Two hours after the departure of the men into the
jungle Virginia heard the fall of axes on timber and
knew that the site of her future home had been chosen
and the work of clearing begun. She sat musing on the
strange freak which had prompted her father to bury
them in this savage corner of the globe; and as she
pondered there came a wistful expression to her eyes,
and an unwonted sadness drooped the corners of her mouth.

Of a sudden she realized how wide had become the gulf
between them now. So imperceptibly had it grown since
those three horrid days in Ithaca just prior to their
departure for what was to have been but a few months'
cruise that she had not until now comprehended that the
old relations of open, good-fellowship had gone,
possibly forever.

Had she needed proof of the truth of her sad discovery
it had been enough to point to the single fact that her
father had brought her here to this little island
without making the slightest attempt to explain the
nature of his expedition. She had gleaned enough from
von Horn to understand that some important scientific
experiments were to be undertaken; but what their
nature she could not imagine, for she had not the
slightest conception of the success that had crowned
her father's last experiment at Ithaca, although she
had for years known of his keen interest in the subject.