Page:Barbour--Joan of the ilsand.djvu/113

Rh sleep and Moniz swooping down to collar everything he can find."

The two men exchanged glances. They were each thinking of the encounter Keith had had in the night—an encounter which might well have ended in the murder of one, if not two of their party. By mutual consent they had said nothing to the girl about it.

"Chester, see!" Joan exclaimed. "I believe the schooner is heading back for Tamba."

The others were by her side in a moment, and it was with considerable relief that they found the girl was right. Going before a fair breeze, the vessel was leaving the reef on her port side and running in a direct line for the other island.

"He's quit cold!" Keith exclaimed. "And yet that's peculiar."

"Why worry?" said Chester, delightedly. "He's saved us the trouble of driving him off, that's all. One of us might have been plugged in the process, and though I don't mind a scrap when it's necessary, I confess I know lots of ways of enjoying myself better than dodging bullets."

"It looks as though he might have been telling the truth for once when he said he couldn't find any pearls at the reef," Keith observed. "And yet he knows enough about the game to be sure you can't expect to fish out a handful of pearls every day. I don't want to discourage you, but I suspect we may