dured hills of
Whitsunday Island, away to the northward, with little beaches of shining
white nestling at the heads of many a quiet bay, whose shores were
untrodden, except by the feet of the black and savage aborigines
inhabiting the mainland. Far out to sea, and between Whitsunday Passage
and the Great Barrier Reef, the white sails of five pearling luggers
were glinting in the sun as they sailed northward to the scene of their
labours in the wild waters of New Guinea and Torres Straits.

"I wonder how many of those on board will return," mused the girl aloud
as she watched the little vessels--which looked no larger than swans.
"How many will come back rich, how many disappointed and yet not
undaunted, ever hopeful, ever daring, ever eager to sail once more, and
face danger and death; death day by day and night by night for two long
weary years. And yet--oh, I wish I were a man. I believe I am a man--a
man in heart and will and strength of mind and body, and yet a woman.
And for father's sake I ought to have been born a boy." She sighed,
and leaning her chin on her hand gazed longingly at the tiny fleet and
wished she--a man--were at the tiller of one of the luggers, listening
to the tales of the bronze-faced, bearded pearl-shellers; tales of
mighty pearls worth thousands of pounds, of fierce encounters with the
treacherous savages of New Guinea, and the mainland of Australia; of
fearful hurricanes and dreadful dangers ashore and afloat, and then
peaceful, happy days of rest in the far-away isles of Eastern Polynesia;
before the newly-discovered beds of pearl shell in Torres Straits lured
them away from the calm seas and palm-clad atolls of the Paumotus and
Manahiki and Tongarewa.

The grazing filly suddenly raised her shapely head and pricked up her
ears, and listened; and, in an instant, the girl sprang up and took a
Smith and Wesson revolver from her saddle. The blacks about Repulse Bay
and Whitsunday Passage had an evil reputation, and many an unfortunate
stockman or digger had been slaughtered by them when camped in apparent
security; even within a few score miles of such towns as Bowen and
Mackay.

With the filly she listened, and then smiled as she heard the sound of a
horse's feet coming along the track through the scrub. In a few moments
horse and rider appeared, and the girl slipped her weapon into the
pocket of her short riding skirt.

"How do you do, Miss Fraser?" cried the newcomer as he jumped off his