ds no more.

CHAPTER XXIII

A DISMAL HOME

Captain Bergen and his mate were not certain that one or more of the
mutineers had not survived the foundering of the schooner _Coral_, and
had managed to reach the island.

If such were the case, they considered it important that it should be
known as soon as possible, and on the morrow, therefore, they made
careful search, but none of the three men was ever seen again. A few
fragments of spars, floating here and there, were all the signs that
such a craft had ever sailed over the Pacific.

Since the captain and mate were now given the opportunity to think of
their own situation, they did so like men of gravity and sense. They
were safely upon Pearl Island, as they had named it. They had secured
the prize for which they had come so many thousand miles, and they
were, as the world goes, wealthy men. More than that, they had found a
pearl of such marvelous size and purity that, being dedicated to
little Inez Hawthorne, it was a great fortune indeed to her.

And yet, in one sense, the little party were paupers; that is, so long
as they were held prisoners upon the atoll, for the treasure of pearls
could not purchase them food, clothing, friends, happiness--nor, in
fact, were they anything more than so many valueless pebbles. They
must reach civilization again to realize anything from the riches
which had come into their possession.

But how were they to leave the island? This was the one great question
which faced them, and which they were called upon to solve, for now
that there was no further cause for staying, the homesickness of the
men increased, and it was not long before they felt they would give
half their wealth for the means of getting back to Boston.

Since they were absolutely without this means, it was evident they
could do nothing but rely upon Providence to send some vessel to their
relief. It was not impossible that Abe Storms, gifted as he was with
so much wonderful ingenuity, might have attempted to construct some
sort of craft from the palm trees, and it is quite likely he would
have succeeded in making something that could be utilized. But the
awful blotting out of the _Coral_, before their eyes, had alarmed
both, and made them more timid than they otherwise would have been.

It was a good many miles to the nearest inhabited island, as laid down
on their chart, and they might succeed in reaching it, provided they
could be assured of a week o