probable. No more."

She could not repress a shudder. The aspect of nature was so beneficent
that evil deeds seemed to be out of place in that fair isle. Birds were
singing around them. The sun was mounting into a cloudless sky. The
gale had passed away into a pleasant breeze, and the sea was now
rippling against the distant reef with peaceful melody.

The sailor wanted to tell her that he would defend her against a host
of savages if he were endowed with many lives, but he was perforce
tongue-tied. He even reviled himself for having spoken, but she saw the
anguish in his face, and her woman's heart acknowledged him as her
protector, her shield.

"Mr. Jenks," she said simply, "we are in God's hands. I put my trust in
Him, and in you. I am hopeful, nay more, confident. I thank you for
what you have done, for all that you will do. If you cannot preserve me
from threatening perils no man could, for you are as brave and gallant
a gentleman as lives on the earth today."

Now, the strange feature of this extraordinary and unexpected outburst
of pent-up emotion was that the girl pronounced his name with the
slightly emphasized accentuation of one who knew it to be a mere
disguise. The man was so taken aback by her declaration of faith that
the minor incident, though it did not escape him, was smothered in a
tumult of feeling.

He could not trust himself to speak. He rose hastily and seized the axe
to deliver a murderous assault upon a sago palm that stood close at
hand.