He said the ship was bound to Hawaii, but that it had to land
him first.

"Where?" said I.

"It's an island, where I live. So far as I know, it hasn't got
a name."

He stared at me with his nether lip dropping, and looked so wilfully
stupid of a sudden that it came into my head that he desired
to avoid my questions. I had the discretion to ask no more.




III. THE STRANGE FACE.


WE left the cabin and found a man at the companion obstructing
our way. He was standing on the ladder with his back to us,
peering over the combing of the hatchway. He was, I could see,
a misshapen man, short, broad, and clumsy, with a crooked back,
a hairy neck, and a head sunk between his shoulders. He was dressed
in dark-blue serge, and had peculiarly thick, coarse, black hair.
I heard the unseen dogs growl furiously, and forthwith he ducked
back,--coming into contact with the hand I put out to fend him off
from myself. He turned with animal swiftness.

In some indefinable way the black face thus flashed upon me
shocked me profoundly. It was a singularly deformed one.