Page:Barbour--Joan of the ilsand.djvu/90

78 "I go in the boat too."

"There's no objection to that," Keith said, after a moment's consideration. "We shall only go near enough to land at one end of the reef. The rest is up to Peter Pan. Suppose we ask him?"

The girl clapped her hands to summon the house boy, and sent for Peter Pan, who appeared at the veranda in a few minutes.

"Peter," she said, "you plenty good swimmer, eh?"

The black grinned. He vas tall for a South Sea islander, and his body was lean and lithe.

"There's a little schooner anchored off the reef there," Joan said, pointing seaward.

The black uttered a guttural assent, nodded, and also pointed seaward.

"I take you out in whale-boat to the reef. Then you swim plenty too much quiet to the schooner and cut the cable, eh?"

The black again nodded. It was not for him to reason why his white mistress should make such a peculiar request. Sufficient that she made it. Doubtless those on the schooner were her enemies, and that being so he would willingly board the ship and fight the whole crew single-handed for her.

Joan went indoors for a moment and returned with a large bone-handled knife.

"You cut rope with this, Peter Pan," she said,