entered my being. I felt that the voyage would be an eventful one to me,
and I tramped the poop with a light step. Occasionally the sallow
features of Leith persisted in rising before my mental vision to blot
out the dream face that was continually before me, but I resolutely put
the Professor's partner from my mind and fed myself upon the visions
bred by the splendour of the night.

Holman had left me about an hour when I happened to glance at the patch
of shadow that had attracted his attention while he was talking to me.
I stopped and watched it intently. Some one had crawled into the
velvety strip and was lying perfectly still.

"Who is there?" I asked.

There was no answer. The strip of shadow broadened and narrowed as _The
Waif_ plunged, but I could discern nothing. Outside the captain and
myself, the crew of _The Waif_, together with the six men that were with
the Professor's party, were all natives, and I wondered as I watched the
shadow why one should be crawling around as if afraid of being seen. It
was possible that he was attempting to thieve something from the galley,
and it was also possible that he was spying, as Holman had suggested.

I picked up a small iron pin and tossed it at the spot where I felt sure
the islander was hiding. I didn't throw the pin with any force, although
the yell that came out of the shadow would convince an onlooker that I
had thrown it with murderous intent.

I sprang forward while the shriek of pain was still vibrating in the
air, but the native was determined to have revenge for the rap from the
iron pin. A knife flashed in the moonlight, and I staggered as the blade