Page:The Great Secret.djvu/182

166 his intention of going for a day or two's exploration, and it did not surprise any of them when the countess said she would accompany him.

"I'd like to make a third of your party," said the doctor, "only that now we may expect the sealing vessels any day, and we must look out for them; therefore you two go, and be back within a week, if at all possible. Go south-west, for I have read that there is an active volcano and hot springs in that direction, and the island is only some seventy or eighty miles from coast to coast. You will have to walk fast to keep your blood in circulation as you pass over those lofty and rugged ridges; therefore you ought to cover the distance within a week or ten days at the most. I am deeply interested in that volcano and these geysers, so pay great attention to objects as you pass along."

"We'll tell you all about the volcano when we come back," replied Anatole, as he packed up what he thought would be most needful for them.

"They will never come back," thought the doctor, as he watched their preparations quietly. "They mean to give us the slip, and it will be as well for themselves if they stay away or die en route, for I perceive that they are both renegades, and I have no desire to execute them for their half-heartedness if it can be avoided. On this barren land they can do us no harm; only they had better not indulge in any home-sickness, or they will be doomed to extinction. Who could have thought that the countess would ever have given way to this sublime idiocy of love after all her experiences."

He watched this infatuated pair go off, carrying their baggage mutually divided, for Eugene insisted on bearing her share, and laughed gaily and proudly as she squared her magnificent shoulders before the