ot ignorant of these rumors, yet he placed
no credence in them, and believed Pomp to be one of the most valuable
men he could obtain. Such in brief was the crew of the _Coral_, when
she sailed on her long voyage to the South Seas, in quest of
pearls--the location of which had been given by the dying sailor in
the Boston hospital.

CHAPTER VIII

VOYAGING SOUTHWARD

It was certainly very wonderful that little Inez Hawthorne should have
been transferred from the steamer to the schooner, and that many hours
should have passed before the discovery was made by the respective
captains of the craft.

Yet such was the fact, and Captain Bergen and Mate Storms had no
sooner learned the real situation than Hyde Brazzier was sent for to
tell how it occurred. As he was the one who rowed the small boat,
there could be no doubt that he knew. The story he told was the true
one, with the exception of the supplement--that he actually forgot
about the little girl after she went into the cabin and fell asleep.

It was impossible, it may be said, that such could be the fact, and
the officers looked knowingly at each other. They knew he was
falsifying, but they made no comment, except to declare that she must
be taken back to the steamer without an hour's delay.

Captain Bergen learned from Inez that she had no relatives on board
the steamer, and she did not show any special distress over being
where she was. But, for all that, the honest New Englander felt that
she should be restored, and he immediately took every means for doing
so.

His supposition was that she would be speedily missed from the
_Polynesia_, which would at once make search for the schooner.
Accordingly, the _Coral_ was headed northwest, under all sail, the sun
just rising at the time this change of course was made.

"The steamer will go so much faster than we," said the captain, "that
there is no possibility of overhauling her, unless her shaft should
give out again."

"There's no danger of that. More likely she'll turn about and look for
us."

As the sun climbed the heavens, the horizon was anxiously scanned for
some point where the black column of a steamer's smokestack could be
seen staining the clear sky. Far away to the northward, a vapor was
observed, which at first was set down as the sight for which they were
searching; but it was soon learned that it was a peculiarly-formed
cloud, resting almost upon the water.

The upper rigging and sails o