request. His short-sightedness prevented him from noticing the frown
which passed over the face of his partner, but the sour look fled
immediately the two girls expressed a desire to keep me in the party.

"Oh, please let Mr. Verslun come," cried Miss Barbara. "It will make it
ever so much more pleasant."

"I was thinking of the stock of food," growled Leith, as if attempting
to explain his evident displeasure.

"I'll go on half measure and let Mr. Verslun have the other half,"
laughed Holman.

"And he can have some of mine," cried Miss Barbara.

"And mine," murmured Edith.

Leith grinned as he noted the feeling of the party. It would not be
diplomatic to go against the wishes of all, and he knew it. With a wave
of his hand he ordered Kaipi to the fire where Soma and the other five
islanders were sitting, and nodded his head as an intimation that I
could stay.

"By the way," he growled, as I fell upon the plate of tinned salmon
which Edith Herndon handed to me, "who was doing the shooting this
afternoon?"

"I was," I replied. "I fired my revolver half a dozen times when we got
off the trail and couldn't find our way back to it. I thought on account
of the way that the path wound in and out that your party might be near