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292 back before another young moon had shown itself.

Dipping down, on the rim of the water, lay Tao Tao, only a vague blur now in the distance. Joan, with her heart beating a shade faster than usual, and held closely to Keith, watched the outline of the island grow dim.

"Are you happy, dear?" he asked her softly.

"I never thought there could be such happiness," she said. "It wasn't plantations or pearls or anything like that which brought me to the South Seas, Keith. It was to meet you that I came."

"And it was for a pearl that I came, dearest," said Keith. "The most wonderful pearl in all the world. The Pearl of Tao Tao."

Her lips were near. He glanced toward the helmsman.

At that instant the ebony-hued Kanaka was looking up at the sails.