skeleton. They separated unwillingly, each thinking only of the other's
safety and comfort. The girl knew she was not wanted because the man
wished to spare her some unpleasant experience. She obeyed him with a
sigh, and sat down, not to sleep, but to muse, as girls will,
round-eyed, wistful, with the angelic fantasy of youth and innocence.




CHAPTER IV

RAINBOW ISLAND


Across the parched bones lay the stick discarded by Jenks in his alarm.
He picked it up and resumed his progress along the pathway. So closely
did he now examine the ground that he hardly noted his direction. The
track led straight towards the wall of rock. The distance was not
great--about forty yards. At first the brushwood impeded him, but soon
even this hindrance disappeared, and a well-defined passage meandered
through a belt of trees, some strong and lofty, others quite immature.

More bushes gathered at the foot of the cliff. Behind them he could see
the mouth of a cave; the six months' old growth of vegetation about the
entrance gave clear indication as to the time which had elapsed since a
human foot last disturbed the solitude.

A few vigorous blows with the stick cleared away obstructing plants and
leafy branches. The sailor stooped and looked into the cavern, for the
opening was barely five feet high. He perceived instantly that the