The girl became aware also of other subtle changes in
her father. He had long since ceased to be the jovial,
carefree companion who had shared with her her every
girlish joy and sorrow and in whom she had confided
both the trivial and momentous secrets of her
childhood. He had become not exactly morose, but
rather moody and absorbed, so that she had of late
never found an opportunity for the cozy chats that had
formerly meant so much to them both. There had been
too, recently, a strange lack of consideration for
herself that had wounded her more than she had
imagined. Today there had been a glaring example of it
in his having left her alone upon the boat without a
single European companion--something that he would
never have thought of doing a few months before.

As she sat speculating on the strange change which had
come over her father her eyes had wandered aimlessly
along the harbor's entrance; the low reef that
protected it from the sea, and the point of land to the
south, that projected far out into the strait like a
gigantic index finger pointing toward the mainland,
the foliage covered heights of which were just visible
above the western horizon.

Presently her attention was arrested by a tossing speck
far out upon the rolling bosom of the strait. For some
time the girl watched the object until at length it
resolved itself into a boat moving head on toward the
island. Later she saw that it was long and low,