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244 with an arm which trembled in spite of her determination to be brave.

"If what you say is true," she declared frigidly, "it merely helps to straighten out the balance between you and me. Remember, on one of the last occasions I saw you, you were firing at an open boat in which you knew well enough I was sitting. There are white men on Tamba. Please take me there."

Moniz shrugged his shoulders.

"I think we should stay here, at any rate until it is light, dear one," he said. "There must be many things at your home which you would wish to save."

A haunting suspicion in Joan's mind suddenly began to take more definite shape.

"Such as what?" she asked.

"Your personal property," the man replied, "and—and there were, I believe, some pearls. They must be valuable, and probably you know where they were hidden."

There remained no room for doubt in her mind.

"Take me over to Tamba, immediately, please," she said. "I know nothing about the pearls you speak of." "Ah dear one!" said Moniz coaxingly, again drawing near to her. "You have not much gratitude for me. It was freely enough that I risked my life to serve you."