 
 watched. In a few moments the chest heaved in a 
 gasping sigh, the eyelids lifted and she lay staring 
 
 73
 
 74 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 upward, choking and struggling feebly to reach her 
 mouth with the hands which he still held. Leaning 
 over he spoke quick words, assuring her that she 
 was safe. She shivered slightly in her wet gar- 
 ments and with a sigh closed her eyes and became 
 still. Alarmed, he looked around him, realizing 
 that she must be dried and warmed at once. Gath- 
 ering her in his arms, he walked slowly up the beach 
 to where a mass of rock made a break against the 
 heavy wind, and here he laid her in the warm sun, 
 himself trembling with fatigue. 
 
 An unutterable lassitude and longing for sleep 
 possessed him and it was only by a determined 
 effort that he fought off the desire. 
 
 Returning to the beach he looked about for some 
 sign of Aubert. The last he had seen of the French- 
 man was when he had turned on his back, less than 
 half way to shore. The bobbing black head then was 
 much nearer to the beach than he, and the man, 
 evidently a good swimmer and aided by the sup- 
 port of the oar, must have reached shore safely. 
 Starbuck walked to the spot where he and the girl 
 had lain in the sand, and following west, came upon 
 another track, that of a man on his hands and knees. 
 As he was about to turn and follow it his eye caught 
 something black, bobbing in the wash along the 
 shore. Now it was hurled almost high and dry, 
 but again, caught in the back wash, it was drawn
 
 MONSIEUR AUBERT EXPLAINS 75 
 
 out of sight. He traversed the few yards to the 
 spot at a run, and dashing waist deep into the surf, 
 grasped the object and retreated safely. It was the 
 nearly empty brandy bottle, which, floating when 
 the boat struck, had been washed to land. For- 
 getting the sand prints he had intended to follow he 
 hastened to the rock where the girl lay, and raising 
 her on his knee, drew the cork with his teeth and 
 poured the liquor slowly into her throat. With a 
 convulsing cough she became awake. 
 
 " That's good," he said, still holding her with 
 an arm beneath her shoulders. " Drink some 
 more." 
 
 Without voicing a protest, she swallowed a 
 mouthful of the burning stuff, which, though it 
 scorched hjer throat raw, brought a genial glow to 
 her chilled body, and blood to her blue lips. She 
 hazily wondered if the Frenchman had brought the 
 bottle ashore, and what Starbuck had done with 
 him. Womanlike, she viewed her soaked garments 
 in dismay. Her stockings fell about her ankles and 
 her skirt was coming off. She put her hands up 
 and feeling the sticky mass of wet hair with particles 
 of sand adhering to it, abandoned the attempt to 
 twist it about her head. Slight as these efforts 
 were, they exhausted her surprisingly, and limp and 
 weak, she leaned languidly against the rock. Star- 
 buck stood looking at her.
 
 76 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 " If I were you," he said, " I would lie down and 
 sleep while I go and look for the Frenchman. He 
 got ashore all right enough," he continued as he 
 caught the ghost of an inquiry in her eyes. " I saw 
 his tracks where he crawled up the beach. We are 
 going to want food pretty quick," he went on, " but 
 it's easy to find on this island. Hear that ! " and 
 he held up his hand with a grin, as a falling cocoa- 
 nut hit the sand with a thump, not six yards 
 away. 
 
 Picking it up he brought it to her. 
 
 " There's food," he said, still smiling, " better 
 than ship's biscuit, and better than lots of other 
 things that are better than those." 
 
 As he spoke, he took a knife from his pocket and 
 commenced carving at the tough shell.. After a 
 moment he broke the nut impatiently against a rock 
 and offered her one of the parts, together with his 
 knife. 
 
 " Or no, wait," he exclaimed, " I'll get you a 
 better spoon than that." 
 
 He walked down the beach and returned with a 
 small shell, polished bright by the scour of the sea 
 and sand. Offering it, he picked up the remainder 
 of the nut, and with a shell of his own began scoop- 
 ing out the thick, creamy mass that adhered to it. 
 Watching, she followed suit wearily, but brighten- 
 ing with pleasure as the cool, sweet substance
 
 MONSIEUR AUBERT EXPLAINS 77 
 
 soothed her throat and mouth. Hungrily, almost 
 eagerly she finished the shell. 
 
 "Another?" he inquired, looking up from his 
 busy meal. " Lots of 'em all around. No limit 
 on your appetite here," he said, as with mouth full, 
 he waved his bit of shell toward the long line of 
 cocoa palms that fringed the length of beach. " Get 
 you fifty-seven varieties," he began again, " all 
 flavours. As soon as I feel like climbing we'll 
 have salad and wine and milk and other things." 
 
 The girl leaned back and closed her eyes. 
 
 " No," she murmured, " no, thank you. I am 
 very tired, and I have heard that people should not 
 eat much after being half starved." 
 
 " Why, that's so, too," he returned. " I never 
 thought of that. Maybe we'd better go without 
 dessert this time; and I'll tell the chef to have 
 something fancy for dinner." 
 
 In spite of herself the girl smiled. " Perhaps Mr. 
 Aubert is a chef in disguise," she said. 
 
 "Mister O'Bare, is it? I'd forgotten him. I'd 
 better look him up, I guess, and see if a cocoanut 
 meenoo is in his line. Likely he's made a pig of 
 himself and is pretty sick by this time. Besides, 
 he's got something I need in my business," said 
 Starbuck, starting to his feet. " You lay quiet in 
 the sun and dry your clothes while I take a look 
 around."
 
 78 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 She nodded and he walked away. Deadly weary 
 himself, he dared not rest until he had discovered 
 the whereabouts of the third member of the boat's 
 party, who might, for all he knew, be planning a 
 stealthy vengeance for the indignities and insults 
 he had suffered. Starbuck hurried to the tracks 
 in the sand and followed them cautiously to the 
 line of the undergrowth. Suddenly he stopped 
 short. The man he sought was lying peacefully on 
 his back, asleep. Slowly Starbuck stooped and 
 looked at him, then swiftly but carefully went 
 through his pockets, one after another and with- 
 drew with his booty. Sitting down on the beach, 
 he sorted out a pocket knife with three blades, a 
 pair of needles and a corkscrew in the handle, a 
 small comb, a dollar and a half in nickels and silver 
 and an open-faced gold watch. There was also a 
 handkerchief, some letters and a small bunch of 
 trunk keys. Returning the handkerchief and the 
 letters to the sleeping man's coat, the sailor wrapped 
 the remaining articles in his own handkerchief and 
 slipped the parcel in his pocket. 
 
 Returning to the beach, he looked in the direc- 
 tion of the reef. The waves, long and regular, 
 rolled in swiftly in unceasing succession, topped now 
 by patches of white; new formed crests, born of 
 the rising wind. But they were empty of that which 
 he sought. No wreckage from the lost boat ap-
 
 peared and he turned his gaze to the sand. The oar, 
 which had aided Aubert to gain the shore, lay at the 
 water's edge some distance below where the man 
 had landed and Starbuck picked it up, noting with 
 satisfaction that its copper tip was intact. Farther 
 on he saw, floating in the water, the mast and sail 
 with boom attached, and again dashing into the 
 surf he secured it. Still farther on he found the 
 pieces of the oar he had broken and the boathook. 
 This seemed to be the extent of the flotsam and he 
 made his way back, scanning the sea as he went. 
 Suddenly he cried out. There, courtesying on 
 the waves was something dark and round, the 
 water breaker, which, just buoyant enough to keep 
 itself awash on the surface, was slowly being driven 
 landward. Fifty yards away it bobbed, advanced 
 and hesitated, until, after a seemingly never ending 
 series of progressions, it came within reach. With 
 this secured, Starbuck seemed satisfied with his 
 search. The biscuit tin with its open top he knew 
 must be at the bottom. There had been nothing 
 else loose in the boat except the bedding, which 
 would take longer to reach shore if it indeed came 
 at all. Gathering together his prizes and heaping 
 them all upon the sail, he hauled the little load to 
 the rock, where the girl still lay with her head upon 
 her arms and her hair spread out richly over her 
 shoulders, drying in the sunshine.
 
 80 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 The heat behind the rock out of the wind was dis- 
 agreeably intense, and fearing an ill effect, the sailor 
 stepped into the undergrowth, and with his knife 
 cut several green leaves from a breadfruit tree. 
 These he wove into a rough mat and placed it, 
 supported by two sticks, against the rock above the 
 sleeping girl. He made another shade for himself 
 and under it flung his tired body. 
 
 The Westering sun was dropping toward the 
 horizon when Eleanor Channing awoke, refreshed 
 and rested from the strain, the turmoil and the 
 peril of the preceding hours. She noted with sur- 
 prise the shelter that Starbuck had placed for her 
 protection, , divining its purpose at once though the 
 rock now hid the blazing sun. Turning, she saw 
 Starbuck himself, asleep in the shadow a few feet 
 distant, and as she looked on him she was conscious 
 of varying emotions. She was aware that he had 
 saved her from death; that with danger to himself 
 and with great courage, he had, unaided, brought 
 her senseless across that stretch of broken water 
 and had carried her to land, revived her and cared 
 for her with gentleness and consideration. 
 
 But the fact that she owed him her life did not 
 stand out so prominently as the thought of his 
 kindness and care. Rough, unmannerly, abrupt, 
 brutal perhaps he might be, but his treatment of her 
 so far had been almost delicate, or at least unob-
 
 trusive and considerate. Suddenly she noticed that 
 the neck of her waist was torn far down and she 
 flushed hotly as she remembered coming back to 
 consciousness under his ministrations. Her hair, 
 sticky with salt, was streaming uncomfortably 
 about her, but opening a small bag she wore at her 
 belt, now dry and puckered after its soaking, she 
 took from it a comb and a few shell pins and pro- 
 ceeded to straighten and knot up her wild locks into 
 some semblance of neatness. She stood up and 
 looked about her. 
 
 A long, curving beach ran to the southwest around 
 the point of the island, while to the eastward it 
 made a straighter line, apparently for several miles. 
 Down the length of it she could see no trace of 
 the work of human hands, nothing but the sand, the 
 sea and the long line of palms that edged the shore, 
 coming down near to the water in some places and 
 in others receding farther up the gentle slope. Evi- 
 dently the island, or this side of it at least, was 
 uninhabited. 
 
 Uninhabited ! The thought struck her suddenly, 
 as if it had never occurred to her before. Unin- 
 habited ! Cast away on a desert island ! In the two 
 days after the sinking of the steamer, while in the 
 frail boat that was then all the world, her chief 
 desire had been to reach land. She had not been 
 troubled with doubts of its hospitality, nor had she
 
 82 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 given much thought to the kind of land it was likely 
 to be. If it was dry and stable it was enough, 
 Vaguely she had thought of land as everywhere the 
 same. The only coast she knew was the rugged 
 shore of her New England, where at almost no 
 point could one be cast away without meeting signs 
 of occupation, and in all likelihood, the sympathetic 
 and outstretched hands of comfortable country- 
 folk, waiting to offer succor to seafarers in distress. 
 
 To be sure, there was nothing frightful in a 
 shore of waving palms, whose God-given usefulness 
 to the poor castaway she had gratefully seen illus- 
 trated by the cocoanut, but as she stood alone on 
 the beach, gazing first one way and then another, 
 it was borne in swiftly upon her that she was out of 
 her world; that friends, everything in life that she 
 held dear were gone, perhaps for ever, and that she, 
 Eleanor Channing, was here on an unknown, and 
 for all she knew, uncharted bit of sand, imprisoned 
 and resourceless except through her own efforts, 
 and in the doubtful companionship of a sailor and 
 a drunken foreigner. Hot, stinging tears rushed to 
 her eyes, as helpless, hungry, her clothes in shreds, 
 her skin burning under the glare of the sun, she 
 stood, a pitiful figure of youth and distress, alone 
 on this wild refuge in the midst of a desert of 
 waters. 
 
 How would these men act toward her? How
 
 MONSIEUR AUBERT EXPLAINS 83 
 
 could she protect herself? How long- would it be 
 before a ship appeared to take her away? What 
 should she do for clothes? As the last of the series 
 of questions flitted through her mind she glanced 
 downward at her draggled skirt. Her shoes, low 
 ones, and none too stout at best, had been soaked 
 until the leather had turned to a sort of greenish 
 pulp, and drying, had cracked and split in half a 
 dozen places. Even now the sand forced itself into 
 the holes and hurt her when she stepped. The 
 beach was formed of shells and coral fragments, 
 mixed and ground together by the force of wind 
 and sea, and the sharp-edged particles cut merci- 
 lessly. Suddenly she stopped as she saw before her 
 the track in the sand which Starbuck had described. 
 It gave her a distinct sensation, such as Crusoe may 
 have felt at the sight of the footprint. She looked 
 up in the direction of the trail, and there, at the edge 
 of the undergrowth stood Aubert. As she looked 
 he stepped forward out of the shadow of the trees 
 and approached. 
 
 " Good evening," he said in English. " I am most 
 glad to see that you have recovered. Was it not 
 terrible? And my mal de mer! It is quite vanished 
 and I am at last myself again." 
 
 Extraordinarily different was the manner of this 
 man from him whom she remembered as a wretched 
 creature moaning in the bottom of the boat, with'
 
 84 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 blood flowing from his bruised mouth, mumbling 
 over crumbs of a ship's biscuit. How he had 
 reached the shore she did not know, but she was 
 aware that he had not assisted at her own rescue. 
 However, she was not prepared to condemn him for 
 this, at least unheard, and under the circumstances 
 she thought it well to make friends with him, for, al- 
 though he had presented himself hitherto in a most 
 unfavourable light, he now seemed to have the bear- 
 ing and manners of returning decency. 
 
 " And you, Monsieur Aubert, I see that you are 
 none the worse for your adventure. I am glad that 
 we all were so fortunate as to reach land alive." 
 
 " Ah, Mademoiselle," he broke in, " you know 
 my name. I am fortunate to have your interest." 
 He spoke with a very little accent, though he chose 
 his words at times with the lack of accuracy in Eng- 
 lish idiom that is common to most men of his race. 
 His face grew a thought serious. 
 
 " I am desolated," he said, " at the opinion you 
 must have of me. I beg, Mademoiselle Channing, 
 that you will believe me when I say that it was not 
 I, myself, who lay in that terrible boat, but another ; 
 a creature driven insane with the horrible mal de 
 mer, suffering tortures inexpressible from first to 
 last. It is always so," he explained volubly. 
 " Whenever I am forced to go in the small boat it 
 is so. My sickness begins at once and my head
 
 MONSIEUR AUBERT EXPLAINS 85 
 
 whirls until my brain becomes extinguished with 
 the suffering, and then I am not myself, Henri 
 Aubert, but a beast. Ah, Mademoiselle, what I suf- 
 fered in that boat none shall ever know, and how 
 I was treated by that officer of the ship ! There was 
 no need, Mademoiselle, no need to treat me so, 
 when I could not rise and defend myself. But that 
 is past, is it not ? It shall be forgotten like a dream, 
 a nightmare, that one shudders to remember. Is it 
 not so ? And now that we are here together we will 
 be friends, yes ? And I will even forgive the officer 
 his blow that we may exist in peace until a ship 
 comes for us." 
 
 Eleanor Channing listened to this remarkable ex- 
 planation with amazement. That the sea had any 
 such effect upon Aubert she could hardly believe, 
 yet she knew that some people were driven almost 
 to insanity by the ocean malady and was more in- 
 clined to accept his statement on this account. His 
 great change in appearance suggested that there 
 might be some truth in his words, and, after all, 
 what difference did it make so long as he gave her 
 the respect he now showed? 
 
 " There is one thing, Mademoiselle, that it is 
 necessary for me to tell you," said Aubert, glancing 
 about and speaking quietly as he came closer to her. 
 " It is with regret that I speak but it is best that 
 you should be warned. It is about the officer of the
 
 86 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 ship, he whom you believe to be your friend and 
 protector. Not all the time in that -miserable boat 
 was I mad with my illness. I had intervals of mo- 
 ments when my reason returned and I saw and 
 heard and felt again. One of these blessed occa- 
 sions came last night while you were sleeping. I 
 awoke from my horrible stupor and saw you not. 
 'At first I had a great fear that you had fallen into 
 the sea, but no, it was your form I saw in the bot- 
 tom of the boat. The officer was sitting in the 
 stern. He was bending down over you. He reached 
 out his hand and touched you. The look in his eyes 
 was terrifying and I could not bear it that harm 
 should befall. As he leaned down I leaped to your 
 defence. I heard you scream, cry out in fear, and 
 I raised my hand to strike when he felled me with 
 one terrible blow. Ah, Mademoiselle, it was truly 
 an evil moment. He struck me here, on the mouth, 
 and I, weak with my indisposition, fell back nearly 
 senseless. Then my illness returned fourfold and 
 I was very sick and knew no more. This, Made- 
 moiselle, I consider it my duty as a man of honour 
 to tell you, that you may be advised." 
 
 " Monsieur Aubert! " cried the girl, horror-struck 
 as she realized the import of the Frenchman's 
 words, " is this the truth you are speaking ? I can- 
 not believe it. This man has shown me nothing 
 but respect. He is not a gentleman, perhaps, but he
 
 MONSIEUR AUBERT EXPLAINS 87 
 
 has acted as an honourable man should act toward 
 a woman who is alone and helpless. I cannot be- 
 lieve this." 
 
 " Yet it is the truth," replied the Frenchman. 
 " You were sleeping. I saw all." 
 
 In a flash the situation came back. She remem- 
 bered the touch that had awakened her, the blow, 
 and the story that Starbuck had told. She remem- 
 bered also his suggestion that she should rest 
 against him, and which she had declined in silence. 
 Could it be that Aubert was speaking the truth? 
 
 " And now," spoke Aubert again, " now that I 
 have told you this, I beg that you will not accuse 
 him of it. If we three are alone upon this land we 
 must have peace. We must protect each other. I 
 shall, with your permission, Mademoiselle, or per- 
 haps without it, make it my duty to guard you and 
 watch over you. I am not a match for the other in 
 brute strength. No, I am not a brute, but I am a 
 man, Mademoiselle, and my life shall be forfeit 
 before harm comes to you." 
 
 With a bow the Frenchman paused, and with a 
 manner almost debonair, in strange contrast to 
 his battered appearance, offered his escort to a 
 stream of water, which he said he had found not 
 far distant and which flowed, as he described it, 
 through a valley of surpassing loveliness. Half 
 willingly she turned to follow, for the thought of
 
 88 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 cool, fresh water was most alluring, but as she did 
 so she stopped short at the sight of Starbuck com- 
 ing along the beach. 
 
 With a swinging stride he rapidly approached, 
 and Aubert stepped aside to let him pass. Starbuck 
 gave the Frenchman a look of passing contempt and 
 stopped. 
 
 " I missed you when I awoke," he said, " and 
 came in search. I was also going to look for water. 
 There should be a brook here somewhere, opposite 
 the break in the reef, and a cool drink would not be 
 the worst thing in the world." 
 
 The Frenchman broke in eagerly. 
 
 " I have found water, Monsieur," he said. " It 
 is just here. Permit me to show you." 
 
 Starbuck paused and regarded the man with 
 amazement. That the crawling, groaning creature, 
 who had lain, from one cause or another, through- 
 out the voyage of the dinghy like a man half dead, 
 should now be on his two feet, apparently calm, 
 with speech on his tongue and confidence in his tone, 
 was a surprise that almost startled him. 
 
 " And when," he said, looking Aubert over from 
 head to foot, " did you come to life? " 
 
 There was a sneer in the tone that made the 
 Frenchman colour. 
 
 " Sir," he said, " I have just explained to this 
 lady that I was not responsible for my deportment
 
 MONSIEUR AUBERT EXPLAINS 89 
 
 in that terrible time when we were in that boat. I 
 have been ill, Monsieur, but now that I am on the 
 firm earth once more, I am myself again." 
 
 To Starbuck he now explained the nature of his 
 idiosyncrasy against small boats, declaring with 
 fervour that he had practically been out of his mind 
 from the time the ship went down until he was 
 washed up, half dead, on the shores of this island. 
 Starbuck heard him through. It was plain that he 
 did not believe a word. 
 
 However, he said little. He was willing to let 
 the past record of Aubert remain closed, for he 
 recognized in the man's attempt to excuse himself, 
 merely a desire to save his face before a woman. 
 
 "Well, Mr. O'Bare," drawled Starbuck, fixing 
 him with a sarcastic eye, " if I were you I would 
 stay on this island for the rest of my natural 
 life before I would risk my intellect in a boat 
 again." 
 
 The brook, which tumbled its joyful way down 
 to the sea from the height of the land, flowed 
 through a valley that was delightful with the shade 
 of huge palms near the shore, and breadfruits and 
 plantains farther inland. The party of three ex- 
 plored, for a short distance, the flower-strewn glade, 
 Starbuck, with the air of a man familiar with sucK 
 scenes, pointing out the various trees and plants 
 and calling them by name. The little stream, cool
 
 90 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 from the shadowed depths of the forest was eagerly 
 drunk from, Starbuck making two hasty cups from 
 the halves of a cocoa shell. The first sip of good 
 water was a delight and the three drank repeatedly, 
 washing down the sweet contents of ripe nuts, 
 which they all ate with a relish. 
 
 Then Starbuck called a council. As an officer 
 of the ship, he said, he believed it to be his duty to 
 protect its passengers and to serve them until they 
 were safe again, or at least back in civilization. 
 So far as he knew, this was an uninhabited island, 
 a fact that he considered strange in the light of its 
 size and fertility. Of course, on the other side 
 there might be a native village, but here there were 
 no signs of occupation, either past or present. He 
 stated that he was familiar with many of the fruits 
 of this latitude, having visited a number of similar 
 islands during his life at sea. There was no danger, 
 he told them, from wild beasts for there was none. 
 Rats might be plentiful, he said, but were scarcely to 
 be feared. Pigs were sometimes raised by the 
 natives and roamed at will through the forests, but 
 he had so far seen no signs of them. 
 
 He explained at length the geographical position 
 of the island as he believed it to be, and, while he 
 held out no false hopes of being speedily taken off, 
 he declared that such an island would not go for 
 long without a visit from some of the German
 
 MONSIEUR AUBERT EXPLAINS 91 
 
 traders, who carried on the traffic of the Caroline 
 sea. 
 
 For the present, he proposed that they should 
 make an inventory of all the articles they possessed 
 and turn all those of use into the common treasury, 
 to be used by any of them when needed, but to be 
 always replaced when they had served their turn. 
 He produced the things he had taken from the 
 Frenchman's pockets, still tied in his handkerchief, 
 which Miss Channing at once recognized by its 
 green striped border, but unblushingly he offered 
 not the slightest explanation of how he had obtained 
 them, nor did the Frenchman ask one. She noticed 
 this but did not comment on it, though she thought 
 it strange that Aubert should have permitted him- 
 self to be robbed in this high-handed manner with- 
 out a protest. 
 
 Now the shadows in the valley were deepening 
 and Starbuck bestirred himself to find a place to 
 sleep. With a few sticks of hibiscus wood, and with 
 plantain and breadfruit leaves for a thatch, he con- 
 structed a rough sort of wigwam, which he pre- 
 sented to Miss Channing as her temporary quarters. 
 Inside he placed a quantity of grass and invited her 
 to enter. 
 
 The fast falling night closed in upon them, warm, 
 starlit and moonless. The wash of the waves gave 
 a steady undertone through the trees, the few birds
 
 92 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 ceased calling and a hush fell on the valley. The 
 girl retired to her shelter, while the two men made 
 their couches in the open at a little distance. 
 Aubert was soon sleeping, but Starbuck sat at the 
 foot of a tree, his back against it, waiting through 
 the long silent hours for the new day.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 TWO MEN AND A WOMAN 
 
 As he sat with arms folded and head thrown 
 back, gazing up at the rift of azure sky that showed 
 through the waving tops of the palms, Starbuck 
 thought of the girl in the frail shelter he had built 
 for her. He could hear her, now and then, as she 
 turned restlessly on her couch of grass, and he won- 
 dered whether she slept, or whether, wearied in body 
 but preternaturally alert in mind, she was lying 
 there thinking of the coming days and weeks; for 
 Starbuck did not disguise the fact from himself, 
 though he tried to keep it from the others, that it 
 might be a long time before relief came. 
 
 During the dark hours he set himself to formu- 
 late some sort of plan whereby this little community 
 of three strangely assorted souls could best live at 
 peace with one another. The girl he knew to be 
 naturally courageous, but he could readily see that 
 she was rapidly letting herself fall into a state of 
 nervousness and apprehension. Hitherto her accept- 
 
 93
 
 94 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 ance of whatever services he had rendered her had 
 been marked by reserve of manner, plainly intended 
 to keep him at a distance. As to Aubert's status 
 with her he had not seen enough to judge, but he 
 knew that she must have formed a thoroughly poor 
 opinion of him while in the boat, and the man's 
 queer story of delirium could hardly have been con- 
 vincing. She had seemed to accept it, he believed, 
 as he had himself, for the sake of whatever har- 
 mony was possible in their enforced companion- 
 ship. 
 
 He admitted to himself that he admired the 
 girl for the steady nerve she had displayed, but as 
 to whether she thought well or ill of him, he had 
 not had time to ponder. To the strictly personal 
 side of the future days of enforced island residence, 
 he had given little thought. As for the Frenchman, 
 Starbuck had formed a definite opinion of him. 
 The man was a coward. He was one of those who 
 pose and swagger, telling of large things he has 
 done and of the still greater that he expects to do; 
 a man, who, when danger is past, comes forward 
 with a smile, belittling the peril, offering excuses 
 for his own conduct and trusting to his amiability 
 and the sympathy of the onlookers to rehabilitate 
 him. He would bear watching, thought the sailor, 
 not because his sense of insult would permit him to 
 go into physical danger for its avenging, but be-
 
 TWO MEN AND A WOMAN 95 
 
 cause he was certain to attempt to insinuate himself 
 into the good graces of Miss Channing and thus 
 possibly cause a passive mutiny in the camp against 
 his own judgment and authority, which he was of 
 no mind to relinquish. 
 
 Work and plenty of it, decided Starbuck, must 
 be the daily portion of each one of the trio. On the 
 long, dull days at sea in his younger years, when the 
 calm of the doldrums bred a pestilence of discon- 
 tent among the crew, work had been the sovereign 
 remedy of the skipper and was invariably efficacious. 
 Men who would have rebelled against the food 
 served out to them if allowed to be idle, ate with 
 nothing worse than a growl when hard at work. 
 Occupation, something to keep the hands busy as 
 well as the mind, was the great alleviator in time 
 of trouble. And occupation they should have. 
 
 His thoughts turned to the boat, which was now 
 lying with her side stove in at the bottom of the 
 reef, where he knew the water might be fifteen 
 fathoms deep. Would it be possible to raise and 
 patch her? If this island, as yet unexplored, should 
 prove as he believed, uninhabited, there must be 
 others not too far away that might be reached, and 
 in settled weather, with the dinghy made seaworthy 
 and well provisioned, such a voyage would be prac- 
 ticable. However, this was a measure only to be 
 tried after a reasonable amount of waiting for a
 
 96 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 ship, and Starbuck gave himself up to plans for the 
 coming day. Some kind of more or less permanent 
 shelter was imperative. The rainy season was fast 
 approaching, as told by the restless shifting of the 
 winds, and a stock of provisions must at once be 
 laid in against possible illness or mishap. The 
 island must be explored for the purpose of finding 
 some hint as to its history, and in the hope that, if 
 at this time unpeopled, some stray articles of use- 
 fulness might have been left behind. 
 
 Weary, the man's thoughts grew less clear, and, 
 as the hour of dawn approached, his head drooped 
 toward his breast and he slumbered. 
 
 When Eleanor Channing retired to her leafy 
 bower, as Starbuck surmised, it was not to sleep. 
 The rustling of the grass, the unaccustomed hard- 
 ness of the bed, the possibility of crawling insects, 
 and the noises of the night, after the first moments 
 of forced composure, had driven sleep far from her 
 busy brain. She turned on this side and on that; 
 she sat up and tried to better arrange her couch, 
 and finally, failing in each attempt at comfort, 
 threw herself down to wait for the light. 
 
 Lying there, she could hear the Frenchman's 
 heavy breathing a few yards away. She could 
 even see his form vaguely in a lighter patch under 
 the stars. Starbuck she could neither see nor hear. 
 She recalled the Frenchman's words of the after-
 
 TWO MEN AND A WOMAN 97 
 
 noon. The darkness and the mystery of the island 
 night, with its whisperings and its rustlings, 
 wrought a fear in her that they might be true, 
 though what calm reason she could muster rebuked 
 her for the evil in her thoughts. Still, here were 
 two men and a woman, alone, away from all the 
 restraints of civilization, their impulses quickened 
 only by the laws of nature or the promptings of 
 their own consciences. That they might struggle 
 finally to possess her was perfectly possible. How 
 soon the contest would come she could not foresee, 
 but that some sort of supremacy must be estab- 
 lished she dared not doubt. She knew enough of 
 the world not to delude herself that a man such as 
 Starbuck had shown himself could indefinitely re- 
 frain from exhibiting an interest in her. His pas- 
 sions must some time leap to the surface and sweep 
 away the habit of duty that now seemed so strong 
 in him. The other was also a man, not so strong, 
 not so elemental, but he was at least a male, and, 
 taken doubtless from an environment of worldly 
 indulgence, he would make his fight, however feeble 
 it might be, for the winning of the prize. 
 
 Facing such a problem as this, the girl's native 
 courage was sorely tried. Whether it would not be 
 better to die when the time came, she hardly con- 
 sidered. The danger, though so real, seemed so al- 
 most mythical in its present remoteness, that she
 
 98 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 could not bring herself to think of it as an actuality. 
 She must play for time, she told herself. She must 
 pretend to be all things to each of these men, meet- 
 ing each in a spirit of courage, never weakening 
 nor apparently seeing beyond the commonplaces of 
 existence. A steady hand and a clear, discerning 
 mind that never showed the white feather would 
 go far, she thought, if only the time were not too 
 long. A week, possibly a month, would be the 
 duration of her imprisonment and for this space 
 she believed herself able to hold at arm's length 
 anything short of sheer physical force. 
 
 She thought of the man to whom she was en- 
 gaged to be married. How would he accept her in 
 the knowledge of her plight? How would his family 
 accept her, those proud, cold aristocrats of New 
 England, the Brahmin caste of America, whose tra- 
 ditions showed no taint of vulgar adventure, whose 
 women were statuesque figures of propriety and 
 whose men models of icy discretion? Already she 
 felt herself smirched by her position, by her very 
 thoughts, unworthy again to enter into their frigid 
 circle of conventionality. 
 
 Like the tamer of lions, her safety lay in the pre- 
 tence of courage. She must face all things with 
 calmness, never resenting friendliness, never en- 
 couraging familiarity, always ready to share dis- 
 comforts and dangers as a man would be. Like
 
 TWO MEN AND A WOMAN 99 
 
 the lion's master, the worst she had to fear was fear 
 itself. 
 
 With the situation, as she saw it, analyzed to its 
 lowest terms, Eleanor Channing's mind lost its 
 tension, and like the man asleep at the foot of the 
 tree, she sank slowly into a depth of unconscious- 
 ness that before the day broke was profound. 
 
 The rising of the sun awoke Starbuck. He 
 stretched his arms and yawned noisily, and without 
 calling the Frenchman or the girl, he rose, and 
 shaking the dew from his clothes as he walked, 
 went to the stream for a drink and a wash. Re- 
 freshed by the cool water, he stepped quietly down 
 to the beach and scanned the sea and shore. The 
 wind had fallen before sunrise and the lagoon inside 
 the reef was quiet as a pond, though its surface 
 still undulated with the rollers that swept in from 
 the reef, where the seas still broke noisily, sending 
 up their sheets of spray, turned to dazzling white- 
 ness by the sun. 
 
 The first thing Starbuck did was to make a fire. 
 With no matches nor flint and steel there was but 
 one way, and with a sailor's knowledge of many 
 strange lands, he set about it in the ancient island 
 fashion. Choosing a half decayed stem of hibiscus 
 he tore off the smaller end, and with his knife, whit- 
 tled this carefully to a point. Laying the larger 
 piece against a rock, he bestrode it, and selecting
 
 100 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 a dry and partly rotten spot, began to rub. Soon a 
 groove was worn in the soft wood, and as he worked 
 faster the decayed particles were ground to a fine 
 powder that was pushed into a little heap at the 
 farther end. He increased the speed of his strokes, 
 his body shaking with the violence of movement, 
 until all at once a thin, fine spiral of smoke curled 
 up. With the sweat pouring from his face, em- 
 purpled by his exertions, he worked with lightning 
 strokes, and at last, when human muscles could 
 move no faster, he suddenly stopped and pressed the 
 point of his smoking stick hard into the cavity he 
 had worn. A breathless instant, and the tiny parti- 
 cles glowed, incandescent, elemental fire, born of the 
 energy of one man's body. 
 
 "Bravo!" 
 
 Instantly he looked up to see, fresh and glowing 
 from her visit to the brook, the girl, who stood 
 above him at the edge of the trees smiling her good 
 morning. 
 
 " How delightfully primitive ! " she said, as she 
 stepped down upon the beach. " You look like a 
 strong man who has just run a race," and she could 
 have bitten her tongue the next instant as she 
 thought of the retort he might make to the quota- 
 tion. 
 
 But he did not. Intent on his fire, he scarcely 
 more than nodded a welcome as he busily piled dry
 
 TWO MEN AND A WOMAN 101 
 
 twigs, one by one on the tiny blaze, which 'grew 
 and throve under his hand. 
 
 " It's queer," he said at last, as he sat back to 
 mop his forehead, and eyed with satisfaction the 
 now vigorous flames, " it's mighty queer that we 
 humans aren't happy without a fire. Here we are 
 in the midst of the greatest fruit country in the 
 world, where things to eat are -ready to drop into 
 our mouths, and yet we must have a fire and cook 
 something. What?" he echoed, as he caught the 
 girl's look of inquiry. " Well, roasted breadfruit 
 isn't a bad breakfast, and baked yams make a bully 
 good side dish. The only thing we lack is coffee, 
 but we can make out on a hot morning with a cocoa- 
 nut cocktail as an appetizer. You never ate a well 
 cooked breadfruit?" he questioned, as he heaped 
 fuel on the blaze until it leaped alive into the still 
 morning air. " Well, you're going to taste some- 
 thing nearly as good as your native Boston dish." 
 
 As he spoke he rimmed the glowing heap with 
 stones and buried ' others deep in the heart of the 
 blaze. 
 
 " Now," he said, turning to her, " if you'll keep 
 that going with this dry stuff, I'll go and pick the 
 breakfast. One, two, three. Our Parisian friend, 
 who isn't up yet, I suppose, will take rolls and 
 coffee, merely, with an absinthe frappe as an eye 
 opener. Hey, you there, Monseer O'Bare," he
 
 102 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 called loudly up the valley. " Your valay hasn't 
 come home yet and you'll have to ' do ' for your- 
 self this morning. Get up!" he finished, his tone 
 changing from one of half good-natured banter to a 
 note of command. 
 
 He resumed the placing of the stones to heat, the 
 girl watching him with interest. 
 
 " You seem a very capable sort of person," she 
 said at length, as he finished to his satisfaction. 
 " I should quite like to know you, I think. I am 
 Eleanor Channing, and now," she finished with a 
 smile, " you have the advantage of me." 
 
 Starbuck stared. It had never occurred to him 
 that she did not know his name. 
 
 " That's one on me," he admitted with a laugh. 
 " Days and nights in a boat together and didn't 
 even know who was sailing you. Perhaps I'd bet- 
 ter give our mutual friend my card and then we can 
 be what you call properly introduced." 
 
 But smiling, she shook her head. 
 
 " I'd much rather hear it from you. Besides, 
 breakfast like this is hardly a formal function, you 
 know." 
 
 " Well," he said slowly, " if you will have it, it 
 is Starbuck, John Starbuck, and very much at your 
 service." 
 
 John Starbuck. It was a solid, substantial name 
 with a good New England twang to it.
 
 TWO MEN AND A WOMAN 103 
 
 " Why," she exclaimed, " you must be from 
 Massachusetts. Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard? " 
 
 " Nantucket," he answered quickly. " I was 
 born on Nantucket. My mother's name was Macy 
 and her mother was a Coffin, but I've been knock- 
 ing about this round old world so long," he added, 
 she thought a bit wistfully, as he stood gazing off 
 seaward, " that I don't know as I can claim now to 
 hail from much of anywhere." 
 
 " Oh, once a Yankee for ever a Yankee, you never 
 can change," she said lightly. " I'm glad your name 
 is Starbuck. It sounds so square and so, well, so 
 sensible. It fits you, I think." 
 
 Starbuck had never analyzed his feeling for his 
 name other than to be in a way proud to bear it as 
 that of a line of sailors and shipmasters of the old 
 school, who had made New Bedford the oiliest port 
 in the world in the days when voyages were meas- 
 ured by barrels, and men by the length of the long 
 dart throw. Her approval pleased him. 
 
 Aubert's appearance, gingerly stepping through 
 the undergrowth, put an end to the subject and 
 Starbuck looked quizzically at the advancing figure. 
 The Frenchman had evidently been at some pains 
 with his toilet. His coat was brushed free from 
 grass and leaves, his shirt cuffs turned back to hide 
 their soiled edges, and he now beckoned Starbuck to 
 come to him.
 
 104 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 " Pardon, Monsieur," he said, when the sailor 
 was near enough to catch his low tone, " but my 
 little comb that I always carry. It would be a con- 
 venience " 
 
 " Yes," Starbuck admitted, with a glance at the 
 tousled black head, and the disordered moustache 
 and imperial, " and a shave wouldn't be a bad 
 thing, either, if we had some soap and a razor." 
 
 " Look, void! " cried Aubert, as he reached into 
 his inside waistcoat pocket. " See, the genii grants 
 your wish, almost as it is uttered," and as he spoke 
 he drew out a black case containing the wished for 
 article. Starbuck took it in some surprise for he 
 thought he had searched the man thoroughly. 
 
 " Here's your comb," he said, handing it to him 
 from the packet, which he had opened. " I'll try 
 the shaving tool after breakfast. We'll take turns 
 with it, every other day, and give it to Miss Chan- 
 ning between whiles for safe keeping." 
 
 " Bien" said the Frenchman shortly, " I am sat- 
 isfied." 
 
 While the stones in the fire were heating, Star- 
 buck walked back into the valley and soon returned 
 bearing several green breadfruit. They were 
 peculiar, egg-shaped things with knobby green skins 
 covering a thin rind and were about as large as a 
 citron. He carried also a number of large leaves, 
 in which he proceeded to wrap the fruit one by one.
 
 TWO MEN AND A WOMAN 105 
 
 Scooping a hole in the heart of the fire and raking 
 the embers to one side, he placed the parcels in the 
 cavity and covered them with the hot ashes, heaping 
 the smaller stones on these and smothering the 
 whole with earth. Picking up one of the burning 
 brands, he carefully kindled a new fire at a little 
 distance and called to Miss Channing, who had 
 been watching these primitive preparations for 
 breakfast with interest. 
 
 " Who was it that kept their lamps lighted for a 
 thousand years or so ? " he asked her over his 
 shoulder. 
 
 " The vestal virgins, do you mean? " 
 
 " That's it, I reckon. Now I want you to con- 
 sider yourself one of those same young women who 
 has wandered from her own fireside, and keep a 
 little blaze going just here." 
 
 " And for a thousand years ? " 
 
 " Well, maybe it won't be quite that long, but if 
 quite likely will seem so; anyhow, enough to give 
 some character to the part. It's hot work making 
 fire by the prehistoric method as you saw this morn- 
 ing, and it will be easier to keep it. Monseer," he 
 suddenly called to Aubert, who had sat down at the 
 foot of a nearby palm and was finishing his toilet 
 with the comb Starbuck had returned to him. He 
 looked up. 
 
 " Just slip along the beach there and bring back
 
 106 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 some of those green cocoanuts the wind brought 
 down last night, and strip the husks off. I'll be 
 back in time for breakfast," he added, and without 
 more words swung off with a long stride up the 
 beach toward the rock, behind which they had found 
 their first shelter on the day before. 
 
 The girl watched him as he strode away, with 
 his seamanlike swing of the arms and body, grace- 
 ful, strong, alert. In his white shirt and blue 
 trousers and with his head bare to the morning 
 breeze, he was good to look upon, and Eleanor 
 Channing could not but admit that the buoyant 
 figure, with its utter lack of pose or mannerism 
 fitted well with the stage setting of palm and sea 
 and sky. 
 
 Slowly she turned her attention again to the fire, 
 dragging some of the larger pieces of wood from 
 a little distance and heaping them up nearby until 
 she had accumulated a sizable pile. Warm with 
 physical exercise, flushed, and panting a little, she 
 stood back, rubbing her reddened palms and look- 
 ing with some pride at her work. As she stood, 
 wondering why she had found herself hoping to 
 win a word of approval from a sailorman, who 
 ordered her about as if she were one of his own 
 deckhands, Aubert suddenly stood beside her, drop- 
 ping an armful of nuts at her feet. His labour had 
 not disarranged the carefully roached hair or the
 
 TWO MEN AND A WOMAN 107 
 
 twisted ends of his moustache, and as he struck an 
 attitude and shrugged, with his thumbs out and his 
 palms up, she could think of nothing but a little 
 French barber. All he lacked was the comb stuck 
 behind his ear. 
 
 " And Ma'm'selle, I hope that she rested quite 
 well?" 
 
 " Yes, thank you; and you? " she continued, for 
 the want of something better to say, " I am sure 
 you did. I heard you quite plainly." 
 
 " Ah, that is cruel, Ma'm'selle. I was fatigued 
 past all words. It is not often that I sleep such a 
 sleep. From night until morning I knew nothing. 
 And I dreamed, ah! such dreams, that I was not 
 sorry. I was again in my dear Paris, and it was 
 a spring evening along the Champs Elysses. The 
 hundreds and thousands of lamps among the trees 
 and in the gardens twinkled and the gay voices of 
 men and women came to me. The orchestra at Des 
 Ambassadeurs one could just hear, above the whirr 
 of the passing automobiles and the click, click of 
 the cab horses. And under a lamp I met, whom do 
 you think, Ma'm'selle? Who but yourself, and you 
 were ' 
 
 " Your dream is very interesting, no doubt, Mon- 
 sieur Anbert," interrupted Miss Channing hastily, 
 " but I smell something. Do you suppose the break- 
 fast is burning? Ought we to look?"
 
 108 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 To her relief, Starbuck now made his appearance, 
 dragging behind him the sailcloth and the other 
 articles which he had picked up along the shore; 
 the poor little collection, which, with what they per- 
 sonally had in their pockets, represented their total 
 wealth. There was the broken mast of the boat, 
 with its boom, sail and fittings; one whole oar; 
 one broken one; one boathook, one water keg and 
 one empty brandy bottle. As this last came into 
 view Miss Channing glanced at Aubert. She saw 
 him eye it eagerly and caught the look of dis- 
 appointment that crossed his face when he saw its 
 condition. Less than ever did she believe his story. 
 
 Starbuck dumped his load on the sand and eyed 
 it with some satisfaction. 
 
 "That isn't as much as Mr. Crusoe had, is it?" 
 he said, " nor yet the ship's cargo that the poor 
 Swiss Family struggled along with. But for three 
 intelligent people it will do very well, I'm thinking." 
 
 Digging open the pile under which the breadfruit 
 lay, without more ado Starbuck opened the leaf- 
 bound parcels and laid before the waiting ones the 
 fragrant, steaming contents. Cracking the rind of 
 one of the fruits, the thin shell dropped away, ex- 
 posing the white, pulpy contents. 
 
 Miss Channing, with a shell for a spoon, was the 
 first to taste. 
 
 " Delicious," she cried as she hungrily dipped a
 
 TWO MEN AND A WOMAN 109 
 
 second mouthful. " Why, it's like nothing I ever 
 ate before, and so much better than most breakfast 
 foods." 
 
 Starbuck was busy with the corkscrew attach- 
 ment of Aubert's knife, with which he bored out 
 one of the little black plugs in the ends of three 
 cocoanuts, and after punching other holes in their 
 sides, he passed two of them to the others. They 
 saw him place his lips to the end, and take a long 
 draught. Imitating him, the girl gave a cry of sur- 
 prise and hastily repeated the operation. 
 
 "And this is the milk in the cocoanut! " she ex- 
 claimed; "it really is the most refreshing drink I 
 ever had. Why should any one waste time on the 
 ancient mystery of how it got there, when one can 
 quench one's thirst so delightfully? " 
 
 " These are not the best, though," said Starbuck 
 critically, " they've been on the ground for several 
 hours. A native would turn up his nose, and climb 
 the tree for a fresh one." 
 
 Breakfast over, the girl half expected to hear an 
 order to wash the dishes, as she might have, had 
 there been such things, but the remains were burned 
 and the beach left clean. 
 
 " Now," said Starbuck, briskly, " there's a lot of 
 work to do. The first thing is to set our signal of 
 distress on the top of the hill back of us, and to ex- 
 plore the island far enough to find out if there is a
 
 110 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 native village anywhere on the other side. After 
 that, we'll build something for Miss Channing to 
 call her private residence. Aubert, it's you for the 
 tall timber. Take this knife and whittle off all the 
 straight trees you come to that are the thickness of 
 your ankle. I wish we had an axe and we'd make 
 you a real lumber jack. Miss Channing, if you're 
 a mountain climber, you can come with me and 
 have the honour of hauling up the first flag on the 
 island of what? Name it, Miss, you were the 
 discoverer and you must be its sponsor." 
 
 Called on suddenly for a name, Eleanor Chan- 
 ning was caught somewhat off her guard, but per- 
 haps, had she stopped to think, she could have done 
 no better. 
 
 " Starbuck Island," was her quick decision and 
 Starbuck himself, on whom this unexpected and 
 personal honour had fallen, had no time to demur 
 before she cried : 
 
 " Starbuck Island, in honour of the man who 
 made it possible for it to be named at all." 
 
 And so it stood. 
 
 " But what are we to do for a flag? " asked the 
 girl, in doubt as to what he had planned to use that 
 might be seen any distance at sea. 
 
 " A piece of luck," answered Starbuck. " When 
 I was after this bit of plunder, I saw, washing just 
 on the edge of the beach, those bedclothes from
 
 TWO MEN AND A WOMAN 111 
 
 the boat. There's the two sheets, and a blanket with 
 red stripes on the ends. It's light and it ought to 
 fly in the breeze we get here." 
 
 He went and got it from a bush where it hung 
 drying and spread it out before her. The red bars 
 at top and bottom showed brilliantly against a yel- 
 lowish ground. 
 
 " Splendid," she cried, " only the ships that see 
 it will think it's a Spanish flag and they may not 
 come near us/' 
 
 " All the better," retorted the sailor. " If they're 
 German ships, as most of 'em are that trade in these 
 waters, they'd be pretty likely to want to know who 
 the grandees are who have jumped their claim."" 
 
 Starbuck busied himself overhauling the small 
 ropes that had formed the running rigging of the 
 mast and sail, and when he had freed them, found 
 himself with sufficient line for halyards. Next he 
 took two large shells from the beach that fitted 
 closely over one another. In these he placed a few 
 live coals from the fire and handed them to the girl. 
 Taking up the boathook he announced himself 
 ready for exploration and adventure. 
 
 For the first time it occurred to her, that, should 
 she go with him, she would be placing herself in a 
 position she had been warned against. Flushing 
 slightly, she hesitated. 
 
 " I think if this is to be a journey of exploration,
 
 112 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 Monsieur Aubert should go with us," she demurred. 
 " And certainly he should be present when we raise 
 our flag of occupation. Three cheers by only one 
 cheerer would be a poor sort of salute, it seems to 
 me, for such a standard." 
 
 Starbuck, while he did not suspect the real rea- 
 son, was of no mind to have his first suggestion as 
 to the day's work disregarded, and stoutly held to 
 the original plan. The sticks for the hut must be 
 cut, he said, and they might be gone several hours ; 
 also, the day was advancing and the night fell early 
 in the tropics. Aubert, anxious to avoid the heavy 
 work he had been set to do, attempted to enter the 
 little controversy, but the look in Starbuck's eye 
 told him sternly not to interfere, and, since the girl 
 could not well refuse outright, the sailor had his 
 way. 
 
 They started up the valley, taking the course of 
 the stream, which bubbled musically over the rocks 
 and fallen tree trunks to where it brawled out over 
 the beach. At first the way was fairly clear, but 
 soon the undergrowth became thicker and the air 
 closer and warmer. Away from the sea breeze, 
 hemmed in on all sides by the heavy shade, where a 
 few bright plumed birds scaled overhead with 
 startled cries, Eleanor Channing found herself in a 
 new world. The rank, lush greenery of the tropics, 
 the myriads of flowering plants, the clinging ten-
 
 TWO MEN AND A WOMAN 113 
 
 drils of the vines that climbed and wound their way 
 around the tree trunks, were all strange to her, and 
 though the heat of exercise caused discomfort, she 
 began to enjoy the experience. 
 
 Starbuck went ahead, often beating a path for 
 her through the thickest of the growth and extend- 
 ing a helping hand where rocks impeded her prog- 
 ress. He did not talk much, and as they ascended 
 sharply she was too far out of breath to attempt con- 
 versation. Once a canebrake seemed to offer an im- 
 penetrable barrier but by main strength Starbuck 
 forced a passage for her and himself, which closed 
 up almost as quickly as it was made. Safely 
 through this, the forest became more open, and they 
 could see the slope well ahead. The hardest part of 
 their climb, however, was to come. From this 
 point the peak of the hill ran up steeply and in spots 
 the ground was almost bare, covered with grayish 
 rock that looked like slag from a blast furnace. 
 
 " Lava," said Starbuck, as he extended the boat- 
 hook to help her up an acclivity. " This island is, 
 or has been, an active volcano, and that not so very 
 long ago. See, there are ashes under your foot 
 that look as if they had just fallen there." 
 
 Rather fearing to step suddenly into an open 
 fissure, the girl climbed gingerly on, the sharp edges 
 of the slag cutting her shoes sadly, though she did 
 not complain. Higher they went, till, glancing
 
 114 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 back, they caught glimpses of the sea below, shining 
 in its vast expanse, seemingly still as a great lake. 
 While she stopped to rest, Starbuck kept on, shin- 
 ning up the steep hillside like a goat, sometimes on 
 all fours, and as she turned again to the ascent, she 
 heard him give a shout and hurried her steps until 
 she could see him standing on a point of stiffened 
 lava, waving his hand to her. It was the top.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 STARBUCK ISLAND 
 
 THERE was no definite crater, but rather a broad 
 depression, rimmed about with rock, that stood in 
 fantastic shapes and ridges as if left there, unfin- 
 ished, by careless workmen. No smoke was visible, 
 but in the crevices near the bottom of the pit a light 
 vapour arose that smelled strongly of sulphur. On 
 the farther side of the basin was a great rift in its 
 edge as if scooped out by a Titan's hand, and out 
 of this, growing broader as it descended, was a 
 frozen stream of lava, that had mowed a path 
 straight to the water on the island's south side. 
 
 Starbuck helped the girl to a place beside him 
 on the highest pinnacle of rock, where there was an 
 uninterrupted view in every direction. Perhaps 
 not above four hundred feet in height, the island, 
 they could see, was nearly elliptical in shape, with 
 its length running almost east and west. They saw 
 the surrounding coral reef, with its fringe of milk- 
 white breakers on the north and west, and lying like 
 a dark shadow off the leeward shore. The water 
 of the enclosed lagoon, with its brilliant shades of 
 
 115
 
 116 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 blue and green, was like an iridescent mirror, and 
 over all was the glowing blue of the sky, with the 
 sun like a brazen bowl, riding in the southeast. No 
 other island was in sight. 
 
 While the girl stood gazing at the beauty of the 
 panorama, Starbuck leaped down, and descending a 
 short distance, twisted off the stem of a tall, straight 
 young tree, from which he stripped the branches. 
 Opening the shells, which the girl had carried, he 
 blew the coals into life and started a small fire. 
 Into this he thrust the metal point of the boathook, 
 while the girl, from her perch, looked on puzzled. 
 
 Testing its heat from time to time, at last Star- 
 buck placed the dull, red point at the end of the 
 pole and burnt a smooth, round hole through to the 
 other side. Reeving the halyards through it, he 
 stepped it in a crevice on the peak of rock, wedging 
 it with other smaller pieces of broken slag, which 
 he drove with his heel to support the butt. This 
 done he unwound from his waist the ship's blanket 
 he had brought and bent it firmly by two corners to 
 the halyards. 
 
 " Now, Your Excellency," he cried, as he drew 
 up in mock salute, " we are ready for the christen- 
 ing. Are you still decided on the name? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," she said, " that must be the name, of 
 course; you could not expect me to name it for 
 myself, could you? "
 
 STARBUCK ISLAND 117 
 
 Starbuck felt a little flick of satisfaction as he 
 noted that the Frenchman was forgotten, or ignored. 
 
 " All right then, here goes," and the blanket, 
 rolled in a tight ball, sailor fashion, began slowly to 
 climb the pole. 
 
 " Stop, stop," she cried in dismay. " What am 
 I to say? What words does one use when one 
 names a new land? " 
 
 Starbuck looked blank. 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know," he said in perplexity, 
 " but," brightening, " when you crack a bottle on a 
 ship's stem, you say, ' I christen thee So-and-So.' ' 
 
 " I suppose that will have to do," replied the girl, 
 somewhat doubtful, " but, after all, it's an island in 
 the sea, and not such a steady going one at that, 
 judging by what we've seen up here." 
 
 The ball ascended quickly to the top of the staff, 
 and Starbuck, giving the halyards into the girl's 
 hands, told her which one to pull as she spoke the 
 words. 
 
 " I christen thee Starbuck Island," she cried. 
 With a jerk the ball unrolled, and the blanket flag, 
 with its stripes of red on either end, broke out free 
 to the breeze, a symbol of hope for their deliver- 
 ance. 
 
 " Now three cheers," said Starbuck, " and the 
 ceremony's over." 
 
 " No," objected the girl, " you see there is no
 
 118 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 one to cheer. I cannot. I am the dignified sponsor 
 for a new land; and you cannot, for you are the 
 much affected recipient of a great honour and you 
 should be bowing your thanks to the people who 
 gave it to you, not cheering like a schoolboy." 
 
 " Then I bow," responded Starbuck, gravely 
 bending his bare head, but when he raised it again 
 the girl had hopped down beside him, and was 
 pointing to a break in the opposite wall of the basin. 
 
 " Come, we mustn't waste time any longer," she 
 said. " We must explore our domain." 
 
 Leading the way, Starbuck crossed the crater, the 
 girl behind, lifting her short skirt in some trepida- 
 tion as the smell of sulphur rasped her lungs. 
 They hurried to the edge and looked down where 
 the broad flow of lava extended uninterruptedly to 
 the base of the hill and even across the white beach 
 into the sea. 
 
 " I'll bet there was some sizzling when that 
 struck the Pacific," was Starbuck's comment as he 
 handed the girl the boathook to steady her in the 
 descent. 
 
 Although steep, the climb down was easy and 
 they only stopped when some freak in the forma- 
 tion arrested their attention or when the girl paused 
 to exclaim in wonder at the beauty of the view. 
 Soon they came to the brow of a gentler descent, 
 and from here they could look out across the
 
 STARBUCK ISLAND 119 
 
 shoulder of the peak and see the entire length of 
 beach, as it ran away eastward. Gazing long and 
 earnestly, Starbuck could see no sign of human oc- 
 cupation, and the girl, divining his thoughts, was 
 rather relieved by the reflection that no swarthy 
 Caroline Islanders were to complicate matters for 
 her, even though their presence might mean an 
 earlier deliverance. 
 
 Descending the last incline, they came to within 
 a stone's throw of the water's edge. The long river 
 of stiffened lava ran out in a great black tongue 
 under the sea for several hundred yards, its crest 
 in places cropping out among the gently lapping 
 ripples. On either side of where they stood there 
 was a sharp declivity of ten to fifteen feet, which 
 marked the depth of the lava flow over the beach. 
 The shores and slope of the hill for a long distance 
 were almost denuded of tall growth, being covered 
 only by the newer trees and bushes which had 
 grown since the eruption. Starbuck estimated by 
 their size that the activity of the crater could not 
 have been more than two, or at most, three years 
 before. 
 
 Exploring the edges of the flow, the sailor uttered 
 a cry that brought the girl quickly to him. He was 
 bending over the charred remains of a hut, of which 
 only the blackened poles that formed its roof were 
 left, but one half of these were still embedded in
 
 120 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 the sand, where they had originally stood when 
 the molten rock had overwhelmed the frail habita- 
 tion. 
 
 " There must have been a village here," said Star- 
 buck, " and it was buried up in the eruption. It 
 is clear enough now why the island is not inhab- 
 ited. It must be tabu." 
 
 "And what is that?" asked the girl, looking 
 curiously at the ruins of a savage home and reali- 
 zing the catastrophe in growing wonder. 
 
 " Tabu in the islands of the Pacific," he ex- 
 plained, " means ' forbidden.' The basis of it is 
 superstition, although a pretty practical sort of man 
 wouldn't blame a native for steering clear of a 
 proposition like this. I wonder if any of 'em got 
 caught. Probably not, though, the thing would 
 give some sort of warning. Must have been a 
 small village, too," he commented, as he took in 
 the- extent of the lava. " Maybe this wasn't the 
 first time that * Starbuck Mountain ' has showed off 
 its fireworks, and only a few were brave enough to 
 risk taking out citizenship papers." 
 
 Of one thing Starbuck felt fairly sure. As he 
 had said, the island was " tabu," and this fact, to 
 his mind, knowing the habits of the natives, made it 
 practically certain that the island would not be 
 visited for a long time, at least by the suspicious, 
 devil-haunted rovers of Micronesia. He did not
 
 STARBUCK ISLAND 121 
 
 tell the girl his thoughts, but the discovery tended 
 greatly to lower his hopes of an early rescue. 
 There was nothing to bring a ship, and this being 
 true, there was nothing for them to count upon but 
 a chance arrival, as of a whaler in search of fresh 
 water or fruit to drive the scourge of scurvy from 
 her crew. 
 
 Poking about in the ruins of the hut, Starbuck 
 gave a cry of satisfaction, as he held up, for her to 
 see, a stone implement that evidently had been used 
 as an axe and another with a slightly concaved 
 surface that was plainly an adze. Rawhide lash- 
 ings, partly charred, still clung to the stones. 
 Eagerly both searched for more articles left behind 
 in hurried flight and soon a pearl-shell spearhead 
 and another piece of shell, cut in saw teeth, re- 
 warded them, but there was nothing more. 
 
 Starbuck, who had been trying to pry up a mass 
 of lava that evidently covered a part of the floor 
 of the hut, suddenly stopped and listened. His in- 
 tent attitude startled the girl, who was about to 
 ask the cause when she saw him drop his lever 
 softly and seize the boathook that lay nearby. With 
 this he left the confines of the hut, and still listen- 
 ing, stealthily moved up the beach toward the line 
 of trees, where she saw him throw himself flat on 
 the sand and peer through the tangled vines. He 
 worked himself carefully along, making no sound,
 
 122 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 until he was some twenty yards away, when he rose 
 with a bound, and, with the boathook poised, 
 spearlike, hurled the shaft with all his strength into 
 the bushes. Instantly a scream of pain rose high 
 and the girl turned pale, and her knees trembled 
 as another and still another shriek issued forth. 
 She saw Starbuck dive into the underbrush and 
 heard swift blows that interrupted the cries. Again 
 and again the thud of the heavy boathook was re- 
 peated until at last there was silence. 
 
 " Oh," cried the girl, " what is it? Why do you 
 not speak ? " 
 
 Too frightened to move, her eyes grew big with 
 'horror as she saw the man's head and shoulders 
 emerge, dragging something behind him. 
 
 " There," he exclaimed, in triumph, as he threw 
 his burden on the beach, " good luck is with us 
 to-day. But he nearly got away." 
 
 Not until she heard him laugh in surprise did she 
 uncover the eyes she had hidden in her hands. 
 
 When she looked up the sight that met her gaze 
 caused a revulsion of feeling that wellnigh choked 
 her. Starbuck was staring at her in blank amaze- 
 ment over the body of a small pig, which lay 
 stretched out dead at his feet. 
 
 " Come," he said, " this will never do. You 
 mustn't go on like that." 
 
 For the girl was almost hysterical, laughing and
 
 STARBUCK ISLAND 123 
 
 weeping in uncontrolled paroxysms. Starbuck came 
 close and put a hand on her shoulder. 
 
 " It's all right, child," he said gently, " I didn't 
 mean to frighten you. I didn't think." 
 
 "I I know," she gasped, making an effort to 
 control herself. " I know it's absurd of me, but 
 but you looked so warlike, and so fierce, that I 
 thought it must be savages, and and it was only 
 a pig." 
 
 " Only a pig," he echoed, " but there are more 
 of them, and think what they mean to us. Fresh 
 meat and smoked hams and and shoes," he con- 
 cluded, noticing Miss Channing's dilapidated foot- 
 wear for the first time. " We must make you some 
 in pretty short order by the looks of yours. How in 
 the world did you climb that hill in those things? 
 Aren't your feet bruised and cut?" he demanded, 
 as he viewed the remains of what had once been 
 dainty pumps. " Why didn't you say something 
 about it?" 
 
 " They weren't so bad when we started," an- 
 swered the girl, who, quiet again, was wiping the 
 tears from her eyes with her sleeve, " and besides, 
 I have no others." 
 
 " Well, we'll fix that," he answered, swinging 
 the small porker over one shoulder by a leg and 
 handing her the boathook. " Help yourself along 
 with that, and we'll go back by way of the beacH
 
 124 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 You never could climb that rough lava bed, and 
 besides, we'll see what the shores look like on the 
 way home." 
 
 Home! Like a blow, the force of the word 
 struck her. A lump came into her throat and she 
 swallowed hard to keep the tears from flowing 
 again. He noticed, and turning to look at her, a 
 wave of real sympathy swept over him. Her waist 
 \v 1 as torn by brambles, her skirt soiled by the scram- 
 ble up the steep hill, and her hair, still sticky from 
 the salt water, was half tumbling from its too few 
 pins. It would have been a cold heart that would 
 have felt no pity and his was by no means invul- 
 nerable, hardened follower of the sea though he had 
 been for more than a decade. 
 
 " Your feet do hurt," he said. " We'll rest here, 
 and you can wash them in the sea if you like, while 
 I do a little more exploring." 
 
 He threw down the pig and helped her to a lump 
 of lava that was lapped by the waves, where she sat 
 down, glad of the chance to recover her poise after 
 her recent fright. She felt grateful to him for his 
 tact in leaving her to herself, and proceeded forth- 
 with to follow his suggestion. Pulling off her 
 stockings, which were literally in shreds, she let her 
 feet fall into the water, delicious in its refreshing 
 coolness, and watched Starbuck as he walked here 
 and there along the beach some distance away, ex-
 
 STARBUCK ISLAND 125 
 
 amining the sand for further treasures. Before 
 long she saw him look at the sun as if anxious to 
 move on, and with some reluctance, reclothing her 
 feet in their tatters, she presently joined him. 
 
 They took up the march again, he leading rather 
 slowly out of consideration for her. She felt much 
 better for the rest, and the harder sand near the 
 water's edge was much easier walking than the 
 forest floor with its roots and rocks. Examining 
 carefully every feature of land and sea and reef as 
 he went, Starbuck pointed out to her the things 
 that he observed. He appeared to know much of 
 the islands of the Pacific. He had also read of 
 much more than he had actually seen, and explained, 
 as they went along, the characteristics of the dif- 
 ferent regions both north and south of the Line. 
 The three or four miles back to the stream and their 
 only abode passed much more quickly than she had 
 foreseen, but it was with a sigh of relief that she 
 saw ahead the smoke of the fire and heard the crash 
 of a falling tree, where the Frenchman was evi- 
 dently still at work obeying instructions. 
 
 As they neared the stream she said quietly to 
 Starbuck : " I wish a little time to myself, before we 
 begin anything new in the way of the day's work, 
 and if you and Monsieur will keep to the beach for a 
 little while, I will come back much more ready to do 
 my share."
 
 126 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 Starbuck acquiesced silently, with a grave motion 
 of his head, and watched her turn aside along the 
 course of the brook before he splashed through its 
 shallows to join the Frenchman. 
 
 Aubert had done fairly well in cutting poles for 
 the proposed shelter and had a good sized pile ready 
 for inspection. Starbuck gave him due credit for 
 his labours but the slight praise was forgotten in 
 the sight of the pig, which the sailor tossed on the 
 sand. Aubert, hungry, as was the other for meat, 
 clapped his hands together and almost shouted in 
 anticipation of the feast to come. 
 
 " Shut up," said Starbuck, shortly, " any one 
 would take you for a cannibal, who hadn't seen a 
 shin bone for a month. If you're so crazy about 
 that pig you can dress him for dinner." 
 
 The man's face fell at this, but seeing that Star- 
 buck was in earnest, he gingerly picked up the small 
 carcass and was about to plunge the knife into it, 
 when the sailor stopped him. 
 
 " No," he said, " I'll do it. You'd punch his hide 
 full of slits. Put some more wood on the fire and 
 get me some of that sticky earth back under the 
 trees. No," he shouted, " this way," as the French- 
 man innocently started up the brook. 
 
 With his own knife, which he found to be con- 
 siderably dulled, having been used to whittle down 
 saplings, he flayed the animal, after removing the
 
 STARBUCK ISLAND 127 
 
 intestines, which he cleaned carefully and hung on 
 a nearby bush. Next he wrapped him entire in a 
 huge plantain leaf, and when Aubert returned, 
 plastered the whole with the clayey earth. Then, 
 scraping a hole in the ashes of the fire, he laid the 
 pig in it and covered it, as he had the breadfruit, 
 with hot stones, and finally, heaped up the earth. 
 
 " Now," he said, as he finished, " we'll see what 
 sort of house carpenters we are." 
 
 Choosing a level spot between two cocoanut 
 palms just back of the slope of the beach and fifty 
 yards or so from the stream, Starbuck marked out 
 a circle about twelve feet in diameter. Tying two 
 of the Frenchman's poles together at their tops with 
 a lashing of bark, he bent them in a half circle, 
 sticking the ends firmly into the ground, while Au- 
 bert held the centre. With two others, similarly 
 tied, he crossed these at right angles, dividing the 
 circle of ground into quarter segments, and with 
 many more, joined in the same manner, the space 
 between was gradually filled up until the whole 
 looked like the ribs of a huge umbrella. Both men 
 now gathered quantities of great, dry cocoanut 
 leaves, and beginning at the bottom, wove them in 
 and out among the poles to form the thatch, 
 strengthening the structure at intervals with vine 
 stems, which were passed through horizontally. 
 Fired, perhaps, in a measure by the energetic ex-
 
 128 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 ample of Starbuck, the Frenchman did his share 
 and the work progressed well. They had been at it 
 for several hours when they heard a voice and 
 turned to see Miss Channing at the aperture left for 
 the door. 
 
 " Wonderful," she exclaimed in surprise at the 
 dwelling which had sprung up out of nothing in 
 her absence. " You must have worked very hard 
 to do all this. But, as the walking delegate of this 
 union, I order you to quit or lose your cards. Isn't 
 that what they do," she asked, " when they find 
 men working over time ? " 
 
 Both men laughed and Starbuck realized it was 
 growing late. As he came out of the hut, which 
 still lacked a good part of its roof, he noted with 
 surprise the change in her appearance. Her hair, 
 which had before been twisted in a sticky mass 
 around her head, was smooth and shone like silk 
 in the sun, though it was still damp about her ears, 
 showing that she had been washing it in the fresh 
 water of the stream. He glanced with almost shy 
 admiration at its softness and abundance. Her 
 clothing, too, showed the effects of her labours. 
 Her waist was clean and her skirt was free of the 
 spots of green and soil that had stained it earlier in 
 the day. The Frenchman noted the change also 
 with perhaps a bolder glance of appreciation, but 
 neither man spoke of it.
 
 STARBUCK ISLAND 129 
 
 " I wanted to get it done to-day," said Starbuck, 
 waving a hand at the hut, " but I'm afraid there 
 isn't time. However, we can throw this sail over 
 the hole in the top and it will do until to-morrow." 
 
 While Aubert had been off gathering more palm 
 leaves, Starbuck had found time to make a sort of 
 screen for a door and a bar with which to fasten it 
 on the inside. This he now handed to the girl. 
 
 " Here, Miss Channing," he said, " are the keys 
 of your bungalow on the Beach Promenade. I hope 
 you will be more comfortable than you were last 
 night. And now," he continued, as he moved 
 toward the fire to escape the girl's thanks, " our 
 swell dinner of roast pig must be about done, I 
 should say." 
 
 With a stick he demolished the pile above the 
 smoking porker and the savoury odour that arose 
 called the others irresistibly. 
 
 As the sun sank into the sea they made a hearty 
 meal, washing it down with clear, cool draughts of 
 water from the stream, and they had ripe cocoanuts 
 for dessert, with the sweet milk for a liqueur. The 
 darkness came on almost at once, and all three, 
 wearied with the strenuous activities of the long 
 day, were glad to rest. The men carried quantities 
 of grass to the hut, with which they made a comfort- 
 able couch and Starbuck brought the two sheets he 
 had saved from the sea.
 
 130 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 "Luxury!" cried the girl, as she watched the 
 preparations. " Unheard of luxury for a castaway. 
 But," she added, " they are most welcome. That 
 grass ! Ugh ! it seemed full of crawly things." 
 
 She bade them good night and entered, barring 
 the screen behind her, and the two men sought their 
 own places, which they had prepared side by side 
 within earshot of the hut. All three slept soundly 
 until the break of day.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 
 
 THE morning dawned bright and calm. Star- 
 buck, up with the sun, was raking apart the 
 banked-up ashes of the fire in search of live coals, 
 when he heard a step on the beach and turned to 
 see Miss Channing coming toward him from her 
 hut. 
 
 " Good morning, Mr. Starbuck," she was saying, 
 " it seems to me that it would be only a fair division 
 of labour for me to take charge of the kitchen. 
 You men will have enough other matters to attend 
 to, I fancy, to want to be free of such things. But 
 we ought really to have some dishes. We need 
 some bowls and something for plates, and I have 
 been thinking even of knives and forks." 
 
 Starbuck smiled. He was glad to see that the 
 girl was beginning to take a real interest in her life 
 as a castaway, and, that she should first propose 
 something that would contribute to the comfort of 
 all, increased his approval of her. 
 
 " Why, yes," he answered readily, " in our walk 
 yesterday, I saw some calabashes growing not far 
 
 131
 
 132 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 back along the stream, and split bamboo will make 
 the finest kind of dinner knives. There's some of 
 that, too. We passed a clump of it just beyond the 
 point there. As for plates, we'll have to use plan- 
 tain leaves until we can make something better, so 
 there we are. Not so difficult, even on a desert 
 island." 
 
 " Anything but a desert island, I should say," 
 was her rejoinder, as she set about helping him 
 gather wood. " I'm sure we are living at the height 
 of luxury, with all the fruits of the Indies growing 
 over our heads, and all ready to drop into our 
 mouths, though really, it would be rather painful 
 to have that literally happen," she concluded, glan- 
 cing aloft where a bunch of nearly ripe cocoanuts 
 hung, fifty feet above. 
 
 " You haven't yet tested the best Starbuck Island 
 has to offer," said the owner of the name, fanning 
 the coals into a blaze with a piece of palm leaf. 
 " There is betel in these woods, that makes your 
 teeth turn red, and yams, like sweet potatoes, only 
 a dozen or so times as big, and kava root, that they 
 make punch of in these parts, and then, best of all, 
 palm salad, of the tender shoots of the leaves, and 
 palm wine, which is the fermented sap of the form- 
 ing blossom. Oh, no, there are lots of things to 
 tickle our palates besides cocoanuts and bread- 
 fruits."
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 133 
 
 Turning, he saw Aubert close at his elbow, and 
 the two men exchanged curt nods. 
 
 " Aubert," he said, " take my knife, and around 
 the point you'll find a bunch of bamboo. Cut the 
 biggest one and tow it in; we need some knives 
 and forks. Breakfast will be ready by the time you 
 get back," he added, as he saw the Frenchman hesi- 
 tate and glance at the preparations Miss Channing 
 was making. 
 
 He went, and Starbuck disappeared in search of 
 his calabashes, returning in a short time with half 
 a dozen of all sizes. 
 
 " When these are dry they make the best kind of 
 cooking dishes," he said, carving them in halves 
 with the pocket-knife belonging to Aubert, which 
 Miss Channing produced. 
 
 While the breadfruit was cooking the sailor went 
 to the stream and brought back a huge armful of 
 dripping, brownish stuff, which he threw down on 
 the beach with an exclamation of satisfaction. 
 
 " This is a piece of luck I did not expect," he said, 
 as he began to turn the mass over. " These once 
 were cocoanut husks," he explained. " They have 
 lain where they fell in the stream for months, prob- 
 ably, and everything has rotted away but the fibres. 
 This is the stuff that the natives make their rope 
 with. Coir, they call it, and first-class rope it is, 
 too. I've seen a ship's cable of this that was better
 
 134 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 than manila and almost as good as chain. You 
 wouldn't think those little short fibres would cling 
 together, but they do, and they never rot." 
 
 He now began to pick the fibres from the heap, 
 rolling them between his palms, adding more and 
 more as the length grew until he achieved a long 
 strand. 
 
 " We won't try a real rope, just yet," he said, 
 " but I'll show you how to make sennit, which we'll 
 need a lot of." 
 
 With four strands he started a braid, which grew 
 under his fingers into a round cord, which, with the 
 material at hand, could be continued indefinitely. 
 
 " Want to learn ? " he asked. 
 
 " Indeed, I should love to try it," cried the girl, 
 and forthwith took a lesson, picking up the knack so 
 readily and going on with the piece he had started 
 with so few mistakes that Starbuck told her that he 
 would make an A. B. of her in half a dozen lessons, 
 so far as seamanship lay in rope making. 
 
 " I intend," said Starbuck, as he knelt at her side, 
 pointing out now and then a remedy for the wrong 
 turn of a strand, " to see if we can't raise the dinghy 
 out there by the reef. I've thought out a way that 
 will take a lot of rope, but your spare moments and 
 mine ought to grow enough in a week or so, I 
 should think." 
 
 As he spoke he gazed out toward the barrier
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 135 
 
 where the waves were now barely breaking. The 
 boat, he knew, must lie just inside the gap. 
 
 " I'm going to swim out there and have a look," 
 he said. " It won't take long, and I'll lay that the 
 appetite I'll have when I get back will keep the rest 
 of that pig from spoiling." 
 
 " Are there no sharks ? " cried the girl in alarm, 
 as Starbuck without more words started down the 
 beach. 
 
 " I don't believe so," he called back. " You see 
 this island hasn't been inhabited for two or three 
 years and there has been nothing to attract the 
 brutes. They hang about the lagoons of populous 
 islands, feeding on refuse and now and then a 
 dainty bit of man's foot or leg. I've been watching 
 here and I haven't seen a fin out of water yet." 
 
 Notwithstanding his reassurance the girl was dis- 
 turbed. The thought of anything happening to 
 Starbuck was almost appalling. The idea of being 
 left alone with Aubert on the island struck a chill 
 to her heart, for he had already shown her that his 
 type was that of the boulevardier, the ogler of 
 women, the accoster of passing girls. She remem- 
 bered his attempt to tell her of his silly dream and 
 she shuddered at the suggestion of an existence that 
 might become an unspeakable horror. There he 
 was, even now, before her, coming along the beach 
 dragging behind him a great stalk of bamboo.
 
 136 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 With almost the impulse of panic she leaped to 
 her feet and ran madly down the beach toward Star- 
 buck, who was now some distance away and walk- 
 ing briskly as he calculated the shortest distance 
 from the shore to the break in the reef. He was 
 already unfastening his shirt, exposing his deep, 
 muscular chest preparatory to plunging in. Pant- 
 ing, partly in terror and in part with exertion, she 
 seized his arm. 
 
 " Don't, Mr. Starbuck, I beg of you, don't. You 
 mustn't ! I I can't tell you Oh, won't you 
 understand ? " she pleaded, as in utter amazement 
 he stared down at her. 
 
 " Why," he said at last, as she clung to his hand 
 with tears rushing to her eyes, " if you feel that 
 way about it I won't, but I don't believe there's 
 much danger." 
 
 " Please," she cried, " you mustn't misunder- 
 stand. If you if anything should happen 
 don't you see? I should be alone with that man. 
 Alone with him here, on this island ! I would rather 
 die!" 
 
 Starbuck now saw what he had not observed be- 
 fore; that the girl, whatever her feeling toward 
 himself, at least distrusted Aubert, and in view of 
 this he suddenly felt the part she had given him to 
 play in this drama of three characters was that of 
 protector. That she should lay bare her terror be-
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 137 
 
 fore him and plead for his guardianship was 
 enough. Starbuck fastened his shirt, and together 
 they turned back, the man talking quietly of a plan 
 to construct some kind of a boat which should assist 
 him in his scheme. 
 
 This little scene was not lost on Aubert though 
 he did not dream its true meaning. The day before 
 he had been piqued at being left out of the little 
 exploring excursion and the ceremony of the flag 
 on the hilltop, and fearing Starbuck, and in conse- 
 quence hating him cordially, he now added jealousy 
 to his dislike. This common sailorman, he con- 
 sidered, was taking an unfair advantage with the 
 girl, for, given an opportunity, he was sure he could 
 make a favourable impression on her as he had done 
 with women of all degrees all his life. It was not 
 that affection prompted his feelings; it was the 
 pleasure of the conquest, the satisfaction of count- 
 ing another coup in his list of affaires and the 
 gratification of his vanity. 
 
 Scowling, he threw down the bamboo and mut- 
 tered an imprecation against Starbuck for a Yankee 
 pig, but he was all smiles when they came up and 
 even assisted in laying out the smoking breadfruit 
 and in cracking the cocoanuts. 
 
 Starbuck now tried his hand at a new dish. 
 Bringing out the saw-toothed pearl shell he had 
 found on the site of the ruined hut, he fixed it
 
 138 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 firmly in the cleft of a stick, and taking half of a 
 nearly ripe nut, flaked off the meat by twisting it 
 over the sharp teeth. The white shreds he caught 
 in a plantain leaf and squeezed through a handker- 
 chief, which he had washed clean. 
 
 A creamy foam strained through the cloth and 
 spread itself over the hot fruit, a delicious sauce 
 which the girl exclaimed over many times as she 
 ate. 
 
 The meal over, the two men quickly finished 
 thatching the hut and Starbuck outlined his plan for 
 building a boat. 
 
 " It will have to be a sort of catamaran," he ex- 
 plained, " for we've no tools to speak of and it will 
 be a hard job at best." 
 
 Together he and Aubert started for the interior 
 of the island to look for a suitable log, taking with 
 them the stone axe, which had been fitted to a helve 
 with lashings of rawhide. Miss Channing, glad to 
 be left alone, after a time resumed her work of 
 sennit braiding, rapidly becoming even more pro- 
 ficient than Starbuck himself in weaving the tough 
 fibres into a smooth, round fabric. 
 
 The men were gone some time, and at last, when 
 she heard them returning, the sun was high over 
 head and the breeze that blew in from the sea was 
 grateful. She heard them struggling in the woods 
 long before they finally rolled out on the beach a
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 139- 
 
 large log, some two feet in diameter and about 
 eighteen feet long. They had found the tree up- 
 rooted, they said, some distance up the valley, had 
 rolled it to the stream and floated it down by dint 
 of great effort, hoisting and prying it with impro- 
 vised cantdogs over rocks and shoals. 
 
 The log was now horsed up at a convenient 
 height, and with stone axe and adze, the two set to 
 work to round the ends and hollow the centre. 
 Strenuous work as it would have been with tools of 
 steel, with these primitive implements the process 
 went with heart-breaking slowness. For some time 
 the girl watched in silence the chipping of the dull 
 edges upon the tough wood. 
 
 " Why don't you try to burn it out? Isn't that 
 what the Indians used to do when they made dug- 
 outs ? " she asked finally. 
 
 " Good for you," was the hearty response of 
 Starbuck as he dropped his axe. " I was a lubber 
 not to think qf it." 
 
 With fire as an agent, the work went more rap- 
 idly, though it was plain that it would be days be- 
 fore the log took on even the rough appearance of a 
 canoe. In the afternoon they stopped and gathered 
 the food for their evening meal, and Starbuck, 
 though tired, shinned the leaning trunk of one of 
 the smaller palms, while Aubert and the girl 
 watched him as he plucked some of the tender
 
 shoots, still enclosed in their tough sheaths. Be- 
 fore descending they saw him, with the haft of his 
 knife, bruise the spathe that enclosed an embryo 
 flower stalk. 
 
 " In a day or so," he said, " that will be full of 
 juice and they say it makes the best kind of a drink. 
 We'll catch it in one of these calabash bowls when 
 it's ready." 
 
 During the day the men built a small hut for 
 their sleeping quarters, facing the beach and a short 
 way from the girl's shelter, and by nightfall all 
 three of the toil-worn castaways slept the delicious 
 sleep of physical weariness. 
 
 As usual, Starbuck was early astir, and though 
 he tried to arouse Aubert, the man was dead with 
 sleep and unaccustomed fatigue and he gave up the 
 attempt until he should have started the fire. 
 Emerging from his shelter, he saw the girl standing 
 on the breeze-swept beach, gazing out to sea with 
 her eyes shaded by her hands. She did not turn as 
 he approached, and when finally she was forced to 
 greet him, he saw that her eyes were moist with 
 scarcely controlled tears. 
 
 " I was looking for a sail," she said, simply. 
 
 " I know," said Starbuck. " It is very hard for 
 you but you must not be discouraged yet awhile. 
 When the monsoon changes and blows from the 
 southwest we will keep a lookout in earnest, but
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 141 
 
 now I'm afraid the chance of a ship hereabouts is 
 small." 
 
 The girl answered with a wistful attempt at good 
 cheer, and left him to go to the stream, while he 
 looked after her with a more kindly sympathy in 
 his eyes. Before she returned he climbed the palm 
 with a calabash swinging from his neck and found 
 the flower spathe nearly full of cool liquid, which 
 he drew off into his vessel. 
 
 " I never drank any of this stuff," he said, as the 
 girl reappeared, fresh from her dip and glowing 
 with healthy colour, " but I have heard men say 
 that it's the best there is. You have to let it stand 
 a few hours to ferment, so we'll hang this bottle on 
 a limb back there in the shade till noon. Say, 
 there's a lot of it, isn't there ? " and he let her sniff 
 the fragrant contents. 
 
 While they were talking Aubert appeared and 
 Starbuck caught the unpleasant look in his face as 
 he came up. However, he knew the man must be 
 lame and sore with his hard work of yesterday, and 
 his evident ill humour did not impress him as 
 strange. All the morning the two men dug at the 
 log, burning and hacking out the wood as best they 
 might. While eating their lunch at noon, Starbuck 
 startled them with an exclamation. 
 
 " I believe it can be done ! I'm sure of it ! " 
 
 The other two waited for an explanation.
 
 142 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 " Turn wrought iron into steel," he said. " That 
 boathook and the rings on the boat's mast are 
 wrought iron, and if I had a crucible I'd start a steel 
 trust right here and now, and an axe is the first 
 thing I would make with my infant industry. You 
 have to have the right kind of clay," he went on 
 excitedly, turning to Miss Channing, " and I noticed 
 something that might do, up on the slope of the 
 hill." 
 
 Seizing a calabash bowl, he hastily directed Au- 
 bert for the continuance of the work on the boat, 
 and saying that he might be gone an hour or more, 
 he departed through the trees, leaving the girl look- 
 ing after him anxiously. 
 
 After clearing away the debris of the luncheon 
 and heaping more wood on the fire, which was being 
 constantly used now in the work of making the 
 dugout, the girl settled herself again at her rope 
 making. It was not hard work and she rather en- 
 joyed seeing the strong, brown cords grow under 
 her fingers. Absorbed in her occupation, she took 
 no notice of Aubert, who had sullenly seized his 
 tools and was aimlessly chipping away at the inside 
 of the log. At the end of a few moments he dropped 
 his adze and went away, soon returning to take up 
 his work once more. Within a short time he did 
 this again, but the girl did not heed. After an in- 
 terval the Frenchman came to the fire for coals, and
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 143 
 
 instead of at once returning to his work, stopped, 
 and seating himself by her side began to talk. At 
 first she was silent, answering him in monosyllables, 
 hoping that he would go away, but soon his con- 
 versation began to take a personal tone and she 
 determined to dismiss him if possible. 
 
 " Monsieur Aubert," she said, " do you not think 
 we are wasting time talking here? Mr. Starbuck 
 is anxious, I know, to finish the boat as soon as,, 
 possible, for he says that soon the monsoon will 
 change and there will be rough weather. He wishes 
 to try raising the ship's boat out there by the reef 
 before storms interfere and possibly shift its posi- 
 tion or drag it out to sea. I think that we should 
 remember that he is working and planning every 
 waking moment to release us from this island, and 
 we should be willing to do our share at his direc- 
 tion." 
 
 " Ah, Starbuck ! " cried the man, almost inter- 
 rupting her. " Yes, it is always Starbuck with you. 
 Always I find you together. You utterly disregard 
 the warning I have given you. You do not care. 
 You even welcome him and his base attention." 
 
 " Stop," cried the girl, starting to her feet. 
 " How dare you say such things to me, you, who- 
 have already proved yourself to be a coward in a 
 woman's presence." 
 
 Watching him narrowly, she saw his black eyes.
 
 144 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 light evilly as he began to make protest that she had 
 misunderstood him. 
 
 " It is no insult that I offer, Mademoiselle," he 
 vociferated, gesticulating with hands and shoulders. 
 " It is that you have become blinded by this man, 
 that you do not weigh him with a mind of calmness. 
 You have what you call, the wool pulled over the 
 eyes. You no longer have discernment, while I, I 
 would lay down my life to protect you, Mademoi- 
 selle, even though you have given me no reason." 
 
 " Monsieur Aubert," she retorted, " I have no 
 need of your protection. Mr. Starbuck I believe to 
 be a man of honour, and at least he has treated me 
 with a consideration that you have not shown. I 
 will thank you to return at once to your work and 
 to leave me to myself, not only now but hereafter." 
 
 Turning abruptly, she walked away from him 
 down the beach, while he, with rolling eyes, looked 
 after her, muttering to himself rapidly, grimacing 
 and shrugging. 
 
 For some little time, angry at his rebuff, the 
 Frenchman stood watching her now diminutive fig- 
 ure in the distance. He returned to the dugout and 
 picked up the stone adze but threw it down again 
 in disgust, and, looking slyly about, made another 
 of his little excursions. 
 
 Miss Channing found herself more shaken by her 
 encounter than she would have liked to admit. To
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 145 
 
 steady herself she walked briskly, letting the breeze 
 blow through her hair, cooling her face and neck 
 with its grateful breath. She foresaw trouble from 
 this man and wondered what she ought to do. Tale- 
 bearing was most distasteful to her, yet unless she 
 hinted to Starbuck of her discomfiture she would 
 never feel safe when he left her side. In a quandary 
 she sat down facing the sea and tried to reason the 
 matter out. Her position, in the nature of it, was 
 sufficiently anomalous without the added complica- 
 tion of a man whose foolish attentions were likely 
 to grow into a serious annoyance. 
 
 A quick, irregular step on the sand behind her 
 set her atremble as she sprang to her feet, half ex- 
 pecting to see Starbuck himself. Instead, she saw 
 Aubert approaching rapidly from the direction of 
 the camp. The change in his appearance was as 
 startling as his presence. His eyes were half blood- 
 shot and his face wore a cunning grin, as with a 
 slight unsteadiness he came toward her. 
 
 " Ah, my Mademoiselle," he was saying, " I 
 could not bear it that you should be angry with me, 
 I who adore the very sand under your pretty feet. 
 I cannot believe that you should prefer that low 
 Starbuck to me, a gentleman of Paris. Surely I 
 see regard for me in your beautiful eyes, even when 
 you would have me believe that you detest. I come 
 to plead with you, Mademoiselle, to beg of you not
 
 146 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 to trifle with the grand passion of a man who would 
 be your slave, who cares only for you, who loves 
 you to distraction. Regard me, then, upon my very 
 knees asking for your favour." 
 
 Riveted to the spot in amazement and terror, she 
 saw him throw himself at her feet and felt her hand 
 seized in his and his hot mouth upon her palm. 
 The touch startled her to action like the shock of a 
 battery. Jerking her hand away, she swept it with 
 a full stroke of her arm across his face, and turning, 
 sped up the beach with a choking scream. Aubert, 
 his cheek stinging with the blow and his passion 
 aroused to sheer madness, was after her in an in- 
 stant. With great strides he gained upon her. She 
 heard him coming, and with a wild glance over her 
 shoulder her fright increased to a panic. She 
 screamed as she felt his hot breath on her neck. A 
 hand clutched her shoulder, another dragged at her 
 hair, and in an instant more she was in his arms, 
 struggling, helpless, his bearded lips pressed to hers 
 in a horrid embrace, stifling her cries. 
 - Neither heard the heavy footsteps on the beach; 
 neither heard the shout of rage nor saw the figure 
 of Starbuck tearing toward them. 
 
 Half fainting as she lay in Aubert's tightening 
 clasp, she felt a sudden shock. The arms about her 
 loosened and she fell to the sand, panting, half 
 blinded by fright, sobbing with the terror of the
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 147 
 
 attack. Vaguely, at first, she realized that some- 
 thing had happened to save her, but it was several 
 seconds before the identity of Starbuck forced itself 
 upon her dazed brain. Wakened into a more vivid 
 consciousness by an oath, round and savage, as it 
 came from his set teeth, she opened her eyes to watch 
 a scene that remained sharp and clear-cut in her 
 memory for ever. 
 
 Starbuck had returned with his fire clay, and on. 
 reaching the camping place, had instantly missed 
 both Miss Channing and Aubert. Stepping out on 
 the beach, he was just in time to catch the girl's 
 faint cry and to see the pursuing Frenchman lock 
 her in his bestial embrace. Flinging his burden 
 from him, the sailor with a bellow dashed down 
 the beach, >a whirlwind of living force, bent on 
 punishment, swift and deadly certain. He raged as 
 the girl's helpless struggles told him of her dire 
 need, and a hot torrent, rushing to his brain, threw 
 a blood-red film across his vision as at last he hurled 
 himself upon the man, grasping his throat in a grip 
 that exulted in the feel of the soft flesh as his finger 
 ends sank deep. 
 
 With a choking cough the man let the girl's body 
 drop away, and with both hands in a spasmodic 
 clasp on the arm that held him, sought to free him- 
 self. He twisted and jerked his body from side to 
 side, loosening the hold that throttled him. Gasp-
 
 148 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 ing, his face purple, blotched, his eyes popping out- 
 ward under bulging lids, the Frenchman now real- 
 ized that he was fighting for his very life. 
 
 The two men half circled about each other* each 
 trying to compass a fall. Starbuck's hold with his 
 right hand had shifted to Aubert's clothing and the 
 light material of his shirt was giving away. The 
 Frenchman had succeeded in getting a counter 
 hold on Starbuck's neck, jamming his thumb under 
 the ear and causing the most exquisite pain. Twist- 
 ing out of his grasp, Starbuck attempted to trip the 
 man, and failing, ducked under the questing hands 
 and seized him around the body, pressing his face 
 into the hollow of the shoulder to escape the snap- 
 ping jaws, whose teeth clicked together in vain at- 
 tempt to fasten upon his throat. Hugging with all 
 the strength that was in his great arms, Starbuck 
 felt the Frenchman's back hollow as he sought to 
 escape the crushing violence. 
 
 They rocked and swayed together, panting in 
 tremendous effort. The Frenchman spat. Twist- 
 ing suddenly, with one foot off the ground, he 
 eased the pressure from his cracking spine and 
 brought it under the arm. Starbuck, silent, terrible, 
 maddened with the struggle itself, now felt the 
 Frenchman's free hand searching for his eye-balls 
 with its thumb. Raising his head, he suddenly lifted 
 his right arm, bringing the heel of his hand under
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 149 
 
 Aubert's chin. With a great heave of arm and 
 shoulder, he pushed the head back, twisting it far 
 to one side, and at the same time dropped to his 
 right knee, the man's back lying over his left. 
 Something snapped; there was a convulsion of the 
 sprawling limbs. The tense body collapsed and 
 rolled over into the sand, face downward. 
 
 White-faced, her eyes staring, Eleanor Channing, 
 under the spell of a horrible fascination, had 
 watched the struggle, her body stiff with fright, 
 leaning forward as she sat, her arms outstretched, 
 her hands clutching at the sand. She saw the 
 mighty heave of Starbuck's shoulders as he caught 
 the Frenchman in the death grip, and she saw the 
 limp body drop on its face and lie still. A feeling 
 of triumph and immense relief was displaced the 
 next instant by a wave of revulsion that nauseated 
 her inmost being. The complete horror of it all 
 swept over her as she saw at last that the man was 
 dead. She had sat by and had seen him killed, his 
 life snuffed out by the two hands of the man before 
 her as she might extinguish a candle. 
 
 The reaction from intensity of emotion left her 
 weak and trembling, shaken in every nerve, sick 
 with fright and the shock of her own assault. She 
 hardly realized what had taken place, and still less 
 that while the battle lasted, she herself had watched 
 with the veritable ferocity of a savage, almost cry-
 
 150 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 ing out at every advantage won by her champion, 
 taking an untamed delight in what seemed to her 
 just punishment, praying with a wild fervour that 
 Starbuck might triumph. 
 
 Starbuck had risen, and was standing over the 
 fallen man, his arms hanging loosely by his sides, 
 his fingers half curled. His jaw protruded, his 
 under lip hung slack, baring his teeth, and his eyes, 
 half closed, still shone with the exultation of con- 
 flict. His shirt, torn to strips, hung about his 
 waist, leaving the upper part of his body nude and 
 covered with red splotches where the Frenchman's 
 hands had gripped him. From his shoulder, where 
 the other's teeth had met in a last, desperate defence, 
 the blood welled and trickled down his arm, drip- 
 ping steadily from the ends of his ringers. He stood 
 with all his muscles relaxed, yet alert, as if waiting 
 for his enemy to rise and again confront him. 
 
 Finally, seeing no motion in the man's body, he 
 stooped, and grasping it by the shoulder, turned it 
 over with a jerk. The head, bent backward at an 
 unnatural angle, wobbled from side to side and the 
 wide open eyes stared up at him glassily. The lips, 
 drawn back with the intensity of the last flashing 
 pain, seemed to grin. Slowly Starbuck knelt and 
 laid a hand on the left breast. No throb was there, 
 and with the tardy realization that Aubert was dead, 
 came a breaking of the spell of battle. He brushed
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 151 
 
 his hand across his eyes, and noticed the blood on 
 his fingers and the condition of his clothing. He 
 turned his head and saw the girl, her face buried 
 in her hands, rocking to and fro on the sand, silent, 
 horrified. 
 
 Hastily he wiped his blood-stained arm on the 
 remnants of his shirt and stepped toward her. 
 
 " Oh, don't, don't touch me ! " she barely whis- 
 pered, " don't come near ! " 
 
 " But you mustn't stay here," he said in a low 
 tone. " Gome, you need not look. Go back to the 
 camp. I understand. It must have been awful for 
 you." 
 
 For a moment she did not move ; then, as if call- 
 ing upon herself for a great effort, she slowly rose, 
 her face averted and still covered with her hands. 
 She staggered a little as she stood erect and Star- 
 buck stretched out a hand, thinking she was about 
 to fall. She shuddered as he touched her arm and 
 shrank away from him as from an unclean thing. 
 He made no effort to direct her, but watched as she 
 hesitatingly drew her hands from her face and 
 walked unsteadily in the direction of the camp. He 
 did not follow. 
 
 Standing in his tracks, he saw her finally dis- 
 appear into her hut; then he turned and looked 
 once more at the body on the sand. 
 
 In swift resolution he turned the pockets of the
 
 152 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 trousers inside out, finding the comb and nothing 
 more. 
 
 Hesitating a few moments to be sure she should 
 not see, he shouldered the body with an effort and 
 walked heavily down the beach in the opposite 
 direction, bending beneath his grim burden. He 
 kept on until he had rounded the point, out of 
 sight, and laid the corpse down, looking at it as if 
 undecided as to its disposal. Finally he began strip- 
 ping off the clothing, which he made into a small 
 bundle. 
 
 Now he was in a quandary. Having no tools 
 with which to dig a decent grave, he thought of 
 throwing the body into the sea, but this plan he 
 abandoned when it occurred to him that it would 
 probably attract sharks, which later would be a 
 menace. The sun was getting low in the west, re- 
 minding him that whatever was to be done must be 
 done quickly. He doubted that he could bury the 
 corpse deep enough to render it secure from the 
 ihogs on the island, so at last the only plan left 
 was that of fire. 
 
 Once having come to a decision he acted quickly. 
 He did not wish, for obvious reasons, to return to 
 camp for coals, and the alternative was the labori- 
 ous and primitive process he had first employed. 
 He set to work, however, and after much effort 
 made a blaze. Stepping into the tangle of growth
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 153 
 
 he returned again and again, laden down with dry 
 wood and the great leaves of the cocoa palm, which 
 burn with a hot flame. Piling these loosely cris- 
 crossed on the wet sand where the water almost 
 lapped the sticks, he built a funeral pyre shoulder 
 high, upon which he placed the body. Carrying 
 embers from his small blaze, he ignited the mass, 
 and in a moment, fanned by the breeze, the flames 
 were leaping high above the dead man, lighting up 
 his white skin, their red tongues licking at his face, 
 singeing off his hair and beard. Starbuck watched, 
 now and then inserting palm branches and leaves 
 to quicken the blaze. 
 
 The gathering darkness began to shut in the circle 
 of weird light, and in the centre the corpse glowed 
 above the coals. The limbs seemed to twist and 
 writhe in the fierce waves of heat, while the living 
 man, his half-naked body lit by the glow, his skin 
 blood-flecked from his dripping wound, came and 
 went, piling fresh fuel on the pyre, engrossed utterly 
 in his grisly task. 
 
 In fifteen minutes the body was cinder black; in 
 an hour it was ashes and the pile a smouldering 
 heap. Starbuck pushed what remained far into the 
 sea and turned homeward. In the darkness when 
 he arrived, there was no sign of Miss Channing. 
 He went to her hut and found the screen barred in 
 place. He spoke softly to her but received no reply,
 
 154 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 though he heard her start at the sound of his voice. 
 Going down to the sea, he stripped and plunged into 
 the low surf, cleansing himself of the marks of bat- 
 tle, and returning, bound up his torn shoulder as 
 well as he could with the pieces of his shirt. The 
 latter was a great loss to him as it was his only body 
 garment, and he wondered what he should do to 
 cover his nakedness, for Aubert's shirt, also, was so 
 torn as to be unwearable. 
 
 The girl, too distressed to eat, had crept to the 
 privacy of her hut, supperless. Too distraught to 
 cook himself anything or even to scrape a raw 
 cocoanut, Starbuck sought his own couch of grass, 
 but not to sleep. He lay a long time thinking of 
 the deed he had done., 
 
 It was no murder, he reasoned, but a fair fight 
 and the best man had won. He had stood as the 
 protector of a defenceless woman. He had killed 
 her enemy and burned his body but his hands were 
 clean of crime. Though his act had been done in ' 
 madness after the outrage he had seen, yet he was 
 conscious that it had to be, for no punishment short 
 of death was severe enough to maintain its effect. 
 The man he likened to the captive tiger, docile until 
 it tastes fresh blood, and after that never safe. Even 
 civilized law would exonerate him, he thought, and 
 here, under the palms and the sky there was no law 
 but the law of Nature and of Nature's God, and
 
 WITH DEATH IN THE CUP 155 
 
 that great precept, he felt, would hold him blameless 
 should he, in the days, perhaps months to come, 
 keep himself blameless. Protector he had chosen to 
 make himself; protector he must remain.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE CLEAN AIR OF MORNING 
 
 THE first matter that occupied Starbuck's atten- 
 tion upon awakening was the matter of clothing. 
 Without a shirt he was scarcely fit company for a 
 woman of Miss Eleanor Channing's breeding, and 
 he surveyed the ruins of his only upper garment in 
 something like despair. By laying the pieces to- 
 gether, however, he saw that a skilful needle might 
 make at least a covering for his breast and back, 
 and though he well knew the consequences of baring 
 his arms to the blistering sun, there was no help for 
 it. In the Frenchman's knife was the needle he 
 wanted, and with threads drawn from the linen and 
 twisted to the proper strength, his sailor's aptitude, 
 after half an hour's stitching, put him in posses- 
 sion of a sleeveless tunic, frail enough, but service- 
 able for the time being. 
 
 Putting it on and rather proud of his handiwork, 
 Starbuck stepped out into the sunlight. To his sur- 
 prise he found that the fire had been rebuilt, a 
 breakfast eaten, and Miss Channing had again re- 
 tired to her hut. After a moment of indecision he 
 
 156
 
 THE CLEAN AIR OF MORNING 157 
 
 stepped quietly to the entrance, which was closed 
 and barred, and spoke to her, asking if she was well, 
 and if he could serve her in any way. In a voice 
 scarcely audible, that trembled as she spoke, she 
 replied that she was not ill and wanted nothing. 
 She desired only to be left alone for a time, she said. 
 
 Understanding something of the terrible shock 
 the experiences of the day before had been to her, 
 Starbuck spoke a few words of assurance that she 
 would presently be herself and left her. Casting 
 about for some little attention that he could show, 
 he thought of the calabash full of palm wine that 
 he had hung on the tree to ferment. Going to the 
 spot, he was amazed to find the bowl still hanging 
 where he had left it, but empty. A light suddenly 
 broke upon him, and he saw in a flash how the 
 Frenchman had found the place; how in repeated 
 visits he had drunk the liquor, which, mounting to 
 his brain, had caused his insane attack upon the girl, 
 and in turn, his own awful punishment. Starbuck 
 cast the bowl into the bushes as an unclean thing 
 and returned to the beach. 
 
 He examined carefully the progress made on the 
 dugout and it became plain to him that without 
 proper, or at least more efficient tools, he, single 
 handed as he now was, would not be able to shape 
 the obdurate material into anything like a craft for 
 weeks. More than ever, now, he needed an axe,.
 
 158 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 and the determination grew upon him to attempt to 
 turn what wrought iron he had into steel. 
 
 After a hurriedly eaten breakfast, taking the boat- 
 hook and the largest of the bowls, he started for the 
 head of the valley for another load of clay, of which 
 he brought back some thirty pounds, depositing it 
 in the shade of the green growth near the stream. 
 His plan was to fuse the boathook head and the 
 iron rings in a clay crucible with dry wood and 
 leaves, as he had seen the process while on a voyage 
 to India and Ceylon. He was aware that to do this 
 a high temperature would be needed, which could 
 only be supplied by a blast of air directed into his 
 fire on the principle of a blacksmith's bellows. 
 
 To this end he built with rough stones, picked 
 up near the beach, a small, conical, hollow pile, with 
 two openings at the ground and another at the top, 
 having about half-way up in its interior, supports 
 of stone jutting out from the inner surface, intended 
 to hold the clay crucible. 
 
 As he built, he lined the interior with clay mixed 
 with sand, until the structure was tight; and the 
 crevices of the outer walls he filled with the same 
 material, heaping earth over the whole. Now his 
 problem was a bellows. Taking the boathook once 
 more, before it should for ever lose its character, he 
 departed from the beach. 
 
 Hearing his retreating footsteps grow fainter
 
 THE CLEAN AIR OF MORNING 159 
 
 until at length they died away, Miss Channing ven- 
 tured forth from her retreat. She listened, and 
 finding that Starbuck was apparently gone for some 
 little time, she went to the stream, bathed, and or- 
 dered her dress as best she could. The lack of soap 
 was an extreme annoyance to her, and the sand and 
 water that she made shift to use in its stead was 
 roughening and painful to her skin, already deeply 
 burned by the sun. Returning somewhat reluctantly 
 to the beach, for the depth of shade by the brook 
 was cool compared with the glaring sand, she was 
 mystified by the cone-shaped structure the sailor 
 had built. However, she was too far occupied with 
 her own thoughts to wonder greatly, and seating 
 herself near the hut, she fell to wondering at her 
 ultimate fate, her thoughts always returning to the 
 terrible nightmare she had passed through, the red 
 memory of which brought a shudder and a searing 
 flash of terror that left her brain numb with its 
 vividness. 
 
 She felt, as again and again the scene returned,, 
 that unless she turned her thoughts into other chan- 
 nels she would go mad; but something seemed to 
 enshroud her mind with a cloud of doubt, out of 
 which rose Starbuck, with whom she was now left 
 alone. Whether he would continue his impersonal 
 relations with her or whether, having fought and 
 vanquished his rival, he would turn to claim her as
 
 160 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 the price of his victory, she did not know. If the 
 latter were to be her lot, she would frustrate it by 
 ending her life. She decided this quite calmly. If 
 the former were to be his attitude, she would accept 
 it, meeting him half-way in friendly intercourse, de- 
 pending upon whatever force of personality she pos- 
 sessed to hold him beyond the line she would draw, 
 the crossing of which would mean the end. 
 
 Her thoughts were interrupted by the snapping 
 of twigs and the rustle of rasping bushes, and she 
 turned to see the man with whom now lay her fate 
 doming slowly through the sun-splotched valley. 
 As she had last seen him, he was bare above the 
 waist and his skin was scratched in many places by 
 the brambles he had passed through. She saw him, 
 unconscious that she was watching, stop, and half 
 concealed by the thicket, take a white garment from 
 a branch. When he resumed his way, dragging some- 
 thing behind him, she noted that he was partially 
 clothed once more. She did not retreat to her shel- 
 ter but sat expectantly, gazing across the beach at 
 the sea. Still not seeing her, he stepped out of the 
 shade and flung down a heavy body, and she heard 
 him sigh with evident satisfaction. 
 
 " Two birds with one stone," she heard him mut- 
 ter as he bent over what he had brought. " Dinner 
 and my bellows, all at one heave of the iron." 
 
 She stirred and he looked around.
 
 THE CLEAN AIR OF MORNING 161 
 
 " Good morning," he called, " or is it afternoon. 
 I've been hunting," and he stepped back to show her 
 the carcass of a sizable hog, freshly killed. 
 
 " I was worried about you this morning," he 
 said, as he advanced. " I know you must have suf- 
 fered. It was a hard place for a woman like you, 
 but I was proud of you, the way you took it." 
 
 She made a little motion with her hands as if to 
 stop him, but he went on. 
 
 " It was the only way," he said, in an even tone, 
 " you must know that. You never would have been 
 safe after yesterday. I discovered the reason 
 too," he continued, after a pause. " The man was 
 drunk. The bowl of palm wine that we forgot to 
 drink ; he found it and it must have made him crazy. 
 He might have done it again at any time. You see, 
 don't you, that there was nothing else to do ? " 
 
 He looked at her anxiously as he spoke his simple 
 argument, as if trying to discover whether her 
 horror still included him in its unreasoning prej- 
 udice. 
 
 " I know," she said at last, in a low tone, " I 
 know. I should never have been safe. I felt it all 
 along, from the very first ; in the boat, even, before 
 he lied to me." 
 
 " Lied to you ? " questioned Starbuck, sharply. 
 "Lied about what?" 
 
 She had said more than she intended, and now,
 
 162 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 his interest aroused, she would have to explain. She 
 hesitated, reddening painfully and turning away. 
 
 " When did he lie to you," again queried Star- 
 buck, " and what did he say? " 
 
 " He said," spoke the girl finally, looking up 
 bravely and searchingly into the man's face as with 
 a scowl of intentness he bent to listen. " It was 
 the day we landed. He said that the reason you 
 struck him in the boat was because he was coming 
 to my aid. That you you were bending over me 
 as I lay asleep, and he thought Oh," she broke 
 off, " I know it wasn't true, was it ? You have 
 been kind and I I could not believe him," she 
 finished, with a sob that choked her voice. 
 
 " The lying dog! " broke from the man's lips, as 
 he clenched his great fists with almost a snarl of 
 satisfaction at what had been their work of yester- 
 day. 
 
 As she saw the sincerity of his action, horribly 
 suggestive though it was, and heard the low note of 
 anger and contempt that came with it, her heart grew 
 lighter with the belief that the worst she had to 
 fear was past and that this man would hold her in 
 honour until they were free. As she looked at his 
 blazing eyes, at the shaggy head, at the great breast 
 muscles undulating through the thin film of linen, 
 and saw his indignation at the insinuations of Au- 
 bert, she could not but believe in him. Rough he
 
 THE CLEAN AIR OF MORNING 163 
 
 might be, and brutal enough to take a man's life 
 with his bare hands, but his heart was clean toward 
 her. She noticed that the bandage he had roughly 
 tied about his injured shoulder had slipped, and 
 that the wound was bleeding afresh. Partly from 
 real sympathy with his hurt, which, though ugly 
 looking caused him little real inconvenience, and 
 partly from a desire to end the painful topic, she 
 turned and entered her lodge, returning with a strip 
 of cloth which she had evidently just torn from one 
 of her precious sheets. 
 
 " You must let me bind up that shoulder prop- 
 erly," she said, " even now the flesh looks red and 
 inflamed all about and I'm sure it should be cleaned." 
 
 She made a soft pad with a part of the cloth, and 
 after washing the ragged tear carefully, she band- 
 aged the spot as deftly as a nurse could have done, 
 going around the arm pit, over the shoulder, across 
 the breast and back, with proper turnings, finally 
 tying the ends firmly in a square knot. 
 
 " Where did you ever learn to do that ? " he in- 
 quired, as he watched the process with some ad- 
 miration. " Why, a real doctor has nothing on 
 you. And the knot, too ; a real reef knot ! I'll lay 
 you are the only woman in this latitude who could 
 have done that." 
 
 Pleased with his appreciation, she told him that 
 she had taken First Aid lessons, once, with a class of
 
 164 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 other girls. The square knot was a part of the cur- 
 riculum, she declared, and it had taken her longer to 
 learn than anything else. 
 
 He laughed, and told her that if he ever got any 
 time he would teach her knots that would make the 
 rest of the class look like land-lubbers. As she tied 
 the bandage she noticed his remarkable shirt, a thing 
 veritably of shreds and patches, fearfully and won- 
 derfully made. 
 
 " And you," she cried, " I must compliment you 
 on your feminine accomplishment," and she pointed 
 to the slight garment. 
 
 " Oh, that," he smiled, " I made that, and not 
 out of whole cloth, either, early this morning, be- 
 fore you. were up. I didn't have time to do any 
 fancy stitches, but if I had the thread I could show 
 you the real thing in the sewing line. Besides, it 
 isn't female work for a sailor. It's part of our 
 business." 
 
 " Why, of course," she said, examining the work 
 with greater interest, " I forgot sailors could sew. 
 But where did you get your needle and thread ? " 
 
 He explained and handed her the knife, showing 
 her the various implements it contained, and gave it 
 to her, remarking as he looked at her costume, that 
 she was likely to need some repairing herself before 
 many days. 
 
 " I know," she said, glancing at her soiled waist
 
 THE CLEAN AIR OF MORNING 165 
 
 and torn, patched skirt. " What on earth shall we 
 do ? These things are all I have and they will soon 
 be in tatters." 
 
 " Well," he answered, " we can make cloth, I 
 suppose. I have seen the Marquesans do it and it 
 looks easy enough. And that reminds me that it 
 takes some time to prepare the stuff, so we'd best be 
 about it now. They make it of bark," he explained, 
 " and call it tappa. The inner bark of the hibiscus 
 or mulberry tree is soaked in a running brook under 
 a stone and aired every few days until the woody 
 part is rotten and the tough fibres only are left. 
 Then they beat it with a kind of stick and the trick 
 is done. If you care to be busy you might strip the 
 bark and put it in the stream." 
 
 He showed her the hibiscus growing all about 
 them, and armed with a knife she started forth to 
 follow his instructions. 
 
 " But, first," she said, pointing to the conical 
 heap of rocks and earth, " tell me what you are do- 
 ing there." 
 
 " This is my steel plant," he gravely replied. 
 " To finish the canoe I need an axe, and I am going 
 to make one, if I can, out of the boathook. That is 
 my furnace. I'll show you when I'm ready to fire 
 up." 
 
 She went about her bark gathering, and He at- 
 tacked the pig, which he carefully skinned without
 
 166 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 opening the belly, so that the hide came off prac- 
 tically whole. With his stone axe he cut two small 
 trees with crotches at their tops, and planting them 
 in position, lashed with sennit a horizontal bar 
 across the two. Under this frame he placed the 
 skin, in the under side of which he had cut a round 
 hole. On the inside he fastened a flap of the stiffen- 
 ing hide of the pig he had previously killed, to act 
 as a valve over the intake, and now, with a weight 
 to press the bag down, and a counterpoise and lever 
 over his framework, it became evident that his bel- 
 lows was to be a success. 
 
 The bamboo, that had lain idle since the French- 
 man brought it in was now requisitioned, and to a 
 length of it the neck of the skin was fitted. On the 
 end of the pipe thus made, he moulded a joint of 
 clay, Which connected directly with the smaller open- 
 ing of his furnace, through which a blast of air 
 could now be pumped at will. It was a rough ar- 
 rangement, born of patience, much planning, sev- 
 eral failures and hard work, and before it was 
 completed the day was nearly over. 
 
 Starbuck dropped his tools and went up the valley 
 for some distance, calling to the girl that he would 
 be back shortly. She had been so busy with her 
 bark peeling and its disposition in the brook, that 
 the long afternoon had passed quickly for her, and 
 now, wearied with perhaps the first real physical
 
 THE CLEAN AIR OF MORNING 167 
 
 labour she had ever done, she was glad to rest and 
 await his return. A change from their simple bill 
 of fare, as promised by the pig, was a welcome one, 
 and though she knew the flesh ought to be prepared, 
 she could not bring herself to touch the greasy car- 
 cass that lay in the shade of a tree close by. How- 
 ever, Starbuck was soon back, his hands full of 
 small nuts that looked not unlike common buckeyes. 
 
 " There's that pig, and I forgot all about him," 
 were his first words as he dropped the nuts at her 
 feet. " While I cut off a roast you peel the shells 
 off those and string them on a cocoanut fibre." 
 
 Wondering she obeyed, making a long rope of 
 twenty or more. The meat of the nuts was very 
 oily, she noticed, and she vaguely supposed that they 
 had to do with some new kind of cookery. But Star- 
 buck, nodding approval at the string, paid no further 
 attention to it and having dressed his meat, he buried 
 it in the coals. 
 
 In the descending dusk the fire made a cheerful 
 ring of light, and the man, coming and going, con- 
 cerned in little tasks of the camp, hummed to him- 
 self in his preoccupation. His strong, alert figure, 
 his bronzed face, in queer contrast to the white 
 skin of his shoulders and neck, his bare arms, in 
 which the great muscles rippled and coiled under 
 the smooth skin, showing new shapes and shadows 
 with every movement, and withal, his pleasant, clear
 
 168 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 cut face, with its direct blue eyes, altogether made 
 a picture that she did not try to keep herself from 
 watching. 
 
 The steady plash of the milk-white surf at the foot 
 of the beach and the serenity of the sky as the stars 
 came out, one by one at first, then by constellations 
 and finally in myriads, all combined to give Eleanor 
 Channing a feeling of security, if not of content, 
 which she had not known for what seemed to her an 
 eternity. 
 
 Their meal over, they were preparing to retire to 
 their respective huts when Starbuck asked for the 
 rope of nuts. Tying it to a green stick at intervals 
 along its length, he lighted one end in the coals of 
 the dying fire, and to her surprise here was a candle 
 to light her to bed ; not a brilliant torch, it was true, 
 but one that burned steadily, giving off a sort of 
 bluish flame, each nut lasting about ten minutes. 
 Digging out a hole in the bottom of an empty cocoa- 
 nut shell, into which he thrust the butt of the stick, 
 he handed it to her, and cautioning her not to set fire 
 to the roof of her house, he bade her good night. 
 
 " I count myself privileged," she said, as he held 
 aside the screen for her to enter, " to be cast away 
 with a genius and an inventor," and nodding 
 brightly to him she disappeared. 
 
 The morning found them again busily at work, 
 she with her sennit braiding and he with his fur-
 
 THE CLEAN AIR OF MORNING 169 
 
 nace, which he had left unfinished. With clay 
 which he had previously baked, pounded to powder 
 and mixed with fresh clay, he made a small crucible 
 into which he put the head of his boathook and the 
 rings by which the sail had been attached to the 
 boat's mast. These, together with some finely 
 broken bits of perfectly dry wood and dead leaves, 
 he sealed up hermetically with a clay cover, and 
 placed the finished crucible on the supports inside 
 his furnace, partly closing the top with clay down 
 to a small aperture some six inches across. The 
 furnace had been filled with dry wood, the pieces 
 being heaped underneath and about the crucible, 
 and now he was ready for the lighting. The girl 
 had watched the last part of his preparations with 
 increasing interest and showed a good grasp of the 
 idea which he explained. It was an old, old process, 
 he said, that had been used in India since time un- 
 known. The product of wrought iron carburized in 
 this fashion was Wootz, he told her, and made, if 
 properly treated, a very pure product highly valued 
 for tools and weapons. 
 
 With the fire lighted, Starbuck stood by the bel- 
 lows and blew his air blast into the flames, which 
 rose about the retort with a roar, leaping finally 
 from the low chimney and spouting sparks that 
 made Miss Channing fear for the safety of her only 
 home. As more fuel was needed she supplied it,
 
 170 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 feeding the furnace steadily. In two hours or a 
 little more, Starbuck announced that the process 
 should be complete and the fire was allowed to die 
 out, but the crucible was too hot to touch for some 
 time and the man turned to a new occupation.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 WHAT MANNER OF MAN 
 
 Miss CHANNING'S need of shoes had become 
 alarmingly apparent, so much so, in fact, that she 
 had taken up the habit of completely concealing her 
 feet as much as possible when he was about, for 
 they were bruised and tender from the rough 
 ground and the sand that continually sifted through 
 the cracked leather. 
 
 Picking up the partly dry pig skin, Starbuck, with 
 the sharp edges of two shells, nipped the bristles 
 from the hide. He then kneaded and rubbed and 
 twisted the skin until it was soft, and with his knife, 
 which he had whetted to an edge on a smooth stone, 
 he cut two peculiar shaped pieces and two others of 
 a smaller size. Next, he startled Miss Channing 
 with a demand to see her foot, which she showed 
 with some laughing embarrassment at its present 
 condition, but at the same time thankfully, as she 
 saw that it meant new shoes. From a bit of wood 
 he carved and whittled a rough last and finally, 
 with a thread of twisted hibiscus fibre he stitched 
 a pair of moccasins that would have done no small 
 
 171
 
 172 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 credit to a Sioux squaw. Delighted, she slipped 
 them on and while they were scarcely comportable 
 with fashion's law, they were at least far more 
 comfortable than the footwear she had been 
 using. 
 
 By now the crucible was cool enough to handle, 
 and lifting it from its bed, Starbuck cracked it open 
 to find in the bottom about three pounds of smooth, 
 hard metal. Hugely pleased, he at once set about 
 building a new arrangement in which to heat his 
 steel to the forging point. With more rocks he 
 built a low structure, connecting his bellows with its 
 under side by means of a new pipe of clay. When 
 the metal was hot he removed it with two sticks to 
 a flat stone that was to serve as an anvil, and beat 
 the sparkling mass with the back of his stone axe 
 until he had flattened out a part which he judged to 
 be a little over two pounds weight. With the girl 
 to hold the stone adze with its edge against the 
 steel, he managed to cut off the piece desired, return- 
 ing this immediately to the forge. 
 
 The problem of shaping the tool now confronted 
 him. With no tongs, the hot metal was difficult to 
 handle, but by prying off the copper band of the 
 broken oar blade, he made a loop of metal, which 'he 
 attached to a stick, so that by catching the steel in 
 its bight he was able to turn it on the anvil in the 
 process of shaping. Without means to make a hole
 
 WHAT MANNER OF MAN 173 
 
 in the head of the axe for the admission of a helve, 
 he decided to model the new tool after the stone im- 
 plement, so that, with a green rawhide lashing, a 
 cleft stick would serve for a handle. 
 
 By dint of much labour the tool was finished ex- 
 cept for tempering, which was easily done by heat- 
 ing to redness and plunging into a calabash full of 
 water. The axe now needed only to be ground and 
 fitted to its handle to become the keen, serviceable 
 article of which he stood in such need. It was 
 rough, and its balance was imperfect, but for his 
 purpose it was priceless. With its first testing on a 
 tall palm, he was satisfied beyond his greatest hopes, 
 and as the tree came crashing to the ground he noted 
 that the edge had neither turned nor lost its keen- 
 ness. 
 
 Knowing his anxiety to complete the dugout, 
 with some surprise Eleanor saw that with the be- 
 ginning of the next day he did not turn at once to 
 this work, but taking his axe, disappeared up the 
 beach, returning laden down with bamboo poles. 
 While she was at the stream attending to her soak- 
 ing bark, she heard him chopping furiously, and 
 great was her surprise when on her return she 
 found, already partly constructed, a verandah for 
 the front of her lodge. The bamboo uprights and 
 rafters, sloping from the roof of the hut far down 
 in a shading canopy, were neatly lashed with sennit
 
 174 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 and he had begun to weave a thatch of leaves. She 
 aided in bringing the supply and before noon the 
 shelter was completed. And none too soon, for 
 clouds now began to overspread the sky, and before 
 their luncheon was finished, the downpour began. 
 He was about to retire to his own hut when she 
 invited him to hers and they both took shelter under 
 the newly made porch, occupying themselves for a 
 time by discovering and stopping the leaks that fre- 
 quently occurred. 
 
 The rain continued. There was not much wind 
 but at times the downpour was terrific. It beat 
 upon the beach before them, the drops hollowing out 
 little cups in the sand with their force. Before long 
 the brook, which had until now been a quiet, well- 
 behaved rivulet, swelled into a roaring torrent, 
 whose rush could be heard above the sound of the 
 rain, and which overflowed its banks in places, flood- 
 ing a part of the glade behind the hut. But the 
 lodge itself stood at the height of the beach and was 
 apparently safe from inundation. 
 
 Sitting there together without occupation, a new 
 strangeness seemed to fall upon the man and woman. 
 In the busy hours that had gone before, their con- 
 versation seemed to turn itself naturally upon their 
 work, their hopes, their successes and their failures, 
 but now, in this new and enforced proximity of their 
 imprisonment by the elements, there seemed to come
 
 WHAT MANNER OF MAN 175 
 
 to the man a half embarrassment that kept him 
 silent. She sought to turn the talk to their chances 
 of rescue but his indefinite replies discouraged her 
 and at last she was forced either to find some new 
 topic of mutual interest or to fall herself into an 
 awkward silence. 
 
 And here an opportunity presented itself to learn 
 what she had vaguely wondered from time to time. 
 Who was this man, her only friend in the world 
 into which she had been dropped by a strange des- 
 tiny? What was he? Whence had he come? 
 Whither was he going? What were his traditions, 
 his aims and his ambitions? 
 
 " Does it ever occur to you," she said at last, after 
 the pause in their talk had grown to a long interval, 
 "have you ever thought of me, here, alone on an 
 island in the sea with a man of whom I know ab- 
 solutely nothing? Until after we landed I did not 
 know your name, and even now that is all I know, 
 except, let me see that you were born in Nan- 
 tucket; that your mother was a Macy and her 
 mother a Coffin ; that you were second officer of the 
 late Marquesas, and that you have been sometime in 
 the islands of that name. And that is all," she con- 
 cluded, with a mock sigh of despair. " It isn't 
 much, is it, for one to know of a person who has 
 saved one's life and " 
 
 She broke off suddenly, reddening.
 
 176 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 Roused by the sound of her voice, Starbuck 
 turned and smiled. 
 
 " Well, Miss," he began, but she stopped him 
 with a gesture of impatience. 
 
 " Please, Mr. Starbuck," she pleaded, " don't call 
 me ' Miss.' It sounds so like the new footman at 
 home, and besides," she added, smiling at him, " in 
 our present savage state, it seems to me that formali- 
 ties are impossible. Would you mind if I asked you 
 to call me by my name, Eleanor ? " 
 
 Starbuck, utterly unprepared, was at a loss how to 
 meet this little show of friendliness and good-fellow- 
 ship. He had accustomed himself to treat her still 
 as a passenger of the ship, who was to be respected 
 and cared for with delicate attention, and who, if 
 approached in any other attitude would doubtless be 
 entirely justified in showing him his place as a 
 steamer official and in no sense a friend. Conscious 
 now that she was trying to show her trust in him 
 and her appreciation of the great services he had 
 rendered her, Starbuck stammered his willingness, 
 though he made no attempt to use the name. 
 
 Seeing his difficulty, she went back to her first 
 approach and asked him to tell her of the place 
 where he had been born. 
 
 Thus led out of his embarrassment, Starbuck be- 
 gan easily to tell of his boyhood. It seemed that he 
 had not had much.
 
 WHAT MANNER OF MAN 177 
 
 " Have you ever been on Nantucket? " he asked. 
 " Well, I was born in one of those queer old cot- 
 tages with the roofs that slope down almost to the 
 ground behind. My father was captain of a whaler 
 out of New Bedford and I was named for him. As 
 I first remember him he was a kindly old man, more 
 than sixty even when I was a youngster, tall and 
 thin, with a straight back and gray eyes that seemed 
 to look way through you. He was a good father 
 to us boys and girls, I guess, though we didn't see 
 very much of him. His voyages were long ones, 
 and almost every time he came home there would 
 be a new one of us. And it was the newest that got 
 most of his attention. 
 
 " There were eight, all told, five boys and three 
 girls, running up a good deal like a flight of stairs. 
 I was next to the oldest and after David went off to 
 sea with Father, ' The Skipper,' we always called 
 him, I was head of the family. Mother was not 
 well the last of her life and the younger ones were 
 a great deal of trouble. Up to fourteen I went to 
 school in the winter and made fishing trips to the 
 Georges in the summer with Uncle Dave. I was 
 cook of a fisherman when I was a dozen years old, 
 and they said I was a good one. 
 
 " I never had much schooling after that and when 
 I was fifteen, Mother died." 
 
 Starbuck stopped a moment as if in thought.
 
 " She said to me that day," he continued, after a 
 pause, " ' John/ she said, ' idleness is the worst of 
 all sins. Work and aim for the top and even if you 
 don't reach it you will be a man.' 
 
 " When Father came home from his three years' 
 cruise he found David a berth as second mate of a 
 bark in the South American trade and took me with 
 him in the forecastle. I found out then that Father 
 .at home and Father at sea were about as much alike 
 as black and white. He was a driver. You've 
 heard of what they call American hell ships ? Well, 
 the Betsey Coffin was one, or at least I thought so, 
 never having been on a real voyage before. 
 
 " I was a big, strong boy for my age and I did 
 a man's work, hand, reef and steer along with the 
 rest. That I was the skipper's son made no differ- 
 ence, and perhaps it was just as well, for the men 
 that made up that crew would have made my life 
 something to be got rid of. I learned to eat salt 
 horse, and biscuit that the weevils would run from, 
 but I throve on it, I guess, for at the end of two 
 years I was strong as an ox and could hold my own 
 with the best of them. We had hard luck that 
 voyage. Sperm was scarce and the price of oil so 
 low that right whales were hardly worth the taking. 
 But we stuck out till our provisions were gone and 
 then headed around the Horn home. At Pernam- 
 buco Father caught the fever and died in port. The
 
 WHAT MANNER OF MAN 179 
 
 mate took her home, and I was left stranded, with 
 the skipper's lay to be divided among eight. It 
 wasn't much I can tell you. 
 
 " Dave was making good and he turned most of 
 his pay in to help out the rest and I did the same. 
 There was enough to pay their board while they 
 went to school, and as my mother's sister took the 
 three youngest and my Uncle Obadiah the other 
 three, they were well enough fixed. I hadn't any 
 great love for a whaler but I had to do something, 
 and the first chance that offered was the ship Pequot, 
 Capt. Zenas Lee, bound on a two years' cruise. I 
 shipped as boat steerer and we had good luck. We 
 cruised off the Cape Verdes for a while and when 
 the sperm got running scarce we made across the 
 Line down to Punta Arenas and through the straits. 
 
 " We didn't waste much time in the South Pacific, 
 but made for the Alaskan grounds, where we spent 
 the summer, with the try-works mostly going full 
 blast. When it commenced to freeze up there along 
 in the first part of October we went south again and 
 fooled around the groups of islands below the Line, 
 touching now and then in the Gilberts, Samoa, the 
 Fijis and lastly the Marquesas. 
 
 " That was where I picked up the little I know 
 about island life. The ship put in for water and 
 fresh meat and fruits, for we had scurvy aboard. 
 We got pretty free shore liberty and the natives
 
 180 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 used us well. Another man and I were sent off for 
 a last cask of water just before the ship sailed and 
 while we were gone the consul informed the skipper 
 that small-pox 'had broken out on the island, Nuka- 
 hiva, it was, and * all hands ' wasn't too quick for 
 Cap'n Zenas Lee to get his anchor off the bottom 
 and set his courses. 
 
 " Marooned, we were, in that place for three 
 months, so I got pretty close to some of the native 
 ways of doing things. 
 
 " I worked my passage to Callao in the stoke-hole 
 of a British tramp and from there I made my way 
 somehow to Panama and home in a fruiter. As my 
 lay, or share, in the cargo of the Pequot was pretty 
 good money, for she was a full ship when she left 
 Nukahiva, I was anxious to get it, so I waited at 
 home, or rather in my relations' homes, till she was 
 reported, and then went .to New Bedford to collect. 
 But the skipper said I'd deserted and refused to 
 settle. 
 
 " I went to a lawyer and he wanted me to fix it 
 out of court for a quarter part of what was coming 
 to me. But I was bound I'd have it all or nothing, 
 so I got another lawyer and he took up the case in 
 earnest, wrote to the Nukahiva consul for an affi- 
 davit and I don't know what else. Anyway, it was 
 evidently going to be a long time before I got any- 
 thing, and as I didn't want to go to sea and get
 
 WHAT MANNER OF MAN 181 
 
 stranded somewhere when the case came to trial, I 
 hung around home, coasting a little, and finally I 
 decided that I'd had enough whaling. I passed my 
 examination for a mate's berth easy enough and got 
 a chance in a fine big schooner in the West Indian 
 trade. They were short voyages and I could keep 
 an eye on my lawsuit between times. It didn't 
 progress very fast, and though I was offered the 
 chief mate's berth I gave it up. 
 
 " I thought that my kind of sailoring was getting 
 too slow and I wanted to get into the steam traffic. 
 The only way was to begin pretty near the bottom, 
 and I did, in the fire-room of a Plant liner, between 
 New York and Havana. I worked up pretty well 
 to the engine-room and had some thoughts that I'd 
 like that line of work. But my case was coming off 
 pretty soon then, so I stayed ashore for the winter 
 and got a job in a machine shop and foundry. I 
 won the case right enough and the Old Man had to 
 settle, but the lawyer I had hired saw to it that I 
 didn't suffer any from sudden prosperity, and when 
 it was all over I had just seventy-two dollars and 
 sixteen cents coming to me, and my lay had 
 amounted to over three hundred dollars. 
 
 ' That sort of sickened me of the land-sharks, 
 and I went to sea again, as third mate of a British 
 tramp that was hard up in Boston. I left her in 
 Liverpool, and went to Australia in another cargo
 
 182 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 boat, as second mate, and got my first mate's ticket 
 at the end of the voyage. After that I went in sev- 
 eral ships, everywhere, most, where there is a port 
 and trading to be done; the Mediterranean, Suez, 
 Bombay, Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong and 
 Shanghai, the Malay Islands, Manila, Japan, all 
 around the world and back again. I got tired, then, 
 of the cargo boats and when I got my master's 
 certificate I tried for a passenger berth, but there 
 was no chance, and the only way for me to get on 
 \vias to drop back and take a fresh start; so I got 
 in with the South Pacific people at San Francisco 
 and made three trips in the Marquesas before she 
 went to the bottom out there and marooned you and 
 me and the Frenchman here ' with a shifty trick 
 unkind,' " he quoted as he finished. 
 
 For a little time the girl sat silent. It was a com- 
 monplace enough story, but he told it well, not laud- 
 ing himself in any way, slurring quickly over the 
 many adventures he must have had, making a cate- 
 gory of his life, straightforward and simple. 
 
 " I should call that a story of success," said the 
 girl finally. " I should think you had done well. In 
 all that rough life you must have learned a great 
 deal of men, and of the world and its ways. You 
 talk, too, like a man who has thought and read. You 
 have, haven't you? Why, you quoted Kipling just 
 now."
 
 WHAT MANNER OF MAN 183 
 
 She stopped in surprise as she placed the words 
 that had ended his tale. 
 
 " Yes," he laughed, " I could recite the whole 
 rhyme. It's one of the things that stick, isn't it?" 
 
 " And," pursued Eleanor, " you don't talk a bit 
 like the sailors in books." 
 
 He laughed again. 
 
 " You mean that I don't say ' shiver my timbers ' 
 and ' belay there ? ' Well, I could, and when I'm 
 with men of my craft I suppose I use as much sea 
 lingo as the next, but since I've worn buttons and a 
 brass-bound cap I've tried to drop the tramp slang 
 and the whalers' talk and speak as much like my 
 passengers as I can. The day of the old salt with 
 his forelock and his bow and scrape is over; along 
 with the Old Three-Decker, he's off for the Islands 
 of the Blest and the day of the new romance has 
 come. I don't always want to be a second officer 
 and if the Marquesas had made San Francisco on 
 her last trip I was going out first on the next." 
 
 " And now ? " queried the girl. 
 
 " Now, I'm a sort of twentieth-century reprint 
 of a much read work by a Mr. Defoe with a Lady 
 Friday and a lot of work on hand that is suffering 
 to be done," he stated, as he rose quickly and looked 
 out at the hurtling rain. 
 
 His movement told her that their conversation 
 for the time was over and she rose and joined him as
 
 184 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 he stood under the dripping eaves of the veran- 
 dah. 
 
 Towards night the rain ceased and the stars came 
 out in the clean-washed sky, and with them in the 
 west was the silver crescent of a young moon, that 
 sailed awhile in the azure heavens and then dipped 
 her modest daintiness below the waves.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE RAISING OF THE DINGHY 
 
 WITH renewed vigour Starbuck set to work in 
 earnest on the dugout. With his axe he was able 
 to shape the bow and stern, so that at last the log 
 began to look more like a craft. The hollowing 
 out was slow, hard work at best but by constant 
 labour both with fire and tools, using his axe as an 
 adze, the tool being easily made to serve by a simple 
 change of handle, the interior was gradually en- 
 larged until the sides were less than two inches in 
 thickness. The boat being perfectly round on the 
 bottom, and probably so irregular that it could not 
 by any possibility trim itself, Starbuck used the 
 natural expedient of the island people in the form 
 of an outrigger, which was a sharpened log of 
 buoyant wood, shorter than the canoe and lashed 
 with sennit to spars which crossed from gunwale 
 to gunwale and projected several feet to one side. 
 While unnecessary from a native point of view, 
 Starbuck was a good enough sailor to be dissatisfied 
 with anything but a shipshape craft, and desired 
 to mortise his spars into his outrigger. To do this 
 
 185
 
 186 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 he needed a chisel and at once set about making 
 one of a part of the steel left from the forging of 
 the axe. 
 
 He also felt strongly the need of better forge fuel 
 than the dry wood and foresaw that with the con- 
 tinuing rains even this would become unfit for use. 
 To this end he constructed, with little trouble, a 
 charcoal pit and in a few days had an excellent 
 supply. 
 
 Another article of civilization that both the girl 
 and he had sorely missed was soap, and Starbuck, 
 familiar with the process he had seen so many times 
 in his boyhood days, bethought him of the means to 
 supply this insistent demand. Although a make- 
 shift composed of cocoanut oil and a simple lye of 
 wood ashes could be easily supplied, he knew that 
 this was only fit for use with salt water, and as 
 neither cared to use the sea for toilet purposes he 
 cast about him for the materials with which to make 
 something better. The agreeable odour of the 
 candle nuts attracted him, and by experimenting he 
 soon found that by means of pressure he could ob- 
 tain the supply of oil he needed. Caustic potash 
 was a harder problem, slaked lime being needed in 
 its making. For a time this puzzled him, but sud- 
 denly he remembered that the shells and corals all 
 about them must hold a high percentage of calcium 
 and that it would only be necessary to carbonate this
 
 THE RAISING OF THE DINGHY 187 
 
 by burning. His furnace, minus the forcing draft, 
 would answer the purpose of a kiln and forthwith 
 he filled it with sea shells and broken coral rock in 
 layers, with dry wood and charcoal between and set 
 the pile alight. The result was imperfect, perhaps, 
 so far as purity was concerned, but the lime slaked 
 well and, for his purposes, was as good as the civil- 
 ized product. Its future usefulness for mortar also 
 occurred to him, but as he had no place for storing 
 he contented himself with one burning. 
 
 The girl found kiln tending somewhat arduous 
 work but it was a new occupation and a welcome 
 relief from idleness, as the sennit rope she 'had made 
 was now sufficient. While the kilns were kept burn- 
 ing Starbuck managed some pots and bowls of clay, 
 which, as soon as the furnace was free of lime, he 
 baked and even glazed by the aid of a charcoal fire 
 and his bellows blast. He had not yet told the girl 
 the significance of all these activities, for he thought 
 failure quite possible and feared to disappoint her. 
 During the pressing of the nuts, which she helped to 
 gather, she questioned him more than once, but he 
 put her off with laughing replies and conditional 
 promises of a surprise in store. 
 
 Simple potash, or the carbonate, was now ob- 
 tained by evaporating a solution of wood ashes, 
 leached with water, and burning the residue to 
 eliminate the charcoal. This was in turn made into
 
 188 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 a solution with about twelve parts of water as nearly 
 as he could judge, and set on to boil in a shallow 
 basin. The quicklime, slaked to a paste, was added 
 slowly until with the acid of fermented palm sap no 
 effervescence occurred. The solution was allowed 
 to settle, the clear liquor drawn off and boiled to 
 concentration. 
 
 " Chemistry," said the girl, as she followed the 
 various steps of this work, " is something I never 
 could grasp. It seemed to me just a senseless 
 jumble of capital letters and little numerals, far 
 worse than the string of letters after an English 
 scholar's name, but you seem to have been able to 
 make it work for you, and without the capitals." 
 
 " But," he replied, " this isn't chemistry, it's 
 soap." 
 
 " Oh," she cried, " you've let the cat out of the 
 bag. But I'm so delighted! Think of being able 
 to vrash one's clothes again ! " 
 
 "Again?" he queried, with a lifted eyebrow. 
 
 She laughed. 
 
 " I'm afraid," she said, " this is a case where the 
 shame lies in a plea of innocence. But," she added, 
 with a glance at her soiled raiment, " I could do any- 
 thing to be clean again, though I never expected to 
 be obliged to make my own soap." 
 
 With one of the larger bowls full of candle nut 
 oil, Starbuck brought it slowly to a boiling tempera-
 
 THE RAISING OF THE DINGHY 189 
 
 ture and added a weak solution of his caustic potash, 
 stirring constantly. Gradually the strength of the 
 lye was increased and the mixture lost its milky 
 appearance and became clear. More lye was added 
 until the taste was distinctly alkaline, and Starbuck 
 announced that the liquor was ready for " salting 
 out" A strong brine of boiled sea-water served 
 the purpose, and as it entered the solution the soapy 
 matter could be seen collecting on top while the 
 spent lye was precipitated. Skimming while hot and 
 pouring into halves of cocoanut shells to set, com- 
 pleted the work, and the castaways found them- 
 selves the possessors of a number of cakes of ex- 
 cellent soap, fragrant and agreeable with the odour 
 of the oil. With the rough pottery basins for tubs, 
 wash day now could be regularly observed, adding 
 much to the comfort and self-respect of both. 
 
 The weather, much to Starbuck's surprise, held 
 fine, facilitating greatly the completion of the canoe, 
 which, in less than a week, was finished and ready 
 for launching. With his axe and a knife he turned 
 out some very creditable paddles, one of them small 
 and light enough for the girl to use. Under log 
 rollers the craft was run down to the water's edge 
 and Starbuck was about to send it on its first dip into 
 the Pacific when he halted as if something had been 
 forgotten. 
 
 " We can't let this ship go overboard without a
 
 190 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 name, even if we haven't any champagne to break 
 over her bow. You must name her," he said, 
 smiling at the girl, " and as the owner I choose the 
 name. She shall be the Eleanor, and good luck to 
 her." 
 
 So they launched and christened their craft, built 
 with such pains and labour, and on that quiet after- 
 noon in early April they paddled on their first voy- 
 age. 
 
 Naturally, Starbuck first made a visit to the reef 
 where the ship's dinghy lay inside the great coral 
 barrier. As they paddled out from the shore the 
 water gradually deepened, though the bottom could 
 still be seen distinctly, each shell and almost each 
 grain of sand showing clear-cut beneath the still 
 surface. The wonderful colours, which had not 
 been visible from the shore, made the girl cry out in 
 delight as they passed over beds of deep purple, 
 shaded into violet, yellow and blue, with patches of 
 red and orange, brilliant and glowing. Fish darted 
 here and there, and Starbuck now and then pointed 
 with his paddle at a huge albicore or a bonito, 
 startled by their approach. He kept a sharp look- 
 out for the sinister, black, triangular fin of a shark 
 above the water, but none disturbed the repose of 
 the peaceful lagoon, which seemed to smile a wel- 
 come to them. 
 
 Turning to look at the shore the girl saw for the
 
 THE RAISING OF THE DINGHY 191 
 
 first time since she had christened the island, the 
 red and yellow blanket-flag, that together they had 
 hoisted on the peak. It was still there, floating out 
 bravely in the breeze that fanned the summit, still 
 calling its silent message to the broad Pacific. The 
 island itself, with its white fringe of beach backed 
 by the waving, feathery cocoa-palms, with the land 
 rising in a terrace of greenery, looked like a picture 
 of fairyland. Beauty in some form lay on every 
 hand and the girl fell into a dreamy reverie under 
 its spell. 
 
 She was sharply recalled by an exclamation from 
 Starbuck, who now, with a few swift strokes of his 
 paddle, made the canoe forge ahead. He pointed 
 downward with the blade, and there on the bottom 
 was the thing they sought, the boat. It lay on its 
 side, with the sand sifted over the gunwale into the 
 bottom, covering up any injury that may have been 
 sustained by striking the sharp coral of the reef. In 
 the limpid water it seemed as if they could touch it 
 with the paddle, but Starbuck knew it must be at 
 least ten fathoms below. He carefully studied the 
 boat's position in relation to the black wall of the 
 reef, which, only a few yards beyond, formed a solid 
 barrier that even caused the mighty Pacific in its 
 wildest moods to halt and turn back. And the girl 
 remembered, as she gazed, her youthful geography, 
 which taught her that these reefs were made by a
 
 192 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 myriad of tiny polyps, who had lived and died in 
 countless generations to build that Titan's wait. 
 The crest of the reef was now just awash, and the 
 surf, with the wind hauled to the southwest, was 
 absent. 
 
 Starbuck drew a thin, braided line from his 
 pocket, and with a stone for a weight, sounded the 
 bottom, measuring off the depth with the spread of 
 his arms. Nine fathoms he counted before the line 
 grew slack, and he wondered how long he could 
 stand the pressure of nearly two atmospheres. He 
 had seen the native pearl divers make nothing of 
 such a depth, but as for himself he had his doubts. 
 But he said nothing of them nor of his plan for 
 raising the boat, and they quietly continued their 
 voyage along the northerly shore of the island until 
 the freshening wind warned them not to make the 
 complete circle in an unaccustomed craft. 
 
 Starbuck had brought a wooden hook he had 
 contrived from a root, and with this and his line 
 they spent an hour fishing, taking several small 
 bonitos, which the man knew to be excellent eating. 
 As they paddled back, their craft, rough and clumsy 
 though it was, seemed to have opened to them an 
 entire new world and they felt rich in its possession. 
 
 As the southwest monsoon had not become 
 settled, Starbuck did not yet wish to attempt to 
 carry out his idea of getting up the dinghy, which
 
 THE RAISING OF THE DINGHY 193 
 
 would involve much work on the reef itself, so he 
 contented himself with his preparations. He now 
 needed a saw very badly, but was in complete de- 
 spair of obtaining the article, until, as he was over- 
 hauling the sail preparatory to rigging the canoe, 
 he stumbled across, the water breaker, for which 
 they had found no immediate use. The iron hoops 
 that strongly bound the keg were, it flashed across 
 him, the supply of metal he so much needed. 
 
 Joyful at his discovery and blaming himself for 
 his stupidity, he set to work to repeat his process of 
 steel making, and profiting by his previous attempt, 
 succeeded in turning out a very creditable product. 
 Beaten thin with the back of his steel axe, and the 
 teeth stamped out laboriously with a three-cornered 
 die of chilled metal, the result was a saw, at which 
 a carpenter might have smiled, but which would 
 cut wood if the user were patient. With his axe 
 and saw and chisel Starbuck now was able to make 
 a set of serviceable blocks, both double and single, 
 the sheaves being sections of young cocoanut trunks, 
 bored for their pins by burning. 
 
 The problem of sufficient rope for this tackle now 
 presented itself, and the sailor set about solving it 
 with a seaman's readiness. The husks stripped 
 from many nuts had been decaying in the stream 
 bed, and furnished a mass of loose fibre ready for 
 his purpose. With a spun yarn winch, constructed
 
 194 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 of bamboo, and the girl to twirl the shaft, he spun 
 the long strands, which, twisted in an improvised 
 rope-walk between two tree trunks, and hawser laid, 
 gave him all the cordage needed and of a kind that 
 was perfectly strong and serviceable. 
 
 The work was interrupted once or twice by vio- 
 lent storms, which swept the island with a deluge 
 of rain and drove both man and girl to shelter for 
 a day at a time. Coming from the southwest, the 
 wind drove the water roaring through the break in 
 the reef, lowering the height of the lagoon appre- 
 ciably, and Starbuck was concerned lest the scour 
 carry the sunken boat beyond the protection of the 
 reef, where it might be lost to him for ever. But an * 
 investigation, as soon as the weather had moderated, 
 showed him that the craft still lay as it had been, 
 though more nearly buried in the shifting sands. 
 While the man had been engaged in the preparations 
 for his wrecking operations the girl had not been 
 idle. The need of clothes was now becoming so 
 urgent that steps had to be taken to refurnish both 
 their wardrobes. Every trip to the interior of the 
 island resulted in some new rent, and the one needle 
 they possessed was in constant demand until the 
 clothes they wore were so full of mends that the 
 remaining cloth would hardly hold together. The 
 shrinkage caused by this constant patching, unaided 
 by new material, was alarming, and it was evident
 
 THE RAISING OF THE DINGHY; 195 
 
 that a new supply of cloth was one of the first con- 
 siderations. 
 
 The hibiscus bark, that had been alternately 
 soaked in the brook and exposed to the air, was 
 now, they found, in a state of decomposition which 
 Starbuck pronounced far enough advanced to free 
 the fibres, and he showed her how, with a billet of 
 wood about a foot long and two inches square, 
 creased in grooves of varying depth upon the four 
 sides, to beat the strips of bark, which were placed 
 on the smooth trunk of a fallen cocoa palm, adding 
 new strips and moistening the mass with water as 
 needed. The result of continued effort, more 
 monotonous than difficult, was a cloth of fair qual- 
 ity, that could be made in varying thickness as de- 
 sired by beating out as a gold-beater finishes his 
 sheets of metal. Finally, bleached in the tropical 
 neat of the sun, a fabric of dazzling whiteness was 
 ample reward, and her pride at her usefulness was 
 not lessened by the praise of the man. 
 
 Starbuck had made a pair of sheers of two young 
 trees, about fifteen feet in length, lashed at the 
 crossing with stout sennit and braced at the bottom 
 with spreader, making a rigid letter A, to the apex 
 of which was attached a set of double blocks. He 
 tested the tackle's lifting power and found it to be 
 apparently ample. 
 
 On a bright morning, with the wind apparently
 
 196 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 settled in the southwest, with rigging ready and 
 the sheers towing behind, the man and girl set out 
 to begin operations on the reef. In the lee of the 
 island the water was calm. The top of the great 
 coral shelf was just exposed and they could see the 
 half-buried dinghy below, lying like a dead thing 
 on the bottom. The girl was aware of Starbuck's 
 hopes from the possession of his craft, but she did 
 not share his enthusiasm. Her former experi- 
 ence in this same boat was still vivid in her memory, 
 and deep in her heart she preferred to remain in 
 comparative comfort on the island, to tempting 
 fortune again on .the bosom of the Pacific the 
 Pacific, which now, lying idly kissed by the warm 
 sun, seemed all mildness and smiles, but which she 
 had seen in one short hour transform itself into a 
 frothing whirl of angry tumult, gray, hissing and 
 venomous, destroying all that fell within its em- 
 brace, shouting aloud its eternal treachery. 
 
 However, she said nothing of her thoughts to 
 Starbuck, whose mind she knew was firmly set upon 
 accomplishing his purpose. She watched his prepa- 
 rations interestedly. He was in his element as a 
 wrecker and went about his work with a certain 
 definiteness that had not marked him in his activi- 
 ties ashore. 
 
 First of all he set up his sheers on the edge of 
 the reef. To do this was no small task. The green
 
 THE RAISING OP THE DINGHY 197 
 
 wood was heavy, and powerful man as he was, his 
 strength was not sufficient to place the poles up- 
 right. Paddling ashore they brought back two 
 large stones, which Starbuck proceeded to lash to 
 the butts of the poles with a hitch that could be 
 loosened with a single jerk of a rope's end. The 
 sheers now up-ended with the butts in the water, 
 and the weights ballasting them, the structure rode 
 upright like a buoy beside the reef. 
 
 Measuring the distance carefully, he bent a rope 
 at the crossing of the sheers, leading it back to con- 
 nect with a gun-tackle purchase, which was an- 
 chored securely to a projection of the reef itself. 
 Two guy lines were also bent in readiness to hold 
 the sheers in position. A stout spar, the length of 
 the sheers, he now set into the throat lashing, the 
 butt to be planted on the reef at the instant the 
 sheers stopped rising, to act as a stay against the 
 pull of the guys and to stop the dead weight from 
 falling back. When all was ready a sharp pull re- 
 leased the ballasting rocks and the lightened struc- 
 ture shot up perpendicularly, to be caught and held 
 by the spar as he had foreseen. The sailor now had 
 small difficulty in levering the legs, one after the 
 other, upon the reef's edge, and at last the sheers 
 stood in position, the tackle hanging out over the 
 water directly above the sunken dinghy. 
 
 Eleanor, who was unable to assist in this work,
 
 198 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 had remained in the canoe, but now she was called 
 upon for aid. Starbuck slipped off his shoes and 
 made ready a rope with a heavy stone for a sinker. 
 
 " What are you going to do now ? " she asked. 
 
 " Well," he answered, " I don't know whether 
 I'm man enough or not, but I'm going down there, 
 if I can, and hook on this tackle." 
 
 She looked at him as he stood on the reef, brown 
 of face and arm and neck, strong, buoyant, with a 
 boyish smile on his lips and a light of daredeviltry in 
 his blue eyes. For an instant she compared him 
 with the men that she had known; with the man 
 she had promised to marry. Would any of them, 
 she wondered, do for her sake what this man was 
 doing? Could any of them do what he was doing, 
 or, lacking knowledge, would they have been the 
 men to try makeshift expedients, the products of 
 their own imaginations, in an attempt to overcome 
 seemingly impossible obstacles? Running rapidly 
 through her list of friends, she could think of none 
 who possessed the unselfishness or the offhand cour- 
 age of this man, who, a few weeks before had been 
 an utter stranger to her. 
 
 The thought, now, of his going down into that 
 deep, blue water terrified her. If he should be 
 drowned through some mishap; if he should die 
 before her eyes and she should never be able to 
 speak to him again! It was not a selfish thought
 
 THE RAISING OF THE DINGHY 199 
 
 that flashed through her mind, but the personal 
 appeal of his own self as a friend and as a loyal 
 companion, who stood ready to sacrifice his life for 
 her if need be, and who, under her helpless trust in 
 him, had already more than once proved the steel 
 of his honour. 
 
 " Are you sure you will be safe ? " she anxiously 
 asked, as he stepped into the canoe beside her. " If 
 anything should happen " 
 
 " Nothing will happen," he said. " The worst 
 will be that I may fail to reach bottom." 
 
 He slipped the great stone over the side and tested 
 the rope that held it hanging in the water. He 
 took a turn with the line around one of the out- 
 rigger spars and handed it to her. 
 
 " Now," he said, " I am going down feet first 
 standing on the weight and you must pay out 
 quickly, for I can't be long. The water is pretty 
 deep and the pressure will be hard to stand." 
 
 As he spoke he took in his hands the tackle block, 
 to the lower end of which was attached a small, 
 stiff billet of wood to be thrust as a toggle through 
 the ring bolt at the stern of the dinghy. He drew 
 out his knife, which he placed between his teeth, 
 and grasping the rope with one hand and the block 
 with the other, swung over the side. 
 
 Down, down he went in the perfectly clear, still 
 water, his foreshortened body showing squat and
 
 strange in its outline. Quickly she paid out the 
 line as he descended, but after a moment it went 
 more slowly, as the greater depth of water was 
 reached. Then it stopped altogether and in surprise 
 she saw him rushing up toward her. Faster and 
 faster the figure came, kicking its way to the sur- 
 face, the head and shoulders popping out suddenly. 
 The man's breath released with a puff, and clinging 
 to the side of the canoe before climbing in, he 
 panted a moment, shaking his ringing ears and 
 filling his poisoned lungs in great gasps. 
 
 " I've got to get my breath better," he said, as 
 he drew up his dripping body and sat on the spar. 
 " It's kind of close down there." 
 
 " Are you going to try again ? " asked the girl, 
 as he began hauling at the line. 
 
 " I think I can make it next time," he replied. 
 " Let the line run pretty free. It will snub itself 
 before it gets to the bottom. I wish the weight was 
 heavier." 
 
 Now he took several great breaths, filling up and 
 emptying his chest, purifying each cell to receive 
 its utmost supply of life-giving oxygen. At last 
 he slipped into the water again, and taking a long, 
 natural breath, signalled her to let him go. Down 
 he went, faster this time, until it seemed as if he 
 would never stop. She watched him. He was 
 nearly at the bottom, she thought, but no, the line
 
 THE RAISING OF THE DINGHY 201 
 
 was still running. Now it stopped. She saw him 
 fumble with the toggle, and, after what seemed an 
 age, finally pass it through the ring. 
 
 He straightened, crouched on the bottom and 
 sprang upward. At the instant a shadow fell across 
 his body. There was a swirl of a swiftly passing 
 shape, and frozen with terror, she saw the great 
 flukes of a tiger shark. She tried to scream but 
 her voice had lost its power. She could only watch, 
 helpless, powerless to warn him. But he had no- 
 ticed. He was swimming desperately toward the 
 top when the shape turned, and darting close, al- 
 most flicked him with its tail, the mass of disturbed 
 water twisting his body half round and almost 
 stopping his ascent. She saw him seize the knife 
 from between his teeth. Half way to the surface 
 the great fish swooped again, and to her utter hor- 
 ror she saw the White of its upturned belly and the 
 rows of cruel teeth in the wide open gap of its jaws. 
 
 Aiming straight for the man's body it came swift 
 as a dart, its tail almost motionless, its instincts 
 concentrated on its prey. Starbuck turned, doub- 
 ling his body downward. An arm shot up and she 
 caught the flash of steel. The next instant the 
 great fish was gone, and the man, face purple, with 
 blue lips and starting eyeballs, shot up out of the 
 sea. 
 
 Almost exhausted, he climbed into the canoe and
 
 202 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 lay in the bottom, his head in the girl's lap where 
 she had raised it, he fighting for air, she sobbing 
 in her fright and crying out her thankfulness at his 
 escape. For a few moments Starbuck did not move. 
 A weakness seized him and he lay as one in a swoon 
 until his blood quickened as the heart beat stronger. 
 Slowly he sat up and looked about. His shirt of 
 shreds was torn and split and hung about his waist, 
 exposing his heaving chest with its great rounded 
 muscles. 
 
 " That was as close to it as I've ever been," he 
 said, without a smile, " but it's all right. I've done 
 the trick." 
 
 " You were frightened," he said presently, lean- 
 ing over and laying a wet hand on the girl's arm. 
 " I don't wonder. I was myself," and he turned 
 sharply in the direction of a splash in the water. 
 "Look there," he cried, touching the girl again. 
 " There he is, and in his flurry. See my knife, 
 sticking in his side ! " 
 
 But the girl covered her face with Her hands and 
 would not look. 
 
 " It was horrible, horrible ! " she sobbed. " I 
 thought - Oh, those awful teeth ! " 
 
 " There, there," he said in a clumsy effort at 
 helping her to regain herself. " It's all over now 
 and I shall save my knife too. See! He is dead, 
 already."
 
 THE RAISING OF THE DINGHY 203 
 
 Casting off the line that held the canoe to the 
 reef, he paddled to the body of the shark, and taking 1 
 a turn around the tail, worked the craft ashore, 
 Eleanor sitting rigid in her place, striving to con- 
 trol herself. 
 
 With an eye on the weather, Starbuck anxiously 
 watched her, wondering if it was better to go on 
 with his salving of the boat or whether he might 
 risk the interference of a storm, and the possible un- 
 doing of his work. He decided that he could not, 
 and after drawing up the great fish on the beach, 
 he turned to go again to the reef. But she sprang 
 before him, white, trembling from head to foot, but 
 refusing to let him go alone, and though he could 
 see that she was shaken by nearly overmastering- 
 terror, he did not change his purpose. He ex- 
 plained that if the wind should rise it might all 
 have to be done again ; and then, with fine courage, 
 she took her place in the canoe, saying that if he 
 must go she would accompany him. He marvelled 
 at the strength of this delicate woman, the strength 
 that was able to overcome deadly fear and send 
 her to share with him whatever peril lay in 
 store. 
 
 Pushing out quickly to the reef, he made sure 
 that his tackle was fast and stepped out on the shelf, 
 now ankle deep with the risen tide, and grasping 
 the fall, put his weight upon it. The give of the
 
 204 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 new rope at first prevented the breaking out of the 
 boat from the sand-bed, but after much effort the 
 purchase of the double blocks began to tell, and 
 swaying with a turn around the brace, he gained 
 a few inches at each heave. Finally the dead weight 
 tore itself free, turned over, as he had planned, 
 and emptying out the load of sand, rose slowly 
 through the water. Up it came, till the white 
 painted stern showed above the surface and the 
 fall was made fast. 
 
 While the purchase of Starbuck's tackle was suf- 
 ficient to raise the boat through the water, it was 
 not powerful enough to continue its work with the 
 weight above the surface. This he had foreseen, 
 and turning to his gun-tackle, he hove on it, bring- 
 ing the sheers themselves to a perpendicular, with 
 the effect of dragging the dinghy over the edge of 
 the reef, where, by slackening away its own tackle 
 it was at last safely deposited. 
 
 He examined the craft anxiously, and Eleanor 
 watched his face grow grave as he looked long at 
 the great hole near the bow, torn through the iron 
 bottom by the jagged points of coral rock. The 
 metal was twisted and split and the riveted seams 
 were opened and sprung for half her length. Star- 
 buck gave a sigh and passed his hand across his 
 forehead. 
 
 "What is it?" she asked.
 
 THE RAISING OF THE DINGHY 205 
 
 " It's no good," he replied after a pause. " It's 
 all for nothing, all this," and he swept a gesture 
 toward the derrick upon which he had spent so 
 much toil. " I never can patch that hole," he said 
 in a strained voice, " not in a million years." 
 
 The girl gave a little sigh of sympathy at his dis- 
 appointment, for, though in her heart she was glad 
 to escape the fearsome voyage the boat might have 
 meant, she felt for him at the failure of his great 
 hopes. 
 
 " But," she said, " we can tow it ashore and you 
 will have metal to make all kinds of tools, and per- 
 haps you could build a boat, larger and better even 
 than this." 
 
 " Good, you're a thoroughbred. You'd put heart 
 in a dead man," he exclaimed, striking his hard 
 palms together in resolution. " You always have 
 to show me the way at last." 
 
 Hauling the boat up bow first at the junction of 
 the outrigger spar and the gunwale of the canoe, 
 and with the sheers and tackle towing behind, they 
 slowly made the shore, where they beached the 
 dinghy beyond the reach of the sea and turned their 
 attention to their evening meal. 
 
 While he was engaged in their simple cookery 
 she disappeared for a few moments, and when she 
 came from the lodge it was with something white 
 in her hands. Wondering, Starbuck looked up, and
 
 206 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 as he saw what it was he became hotly conscious of 
 his half naked condition. 
 
 " And you made this for me ? " he said, taking 
 from her what she held forth. " And out of your 
 sheet," he added as the little sacrifice occurred to 
 him. 
 
 It was a shirt, neatly made, and the best fitting 
 he had ever owned, he declared as he came from 
 his hut a few moments later proudly wearing it. 
 And as he thanked her roundly the warm colour 
 flew to her cheeks again and the shock of her great 
 fright departed.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 IN THE BONDS OF SERVICE 
 
 THE southwest monsoon was now well estab- 
 lished, bringing with it heavy rains and warmer 
 days. Plant life seemed to take heart in the mois- 
 ture and heat, and the vegetation on the island grew 
 rank and tall. One day, while making a circuit of 
 the lagoon in the canoe, which he had fitted with the 
 dinghy's sail, Starbuck spied on the south shore, 
 several large turtles, basking in the sun and evi- 
 dently preparing to deposit their eggs. Aware that 
 if disturbed they might quit the beach for good, he 
 forbore to land and contented himself with noting 
 the position of the spot. On the following day he 
 returned and found a large number of eggs buried 
 in the sand, which he carried carefully home, a wel- 
 come and delicious addition to the evening menu. 
 
 To vary their diet Starbuck had made a careful 
 exploration of every part of the island, and greatly 
 to his satisfaction he found that the natives, who 
 had been driven off by the eruption, had evidently 
 been of the more thrifty sort, for near the buried 
 village he discovered evidences of cultivation of the 
 
 207
 
 208 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 taro plant, one of the most nutritious and delicate 
 of the vegetable foods of the Pacific islands. Dig- 
 ging up several of the bulbous roots, he wrapped 
 them, with their soil, in plantain leaves and carried 
 them to the valley, where he set them out, carefully 
 watering and tending them. They flourished well, 
 and repeating the experiment many times, he soon 
 had a patch large enough for his needs. 
 
 The root of the plant, though acrid to the taste 
 when raw, was mild and pleasant when baked, and 
 after being crushed and fermented, becomes the 
 famous poi, which is perhaps the national dish of 
 the Hawaiians and many other peoples of the ocean 
 world. It was nothing new to Starbuck, who ate 
 it with a relish, but with Eleanor it was an ac- 
 quired taste. The peculiar flavour, at first, was dis- 
 agreeable, but after a few trials she began to find 
 its good points, and the taro patch rapidly became 
 one of their chief assets. 
 
 Starbuck found that the plant needed much water, 
 and to save labour dug irrigating ditches from the 
 stream. While at work on these he hit upon the 
 plan of bringing water direct to the camp by 
 means of bamboo pipes, with the joints set in clay. 
 This was accomplished, to the delight of Eleanor, 
 who had taken upon herself the laborious duty of 
 providing fresh water, along with her other culinary 
 activities.
 
 IN THE BONDS OF SERVICE 209 
 
 Starbuck now bethought him of a store of food 
 against any possible failure of the supply. While 
 this did not seem at all likely, he knew that the 
 breadfruit tree sometimes refused to bear abun- 
 dantly, and taro, in certain seasons, was difficult to 
 grow. Accordingly he gathered a large quantity 
 of ripe breadfruits, which were separately deprived 
 of their rinds and cores and worked with a pestle 
 to a doughy consistency. Wrapped in leaves, small 
 packages of this were buried in the earth to be used 
 at need, the only final preparation being to bake 
 the parcels just as they were. The baked fruit, 
 mixed with water, turned into a rather stringy mix- 
 ture that looked not unlike Welsh rarebit and was 
 another form of poi, very good, when one became 
 accustomed to it. 
 
 The herd of pigs, upon which they had made fre- 
 quent requisition of late, was still numerous and 
 seemed to be multiplying. They were in 1 no sense 
 tame, and two of the boars which Starbuck had met 
 on his excursions had been strongly inclined to show 
 fight. For his own protection and that of the girl he 
 had forged out of iron from the boat, two spear- 
 heads, which, equipped with shafts made of the 
 light, tough ribs of cocoanut leaves, were efficient 
 weapons for hunting or for defence. He taught 
 Eleanor how to balance and throw, and by practice 
 the girl became nearly as expert as he. And there
 
 210 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 came a day when her ability was put to the 
 test. 
 
 The two had been on a visit to the other side of 
 the island, and were returning, contrary to their 
 usual custom, across country. They had climbed 
 the steep bed of lava that led to the top of the vol- 
 canic hill, for the purpose of resetting their flag- 
 staff, which had been thrown down in a gusty wind 
 the day before. As they descended on the other 
 side, and emerged from the canebrake, through 
 which Starbuck hewed a way with his axe, they 
 saw, barely half a dozen yards away, rooting peace- 
 fully, the largest boar they had yet encountered. He 
 was a fierce looking beast, .with small red eyes, a 
 bristly ridge along his back, and tusks that curled 
 wickedly from his jaw. 
 
 At their approach the boar threw up his head 
 with a grunt of inquiry, but instead of running or 
 moving off, he continued to stand directly in their 
 path, defiantly prepared to dispute their passage. 
 With axe poised for a blow, Starbuck advanced, in- 
 tending to split the animal's head with a stroke. 
 The girl, just behind him, hearing a sudden rush, 
 laid a cautioning hand on his shoulder, and as she 
 saw her warning unheeded, balanced her spear in 
 readiness, should the man miss his aim. 
 
 After a few steps, expecting every moment to see 
 the pig turn, Starbuck jumped forward and dealt a
 
 IN THE BONDS OF SERVICE 211 
 
 lightning blow with his weapon. The boar, quick 
 as a panther, dodged the steel and leaped straight 
 for the man, who, taken unawares, slipped on a 
 slimy root and fell prone on his back. With chin 
 erected and head lowered, the angry brute made a 
 rush, as Starbuck, partly recovering himself, seized 
 the axe that had slid from his hand and endeavoured 
 to ward off the attack. A glancing blow, awk- 
 wardly delivered, caught the pig on the shoulder, 
 turning him aside for an instant, but the next he 
 returned to the fight with dripping jaws, his tusks 
 lowered to rip the vitals of the enemy before him. 
 Starbuck, struggling to his knees, seemed almost 
 helpless to defend himself against this second as- 
 sault and had raised his axe for a last desperate 
 stroke, when, swift as light, something flashed by 
 his head, and Eleanor Channing's spear buried itself 
 behind the boar's foreshoulder. 
 
 With a squeal of rage and pain the beast dropped 
 to its knees, struggled once to rise, took a step for- 
 ward and rolled over in its death spasm. 
 
 Starbuck, on his feet in an instant, caught the 
 girl's two hands between both his own and poured 
 out in quick words, his thanks and his nride in her. 
 
 " As quick, as cool, as brave," he cried, " as any 
 man I know. You've saved my life, Miss Miss 
 Eleanor, and now we're quits." 
 
 " No," she contradicted him, though by this time
 
 212 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 she was atremble with excitement, " only half 
 quits. I owe you still another life and more." 
 
 Starbuck dragged the dead boar to the camp, and 
 as she followed, a new and strange feeling grew in 
 her heart. It was a sense of power, of strength, 
 of self-reliance. She could kill! It was the first 
 life she had ever taken, and the knowledge that she 
 was able to protect herself in danger, to hold her 
 own in single combat with a dangerous beast, 
 brought an exaltation that was utterly foreign to 
 her. She gloried in her prowess, and she glowed 
 with pleasure at the man's praise. 
 
 As the days went by Starbuck became vaguely 
 aware of the change in her. Something, that be- 
 fore had held him at a distance and made him feel 
 that he was only some one who was of use, and who 
 could not, for the time being, be dispensed with; 
 something that had been holding her aloof from 
 him, now seemed to dissolve between the two and 
 leave them nearer to each other, more companion- 
 able, more in each other's confidence, and more alike 
 in thought and action. It was not that she extended 
 to him any thought of a closer intimacy, but her 
 manner toward him changed. She asked his advice 
 in many little things, personal things, and talked 
 of her own affairs, her cookery, her dress, and one 
 day even of her toilet. 
 
 They had been fishing all one long, hot after-
 
 IN THE BONDS OF SERVICE 213 
 
 noon in the lagoon. The strong rays of the high 
 sun beat down on them without mercy, and in the 
 lee of the high island there was not enough breeze 
 to stir the water. When they returned, she com- 
 plained of feeling faint and dizzy, and lay down 
 for a time in her hut. She ate little that night, par- 
 taking only of the boiled greens they made from 
 the tops of the taro plants. As this was unusual in 
 her, Starbuck anxiously inquired if she were ill. 
 She responded, a little weakly, that her head felt 
 dull and painful, but that she would no doubt be 
 right again in the morning. 
 
 Satisfied that there was nothing serious amiss 
 they parted as usual for the night, and the next 
 day, though the symptoms had almost entirely dis- 
 appeared, he opened the subject. 
 
 " I shouldn't have kept you out there in the sun 
 yesterday," he said, " and without a hat, too. You 
 must have nearly cooked your brains." 
 
 " I think I must," she answered, putting her 
 hands to her head. " My head feels hot, even now, 
 and my hair is so dry that it crackles when I touch 
 it." 
 
 Her hair was indeed in bad condition. The sun 
 had bleached it from its darker shade to a tawny 
 yellow, and it was rough, wiry and dull with the 
 burning it had suffered. 
 
 " What you need is some of the Marquesan
 
 214 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 remedy," he said. " The girls in those islands go 
 bareheaded, always, but they take care of their hair 
 very carefully, and they have beautiful heads 
 of it." 
 
 " Well," she replied, " we've never needed a phar- 
 macy on Starbuck Island before, but if you can 
 produce the remedy I should be glad to use it." 
 
 And Starbuck straightway did. Pounding the 
 meat of several cocoanuts, he placed it in a calabash 
 with holes punched in its bottom, and set the dish 
 in the hot sun over a bowl to catch the dripping oil 
 that exuded. This he clarified by boiling, but here 
 her objection to its sweet, sickish odour led her to 
 protest. 
 
 " If you intend me to use that on my hair," she 
 said, " you need take no more trouble, for I could 
 never stand that smell." 
 
 " No ? " he mocked. " Wait until I am through." 
 
 She watched him doubtfully as he went about 
 picking the jasmine flowers that grew everywhere 
 in the utmost profusion, and began to show more 
 interest as he placed them on a mat of heavy tappa 
 cloth, which he had previously soaked in the oil of 
 the candle nut. Oil and flowers were renewed from 
 time to time, and at last, when the former was 
 pressed from the cloth, it gave a sweet, fragrant 
 compound, the very essence of the blossom's delicate 
 perfume. This was mixed with the cocoanut oil
 
 IN THE BONDS OF SERVICE 215 
 
 and the whole sealed in the shell of a nut, which 
 Starbuck called the moo tree nut. In a day or two 
 the contents had absorbed from the shell a pungent 
 odour, which, combined with that of the jasmine, 
 made a perfume that she pronounced delicious. 
 
 " It's the sun on the back of your neck that is 
 dangerous," counselled Starbuck, " and if I were 
 you I should wear my hair over it." 
 
 Forthwith she retired with her new unguent, and 
 when she came forth her hair was no longer coiled 
 tightly on her head as he had heretofore seen it, 
 but caught loosely below her neck in a thick, soft, 
 shining braid that fell to her hips, where the ends 
 curled crisply. 
 
 She looked so girlish in her new guise that the 
 man could hardly repress an exclamation. She 
 noticed his glance, and laughingly pirouetted a few 
 steps, her skirt caught up in either hand, the long 
 plait swinging over her shoulder as she whirled. 
 
 " I feel just sixteen again," she cried. " Is it 
 becoming? " 
 
 " Very," he smiled in frank admiration of the 
 glowing tresses, no longer rough, but smooth as 
 silk, and shot with gleams of sunlight. 
 
 As time went on and no sail appeared to break 
 the blue expanse of the Pacific, they grew less and 
 less to think, with recurring hope, of their rescue. 
 The peace of the island, the warm, genial days and
 
 216 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 nights, the abundance of food, and interest in their 
 daily occupations, caused at last a sort of content- 
 ment to creep into the heart of each. Their ways 
 had fallen together, and as the days grew to weeks, 
 and the weeks to months, the edge of their actual 
 desolation was dulled and they became absorbed in 
 their own existence. Still, in the heart of the man 
 there was something sadly amiss. As he came and 
 went in his round of duties he watched her at her 
 various feminine occupations, and as the man of 
 the far gone ages might have done, he was at pains 
 to think of the things that might give her pleasure. 
 Once he brought her a pearl that he had found in 
 the shell of an oyster, dredged up from the depths 
 of the lagoon; another time he surprised her with 
 the present of a comb, delicately made from the 
 shell of a great hawk-bill turtle. Many little things 
 he did which she accepted with a quiet apprecia- 
 tion that none the less conveyed to him her pleas- 
 ure. 
 
 Sitting one rainy day under the deep verandah 
 of her house, she sought again to draw from him 
 more of his life. Little details of his various 
 adventures had naturally escaped him from time 
 to time; people he had known, both men and 
 women; dangers that he had faced, difficulties 
 overcome. 
 
 " It seems strange," he said, as he rose to a bait
 
 IN THE BONDS OF SERVICE 217 
 
 she cunningly offered, " strange, that of all the 
 things that have happened in my life, none of them 
 has ever made me feel like this." 
 
 Seeing that such a beginning might possibly lead 
 to more serious things than she had anticipated, she 
 sought her mind for a means of diverting its course, 
 but she found herself merely with the question, 
 " What do you mean ? " upon her lips. 
 
 " Why," he answered, " I mean this is the first 
 time in my whole life that I have had a chance to 
 think. Really think, I mean, about big things; 
 about ambition, and how to make myself more than 
 I am. I used to believe," he went on, twisting a 
 ribbon of tappa cloth between his strong fingers, 
 " that when I could walk the deck of my own liner 
 with gold lace to my elbows, and sit at table with 
 the best looking women, and patronize passengers 
 with silly compliments, that then I should be at 
 the top of all my hopes. I used to think of that 
 through the nights when I was watching the stars 
 from the bridge of a dirty tramp, and I used to think 
 it when I saw some big P. & O. boat pushing her 
 nose into the canal at Port Said. And I thought 
 that I was on the way to just that when they prom- 
 ised me the chief's berth on the old Marquesas that 
 lies out there, but now " 
 
 " Now ? " she echoed as he paused. 
 
 " Why, now my ambition is so much bigger than
 
 218 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 that, that it seems almost too far away ever to 
 reach." 
 
 He stopped and sat silent a long time, and she 
 did not ask him what his ambition was. 
 
 " Tell me, won't you," she said at last, " of some 
 of the people you have had for friends. You must 
 have met and known a great many in your life." 
 
 " Friends? " he questioned. " I don't know that 
 I have had many friends. There was an engineer, 
 once, of a cargo boat I was mate in, that I thought 
 was a friend. We shared a cabin together for 
 nearly the whole of a voyage to Australia and back. 
 He was a Scotchman and I thought him one of the 
 best. I would have trusted my life to him any- 
 where, but on our run home we touched at San 
 Francisco and got to seeing the town a little. I 
 guess it was a gay night, but the last I remembered 
 was trying to fight off a deadly sleeping-drug as I 
 felt my ' friend's ' red, bristly beard against my 
 face as he leaned over and went through my pockets. 
 When I came to again the ship had sailed, and I was 
 left on the Barbary Coast with just the clothes I 
 stood in. That was one friendship!" 
 
 " Why," he asked, suddenly turning to her, " why 
 is it that you want me to talk about myself? It is 
 mostly a story of low adventures that you should 
 not wish to hear. Suppose I told it all; all the 
 things I can remember. About the carousals in
 
 IN THE BONDS OF SERVICE 219 
 
 ports with men not fit for you even to think of, and 
 women women that a girl like you ought not to 
 more than guess at. What good would it do you 
 to hear about them? There is nothing about you 
 that has anything in common with that sort of life. 
 Why, that, all of that, is what I want to put behind. 
 I've been as wild as any, I suppose. I knew no 
 better. Young, I was, and full of spirits and dare- 
 deviltry, and in those old days if I did what I am 
 ashamed to speak of now, I confess it and I want 
 only to forget." 
 
 " Why ! " he cried, facing her and leaning for- 
 ward in his earnestness, " you are the only good 
 woman I have ever known. Think of that! The 
 only one in a lifetime, and it seems like a sort of 
 dream, even now, that I should know you as I do; 
 one of the women I have always looked up at from 
 way down below, and wondered what they were like. 
 I can't tell you what it's meant to me! Just being 
 with you and hearing you and seeing you! And 
 you asked me to call you by your name. That was 
 the sweetest moment of all. I wonder if you know 
 that." 
 
 She was not looking at him now, but with her 
 eyes cast down, sat motionless, her breast rising and 
 falling, sweetly, with her quickly caught breath. 
 
 " Some day," he went on, quietly, but with a 
 deep note of gentleness in his voice, " some day,
 
 220 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 after we have left this place, and after I am able, 
 I am coming to you and ask you if all this, all 
 that we have lived through together here is to mean 
 nothing, or whether we have grown so close just 
 to be cheated at the end of whatever happiness there 
 is in the world. That is my great ambition." 
 
 She tried to speak, tried to meet his look, sought 
 to form in her mind some word for him. If he 
 had only come to her and taken her in his arms she 
 would have known an answer. 
 
 After a little while of patient waiting he rose, 
 slowly, and went out into the rain. The moment 
 was over and he was gone. Perhaps it would never 
 come again.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE HUSK OF CONVENTION 
 
 To Eleanor Charming a wonderful thing had hap- 
 pened. At the moment when the shaft sped from 
 her hand to take the life of a wild beast that was 
 threatening her mate, the thin husk of convention 
 had been rent asunder and had fallen from her like 
 an old and outworn garment. From its chrysalis 
 she had stepped, like Parwati from the snowy moun- 
 tain, a new being, warm-blooded, quickened in every 
 pulse, brimming with young life and love. She had 
 not realized then, she did not realize now, that 
 from that moment, when she stood fighting for the 
 life of this man, she was his, body and soul, pledged 
 to him eternally in the high bonds of love and serv- 
 ice, plighted there under the waving trees and the 
 sunlit sky, with a troth never to be broken while 
 she lived. 
 
 Of her formal engagement to marry she had not 
 even thought, but it occurred to her now, as she 
 sat looking with bright, wet eyes after the man she 
 loved. He had said " after we have left this place," 
 but he did not know. Had it been fair td leave him 
 
 221
 
 222 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 in ignorance of this promise? Would he have ven- 
 tured his words to her, as he had to-day, if he had 
 known? Should she tell him now, as her answer, 
 and let this misty far-flown obligation stand be- 
 tween them with its meaningless barrier? She 
 could think of no man of her acquaintance who 
 would let it stand. Would he ? 
 
 Her soul was whipped by the flagellations of 
 her mind, as the thought came that it might be 
 months, perhaps even years, before relief appeared, 
 and the prospect of waiting endlessly for the love 
 that was by right hers, was unbearable in her sud- 
 den realization of this elemental passion. Why had 
 he not caught her in his arms and taken her, whether 
 she would or no? She was almost angry at his 
 patience as she heard him chopping on the beach be- 
 low. How should she greet him again, with the 
 knowledge of both their loves upon her heart? 
 
 But the mood passed, and as the rain ceased she 
 was able, with almost her old cheery smile, to go to 
 him when he called her to see a school of baby 
 bonitos disporting themselves off shore. 
 
 Starbuck, after his confession, had watched the 
 downward glance of the woman he loved, waiting 
 for some outward sign of what his words had 
 meant, but unschooled in true love's attitudes, he 
 had seen nothing. Her silence told him that she 
 was not ready to answer, and that he must go on
 
 THE HUSK OF CONVENTION 223 
 
 as he had planned to do, patiently, with her honour 
 lying between them until he should have the right 
 to woo and win her, if he could, before all the world. 
 
 With a new found earnestness of desire to find a 
 means of leaving the island, Starbuck now turned 
 the most of his attention to the building of a boat. 
 With the iron of the dinghy in ample supply, he 
 was able to turn out a far better collection of tools 
 than he had before possessed, and with these, and 
 his sailor's knowledge, plus a certain native ingenu- 
 ity, he laboured for days at a time, the fabric grow- 
 ing slowly under his hands, as each part was fash- 
 ioned with painstaking care. The laying of the 
 keel, the moulding of the frame, the planking and 
 bracing of the new boat was watched with jealous 
 eyes by Eleanor, who now added to her terror of the 
 sea, the fear which grew into an obsession, that if 
 they left the island by this means one of two things 
 would surely happen. Either they would be lost in 
 the sea, or, being spared, would lose each other in 
 the ocean of the world of men. 
 
 He noticed her aversion to the now nearly com- 
 pleted craft, and wondered at it, never fathoming 
 the real reason, but laying it always to her horror 
 of the sea, caught, no doubt, as she had said, during 
 her days in the open boat, following the wreck. 
 These fears, indeed, she openly expressed, and 
 though he laughed at them, it was always with a
 
 224 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 feeling of uneasiness lest at the last she should 
 utterly refuse to embark. He now redoubled his 
 watchfulness, often climbing to the volcano's summit 
 to scan the horizon for the glimmer of a sail. Once, 
 he thought he saw the topsails of a ship, but the 
 vision went out before his eyes like the fading of a 
 dream, and he kept it to himself. 
 
 The days and weeks passed swiftly, and it was 
 time again for the changing of the monsoon to the 
 northeast. Unsettled weather prevailed, with fierce 
 gales that swept the island with their blasts, up- 
 rooting trees and piling them like jackstraws, up 
 and down the beach. Starbuck saw that he would 
 have to build a more substantial habitation to with- 
 stand the wind, and set about it at once. With 
 stones as large as he could carry, he built a low 
 platform, and on this anchored the house that was to 
 be hers. It was a larger structure, better built in 
 every way than the first, and once installed, she felt 
 happier than she had for weeks. Its air of per- 
 manency seemed to put off, at least for a time, the 
 spectre of the sea, and thus lifted a heavy weight 
 from her mind. Starbuck built himself a smaller 
 lodge, nearer the other than the first had been, and 
 there took up his quarters with some satisfaction. 
 The boat was now finished and he only awaited 
 fine weather for her trial. He spoke with enthusi- 
 asm of her lines and her trimness, but sympathy
 
 THE HUSK OF CONVENTION 225 
 
 was lacking in Eleanor's response, and he dropped 
 the subject, more or less puzzled. 
 
 The first day that the northeast monsoon seemed 
 really to have settled itself, Starbuck appointed as 
 the day for his trial voyage, which was to be around 
 the island, but as he was making his preparations 
 Eleanor came to him and begged him to climb after 
 a particularly fine bunch of green cocoanuts on a 
 palm that grew at a little distance on the edge of the 
 beach. 
 
 He easily consented and she brought him his 
 climbing gear, which consisted of a strip of sennit 
 a foot long and about two inches in width, looped 
 at each end to admit his feet. With his arms about 
 the trunk, and the strap pressed against the rough 
 bark, he could make his way rapidly to the top, 
 " exactly like a monkey on a stick," so the girl 
 criticized the performance. 
 
 Starbuck examined the strap she brought him and 
 saw that it was worn in one place, but considering 
 it good for at least one more climb, he adjusted it 
 and began the ascent. The palm, perhaps seventy 
 feet tall, was easily negotiated, for like most of the 
 trees along the beach, it leaned from the force of the 
 wind, so that the climber was aided greatly by the 
 slant. Starbuck threw down the green husks, one 
 after another, and began to descend. 
 
 He half slid down the trunk, until, when about
 
 226 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 twenty feet above the ground, to her horror, the girl 
 saw the strap break, and the man lose his careless 
 hold. Straight down, he fell, his hands clutching 
 wildly at the tree. He struck almost at its foot and 
 his head came in sharp contact with a stone. He 
 lay very still. 
 
 Rushing to him, Eleanor lifted his head, to find 
 an ugly wound in the scalp over the ear from which 
 the blood was oozing. Frightened, she spoke to 
 him, and when he did not move she called louder, 
 her lips close to his face. 
 
 " Speak to me," she cried, " John, oh, my heart's 
 dearest, can't you speak? Can't you hear? " 
 
 Her loosened hair fell across his face as she 
 leaned over and took his head in her hands, calling 
 him by name. He did not move or answer, and 
 frightened, almost despairing, she clung to him, her 
 breath coming in quickening sobs. She bent lower 
 and kissed him again and again, on the lips, as she 
 strove to bring him back to her. Finally, rushing 
 to the beach she brought water in a fold of her skirt 
 and dashed it in his face, and then, bending down, 
 lifted his head again in her arms. Slowly his eyes 
 opened, unseeing at first until his brain cleared from 
 its mist, and then he spoke faintly. 
 
 "What is it?" he asked. "I fell. Are you 
 hurt? Did I strike you? " 
 
 " No, no, dear, I'm here, safe, but you are hurt
 
 THE HUSK OF CONVENTION 227 
 
 and bleeding. You struck your head on a stone and 
 it's badly cut. We must get back and stop the blood. 
 Do you think you can get up ? " she asked, as he 
 made no attempt to regain his feet. 
 
 " We'll see," he answered, and raised his head. 
 
 As he attempted to lift his legs, the left one 
 dragged, and a twisted foot fell over limply. 
 
 " It's broken," he said, simply, pointing at it. 
 
 For the first time Eleanor noticed that something 
 was wrong. She quickly examined the leg, fright- 
 ened at its appearance and well-nigh helpless in this 
 new emergency. Starbuck, though beginning to 
 suffer acutely, was quite calm, and regarded the 
 fracture apparently more in the light of an incon- 
 venience than a personal injury. 
 
 He reached down and stripped up the leg of his 
 ragged trousers, examining the flesh. It was un- 
 broken, thereby immensely lessening the danger, for 
 had the fracture been compound he would indeed 
 have been in hard case. 
 
 " It's all right, don't you worry, but you must 
 help me a little. Never mind my head," he said, as 
 she would have wiped away the trickling blood, 
 " that can wait. It's this leg that needs fixing up. 
 Let's see. Both bones, probably." 
 
 He could feel the ends of the larger bone where 
 they had slid by under the skin, and made himself 
 reasonably sure that there were no splinters to take
 
 228 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 care of. Much relieved, he leaned back on the sand, 
 and lying at full length, reached behind his head 
 for the projecting root of a tree. 
 
 " Now," he directed, " take hold of the foot by 
 the heel and toe and pull it straight. You'll have to 
 pull hard, as hard as you can. Don't be afraid of 
 hurting me. That can't be helped." 
 
 The girl, supposing no such force was necessary, 
 was drawing gently on the foot, but now, at his 
 command, she braced herself and pulled with all her 
 weight. She could hear the grating of the ends of 
 the bone as they were painfully dragged back into 
 position, and she suffered nearly as much as he at 
 the agony she knew she must be causing him. 
 
 " Be sure," he cautioned, " to hold the foot up 
 straight. You can tell it's right when it points 
 directly up and lies in a straight line with my knee 
 and my hip. Got it?" he inquired, as she at last 
 slackened the pressure. 
 
 "I I think so," she said, out of breath with 
 effort and emotion. 
 
 " All right, now lay the leg down carefully and 
 brace the foot up so it won't flop again, and we'll 
 see what there is for splints." 
 
 He sat up with an effort to hold the fracture in 
 place with his hands while Eleanor left him. 
 
 " How would this do? " she asked, picking up the 
 long slender frond of a palm leaf.
 
 THE HUSK OF CONVENTION 229 
 
 " Just the thing," he answered. " You couldn't 
 have found anything better in a week. Take my 
 knife and trim it down, and then find another just 
 like it. That's it. But we must have something 
 soft for a cushion." 
 
 " Would some tappa cloth do ? " anxiously in- 
 quired the girl. 
 
 " Fine," he grinned, though the pain was bad. 
 " We'll have this done in no time. You might get 
 some sennit to tie it around with." 
 
 She dashed off up the beach to the camp, which 
 lay only a hundred yards away, and was back in a 
 flash with the needed cloth. Wrapping it in many 
 folds about the leg, under his direction she laid on 
 each side, the strong, stiff ribs of the leaves and 
 began to wrap the whole, not with the coarse fibre, 
 but with strips of white cotton cloth. 
 
 " Another sheet ? " he asked. 
 
 She nodded and kept on with her bandaging, 
 finally tying the ends around as neat-looking a piece 
 of nurse's work as a professional could have turned 
 out. 
 
 " That's fine. You're a wonderful girl," said 
 Starbuck as he again got his back against the tree 
 trunk. " Now," he continued, " you must find me 
 something for a crutch and I'll hobble back to my 
 little home." 
 
 Finding nothing that suited her purpose, she took
 
 230 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 the axe and went deeper into the undergrowth, 
 where he presently heard her chopping. 
 
 " Don't do that ! " he cried out sharply. " Don't 
 use that axe! You'll cut yourself." 
 
 But she did not heed and was soon back with two 
 crotched sticks of hibiscus wood, which she pro- 
 ceeded to measure under his armpits, cutting them 
 off with awkward strokes that brought forth a new 
 protest from the helpless man. 
 
 " I'd rather roll back," he exclaimed, as she 
 finished without mishap, " than have you cut your- 
 self with that." 
 
 " I'm not so sure that you ought to be moved," 
 she said with a professional cant of her head and a 
 reflective look at the white bandage. " People with 
 broken legs should lie very still, I've heard, or some- 
 thing horrible happens and they limp for the rest of 
 their lives." 
 
 " Hoh," he scorned, " that's well enough for civ- 
 ilized folks, but nothing like that ever happens to 
 savages like us. Why, I've seen some surgery in 
 these islands that would make a civilized doctor 
 stare. Once, when one of those Marquesas Kana- 
 kas broke a leg in two places, I saw their head 
 wizard chop off the ends of the bone and whittle a 
 hollow stick of wood to fit, and tie it in. And that 
 fellow was walking about as good as new inside of 
 six weeks. It's a fact," he asserted, as she waved
 
 THE HUSK OF CONVENTION] 231 
 
 an incredulous hand, " and, more than that, down 
 there, when one of them gets a broken skull from 
 a club on the head, they trephine him with a piece of 
 polished cocoanut shell." 
 
 He looked so solemn as he said it that she burst 
 out laughing, and he took advantage of the diver- 
 sion to seize his crutches and essay to rise. It was a 
 painful effort, but with the girl's help he managed 
 to get on his good foot and hobble slowly the short 
 distance that seemed to him endless. She insisted 
 that he should take up his quarters in her own hut, 
 and, sick with the pain, he consented without argu- 
 ment. She deftly arranged the grass mats for his 
 comfort, and with the injured limb on a pillow cov- 
 ered with tappa cloth and rilled with the soft cocoa- 
 nut fibre, he closed his eyes and dropped into a doze. 
 With more of the torn sheet she made a bandage for 
 the cut head, though she had no dressing except 
 water, which she sterilized by boiling. When he 
 awoke a little later he found her by his side, gently 
 fanning him. She looked down and smiled. 
 
 "Do you want anything?" she asked. 
 
 For answer he reached out and took her hand. 
 
 " You're pretty good to me," he said.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE GIVING AND THE TAKING 
 
 As the day drew to a close, Starbuck became rest- 
 less and feverish. The pain of his leg became 
 greater and the wound in his head troubled him. 
 Eleanor never left his side except to bring him 
 cool water from the trough outside the door, or to 
 attend to her cookery. When the darkness came, 
 she lighted a little shell lamp he had made for her, 
 which burned with a clearer flame than the old 
 candlenuts, and sat beside him, mothering him and 
 bathing his hot head with cool wet cloths. He 
 slept fitfully, waking sometimes with a start, and 
 calling her name. She dared not doze lest in his 
 restlessness he disturb the setting of his leg, and 
 the night passed slowly. 
 
 As the small hours grew, he fell into a deeper 
 sleep, and she was able to catch a few moments' 
 rest, holding his hand, that any motion might 
 awaken her. 
 
 In the morning his fever seemed decreased and he 
 was able to take a little of the poi that she had 
 made. Making him promise to be still, she went 
 
 232
 
 THE GIVING AND THE TAKING 233 
 
 out to gather fresh taros and to bathe in the stream. 
 The clean morning air with its hint of crispness, 
 for it was November, gave her a sort of fierce joy 
 at being alive, and as she came from the water she 
 raised her hands above her head and stretched them 
 out with a movement that embraced all the world, 
 for though she knew that the man she loved was 
 suffering, she could not conceal from herself the 
 consciousness that now he was hers, to be cherished 
 back to health and strength by her own tender care, 
 and made at last to know that she had given herself 
 to him. 
 
 As she stood in the bright shaft of sunshine that 
 played through the gently waving treetops, looking 
 out through the screen of greenery, upon the gleam- 
 ing, shimmering sea, and felt the balm of the light 
 airs play over the surface of her body, the new-born 
 love stirred in her soul. A feeling of exultation 
 seized her that started the blood from her heart, 
 sending out its quick glow in pulsing waves, that 
 turned roseate her cheeks, her neck, her breast, with 
 its vital, thrilling flow. With a gesture, she threw 
 to the winds the restraint of generations, flinging 
 off the icy garments of her caste like a torn robe, 
 whose folds no longer covered but only clung in 
 hampering shreds, and stood forth a natural woman, 
 free of all doubt, quickened by the knowledge of the 
 passion of womanhood, her whole nature respond-
 
 234 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 ing in glorious attune with the full, vibrant chord 
 that love had struck. 
 
 It was a renaissance, complete and perfect, con- 
 ceived in the immaculateness of a maiden's heart, 
 brought to fruition in the simple labour of unselfish 
 toil and service, welcomed, accepted and assumed, 
 proudly, in the broad light of day. 
 
 Straight, fearless, beautiful she stood, shrouded 
 only in the gleaming lengths of her hair that flowed 
 down half her body's length in a sun-shot skein of 
 gold. The sweet, long line of her throat and neck, 
 half hidden in shining waves, the firm, snowy globes 
 of her breasts, the cool, rounded grace of her 
 arms, and the strong sun-browned limbs, delicate, 
 lithe, swelling into full curves of beauty, might have 
 been those of an Aphrodite emerging from her rose 
 lined shell. As she glanced down she noted for the 
 first time her body's wondrous transformation from 
 the angular slimness of her former self. The long 
 sweeping curves and the generous amplitude of 
 rouiided outline gave her a pleasure in their be- 
 holding that she had never sought before, and the 
 sense of health and vital strength, both of body and 
 mind, that came flooding over her, caused her pulses 
 to bound anew with the hot, leaping. springs of life 
 within her. 
 
 What mattered it that she was here, cut off from 
 the ties of family and friends ; what mattered it that
 
 THE GIVING AND THE TAKING 235 
 
 she was alone in the midst of the sea, without the 
 pale of all social law, living, frankly at hazard, in 
 the growing intimacy of this primordial companion- 
 ship; what mattered it if they never went from this 
 place, but were left to themselves to live and love 
 and at the last die, to be buried and mourned by the 
 children of their union? Escape was forgotten, and 
 as she looked back over the recent weeks, she real- 
 ized it had been a thing but dimly considered in her 
 heart of hearts. What mattered anything in the 
 world so long as she possessed her love in peace and 
 happiness ? 
 
 The exaltation of her mood slowly passed, and in 
 its place burned a low full flame, that overspread 
 her entire being with its genial warmth and 
 light. 
 
 She dressed quickly and returned to the lodge, to^ 
 find Starbuck sitting up, his head sunk between his 
 shoulders, his face pinched and drawn with suffer- 
 ing. 
 
 " What is it? " she cried in alarm, running to him 
 and pressing him back on his pillow. 
 
 " I don't know," he answered thickly, moving his 
 head from side to side, " I never felt like this be- 
 fore." 
 
 " It's the fever of your wound and your broken 
 bone," she said, gently passing a light, cool hand, 
 over his forehead. " You must try to be quiet.
 
 236 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 You know you promised, and I can't leave you if 
 you break your word." 
 
 " I don't want you to leave me," he muttered, 
 " ever." 
 
 " But I must sometimes," she said, as she 
 straightened his pillow. " There is the fire to attend 
 to and many things to be done." 
 
 " And I have to lie here like a great hulking baby 
 and watch you work. I don't believe you even slept 
 last night, though you do look so fresh this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 " Oh, yes," she replied, as she brought a bowl of 
 water to bathe his face and redress his wounded 
 head. " I slept," and to put an end to his talk, she 
 gave him a bowl of poi to sip. 
 
 The drink was cooling and grateful to his parched 
 throat and hot lips, and for a while he lay back and 
 watched her, as she took from a pile a piece of snow 
 white tappa and began to shape and stitch a gar- 
 ment. 
 
 "What is that you are making?" he asked, as 
 he noticed her glance up from time to time as if 
 measuring him with her eye. 
 
 " Something to make you more comfortable, I 
 hope," she said, as she held up the cloth, which was 
 rapidly taking shape. " You mustn't lie there toss- 
 ing in your clothes. They're so hot and bunchy. 
 You will feel better in this."
 
 THE GIVING AND THE TAKING 237 
 
 And as she worked, she talked to him quietly, as 
 a mother might to a child, turning his hot pillow 
 and moistening his hair, brushing it away from his 
 face. 
 
 Though he protested at the cutting of one trouser 
 leg that would not slip over the splints, he admitted 
 the new comfort the cool fabric brought him, and 
 he wondered at her as she was accomplishing his 
 donning of her handiwork. It was an experience 
 that he had not had since childhood ; the soft touch 
 of a modest woman's gentle hand, doing for him 
 its utmost service. He blessed her in his heart for 
 her mere presence at his side, and he thought grave 
 thoughts that always led to the day when, God will- 
 ing, he might speak to her the words that lay next 
 his heart. 
 
 Where, he wondered, was the prudish, fearsome, 
 artificial girl who had shrunk from him as they 
 fought the great waves of the Pacific? Where was 
 she whom he had seen on board the Marquesas, 
 aloof even from her fellow travellers, the over-plus 
 of refinement, with dainty chin lifted to ignore or 
 to disdain the fellowship of all but the elect of 
 human kind? But these thoughts were too soon 
 pushed aside in the cloudy murk of suffering which 
 he could not understand. He had been hurt before 
 and had not fallen into the seeming helplessness that 
 now overpowered him, and he wondered vaguely if
 
 238 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 her sympathetic presence might be a reason for his 
 weakness. 
 
 As the day passed, Eleanor noticed his increasing 
 discomfort, which she attributed to the rising fever 
 that came towards evening. He called constantly 
 for water, and muttered, now and then, a strange 
 desire to go down to the sea. With a cool cloth 
 she bathed his body at intervals, and noticed the re- 
 lief that came to him. At times he was delirious and 
 babbled snatches from the memories of former days 
 that shocked her deeply, but she understood, and felt 
 only pity for the man who had come to her from the 
 stormy loneliness of a sailor's wild life, and whom, 
 despite it all, she had found worthy in her heart. 
 
 His delirium grew, and sometimes he would try 
 to spring up, shouting, till all her strength seemed 
 powerless against him. But she managed, nearly 
 always, by close watching, to prevent the coming 
 outbreaks, and at such times, with her face close to 
 his, caressing him with her hands and with her voice, 
 she bore him back again. Sometimes, after a period 
 of wildness, he had an interval of calm, when reason 
 returned briefly, and once he found her with her 
 head against his breast and her arms about him, 
 sobbing softly and praying God to keep him safe. 
 
 For two days and nights he lay tossing in his 
 fever and on the third morning he awoke, clear- 
 brained and cool, to find her lying beside him, sleep-
 
 THE GIVING AND THE TAKING 239 
 
 ing the sleep of pure exhaustion. For hours, i 
 seemed, he lay there, not daring to stir for fear she 
 would wake, thinking of his love for her and of her 
 brave sweetness and the courage that had helped 
 her fight the battle which was at last won. He knew 
 that he had been ill, but how ill, or how long he had 
 lain there, he could not tell. His weakness sur- 
 prised and discomfited him greatly, and that he had 
 been unconscious, raving perhaps, added to his un- 
 easiness of mind. 
 
 All that she had done in his service he could not 
 know, but he at least understood that it must have 
 been that for which he could never thank her. As 
 he looked at her now, lying, with her rounded arm 
 beneath her cheek, her breath coming sweetly from 
 between her parted lips, her wondrous hair out- 
 spread, and her soft bosom gently rising and falling, 
 a great wave of love overwhelmed his whole being, 
 and his eyes filled in spite of him, as he took a long, 
 bright silken tress between his hands and laid it 
 against his lips. 
 
 The action, gentle as it was, seemed to disturb 
 her, and she awoke, sitting up with a start and look- 
 ing at him. He smiled at her, and as she hastily 
 laid her hand on his forehead she found it moist 
 and cool. A great joy broke over her as she realized 
 that the fever was gone and that he would be well 
 again.
 
 240 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 " Oh, my dear, my dear," she cried, bending over 
 him and laying her lips to his brow, " thank God 
 you have come back to me again ! " 
 
 In her joy and relief, the last vestige of repression 
 was thrown aside, and the great springs of warm, 
 feminine, human love were undammed, flowing in 
 their course, natural, unhampered, divine. There 
 was no pretence left in her. She crooned above the 
 man, whispering to him the affection of her heart 
 that was wellnigh to bursting with its long pent 
 flood. And he, strangely unsurprised, returned to 
 her in kind the outpourings of a love that burst 
 asunder the forgotten shackles of resolution, and 
 set aflame the smouldering fire in his soul. 
 
 They were two primal beings, delivered from the 
 bonds of the world's conventions, freed in the gar- 
 den of their dreams, trusting utterly in each other, 
 giving and receiving, their souls diffusing and in- 
 termingling until they became as one, bound about 
 and sealed in a perfect integument of love. 
 
 With her head upon his arm she lay long and hap- 
 pily, caring only that he was hers, thinking of noth- 
 ing save of the joy of possession, and the strange, 
 wild sense of life that had opened to her like the 
 petals of a great flower until she could look into its 
 heart and see there the very essence of eternity. 
 
 But, after a time, the earth returned with its call 
 of duty, and she remembered that her mate was still
 
 THE GIVING AND THE TAKING 241 
 
 the helpless child of infirmity. Though he persisted 
 that, with the aid of his crutches, he was able to be 
 about, she was inflexible in her determination that 
 he remain as he was, for she did not intend to so 
 soon lose the joy that her service brought to her. 
 The flowers, the trees and even the sea took on new 
 and joyous colours as she came and went, busy over 
 her household labours. Everything she did seemed 
 to take to itself a new meaning and significance, 
 and her heart, singing its song of rapture, went out 
 to all the world, embracing it all within a boundless 
 sympathy. 
 
 After a few days of epforced quiet, however, 
 Starbuck's impatience became apparent. His fever 
 did not return and he quickly gathered his strength. 
 She laughed, at first, at his restlessness, glorying at 
 the same time in his meek obedience to her com- 
 mands, but soon she found that he was concealing, 
 with a lover's patience, a very real irksomeness at 
 his captivity, and at last she permitted him to be 
 clothed, not in his ragged garments, but in a cos- 
 tume of her own designing and manufacture, the 
 counterpart of which she had fashioned for herself. 
 
 It consisted simply of a tunic of tappa, bleached to 
 a dazzling whiteness in the sun, extending from 
 shoulder to knee and bound about the middle with a 
 girdle. To this was added a close undergarment of 
 the simplest character, which it concealed. Her
 
 242 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 own tunic fell a little lower than his, and was capa- 
 ble of being lengthened or shortened as occasion de-r 
 manded, by pulling its folds through the girdle, 
 which crossed between the breasts and cinctured 
 the waist. The effect was most becoming, and as 
 she first appeared he was astounded at the picture 
 of simple beauty that she made. Her hair was 
 caught in a great knot low on her neck and bound 
 with fillets of white, and the rosy flesh of her arms 
 glowed in sculptured perfection. Nor was she less 
 pleased than he, for she knew her costume's becom- 
 ingness, though her only mirror was a still pool of 
 the stream, which, in its brown reflection, told her 
 that she had done well. 
 
 Untrammelled, lithe-limbed, with the last con- 
 fining artifices of civilization cast aside, physically 
 as well as mentally, she moved before his eyes like 
 a free spirit of youth and gladness. His joy during 
 his period of inactivity was to watch her constantly, 
 in admiration and wonder at the fate that had cast 
 into his life a thing so sublime and so unmarred as 
 his love for this woman. Time after time he sought 
 to realize it, failing, except as now and then there 
 was given to him an all too fleeting glimpse into the 
 future, gone before he could grasp its meaning. 
 There was no room in his being for anything except 
 the riot of the joy of living.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 TREASURE 
 
 THE long, bright days came and went, flying all 
 too swiftly for both of the lovers, who, preoccupied 
 with each other and the wonder of their existence, 
 might have let ship after ship cross their line of 
 vision without seeing, almost without caring. Star- 
 buck was able to get about, clumsily, but well 
 enough to relieve Eleanor of many of her necessary 
 labours. Somewhat frequent examination of the leg 
 showed that the bones were knitting well, and in six 
 weeks he was able to bear his weight upon 'it. The 
 atrophied muscles soon swelled to their former 
 strength, the limb gained lost flexibility, and, at 
 last, nothing remained to mark the injury. The 
 wounded head was long since well. 
 
 With the return of his ability to work, Starbuck 
 now began to turn his time to some account. The 
 new boat, which had been launched as soon as he 
 was fit to get about, proved an able craft under sail, 
 and the pair had passed many long hours on the 
 quiet waters inside the reef. On their almost daily 
 
 243
 
 244 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 voyages Starbuck had studied closely the bottom, 
 which was nearly everywhere visible through the 
 clear water. Without mentioning his hopes he had 
 marked several dark patches, which he believed 
 were pearl oyster beds, and as he grew in strength, 
 he planned how these might be made to yield up 
 their hidden treasures. 
 
 At last he spoke to her of his idea, and assuring 
 her that he was himself again, proposed diving for 
 the shells. Her protest at this was vigorous and 
 decisive. Not for all the pearls of the Pacific would 
 she allow him to venture again into the depths, 
 where she had once beheld the monster that had so 
 nearly robbed her of him; and so Starbuck was 
 forced to take some other way. 
 
 Of the iron from the dinghy, which had so well 
 served their needs both on land and sea, he made a 
 kind of dredge, which, though far less effective than 
 one professional native diver would have been, 
 served to bring the shells to the surface. It was 
 heavy, cumbersome and hard to handle, but it was 
 the only means at hand, and daily it was put to use. 
 The best of the shell beds were on the southeasterly 
 end of the island, where the reef was farthest dis- 
 tant from the shore, and where the deepening of the 
 water was much more gradual. At first they found 
 but little of value, but as they persevered, working 
 every fine day, they met better success, and by the
 
 TREASURE 245 
 
 time of the next change of the monsoon, found 
 themselves in possession of more than a hundred 
 pearls, of all sizes and degrees of perfection in form 
 and colour. 
 
 Besides these there was a great pile of shell, 
 which in itself was approximate payment for their 
 labours. Eleanor, familiar with the prices of gems, 
 set on them what seemed to him an enormous value, 
 but as a conservative estimate, with an allowance 
 for faulty ones, there was still left a goodly sum, 
 which would serve them for some time, should fate 
 will that they should ever reach a market. 
 
 But Starbuck was not satisfied, and while she, 
 tired of the monotony of dredging, remained on 
 shore, busy with her household cares, he kept at his 
 toil, and finding still richer beds, added gem after 
 gem to the collection. Once he found a pearl of 
 extraordinary size, perfect in shape and colour, and 
 this he carefully put away, saying nothing of it to 
 her. 
 
 They had now been a year on the island, so she 
 proclaimed one morning after a look at her calendar, 
 which was the time-honoured expedient of the 
 notched stick. Harmony reigned over them in their 
 simple existence and their happiness. Nothing oc- 
 curred to mar their peace, and though the red and 
 yellow banner on the hilltop had long since suc- 
 cumbed to the weather, and the white streamer of
 
 246 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 tappa cloth, which had replaced it, was too frail to 
 withstand the breeze for any length of time, they 
 were unworried and careless of rescue. 
 
 To Starbuck's eye Eleanor had undergone a 
 marvellous metamorphosis, physically as well as 
 mentally. From the purely conventional type of the 
 almost provincial Boston society young woman, she 
 had grown in mental calibre to the stature of an 
 individual. Her crown of love had matured in her 
 a personality, pure as the morning, loving, tender, 
 with a depth of womanly character that broadened 
 and blossomed in the great flower of her heart, send- 
 ing out its perfume to him, mellowing, yet strength- 
 ening his whole nature in its gentle diffusion. And 
 so, as if keeping pace with her innermost being, he 
 saw that her body too had taken on a new perfec- 
 tion of its own. He marvelled at the clearness of 
 her eyes, at the redness of her lips, at the strength 
 and grace of her whole figure. 
 
 He noted that her breasts swelled fuller as they 
 rose to meet the sweet column of her rounded 
 throat, and that her shoulders and her arms were 
 firm and brown under a skin like satin. Her hair, 
 waving where it sprang strongly from her brow 
 and neck, shone in an aureole of bright filaments, 
 touched to gold by the sun, or swept from its fasten- 
 ings by the breeze into a gossamer cloud that 
 showered its fragrance wantonly abroad. Her
 
 TREASURE 247 
 
 whole personality radiated a sense of health and 
 loveliness that held him ever in a spell of wonder 
 and delight. 
 
 Starbuck, too, was a far different man from the 
 second officer of the Marquesas, who, a year before, 
 had struggled panting to the beach from a shouting 
 turmoil of wind and sea, his hand wrapped in the 
 streaming hair of a half-drowned girl. Partly from 
 necessity of expanding his resources in action, and 
 partly from his association with Eleanor, who, both 
 consciously and unconsciously, had been his domi- 
 nating influence, he had developed a vigour and 
 breadth of thought that raised his manhood high 
 above its former plane. 
 
 His physique, well cast by nature, had lost en- 
 tirely the slight tendency toward heaviness that had 
 been gained in the easy life of a watch officer, and 
 with daily physical toil had regained its youthful 
 outline, which, combined with the strength of full 
 manhood, made him a figure of true masculine 
 beauty. His curling hair, of a tawny yellow, crisped 
 by the sun, his muscles, rippling under the bronze 
 of his skin, and the strong alertness of his body, 
 clothed in its tunic of white, showed a picture such 
 as might have brought the admiring glances of the 
 thronging women of ancient Olympia. Thanks to 
 the Frenchman's razor, he had been able to keep 
 his cheeks and lips free of beard, and the clean
 
 248 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 sweep of jaw and chin, the broad brow and keen 
 blue eyes fittingly crowned a perfect ensemble. 
 
 As they were returning from a lucky day at their 
 pearl fishing, not long after Starbuck's recovery, 
 he noticed a certain air of listlessness in Eleanor that 
 was quite unlike her. She had seemed less inter- 
 ested than usual in the business of the day, but it 
 had been very warm and he laid her low spirits to 
 this, dismissing the matter without thinking to 
 seek another cause. The next day, when he was 
 ready to start around the island to look for turtles, 
 she suddenly decided to stay at home. She had 
 clothing to make and mend, she said, and bade him 
 go alone. 
 
 Wondering a little, he launched the boat and beat 
 to the westward around the point. He was vaguely 
 disturbed, and as he thought more about it he re- 
 called various things she had said and done in the 
 last week, that in the light of his new anxiety seemed 
 now to have been in variance with her usual self, 
 although they had passed almost unnoticed at the 
 time. He pondered on the subject until an almost 
 unreasoning fear of illness assailed him. There was 
 no reason for any decline in health, and he told him- 
 self over and over that it was nothing. However he 
 was so distraught that he almost missed a fine hawk- 
 bill that had crawled out to sun itself on the sand, 
 arid landing, barely captured the reptile by quick
 
 TREASURE 249 
 
 manoeuvring before it slid into the water. Without 
 hunting for others he opened the shell, cleaned it, 
 and laid it carefully in the boat, to be added to the 
 already large collection they had put by. 
 
 When he reached home, Eleanor was nowhere to 
 be seen, but she appeared at the entrance of the 
 house as she heard his keel grate on the beach, and 
 came down the sand to meet him. 
 
 " Look at this," he exclaimed, trying not to show 
 that he saw anything wrong with her, though her 
 hastily ordered hair told him that she must have 
 been lying down. 
 
 He picked up the tortoise shell as he spoke, and 
 showed its great size and depth. She spoke in quiet 
 appreciation of his good luck but enthusiasm seemed 
 to him to be lacking, and he threw the shell on the 
 beach with a touch of impatience. Noting the ges- 
 ture, she stooped and turned the shell over, ex- 
 claiming with more interest at its size, and he, glad 
 to think his anxiety might be mere fancy, examined 
 it with her. As he looked at her unawares, he noted 
 for the first time a little sad wistfulness about the 
 eyes, and the merest suspicion of an almost pathetic 
 droop to the mouth, but not caring as yet to disturb 
 her with questions, he laughingly touched the huge 
 shell with his foot, and set it rocking. 
 
 " What do you think they use these things for all 
 through these islands? "
 
 250 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 " I'm sure I can't imagine. What ? " 
 
 " Why, cradles for the babies. They make the 
 best sort of cradles too ; see how they rock two 
 ways instead of one, like the dingy old thing I sup- 
 pose your family brought over in the Mayflower." 
 
 Hoping for at least a smile at his words, Star- 
 buck was amazed when Eleanor, instead of answer- 
 ing, turned a little from him and was silent, her 
 head bowed. He went to her and laid his brown 
 arm about her shoulders, pressing his face close 
 against her hair. 
 
 " What is it, little girl ? Tell me. Aren't you 
 well, or have I said something that wasn't kind to 
 you? I know you aren't yourself. I've been notic- 
 ing for a day or two. Can't you tell me? " 
 
 For all answer she turned, slowly, and buried her 
 face in the hollow of his great, bare shoulder. And 
 when he looked he saw that the tears were gently 
 flowing. 
 
 "What is it, dear? What have I done?" he 
 said, tenderly, raising her head until he could look 
 into her eyes. 
 
 And there he half read his answer. 
 
 " Oh, John, my own dear husband ! " she said. 
 
 Her arms went around his neck, and as he gath- 
 ered her to him, close in a depth of wonderful ten- 
 derness, she knew that he understood.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 SHANGHAIED 
 
 AND now, with the days, Starbuck's anxiety grew, 
 and he became filled with a wild desire to get away 
 from the island. He was surprised at the calmness 
 which Eleanor displayed, and her apparent lack of 
 concern. She had recovered her usual spirits and 
 activity, and tried in every way to shield him from 
 the thought that whatever was to come bore with 
 it aught of fear to her or of reproach for him. But 
 though Starbuck, in order to seem convinced, went 
 about his usual occupations with even more dili- 
 gence than before, she often discovered him watch- 
 ing her keenly, and knew that he was thinking of 
 the means whereby they might reach some sort of 
 civilization. He made more frequent visits to the 
 hill-top, and kept the streamer constantly flying 
 from its staff. Each morning his gaze was toward 
 the sea, and never did a day pass that he did not 
 make a circuit of the island. He was cheerful, as 
 she was, but she was aware of his constant thought, 
 and it made her the more deeply tender toward 
 him. Nothing in her life had equalled, in pure joy 
 
 251
 
 252 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 and content, those weeks of love and trust, under a 
 tender watchfulness 'that anticipated her smallest 
 desire, and fulfilled to the utmost that sacred, un- 
 recorded vow to love and to cherish. 
 
 Once he came upon her unexpectedly, to see her 
 swiftly lay away something upon which she had 
 been at work, but he did not let her know that he 
 had seen, and went on his way, deeply disturbed. 
 The idea of leaving the island in the boat, he knew, 
 was ever a source of terror to her, and this he had 
 of late almost abandoned. If he could only know 
 their geographical position, and granted it was not 
 too far out of the paths of trade, if there was 
 great need, it might be possible for him to make 
 some inhabited island alone, and return in a reason- 
 able space of time. But this plan was unthinkable 
 unless the coming months should pass without the 
 coming of a ship, and thus render something of the 
 sort imperative. To this end he attempted, even, 
 to fashion a sextant, but with his rough tools, the 
 instrument he finally finished was so inaccurate as 
 to be of little use. He thought of the wireless tele- 
 graph, but he was as ignorant of its operation as of 
 its construction, and even were the raw materials to 
 be found, he lacked the necessary knowledge for 
 their use. Try as he would, he could think of no 
 practicable way out, and so, at last, sat down to a 
 vigil of never ending watchfulness.
 
 SHANGHAIED 253 
 
 One night, after a day when anxiety had been 
 written in every line of his face, unconcealed from 
 her even in his constant effort at dissembling, she 
 heard almost a sob escape him as he lay beside her. 
 Quickly, with a sympathy that was almost motherly 
 in its gentleness, she laid her arm across his breast 
 and sought to comfort him, but he openly reproached 
 himself, bitterly blaming the selfishness of his love, 
 until, closing his lips, she bade him hush, and re- 
 fused to hear him. 
 
 It was just a year from the day showed by a 
 deep notch in her Crusoe calendar, that she recog- 
 nized with a shudder as marking the death of Au- 
 bert. They had risen early and he was preparing 
 to go to the summit with a new tappa cloth pennant. 
 As he laced the thongs of his moccasins, he said : 
 
 " I feel as if something might happen to-day. I 
 wonder why that is." 
 
 A little shocked, she turned the remark off with 
 a light reply, but all the morning she found herself 
 going back to that scene of violence on the beach. 
 She saw again the form of the man she loved, and 
 that other form, the two at grapples in a struggle 
 as of wild beasts, swaying to and fro, gasping out 
 oaths between set teeth, locked in an embrace of 
 death, as one, finally, with a great effort gained the 
 mastery, and the other rolled from off his knee, 
 limp and motionless. She saw again the heaving
 
 chest of the victor as he looked on what he had 
 done ; the great arms, that hung loosely at his sides, 
 and the swelling muscles of his torso; the skin, 
 marked with ugly red splotches, and the blood trick- 
 ling in a little stream from his fingers, as it ran 
 crimson from the wound in the shoulder, where 
 the teeth of a human animal had met. 
 
 She covered her eyes in horror at the picture of 
 it, and tried to set about her work as usual. But 
 something haunted her. His words had left fear 
 in the air and she felt a nameless dread of that 
 which she could not grasp. She wished he would 
 return. 
 
 'All at once she was aware of a crashing in the 
 undergrowth and almost immediately Starbuck burst 
 upon her, his garments in tatters, but the light of 
 great joy shining in his eyes. 
 
 "It's come!" he shouted. "Can't you see it? 
 A schooner, off there to the westward. Come," he 
 cried, catching her and dragging her down the 
 beach. " We're saved. Oh, thank God, you will be 
 safe!" 
 
 Out past the western head of the island where 
 he pointed, at last she could see the white gleam of 
 a sail, far away in the distance and headed to pass 
 several miles to leeward of the island. Even her 
 eyes shone as she shared his excitement. 
 
 " Quick," he commanded. " We must be quick.
 
 SHANGHAIED 255 
 
 They may not have seen our signal and we shall 
 have to go out to them." 
 
 He dragged the boat to the water's edge, and 
 hurriedly made it ready for launching, but when he 
 turned, expecting her to leap aboard, he found her 
 standing quite still, lost in thought. 
 
 " Come," he called, with haste in his tone. 
 " Come, we shall be too late ! " 
 
 " Wait ! " she said ; " are you going to take me 
 out to that ship, knowing nothing of the people on 
 board? There might be almost any sort of men; 
 and it might be far worse than staying here." 
 
 She looked again at the schooner, now well in 
 sight, and seemingly such a small, irresponsible 
 kind of craft, that her native intuition increased her 
 distrust. Turning her eyes from it back to him, she 
 said again : 
 
 "Think! What if that vessel should be bound 
 to some distant port ! Suppose it should be crowded 
 with islanders or the beachcombing- riff-raff that 
 infest these seas such men as you have told me 
 of! Would you feel satisfied for me to go among 
 them ? Why not go out alone and hail the ship and 
 tell its captain your story. Then he will take our 
 message for help to some port and they will send 
 trs relief. There is no hurry. We are comfortable 
 here, and happy, and if no one should come for 
 months it would make no difference. Then, besides,
 
 256 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 think of the value we have here, stored away. 
 Would you have all that fall into the hands of 
 thieves? No, John, that would not do. Don't you 
 see, dear? " 
 
 As she spoke he considered. The pearls they had 
 collected at such pains suddenly leaped into their 
 real value. From being merely baubles that had 
 amused her and him while they were being gath- 
 ered and husbanded, he now saw -them as practi- 
 cally his only resource in the world of civilization, 
 and his only means of taking proper care of her. 
 All at once this treasure grew to an importance that 
 overshadowed all else save one thing. The new 
 view sobered him, and he saw that he had been 
 thoughtless. 
 
 " Eleanor, you have more sense than I," he said ; 
 " you are right, dear. But we cannot let this chance 
 go by. I must get out there and see what they are. 
 If the schooner isn't decent for you, I will tell them 
 to send help and come ashore. While I am gone, 
 pack the pearls in a bundle of cloth and be ready." 
 
 He kissed her hurriedly, before she had time to 
 speak further, and, shoving off his boat, headed 
 straight out through the break in the reef, before 
 the wind, pointing well to the east to intercept the 
 schooner. He did not like the way she seemed to be 
 hurrying by the island, for, he thought, her people 
 must have seen his signal flag at that distance, and
 
 SHANGHAIED 257 
 
 the sense of excitement coming to him again, he 
 worked his craft to get every inch possible from 
 her. Once or twice he turned, and looked long at 
 the little figure in white upon the beach, and waved 
 his hand to it, while she, as long as he could see, 
 waved in answer with a flowering branch of jas- 
 mine. 
 
 Settling down to the chase, Starbuck held his 
 boat steady over the mounting seas, for the wind 
 was fresh and he still had a mile or more to go. 
 The schooner was holding stiffly to her course, but 
 he did not fear that she would outf oot him and pass 
 the spot where he had planned to meet her. It 
 seemed strange that the watch on deck did not sight 
 him, but he had little time to reflect on this for the 
 seas were now taking his entire attention. At last 
 he was near enough to make out men on the vessel's 
 deck, and suddenly he saw her come heading up 
 into the wind and drop a jib as her sails shook, slat- 
 ting, in the stiff breeze. In five minutes he hailed 
 her and received an invitation to come aboard. 
 Rounding to in the lee of her stern, he took a line 
 that was passed him and made his skiff fast as he 
 climbed over the taffrail. 
 
 At the wheel was a tall, lean man of about fifty, 
 with moustache and chin beard, discoloured at one 
 side by the reek of a clay pipe, that seemed riveted 
 between his teeth. His breath smelled strongly of
 
 258 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 bad gin, and he spat over the rail as Starbuck came 
 aboard. Starbuck eyed him narrowly and with 
 disfavour. Looking down the schooner's deck he 
 saw its untidy length, littered with bits of pearl 
 shell, as if a cargo had just been taken aboard and 
 the vessel had not yet been cleaned. On the star- 
 board side, amidships, a huge negro leaned, with 
 his arms on the rail, and as he turned his head to 
 look aft, Starbuck saw the red gash of a recent cut 
 across his cheek, severing the top of one ear. For- 
 ward were two other men, evidently Kanakas, but 
 they were half hidden by the foremast and he could 
 not see them plainly. 
 
 " Well, Mister, what kin we do for ye? " was the 
 question of the man at the wheel, as he looked at 
 Starbuck and his queer raiment, the upper half 
 torn to strips by his rush from the volcano's sum- 
 mit. 
 
 "Where are you bound?" asked Starbuck in 
 return. 
 
 " Bound ? Bound for Hell, I reckon, if we don't 
 get way on her out of here," he replied, with a 
 glance to the westward through the glass he car- 
 ried. 
 
 " Are you the skipper? " queried Starbuck again, 
 not liking the man's reply. 
 
 " Naw, I'm the mate. The old man's below. 
 Want to see him ? "
 
 SHANGHAIED 259 
 
 " Yes," said Starbuck. 
 
 " Flat! " bellowed the man. 
 
 The great negro slowly divorced himself from 
 the rail and came aft, slouching along the deck, his 
 great hands swinging in front of him like those of 
 a gorilla. 
 
 " Here's a gent wants to see the skipper. Take 
 him down." 
 
 The negro evinced no curiosity whatever, but 
 silently led the way through the companion and 
 down a short ladder. Without knocking he pushed 
 open a cabin door and motioned for Starbuck to 
 enter. As he stepped in, a crushing blow struck 
 him from behind and he staggered forward. Al- 
 most stunned, he fell against the edge of a bunk, 
 and turning, had barely time to dodge another 
 smashing impact from the negro's fist, which, miss- 
 ing him by a hair, brought up against the side board 
 of the berth, splitting it with a crash. Starbuck 
 gathered himself and sprang straight at the black 
 throat, clutching the oily skin in his left fist and 
 sending a smashing right against the man's slack- 
 hanging jaw. With the blow, the negro reeled 
 against the door, but recovering almost instantly, 
 he shook himself, and catching Starbuck about the 
 waist, lifted him high and sent him hurtling across 
 the small cabin to the deck. The door opened and 
 the man with the tobacco-beard stuck his head in.
 
 260 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 " Havin' trouble gittin' acquainted ? " he asked, 
 with a grin. 
 
 But the negro did not reply. He stooped to meet 
 Starbuck's bull-like rush, and with a great left fist 
 caught him just below the breast bone. Starbuck 
 dropped like a log. 
 
 "I see," nodded the other; "no trouble; no 
 trouble at all. Just clap a stopper on him till he 
 gets kind o' useter our gentle ways." 
 
 The black, with a sailor's deftness, surprising in 
 such bulk, tied Starbuck hand and foot and tossed 
 him into the lower berth to recover at his leisure, 
 and locking the door after him made his way on 
 deck, where the two Kanakas had already gotten 
 up the jib. The schooner paid off quickly and, 
 sweeping around on her heel, was off again to the 
 eastward. 
 
 It might have been one minute or thirty, so far 
 as Starbuck ever knew, that he lay there uncon- 
 scious. His first feeling, as his senses slowly shaped 
 themselves out of the blur of his brain, was one of 
 pain at the cords that bound his wrists beneath his 
 back, and he turned on one side to escape the pres- 
 sure of his body on his cramped arms. His next, 
 was a white-hot blast of rage that swept him into a 
 tremble from head to foot. Bound and trussed like 
 a fowl for the oven, he turned and writhed against 
 his bonds, straining until the thin marline cut deep
 
 SHANGHAIED 261 
 
 into his flesh. But it was of no use, and for a 1 
 while he lay still, listening to the gurgle of the 
 water under the schooner's counter as she heeled 
 to the breeze. 
 
 For what reason he had thus been shanghaied in 
 the middle of the Pacific, he did not know, unless 
 either he or his boat was needed by the skipper, 
 whom he now knew must be the man at the wheel. 
 As four made an ample crew to work the craft, 
 he decided that his boat was the reason, and remem- 
 bered that the schooner carried no skiff at her taff- 
 rail. But whatever the cause for his captivity, it 
 was useless to attempt to escape now. For all he 
 knew, he might, even at this time, be leagues away 
 from the island, and to navigate his small boat 
 through the dangers of a return voyage, without 
 food or water, even supposing he could make away 
 with it, was foolhardy to think of. He must accept 
 his present mishap in good part, and at the first 
 port or the first inhabited island that they sighted, 
 make his dash, if he -was forced to swim for it. 
 
 The cabin in which he lay reminded Starbuck of 
 his old coasting days when little more than a boy. 
 The little box of a place was just large enough to 
 hold the two bunks, one above the other, and a 
 transom locker, on which lay a heap of dirty cloth- 
 ing. His own garment, in rags before he started 
 from the shore, had been torn to shreds in the strug-
 
 262 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 gle with the giant black, and he lay practically naked 
 except for a breech cloth. Surveying, as well as he 
 could, the sides of the room, he found the bulkheads 
 bare and greasy except for a vividly coloured litho- 
 graph of a lady in full tights which was nailed to 
 the door. A few names, and what he guessed to be 
 lines of obscene verse, were scribbled beneath it. A 
 mirror that looked as if it might be of tin, was 
 fastened over the locker, and this was all. 
 
 Light filtered in through the grimy skylight, 
 which was so caked with smoke and dirt as to render 
 it almost opaque. Through it he could see nothing, 
 but hearing a step overhead, he listened in an effort 
 to catch some word that might give him a clue to 
 the vessel, her business, and the identity of his cap- 
 tors. He could hear the murmur of a low voice, but 
 the words were indistinguishable. 
 
 Seeing nothing further to occupy his observation, 
 he lay still, and his thoughts flashed back to Eleanor 
 as he had seen her, standing alone on the beach, 
 waving him a last good-bye. A last good-bye ? He 
 tore at his bonds again, wildly muttering in inco- 
 herent mouthings of rage and helplessness.
 
 ALONE 
 
 FROM the moment when Starbuck had pushed off 
 in pursuit of the schooner, Eleanor, with grave mis- 
 givings, had stood watching until she saw him reach 
 the vessel and climb aboard. Without a glass it was 
 impossible to distinguish one figure from another, 
 though her eyes, now accustomed to long distance 
 vision, were far keener than they had ever been be- 
 fore. Standing where he left her, she waited to 
 see the schooner head in toward the island, and 
 when the jib went up and the vessel paid off, her 
 heart gave a great bound of joy. But as she looked, 
 the craft's head swung pointing outward on its 
 former course. Still supposing this to be some 
 manoeuvre, made necessary by the direction of the 
 wind, she looked to see the vessel soon come about. 
 But slowly she realized that it was getting farther 
 and farther away, and it dawned in her brain, at 
 last, that it was leaving her. Scarcely able to credit 
 her senses, she watched, with muscles and nerves 
 drawn tense, eyes staring and thoughts awhirl. It 
 was true ! There could no longer be a doubt. The 
 
 263
 
 264 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 schooner, headed to the eastward, was rapidly grow- 
 ing smaller in the distance. It was some trick, she 
 thought. Perhaps the captain was in a hurry to 
 complete a voyage to some nearby island, and would 
 quickly return when his urgent mission was com- 
 pleted. But why, in that case, had Starbuck not 
 come back to her in his own boat to wait for the 
 vessel's return? 
 
 At last, when only the glimmer of the schooner's 
 sails showed in the sun above the blue expanse, she 
 uttered a wild cry and sank to her knees in the sand, 
 rocking backward and forward in the grief of deser- 
 tion, a fear born of despair and a numb sense of 
 desolation. For a long time she sat, her face buried 
 in her hands, sobbing bitterly. When she looked 
 up again, the schooner was out of sight, and she was 
 utterly alone. 
 
 Slowly, painfully, she rose to her feet and started 
 toward the lodge. As she did so she noticed a white 
 garment that she had washed, fluttering on a bush 
 beside the door. It was one of his, one that she 
 had made for him with her own hands. She me- 
 chanically felt of the cloth to see if it was dry, and 
 at its touch the overwhelming sense of the loss of 
 him, her lover, her husband, swept over her like a 
 blinding flash, leaving her as in the blackness of 
 night, stricken dumb with the direness of her 
 calamity.
 
 ALONE 265 
 
 All that day she sat near her door, with her head 
 leaning against the wall of her house, mute, tearless 
 after the first wild outburst, smitten down by the 
 intensity of her suffering. Of the harm that might 
 befall her, she did not think. It was the thought 
 that he was gone, gone after entering her life to 
 fill it to overflowing with happiness and content; 
 gone when she would have denied herself anything 
 the world had to offer to keep him ; gone when she 
 should most need his companionship and his love. 
 
 That he might have chosen to leave her was a 
 thought that neither then nor ever afterward gained 
 even a glimmer of consciousness. That he had been 
 carried away against his will, fighting fiercely until 
 overpowered and beaten down, she knew, and her 
 trust in him was never lessened by the lightest 
 shadow of a doubt. 
 
 She wondered at times what would have hap- 
 pened had she accompanied him. Would the people 
 of the vessel have taken her also, or did they, for 
 some strange reason, need only the man? She had 
 heard Starbuck tell tales of the shanghaing of sea- 
 men in many ports, and she decided that this must 
 be such a case, where a captain, finding himself 
 short-handed during a voyage, had gone to desperate 
 lengths to man his ship. And in this explanation 
 she found a gleam of hope. The smallness of the 
 vessel, she now saw, probably precluded any ex-
 
 266 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 tended voyage, and it seemed quite likely that it was 
 one of the trading schooners she had heard so much 
 of, cruising from island to island or from group to 
 group through the archipelagoes of the Western 
 Pacific, buying pearl shell, copra and the other 
 native products. Whither the vessel might be 
 bound, she had not the slightest notion, though 
 Starbuck, in explaining their supposed position on 
 the map, had told her that in all probability the next 
 group to the eastward would be the Ralick chain of 
 the Marshalls. In this direction the vessel had 
 headed, and as she remembered that the distance was 
 comparatively not great, she gained the courage to 
 believe that should Starbuck be able to make his es- 
 cape in the first port touched at or even sighted, he 
 would return to her soon with a rescue for them 
 both. 
 
 With this surmise she went no farther into an 
 analysis of the situation, and as the thought grew 
 through desire, it seemed to her almost a certainty 
 that this scheme of events would come to pass. 
 
 Cheered immeasurably above her former abysmal 
 despair, clinging fast to her belief, and building on 
 it even the phantom dreams of highest hope, she 
 gradually became calm again, and set about the daily 
 tasks imposed by actual existence. The idea that 
 Starbuck had been killed came now and then to her 
 mind, but she resolutely put it away from her as
 
 ALONE 267 
 
 beyond belief. They had grown so close, so thor- 
 oughly alike in thought and the very essence of be- 
 ing, that she felt intuitively that if any physical 
 harm came to her mate, she could not miss the im- 
 pinging knowledge of it, even across the waste of 
 sea. Though she would have scorned the imputa- 
 tion of occultism, she nevertheless felt certain that 
 a personality so attuned to hers would send some 
 message of its fate. 
 
 As the days dragged interminably by, Eleanor, 
 for the first time, really had an opportunity to re- 
 flect on her position. With the glamour, if glamour 
 it was, of Starbuck's vital presence gone, her 
 thoughts drifted back to the life she had left, 
 and to the people she had called her friends. She 
 was surprised to find that it was difficult for her to 
 pick up again the thread where she had dropped it, 
 so sudden and so complete had been the change of 
 environment. Her life on the island had been so 
 entirely distinct from her existence in the world in 
 which she had always moved, that it was with a 
 sense of remoteness that she recalled the former 
 routine and scheme of her existence. She felt that 
 the last year was the only one of her life she had 
 really lived ; that her eyes had been opened to see, at 
 last, a real world, and that the things she had once 
 considered worth while were the merest shadows of 
 reality. She remembered the quiet, sheltered days
 
 268 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 with the good people who had reared her from child- 
 hood; their simple, well ordered lives, in which the 
 slightest untoward circumstance was magnified into 
 a small disaster, and with whom the smallest devia- 
 tion from the tenets of enwrapping convention was 
 looked upon with pained surprise. 
 
 And her promise to wed, made partly for the sake 
 of her duty to her career, partly because of the 
 comforts and position it would bring. Under other 
 circumstances she might have felt a pang of con- 
 science that this promise had been so lightly broken, 
 but this was not the first time she had given it con- 
 sideration. She did not love that amiable young 
 man, Mr. Ellery Oldsworth. She had never loved 
 him. They had been thrown together from their 
 earliest youth, and in becoming engaged to each 
 other they had done only what every one had ex- 
 pected of them. That such an engagement must 
 necessarily have been terminated by the mere fact 
 of her isolation here with another man, she could not 
 doubt. In all probability her fiance had already fin- 
 ished his period of mourning and even now might 
 be attached elsewhere, perhaps betrothed, for the 
 news of the Marquesas disaster must have been 
 flashed to the ends of the earth. She thought, too, 
 of her father, and of that kind old foster-parent, 
 who would be still grieving for her as for his own 
 child, and her heart went out to him in pity for his
 
 ALONE 269 
 
 declining years, which must be spent without the 
 lifelong helpmate she had called Mother. 
 
 That she was only a memory to a host of people, 
 who now rarely spoke her name or recalled her at 
 all with more than a passing phrase, she was certain. 
 How, she wondered, would they receive her, if she 
 should return to them to take up the old existence, 
 the round of little gaieties, and social functions, the 
 teas, the dinners, the dances, the opera; all the 
 poor amusements of a vapid flock, bored to extinc- 
 tion with themselves and each other, turning ever to 
 new extravagances in search of relief; not living, 
 but shamming through an existence, as futile and 
 absurd in its senseless round as they themselves. 
 
 With clear eyes she saw herself as she had been 
 a year ago, with her prim ideals, her foolish, faddish 
 cynicism, mocking at the things that were worth 
 while, and her narrow, sordid outlook, hemmed in 
 by the fear of adverse opinion, defending itself 
 vainly with haughtiness and mannerism. How con- 
 temptible she must have been in the eyes of such a 
 man as Starbuck, a man who knew life as it was, 
 who had come up from the workaday world, through 
 its grime and its dust of toil, and who had emerged, 
 calm and unsoiled by its contact, a clean and honour- 
 able soul, who had been tried in the fire of a hundred 
 circumstances, who had risen victor in a hundred 
 battles.
 
 270 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 She tried to compare him with Mr. Ellery Olds- 
 worth, her fiance de convenance, and she almost 
 laughed aloud as she fancied him in Starbuck's place. 
 Would he, she wondered, have been able to save her 
 as had this man, first from a sinking ship, then from 
 the sea itself, and finally, would he have taken the 
 life of a man with his bare hands in her defence? 
 Given the physical ability for these things, would 
 his cheap cynicism have dropped from him, and 
 would he have become the living, vital force that 
 could turn the greatest desolation into a veritable 
 Eden of content and love? She smiled again, and 
 cynically too, but it was the cynicism of truth and 
 not that of mockery. 
 
 And finally she thought of the future, and what 
 it held, in the never lessening faith that her mate 
 would return to claim her. She saw nothing in it 
 that was sinister, nothing that was unwelcome. 
 She knew Starbuck's ambition to quit the sea and 
 follow the higher branch of his profession as man- 
 ager, and at last owner of great carriers of the 
 world's wares. She knew his dream of a house flag 
 that should be flown around the world, and she did 
 not doubt that one day it would be realized. He had 
 explained over and over again his theory, that on 
 the completion of the great waterway across the 
 isthmus, the capital that heretofore had found a 
 natural outlet in the development of a nation's
 
 ALONE 271 
 
 highways, would turn to new fields of activity and 
 at last rehabilitate the maritime importance of 
 America. 
 
 His information was so wide, and so well ac- 
 quired, that his knowledge had astonished her with 
 its depth. Far from being the careless sailor that 
 she at first thought him, he had displayed an insight 
 into great economic conditions that had made her 
 feel ashamed that she, with her supposed advan- 
 tages, should be so completely at loss when called 
 upon for her opinions. The man, she had found, 
 was a student and a thinker, who, delving here and 
 there at each hard won opportunity, had gathered 
 his knowledge at the cost of effort and under the 
 most adverse conditions. In her heart she knew him 
 for a true man who loved her, and who would rather 
 die than that she should suffer pain or grief. He 
 would come for her, she knew, and with him she 
 would be safe for always.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE ESCAPE 
 
 OF all the thoughts that raced their course 
 through Starbuck's brain as he lay bound in the 
 schooner's cabin, one stood out high above all the 
 rest and never left him. Whatever should befall, 
 he must not risk his life in war upon his captors, 
 until he was able to communicate with some one to 
 whom he could entrust the knowledge of Eleanor's 
 plight. It would be far better to submit to these 
 men than to struggle against them, and, in the end, 
 perhaps die at their hands. The part he must play 
 was that of willing recruit in their adventure, what- 
 ever it was, trusting to his own wits to find a way 
 out. 
 
 As he lay thinking quietly, he planned, in general, 
 a method of procedure. First, he desired, above all 
 things, to know the position of the island he had 
 left. He knew the direction in which the wind was 
 blowing, and from the slight heel of the schooner to 
 port, he was sure she was running free, following the 
 original course to the eastward. If he were only on 
 deck he could judge her speed, and from a glance 
 
 272
 
 THE ESCAPE 273 
 
 at the skipper's reckoning at noon that day, it would 
 be a simple matter to place the island nearly enough 
 in latitude and longitude. But it might be past noon, 
 and in that case he would have to wait, noting care- 
 fully any change in the course, and make his cal- 
 culations from the observation of the next day. 
 
 Busy with this idea, he was interrupted by a step 
 in the passageway outside, and the next instant the 
 door opened a few inches and the hooked nose and 
 dirty beard of the skipper showed itself. Seeing 
 Starbuck still bound and quiet, the man stepped in, 
 surveying his prisoner with a dog-toothed grin, 
 showing the dental mechanism which held the pipe 
 to be a groove, deeply worn in the only two remain- 
 ing teeth that met. 
 
 " So ! " he said, wagging his head ; " ye're corn- 
 fable, I see; takin' yer ease, wonderin', I reckon, 
 what I want with ye. Well, I don't blame ye none 
 fer that. It ain't much though, and if ye'll turn to 
 like a man, we'll have no trouble. Ye see," he went 
 on, as Starbuck was about to speak, " it was oncom- 
 mon lucky of us to find an able cuss sech as you 
 sojerin' around on that there island. Oh, we seen 
 yer signal right enough, and we seen the other feller 
 on the beach, but we didn't need only one, and as 
 you was so considerin' of our time as to come off 
 and board us, we thought it more kind-like fer you 
 not to have no sad partin' words but come along just
 
 274 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 as ye were. If ye give no trouble ye'll be treated 
 right and maybe be put sommat to the good before 
 ye're done. Now, wha'd'ye say? That's fair. rea- 
 soning ye'll admit. Ye get yere carcass salved off 
 the beach and put where ye can get a ship and pay 
 to boot How's that?" 
 
 " Fair enough. I accept," said Starbuck, im- 
 mensely relieved at the attitude the man was taking. 
 
 " Now, for God's sake, undo these lashings. The 
 blood's all out of my hands and feet. That damned 
 nigger did a good turn, I'll admit that." 
 
 Without more words, but with some caution, the 
 skipper soon had Starbuck free. He sat up on the 
 edge of the bunk, slowly rubbing the feeling back 
 into his numbed extremities. 
 
 " The nigger won't bear ye no ill will for his 
 broke jaw, if you won't," said the skipper with a 
 grin. " You must ha' got a reel man's punch in that 
 fist o' yourn. Busted his jawbone like the boom had 
 hit him. But it's all right, he ain't got no hard 
 feelin's, Flat ain't. An' now I'll put ye in my watch 
 an' we'll go on deck. Ye can hand, reef an' steer, 
 I reckon." 
 
 And turning, he showed the butt of a pistol at his 
 hip as he climbed the short ladder to the quarter- 
 deck, where the huge black stood at the wheel, his 
 face tied in a dirty bandage. As Starbuck came 
 through the companion, close on the skipper's heels,
 
 THE ESCAPE 275 
 
 the giant gazed at him, unconcerned, and even 
 grinned with his thick lips, though he did not speak, 
 and Starbuck now saw the reason for the name of 
 " Flat." His nose, either from birth or through 
 mishap, had been pushed almost level with his 
 cheeks, leaving only the flare of the wide nostrils to 
 show where it should have been. This deformity, 
 combined with his unusual length of arms, and man- 
 ner of swinging them before him when he moved, 
 increased the remarkable resemblance to a gorilla 
 that Starbuck had noticed when he came aboard. 
 
 As the cool breeze from the sea struck him, Star- 
 buck involuntarily glanced down at himself, and the 
 skipper, following his eye, gave a short laugh and 
 said: 
 
 " Go, for Gawd sake, an' put on them pants and 
 shirt on the locker below. It ain't decent for a white 
 man to go around like you do. I'm that shocked I 
 can't look at ye," and with another chuckle he waved 
 Starbuck off the deck. 
 
 The things were greasy and ill smelling but they 
 were wearable, and, putting them on, Starbuck re- 
 turned to find the skipper taking the wheel from 
 Flat. The negro at once slouched forward and dis- 
 appeared below. It was evidently long after noon 
 and Starbuck was disappointed at having to wait 
 until the next day for his attempt to get the position 
 of the island. The skipper called to one of the
 
 276 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 Kanakas, who appeared from the galley with a dish 
 of smoking salt beef, some biscuits, and a pannikin 
 of something that passed for tea, and from these 
 Starbuck made a meal, though his years of palatable 
 diet caused him to choke over it more than once. 
 Deeming it unwise to ask questions, he stood his 
 watch on deck without comment. The skipper had 
 not vouchsafed his own name, and that of the 
 schooner having been painted out, both bow and 
 stern, Starbuck made no effort to ascertain either, 
 and cheerfully turning to, worked with one of the 
 Kanakas washing down the decks, coiling the hal- 
 yards, making the schooner probably more ship- 
 shape than that craft of varied fortune was able to 
 recall. The skipper noted Starbuck' s handiness with 
 silent satisfaction. 
 
 He held her to her course throughout the watch, 
 and when the negro was called to take his turn at 
 the wheel again, Starbuck heard the instructions to 
 keep her as she was. 
 
 " Ye kin take that cabin if ye want," said the 
 skipper as he went below. " I won't make ye bunk 
 forrad with the Kanakas." 
 
 At the next call of the watch Starbuck was given 
 the wheel, and the course, east by south, a half south, 
 and the breeze freshening as the night advanced, the 
 schooner quickened her pace and boomed along with 
 every cloth drawing, sending showers of spray over
 
 THE ESCAPE 277 
 
 her low bows as she dipped and rose. The skipper 
 either walked back and forth on the weather side of 
 the deck, smoking his everlasting pipe, or lolled over 
 the companion and talked to Starbuck. But from 
 all his conversation, which mostly took the form of 
 anecdotes of his own voyages in younger days, Star- 
 buck could draw no hint of the purpose or destina- 
 tion of the present cruise. From the smell, he knew 
 that the schooner held a cargo of pearl shell, but 
 whence it came and whither bound, he had no idea 
 beyond the fact that in all probability it had been 
 either filched from the preserves of some German 
 trader in the Carolines, or had been pirated outright 
 from a luckless native craft. That it had been 
 gained in some illicit way, Starbuck was sure, from 
 the silence regarding it, and from the newly cut gash 
 in Flat's cheek, he guessed that it had not been won 
 without a fight. 
 
 But the business of this craft did not concern him. 
 For the present, his only aim was to reach a port 
 where trading vessels stopped, or where a mission- 
 ary was established ; anywhere that he could tell his 
 story and find some means of returning. 
 
 Things went quietly enough aboard the schooner. 
 The skipper was evidently engrossed only in the 
 business at hand and the negro remained peaceable. 
 The other two did not count, apparently, one way or 
 another. It was the next forenoon, when called
 
 278 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 from his watch below, that Starbuck went on deck 
 to find the skipper taking his noon observation with 
 a battered sextant. Starbuck, with a glance over- 
 side, judged the schooner was footing, as she had 
 been since he had come aboard, at the rate of per- 
 haps eight knots, and as the man finished with his 
 instrument and turned to go below, he caught the 
 interest in Starbuck's face. 
 
 " Maybe you air good at figgers, which I ain't," 
 he said. " Come below and look 'em over." 
 
 Overjoyed, Starbuck followed and soon was at 
 work over a smooched and greasy British Admiralty 
 chart that had been pricked by the records of more 
 than one former voyage. 
 
 " I ain't no navigator," said the man, looking with 
 some envy at Starbuck's neat figures as he worked 
 out the schooner's position. " I ain't never had no 
 chanct rightly to learn, but I most always come out 
 summers near to where I'm headin'." 
 
 Starbuck worked out his variations with care and 
 found that his guess as to the latitude and longitude 
 had been approximately correct. He noted the posi- 
 tion of the vessel at noon, and figuring an easterly 
 run of twenty-eight hours, he placed the island, he 
 was certain, closely enough at least to give a land-' 
 fall. 
 
 Starbuck had noted the entire absence of curiosity 
 on the skipper's part as to how he had been left
 
 THE ESCAPE 279 
 
 marooned, and had volunteered no information, but 
 now his neatly done calculations evidently aroused 
 some admiration in the man, for he said : 
 
 " Well, now, that's pretty smart for a beach- 
 comber like you. Say, I ain't never been given none 
 to askin' questions o' strangers, 'cause I don't want 
 none asked o' me, but I kind o' taken a likin' to you 
 and I'd like to know, if it's all the same, who ye be 
 and how ye come on that there volcano island." 
 
 Starbuck hesitated, but, after all, he could see 
 little harm in satisfying this mild inquisitiveness, 
 and he told him of the wreck of the Marquesas, his 
 name and position, omitting more than a passing 
 mention of his companion, allowing the man to be- 
 lieve still that it was one of the crew. The skipper 
 had not heard of the disaster, and in his interest 
 concerning it he paid little attention to the history 
 of its survivors. 
 
 That day, during Starbuck's afternoon watch on 
 deck, they sighted, a point to the south of the 
 schooner's course, the low landfall of an island, 
 which they raised slowly out of the sea until it ap- 
 peared as a thin circlet of emerald in a setting of 
 lapis lazuli. It was a typical atoll of the Pacific, 
 merely a ring of coral reef raised a few feet above 
 the water, surrounding and forming a shallow 
 lagoon, with a narrow opening to the northeast. 
 The verdure extended almost entirely around the
 
 280 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 circle, and consisted of waving cocoa-palms and the 
 undergrowth about their bases. As the schooner 
 neared the atoll, the beach was plainly made out, but 
 no habitations were visible. Taking the wheel, the 
 skipper intently scrutinized every foot of shore as 
 he made an entire circuit of the island, throwing 
 the schooner up into the wind off the entrance, which 
 was not wide enough to permit the vessel to pass 
 through into the lagoon. From the fore shrouds 
 the great black man also was watching. Neither 
 he nor the skipper spoke, but they seemed mutually 
 satisfied with what they saw, for the anchor was let 
 go and the jibs came down with a run. 
 
 It was late, but Starbuck noted preparations that 
 meant going ashore. Since the sighting of land 
 he had been almost ignored, and the skipper's plans 
 were not communicated to him, but his boat was 
 dropped over the taffrail, and with one of the 
 Kanakas at the oars and the skipper in the stern, 
 it made the passage of the reef and was rowed rap- 
 idly to the beach, where, landing, both men dis- 
 appeared in the trees. 
 
 Starbuck, curious at this manceuvre, was tempted 
 to question the negro, but the man remained in the 
 shrouds, watching, and paid no attention whatever 
 to his hail. Thinking it better, under the circum- 
 stances, Starbuck gave up further attempts, and loll- 
 ing aft, waited for the boat's return. It was per-
 
 THE ESCAPE 281 
 
 haps an hour before it shot out from the shore, 
 and by the time the skipper was again on board, 
 the sun was sinking. With a careful eye to the 
 weather, he decided to remain at anchor, and sails 
 were lowered and put in stops without furling, ready 
 to be set should the wind rise. 
 
 It was not until morning of the next day that 
 Starbuck discovered the meaning of the business 
 which had so puzzled him. At daybreak the hatches 
 were taken off and the foul stench of half-decayed 
 pearl shell rose up into the clean air of the sea. The 
 black and one of the Kanakas were sent below, and 
 with a tackle, the coir bags filled with shells were 
 hoisted out and loaded into the boat. As each little 
 cargo was successfully piloted through the reef to 
 the beach, it was dragged up among the trees and 
 dumped, the bags being returned for more. Star- 
 buck's part in this work was that of a donkey en- 
 gine, and with his shoulders harnessed to the whip 
 tackle, he made endless trips back and forth across 
 the deck in response to the cries of the men as they 
 loaded the sacks below. In the afternoon he took 
 the Kanaka's place in the boat, and was glad of the 
 change, for the hoist was heavy work. 
 
 The entire proceeding was now clear. The cargo 
 of shell plainly had been filched from some island 
 far to the west, and it was now being cached on this 
 uninhabited atoll until it could be taken off by some
 
 282 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 trading captain, to whom it was later to be revealed. 
 Starbuck now saw that the lack of a boat had been 
 a serious matter, and as he had previously surmised, 
 this was the principal reason for his own kidnap- 
 ping. Without his skiff, 'the cargo could not have 
 been landed. The skipper vouchsafed no informa- 
 tion, however, beyond directions as to the hiding of 
 the shell, and the work proceeded with intense ac- 
 tivity. For three days and a part of the nights all 
 hands worked steadily, transferring sack after sack 
 from the hold to the beach and adding their con- 
 tents to the growing heap behind the screen of 
 vegetation. At last it was all out, the hold was 
 cleaned, and sail made on the schooner. 
 
 And now anxiety again began to tear at Star- 
 buck's heart. Thus far he had been content to let 
 things shape their own course, because he was help- 
 less to prevent, but since the prime object of the 
 vessel's voyage had evidently been accomplished, 
 he saw no reason for his further detention. 
 
 As the schooner headed out of the atoll's lee he 
 followed the skipper below. 
 
 " Skipper, what's your next port of call ? " he 
 asked, with no preliminaries and in the confident 
 tone of one who expects a free answer. 
 
 The man turned and surveyed him. 
 
 " It strikes me," he said, tilting his pipe at a new 
 angle, " that ye know just about as much now as I
 
 THE ESCAPE 283 
 
 want yer to. No, my bucko, you'll have to wait till 
 we git there, and maybe then some. Ever sence I 
 let ye figger out my position I ben sorry, but you 
 got knowledge now that I can't afford to have leak, 
 and until this little job's finished you'll have to bide 
 in the schooner, I reckon. Sorry, mate," he added, 
 " but business ain't what it was, and I ain't takin' 
 no chances. You won't be sorry, though, for I've 
 put ye down for a lay that'll keep ye from working 
 yer passage to 'Frisco. So jest you be easy an' corn- 
 fable, an' in a month at most I'll give ye a proper 
 discharge, with wages." 
 
 A flush of anger swept Starbuck from head to 
 foot, and he felt a desire to reach out and take that 
 skinny throat between his two hands, but he re- 
 strained himself as he thought of Eleanor and her 
 distress. He turned away, seemingly satisfied, but 
 it was a poor dissimulation. 
 
 He watched the course narrowly as opportunity 
 was given, and found that it was changed from 
 time to time as other atolls were sighted, with an 
 evident desire to avoid them. For several days the 
 general direction had been southeast, but, as he had 
 not again had a chance to look at the skipper's 
 chart, he was not familiar with the vessel's position. 
 He still stood watch with the man as before, but he 
 had been unable to draw the least information from 
 him.
 
 284 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 He thought again of approaching the black, whose 
 general attitude seemed friendly, and one day, while 
 the skipper was below, he walked forward to where 
 the negro lounged by the rail. He had seen little 
 of the man, and as he addressed a simple question, 
 he remembered that he had never heard him speak, 
 though he attributed his silence to his broken jaw. 
 But now, to his surprise, the great, apelike creature 
 removed his bandage, and opening his mouth, 
 pointed to it, shaking his head. To his horror 
 Starbuck saw that his tongue was entirely gone. 
 
 A chuckle from the direction of the quarter-deck 
 made him turn, to find the skipper standing by the 
 wheel, watching him. 
 
 " Information ain't plenty with that there nig- 
 ger," he called. " You can remember easy all he'll 
 tell ye," and he burst into a cackle that set his pipe 
 wagging in his dirty beard. 
 
 "Pretty, ain't it?" he went on as Starbuck 
 walked aft. " That boy is the most useful tiling I 
 got. Belonged to one o' them native princes in the 
 Malay Islands, before he run away. I picked him 
 up in Formosa. Had his talkin' machine cut out 
 when they made him one o' them dumb eunuchs the 
 sultans keep for servants, I reckon, though I ain't 
 never got the information straight; but he was al- 
 mighty tickled to come along o' me and make an 
 honest livin'."
 
 THE ESCAPE 285 
 
 It now became evident that the fresh water on 
 the schooner was running low, and that to replenish 
 the supply she would have to make some port before 
 many days. The skipper, however, displayed no 
 anxiety, a sign which told Starbuck that he prob- 
 ably had his plans already laid for filling the butts. 
 But this might also mean another uninhabited 
 island, or one where only natives comprised the 
 population, neither of which suited his purpose. 
 
 It was late in the afternoon of a day that had 
 been notable for its heat and lack of breeze, when 
 Starbuck, at the wheel, with the skipper below 
 making love to a square-faced gin bottle, as he had 
 often done of late, sighted to the eastward, a long, 
 thin trail of smoke, low across the sky. It was a 
 steamer, and though the ship was as yet hull down 
 below the horizon, the sight of that hazy, gray streak 
 set Starbuck's brain on fire with wild hope. If he 
 could only come within hail before the skipper re- 
 turned on deck; if he could only keep any one else 
 from reporting the ship's presence! 
 
 The chance of getting his boat over the taffrail 
 into the water was too dangerous, and at this dis- 
 tance the steamer would pass him unnoticed even 
 should he succeed. His only chance lay in working 
 near enough to hail and then swim for it. There 
 was little wind, but this was fortunate, for the 
 schooner, with a rap full, would have crossed the
 
 286 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 steamer's course too soon. So Starbuck drifted, 
 trying to think of some sure means of accomplish- 
 ing his escape. The black was taking his watch be- 
 low and it was still a full two hours before he would 
 have to be called. The Kanaka cook was busy about 
 the galley, from which the view to leeward was cut 
 off by the foresail. The other native had turned 
 in with the negro, thus leaving Starbuck alone on 
 the deck. Below, in his cabin, Starbuck could see 
 the skipper through the open skylight, sitting on his 
 bunk, smoking, and now and then taking a sip from 
 a china mug which held a decoction of gin and 
 water. Now and then the man dozed in the heat, 
 only to waken from time to time, and fill his mug 
 again. With anxious eyes Starbuck watched him, 
 noting with eagerness, as the bottle was emptied 
 and a new one broached, until he marvelled at the 
 immensity of the man's capacity. 
 
 The steamer's smoke was plainer now, and the 
 tops of her masts and funnel had come into view. 
 In half an hour the hull was visible, and to Star- 
 buck's surprise he noted that it was gray instead of 
 the black he had expected. Feverish with the strain, 
 he watched it grow nearer and nearer, but the char- 
 acter of the ship puzzled him. His first thought, on 
 seeing her colour, had been of a vessel of the United 
 States navy, but as he made out her build he knew 
 this was no warship. The minutes seemed each an
 
 THE ESCAPE 287 
 
 hour as she crawled toward him. Without a change 
 of course she would pass astern, not more than a 
 quarter of a mile away, and Starbuck saw that if he 
 could wait, his best chance was to wave his shirt 
 as a signal and then take to the water. Once the 
 skipper started up as if to come on deck, and Star- 
 buck's fists closed, and the veins in his neck swelled, 
 as he resolved to silence him if it should mean blood 
 on his hands. But as the man rose his foot struck 
 a partly filled gin bottle, overturning it, and he 
 dropped heavily back on the bunk to save the con- 
 tents. Starbuck could hear him curse through the 
 open skylight. 
 
 Saved for the time being, he knew that at any 
 moment the skipper might appear, and the steamer 
 was still beyond swimming distance. As she neared, 
 Starbuck wondered more and more what she could 
 be. That she was not a cargo boat, nor a warship, 
 nor a yacht, he was sure, yet her lines suggested the 
 latter more than anything else. But it mattered 
 little if he could only reach her, and his great fear 
 now became that she would pass too far astern to 
 see him. He could let the schooner's head fall off 
 but little without jibing, and this would have utterly 
 exposed him by rousing the two men below, as well 
 as the skipper. But the wind counted for little now, 
 and the steamer was rapidly coming up. He could 
 see two figures on the bridge and an awning over
 
 288 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 her quarter-deck. She showed no flag and appar- 
 ently was not intending to speak. 
 
 As he watched and waited, the cook, coming from 
 the galley with a bucket of ashes, suddenly saw, and 
 set up a shrill yell. The skipper, hearing it, stum- 
 bled to his feet and groped uncertainly to the ladder, 
 muttering curses as he came. Srarbuck met him at 
 the companion, and with his boot caught him just 
 under the chin. With a savage oath the man fell 
 backward, but Starbuck had no time to pay him 
 further attention. The giant black mute, roused by 
 the cook's hail, was just springing from the fore- 
 castle with the Kanaka, and as the black muzzle of 
 a revolver in the skipper's hand appeared above the 
 deck, Starbuck turned and dove from the rail, sink- 
 ing deep and swimming hard, under the surface. 
 
 Keeping down until his lungs cracked, he was 
 forced to breathe at last, but as his head showed, 
 two shots spat out and he sank again. 
 
 In the brief glance he had taken he saw that the 
 schooner had been swung into the wind, and the 
 skipper and the negro, each armed, were waiting for 
 him. 
 
 When next he rose he was considerably farther 
 away, but another bullet struck the water close by his 
 head and he saw that the schooner's boat was al- 
 ready being lowered. Though he had reason to fear 
 the skipper's marksmanship, he remained this time
 
 THE ESCAPE 289 
 
 on the surface, and looked toward the steamer, 
 which was now but a short distance to leeward of 
 him. He raised his voice in a shout as he saw men 
 busy at the davits, and turning toward the schooner 
 at another shot, to his joy he saw the small boat 
 capsize as the drunken skipper fell into her. But a 
 louder crack now smote his ear. The black had 
 procured a rifle from the cabin, and standing erect, 
 was shooting at him as fast as he could work the 
 magazine. 
 
 He dove once more and swam just under the sur- 
 face. As he raised his head again, he saw the 
 steamer's boat in the water and gave a shout. The 
 next instant, like a blow from a powerful fist, a 
 bullet struck him in the shoulder and his left arm 
 became powerless. He heard the chuck of another 
 as it struck the water, and still another, but after 
 that the shooting stopped, the rifle empty. 
 
 With his left arm trailing, his wounded shoulder 
 leaving a streak of blood in the water, he swam 
 toward the approaching ship's boat, and when at 
 last he heard the sound of its oars and the encour- 
 aging shout of the men, he suddenly grew weak and 
 sick. He manfully put out his last strength, grit- 
 ting his teeth in his growing pain, and just as he felt 
 a clutching hand grip his waistband, the waters 
 roared in his ears and the world went out in a buzz- 
 ing flash of fire.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 BY DEAD RECKONING 
 
 STARBUCK'S first sensation upon awakening was 
 the touch of cool linen, and he opened his eyes to 
 look into a bearded, kindly face that was bending 
 over the swinging cot in which he lay. 
 
 " Good," said a hearty voice, " we'll have you in 
 shape in no time. Much pain?" 
 
 Starbuck nodded and glanced about the cool, bare 
 stateroom inquiringly. 
 
 " Don't worry," said the bearded man. " You're 
 in good hands and your late friends are nearly hull 
 down by this time. This is the steamer Darwin, of 
 the American Intercollegiate Biological Association, 
 outward bound on a three years' cruise, Captain 
 Bent commanding. I am Doctor Ames. Drink this 
 and go to sleep. You can talk all you want to later, 
 but we don't want any inflammation in that shoul- 
 der." 
 
 The doctor held a glass and raised his head while 
 he sipped. 
 
 "Can I see the captain? I must see him," said 
 290
 
 BY DEAD RECKONING 291 
 
 Starbuck, as he lay back. " It's of the greatest im- 
 portance that I speak to him now, at once." 
 
 The doctor shook his head, doubtfully. 
 
 " You'd much better be quiet now," he said, " but, 
 to relieve your mind, I'll answer your most press- 
 ing questions." 
 
 " Where are you bound ? " asked Starbuck. 
 
 " Well, we're bound for New York, I suppose, 
 eventually, but our next port will be Ponape in the 
 Eastern Carolines," was the reply. 
 
 Great relief overspread Starbuck's face as he 
 heard the words, for he knew that the island named 
 was not more than two hundred miles from the dot 
 of coral-ringed earth that held his heart. 
 
 " I can see that Ponape meant good news to 
 you," said the doctor, beaming on him, " and you'd 
 better rest for the present on that. I'll be back to 
 look at you in a while." 
 
 He left him, and Starbuck, finding himself more 
 weary than he thought, fell into a doze, comforted 
 with the knowledge that he was being carried to a 
 point, from which reaching his island should be a 
 matter of little difficulty. 
 
 The surgeon came and went at intervals, but it 
 was not until the next morning that he would allow 
 Starbuck to converse at length. No signs of fever 
 appeared. The bullet had glanced in the water, and 
 striking the shoulder-blade at an angle, passed
 
 292 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 through the deltoid muscle without shattering the 
 bone. Though the wound was stiff and sore, it was 
 clean, and was evidently due to heal by first inten- 
 tion. With this favourable prognosis the doctor 
 consented to hear Starbuck's story, and he listened 
 with huge interest as the wounded man related, 
 without detail, the bare sequence of events which 
 had brought him to his present circumstances. 
 Eleanor he did not mention by name, but to his sur- 
 prise the doctor guessed it. The boats from the 
 Marquesas had been picked up two days after the 
 sinking of the steamer by an east-bound government 
 troop ship, and carried to Honolulu, where news of 
 the disaster had been cabled round the world, with 
 the names of the dead and missing; those of Star- 
 buck, Aubert, Eleanor Channing and her aunt, Mrs. 
 Hartley, being included among the latter. 
 
 During the day he received a call from Captain 
 Bent and Professor Storrs, the chief of the expedi- 
 tion, to whom he repeated his tale, and after a con- 
 sultation the latter came to him and told him that 
 he had ordered the captain, after leaving Ponape, to 
 make the run to the position indicated by Starbuck's 
 rough calculations. 
 
 Starbuck's heart filled to overflowing with grate- 
 fulness as he heard the words that meant life to the 
 woman he loved, and he seized the professor's hand 
 in a grip that made that gentleman wince.
 
 BY DEAD RECKONING 293 
 
 '' Thank you, sir," he said, his voice husky with 
 feeling. " Thank you. I hope that some day I 
 shall be in a position to repay your goodness." 
 
 " Never mind that," returned the other, " human- 
 ity could do no less and it won't be far out of our 
 way. We're bound to Manila first, for coal, and 
 supplies that have been shipped from San Fran- 
 cisco, and we could leave you there unless some- 
 thing better turns up." 
 
 The next day Starbuck sat up and Professor 
 Storrs brought his wife to see him. She had heard 
 the story and even knew Eleanor slightly, through 
 Mrs. Hartley, at whose tragic death she had been 
 greatly shocked. Ponape was sighted on the fourth 
 day and Starbuck was allowed to get on deck in 
 a comfortable chair, while the other members of 
 the expedition gathered to congratulate him on his 
 escape and to hear the story at first hand. 
 
 " I know that old dirty scoundrel," said the chief 
 engineer. " His name is Zeke Lumbert. He would 
 steal the copper off a ship's bottom for a bottle of 
 gin, and as for piracy on the high seas, it's his trade. 
 There's been a German gunboat after him through 
 the Carolines these two years, but so far he's been 
 able to dodge. You are well out of that mess, Mr. 
 Starbuck." 
 
 The Darwin had lain at Ponape, or Ascension 
 Island, as it is known, for two days, and Professor
 
 294 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 Storrs was still planning another visit to the great, 
 mysterious ruins in the interior. Impatient at being 
 forced to wait, Starbuck paced the deck or talked of 
 Eleanor to the professor's wife, whose sympathy 
 was the greatest boon to him in his anxiety. He 
 had not hinted even to her of his love for the woman 
 to whom his life was pledged, but with a woman's 
 intuition she had guessed at least part of the truth. 
 She saw his anxiety written in his face, and while 
 she did not ask his confidence, she knew that what- 
 ever stamp the world might set upon the love of this 
 man and woman, here, at last, was the true romance 
 of which every woman has dreamed, and with a 
 large understanding of humanity, she read between 
 the lines the real story of the welding together of 
 two souls beyond the power of man to break 
 asunder. Her heart told her that here was a true 
 man, not a youth of thoughtless passion or fleeting 
 constancy, but a strong, purposeful character, open, 
 free and fearless, of whom any woman might be 
 proud. 
 
 As she listened to the fragments of the tale Star- 
 buck told her, she pieced together the happenings 
 that had brought the two closer and closer, until 
 her eyes filled with tears as she thought of the girl, 
 torn from her lover's arms in the tragedy of desola- 
 tion. The picture of the little figure in white, stand- 
 ing on the beach, as the vessel holding him prisoner
 
 BY DEAD RECKONING 295 
 
 turned its prow and bore him away, leaving her 
 deserted and alone to encounter perils such as few 
 women ever had known, was one that haunted her 
 until she could bear it no longer, and driven to 
 action by the spur of a great sympathy, she went 
 to her husband and laid the matter before him. 
 
 " By the Great Day, Emma, why didn't you tell 
 me this before? " 
 
 " I didn't know until to-day. I guessed, but I 
 wasn't sure, and, now that I do know, I think we 
 have no right to stay here digging in the musty 
 ruins of a lost race, while a woman waits as she is 
 waiting." 
 
 To her great joy her husband agreed with her, 
 and starting for his cabin, told her to send Starbuck 
 there. 
 
 At the end of half an hour he came forth, trans- 
 figured, and with face abeam with happiness, sought 
 Mrs. Storrs on deck. 
 
 Mrs. Storrs blushed like a girl as Starbuck's 
 thanks came spontaneously bursting from his lips. 
 
 " God bless you, ma'am, we can never thank you 
 enough. You and your husband have bridged the 
 gap between misery and happiness, perhaps life and 
 death, for her and for me. And your husband 
 do you know what he has done ? He has offered me 
 the command of this ship at Manila, where he tells 
 me that Captain Bent will be forced to leave on
 
 296 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 account of his health. And I have accepted, if 
 Eleanor consents." 
 
 The prospect of having a woman companion on 
 the long cruise brought unmeasured delight to Mrs. 
 Storrs, and she rushed off to find her husband. 
 
 That afternoon the Darwin sailed, and as Star- 
 buck, from the bridge, watched the sun sink into the 
 sea, his heart bounded in his breast, for he knew 
 that before another night he would again hold in 
 his arms the woman he loved. 
 
 Half the night Starbuck remained on deck, not- 
 withstanding the protest of the doctor, alone under 
 the stars, answering her call across the sea with the 
 message of his devotion, sending it out to her in 
 great pulsing waves of hope. 
 
 The daylight hours sped but slowly, and though 
 the chief, answering the plea of Mrs. Storrs, worked 
 an extra knot from the Darwin's engines, Starbuck 
 found the pace of the ship a miserable crawl. At 
 noon he himself took the sun, and worked out the 
 steamer's position, comparing it with the captain's 
 observation, and found that in two hours at the 
 most, they should raise the island, Starbuck 
 Island, unnamed on any chart, shunned seemingly 
 by all the world, but dearer to him for what it held 
 than all the continents. Overruling the surgeon's 
 commands, Starbuck swung himself into the fore- 
 shrouds and climbed aloft, peering to the northwest
 
 BY DEAD RECKONING 297 
 
 through a pair of binoculars. For an hour he clung 
 there, waiting, watching, going over again and 
 again the results of his calculations, seeking for the 
 not impossible mistake that might ruin his reckon- 
 ing. Constantly he used his glass, sweeping the 
 blue horizon with the closest scrutiny. 
 
 Steadily the Darwin plowed her way, swinging 
 rhythmically to the heave of the long, smooth swells. 
 All at once Starbuck's eye was arrested by the 
 merest shadow on the edge of the world. It was 
 so faint that he lost it the second time he looked, 
 but at the third he saw it again, and knew that it 
 was land. His heart leaped at the realization, and 
 checking the sailor's cry of Land Ho ! which rose in- 
 voluntarily to his lips, he looked again, long and 
 carefully, as if fearing a mirage. But it was true. 
 An island was there and it must needs be his island. 
 
 As he held the glass to his eye, looking again 
 to leave no room for doubt, visions assailed his 
 mind, and a thousand fears crept into his heart, 
 as possible dangers to which she might have been 
 exposed, presented themselves in terrifying array. 
 He told himself over and over again that she was 
 safe, but over and over again doubt came in new 
 and fanciful shapes, until his brain reeled with the 
 torture of it. 
 
 But the calmness of the sea, the smiling tropic 
 sky, the steady, purposeful progress of the ship, all
 
 298 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 bespoke peace and serenity, and the spectre cleared 
 as the landfall raised itself out of the blue, and took 
 on at last the form of the one island, that, during the 
 weeks he had been absent, had ever been the picture 
 before his mind. And he watched, impatient for 
 the completion of that last glimpse, by the addi- 
 tion of a line of white breakers, a strip of gleaming, 
 sunlit sand and the figure of a girl in white, waving 
 to him with a branch of jasmine blossoms. 
 
 But now he roused himself to his duty as look- 
 out, and his^ shout of Land Ho ! rang through the 
 ship. There was a mild commotion below him, and 
 one by one, the ship's company emerged to people 
 the bridge and forward deck, talking quietly of the 
 event at hand. And Starbuck, with the light of 
 happiness shining in his eyes, descended to the 
 bridge, ready when, after an eternity of waiting, 
 the time should arrive to pilot the Darwin to a safe 
 anchorage behind the reef.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 BY THE WORDS OF MEN 
 
 DURING the first few days of her solitude, 
 Eleanor Channing, still unrecovered from the shock 
 of Starbuck's enforced departure, stayed closely by 
 the home camp, rarely going farther than was neces- 
 sary to procure food and fuel. Even her new born 
 self-reliance and courage quailed in the long, dark 
 hours when the trees whispered to her of mystery, 
 and the night stirrings of the jungle at her back 
 spoke the language of loneliness. The days she 
 could bear, but long, long in the silent hours did she 
 lie thinking of her lover, striving in her void of 
 waking dreams to catch some vibrant thrill of hope 
 from out of the silent space between them. 
 
 But as the days grew in number and the round 
 of simple toil brought calmness and something like 
 <a return of normal spirits, she began to find a 
 pleasurable excitement in little journeys of explora- 
 tion. She traversed at first the length of beach on 
 the side where they had made their home, her spear 
 in hand and the axe slung in a pigskin case across 
 her shoulders. She dug turtle eggs from the sand 
 
 299
 
 300 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 to vary her bill of fare, and once, she ventured 
 to the head of the valley. As she grew bolder, to 
 occupy her thoughts and to pass the long hours, she 
 climbed to the peak of the hill and replaced the 
 streamer of white tappa, which was frayed and split 
 with the constant worry of the breeze. On her way 
 home from one of these excursions she noticed a 
 bed of reddish earth, and hit upon the plan of dye- 
 ing, if possible, her signal flag, that it might show 
 plainer from the sea. The experiment was success- 
 ful, and on her next visit to the summit she flung 
 a broad, crimson streamer to the wind. 
 
 Now she made almost daily a circuit of the island, 
 scanning the seas as she went, often ascending the 
 broad stream of frozen lava that ran from the silent 
 crater to the shore. At such times she would sit 
 on the peak's topmost pinnacle, under the flagstaff, 
 and gaze for an hour at a time off toward the 
 horizon where she had seen the schooner disappear, 
 as if she expected to see it finally raise its white 
 sails over the rim of the world of waters that 
 danced before her, " blue-empty 'neath the sun." 
 And she thought of Starbuck, of his love for her 
 and his plans for their future. Would they ever 
 come to pass ? Would she some day go back to the 
 world with him at her side, proud in his possession, 
 to confront the sidelong glances of smug propriety 
 wrlh the free gaze of fearlessness ? In what manner
 
 BY THE WORDS OF MEN 301 
 
 would he come and what would be their path to 
 civilization? She cared not so long as it lay side 
 by side with his. 
 
 On her return to camp that day she stalked and 
 slew a pig, which she dragged to the beach. Proud 
 of her skill, she was a little doubtful when its dress- 
 ing was attempted, but she recalled, as well as 
 she could, the operation as she had seen Starbuck do 
 it, and before long the hide was hanging on a bush 
 and the meat was baking under the embers. Pleased 
 with the success of her day, she retired, to sleep 
 better than she had heretofore, and to dream of his 
 presence, waking only with the first gray of dawn, 
 to rise and hasten to the beach to learn if the sea 
 at last held the speck in the distance that would 
 mean his coming. 
 
 Of the possibility of some other ship's approach, 
 she gave no thought. Rescue, to her, had one mean- 
 ing and only one; the return of her mate. Other 
 than that rescue was nothing. As she worked about 
 the hut's door, using many of the little conveniences 
 that Starbuck had fashioned for her, she thought 
 steadily over her entire acquaintance with him; 
 how he had come to her in a moment of stress and 
 terror and sorrow, to lead her away from the dead 
 form of her nearest and dearest, out into a life so 
 new, so strange, so revolutionary that she even 
 smiled as she went back beyond the beginning and
 
 302 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP. 
 
 saw the Eleanor of old. She remembered little 
 sacrifices that Starbuck had made for her from the 
 very first; his long, sleepless vigil in the boat; his 
 self-denial, even to the food and drink he needed, 
 when the chance faced them that the supply might 
 run short. She wondered at her attitude toward 
 him then; her thought of him as a brute for his 
 treatment of Aubert. She recalled his care and 
 consideration; all his evident planning for her 
 comfort and her needs, and she wondered in her 
 woman's heart, if, when this adventure was only 
 a memory, she would ever turn and look back on it 
 as she was looking now into the past, and if she 
 would smile to herself, happily, and hug the mem- 
 ory closer, as a sacred thing. 
 
 Would she ever slip back, she wondered, into the 
 old narrow course of former environment, taking 
 him with her, until they should gaze down the years, 
 and smile at this seeming epoch, as merely the in- 
 cident that had given them each other. She knew 
 that life was not all freedom, and that the rut of 
 living wears itself deep, but that the great lesson she 
 had learned and he had learned from their isolation 
 would always remain, she could not doubt. What- 
 ever course their two lives should run, the love, and 
 trust, and happiness of this one year would be ever 
 in their hearts. For her the outlook on the world 
 would be broader and kindlier, all-embracing in its
 
 BY THE WORDS OF MEN 303 
 
 sympathy, condoning in its depth, pitying in its 
 clarity of vision. 
 
 And for him she did not fear. Her confidence 
 in his love was enough. Comparison with other 
 men was not for him. He stood out a figure of 
 courage and manhood beside which those she had 
 known bulked small and incomplete. She was quite 
 content, for 'never once did she lose her faith in 
 his return. 
 
 So the days came and went, monotonous in their 
 unvarying round, even vaguely grateful in their 
 monotony. She had been for more than three long 
 weeks alone, praying by night and by day that the 
 next sun would bring her lover, when one cloud- 
 less morning she started to make again the circuit of 
 the island. She stepped from her plunge in the 
 cool waters of the stream with a sense of vigour in 
 her limbs. Perfect health glowed in her eyes, and 
 the rosy freshness of her skin was that of glorious 
 youth. She donned her tunic of white, shook out to 
 dry in the morning sun the heavy, shining lengths of 
 her hair, and spear in hand, strode with free, brown 
 limbs along the sand. There was lightness in her 
 step and almost joy in her heart at the very bright- 
 ness of the day and the thrill of life within her. 
 
 Reaching the westernmost point of the island, 
 she turned and looked far out into the blue waste 
 before her, shading her eyes with her hand ; but the
 
 304 THE CRADLE OF, THE DEEP 
 
 horizon was empty as ever, and she kept on her way. 
 Rounding to the long stretch of the southern shore 
 she could see the length of the island, walled by the 
 great tongue of lava that ran down into the sea. 
 This reached, she sat and watched the smothering 
 surf on the distant reef, her spear within easy grasp, 
 listening for any sound that should indicate the 
 presence of a herd of swine. 
 
 Long before, Starbuck had supplanted the rubbing 
 stick with steel and tinder, and with these, which 
 she carried in a tortoise shell box slung around her 
 neck, she now started a blaze. At a little distance 
 she found a nest of turtle eggs, and brought a cala- 
 bash bowl, which she took from its hiding-place in 
 a crevice in the rocks, for she often planned to take 
 her luncheon there. With red-hot stones, dropped 
 one by one into the bowl, she soon had the water 
 boiling and her eggs cooked, and taking them, to- 
 gether with her water bottle of calabash gourd, cun- 
 ningly shaped by binding the young stem, she began 
 to climb the slope, stopping now and then to rest 
 and to sweep the sea with her gaze. At the crater's 
 rim she paused, marvelling long at the beauty of the 
 view before her. The white line of the reef with its 
 tossing spray, the ever changing blue and green and 
 violet of the shallow lagoon, the waving, feathery 
 tops of the tall palms, tracing their delicate fronds 
 far below her, made a scene that she had grown to
 
 BY THE WORDS OF MEN 305 
 
 love, even though the memories it often brought, 
 darkened its colouring with the shadow of her soli- 
 tude. 
 
 At length she rose, and crossing the crater, 
 climbed the pinnacle to the signal staff. As she 
 mounted to the height of the land there came to her 
 a thrill of expectancy, and she hurried in her scram- 
 ble to where she could look over the jutting point of 
 lava to the great spread of ocean beyond. 
 
 As her eyes sought the sea her heart gave a great 
 bound, and she brushed the hair from her brow 
 with a quick movement of her arm, for there, in the 
 distance, under a long black trail of smoke, was the 
 gray hull of a steamer, heading for the island. With 
 her naked eye she could see plainly the white 
 weather cloth of the bridge, and moving figures 
 crossing the black background of the funnel. She 
 gave a little cry as the astounding vision of her long- 
 ing came into being before her, and caught with 
 one hand at the flag-pole, the other pressed against 
 her heart. Could it be that he had come at last? 
 It must be he. Who else of all the world could have 
 sought her? 
 
 She could see now that the steamer was making 
 directly for the break in the reef, and as she looked 
 the Stars and Stripes broke out in a wee patch of 
 colour at main gaff end. With shaking hands she 
 knotted up her loose hair, and with limbs that
 
 306 THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 
 
 scarcely bore her for their trembling, she sought 
 the path that led down the steep slope. Panting in 
 her eagerness, she hurried, unmindful of the sharp 
 stones that bruised her feet or the brambles that 
 caught and tore at her tunic and her half-bared 
 limbs. Half-way down she heard a rattle and crash, 
 as the chain cable tore through the hawse pipes 
 and the ship came to anchor. 
 
 In a very frenzy of anxiety to reach the beach 
 before a boat could come ashore, she rushed madly 
 on, tripping over roots and falling more than once. 
 She had cast aside her spear and axe as useless bur- 
 dens, and reaching the floor of the valley, hastened 
 onward through the beaten path. Now she could 
 see the lagoon through the trees, and for a flashing 
 instant the thought came to her that it might not 
 be he at all, but some stranger she was hurrying to 
 greet. The tears came, her lip trembled, and she 
 half fell against a tree trunk, her hands clasped as 
 if in prayer against such a fortune. But, as her 
 eyes cleared again, she heard a boat's keel scrape 
 the sand and saw in a fleeting glimpse a single 
 white figure that leaped ashore and ran across the 
 beach. Now the man paused, stopped short as if 
 listening. 
 
 "John!" she cried. 
 
 With a bound Starbuck was through the screen 
 of branches and rushing toward her. With eyes
 
 BY THE WORDS OF MEN 307 
 
 dim with the mist of gladness, she stood with arms 
 outstretched, her head thrown back, her whole fig- 
 ure pulsing with unutterable joy. 
 
 "Eleanor!" 
 
 " John ! John ! my dear, my dear one ! I knew 
 you would come back to me." 
 
 For answer he spoke only her name, and as his 
 love enfolded her in encircling arms, he kissed the 
 sweet lips and the eyes that looked up through their 
 beaming tears of joy, deep and fathomless with the 
 perfect trust of love. 
 
 And as the sunset tipped the pinnacles of the 
 height with crimson and gold, John Starbuck and 
 Eleanor Channing stepped out upon a flag-hung 
 quarter-deck, where the gray-haired captain stood 
 waiting, with book in hand, and as the crew of the 
 Darwin stood clustering and uncovered, the words 
 of man sanctioned and set the seal of the world on 
 the sacred union, already consecrated beyond man's 
 power to revoke, under the skies of Starbuck Island. 
 
 THE END.
 
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 so charming in the telling, abounding as it does with the freshest and 
 the truest pathos. 
 
 THE EMIGRANT TRAIL, By Geraldine Bonner. 
 Colored frontispiece by John Rae. 
 
 The book relates the adventures of a party on its overland pil- 
 grimage, and the birth and growth of the absorbing love of two strong 
 men for a charming heroine. 
 
 THE BOSS OF WIND RIVER, By A. M. Chisholm. 
 Illustrated by Frank Tenney Johnson. 
 
 This is a strong, virile novel with the lumber industry for its cen- 
 tral theme and a love story full of interest as a sort of subplot. 
 
 A PRAIRIE COURTSHIP, By Harold Bindloss. 
 
 A story of Canadian prairies in which the hero is stirred, through 
 the influence of his love for a woman, to settle down to the heroic 
 business of pioneer farming. 
 
 JOYCE OF THE NORTH WOODS, By Harriet T. Comstock. 
 
 Illustrated by John Cassel. 
 
 A story of the deep woods that shows the power of love at work 
 among its primitive dwellers. It is a tensely moving study of the 
 human heart and its aspirations that unfolds itself through thrilling 
 situations and dramatic developments. 
 
 Ask for a complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26th ST., NEW YORK
 
 THE NOVELS OF 
 
 CLARA LOUISE BURNHAM 
 
 May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap's list 
 
 JEWEL: A Chapter in Her Life. 
 Illustrated by Maude and Genevieve Cowles. 
 
 A sweet, dainty story, breathing the doctrine of love and patience 
 and sweet nature and cheerfulness. 
 
 JEWEL'S STORY BOOK. 
 Illustrated by Albert Schmitt. 
 
 A sequel to "Jewel" and equally enjoyable. 
 CLEVER BETSY. 
 Illustrated by Rose O'Neill. 
 
 The "Clever Betsy" was a boat named for the unyielding spin- 
 ster whom the captain hoped to marry. Through the two Betsys a 
 clever group of people are introduced to the reader. 
 
 SWEET CLOVER: A Romance of the White City. 
 
 A story of Chicago at the time of the World's Fair. A sweet hu- 
 man story that touches the heart. 
 
 THE OPENED SHUTTERS. 
 Frontispiece by Harrison Fisher. 
 
 A summer haunt on an island in Casco Bay is the background 
 for this romance. A beautiful woman, at discord with life, is brought 
 to realize, by her new friends, that she may open the shutters of her 
 soul to the olessed sunlight of joy by casting aside vanity and self 
 love. A delicately humorous work with a lofty motive underlying it all. 
 
 THE RIGHT PRINCESS. 
 
 An amusing story, opening at a fashionable Long Island resort, 
 where a stately Englishwoman employs a forcible New England 
 housekeeper to serve in her interesting home. How types so widely 
 apart react on each other's lives, all to ultimate good, makes a story 
 both humorous and rich in sentiment. 
 
 THE LEAVEN OF LOVE. 
 
 Frontispiece by Harrison Fisher. 
 
 At a Southern California resort a world-weary woman, young and 
 beautiful but disillusioned, meets a girl who has learned the art of 
 living of tasting life in all its richness, opulence and joy. The story 
 hinges uoon the change wrought in the soul of the blase woman by 
 this glimpsa into a cheery life. 
 
 AsJt for complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction 
 
 GROSST-T & DUNLAP, 526 WEST 26th ST., NEW YORK
 
 A 000133612 2