n hospital, had told him an untruth, and such a
shuddering, overwhelming feeling of disappointment came over the poor
fellow at that moment that he grew dizzy and sick at heart, and came
nigh losing his balance.

"No, it cannot be," he repeated, rallying himself, with a great
effort. "I have a better opinion of human nature than that."

His glasses were still pointed in the direction of the island, and he
was peering with an intensity that was painful at the spot where the
dark break in the foamy breakers showed the entrance to the atoll,
when he detected a black, needle-like column which rose from the beach
at one side of the entrance. It was so thin that he could not make
sure it was not some trick of his straining vision, and in doubt as to
its reality, he relieved his aching eye by removing the glass for a
moment and looking down on the deck beneath him.

He saw Redvignez and Brazzier standing at the bow, also gazing toward
the island, which was plainly visible from the deck. They occasionally
spoke, but their tones were so low that no word could be distinguished
by any ears excepting those for which they were intended. Mr. Storms
was at his post, and as Pomp and Inez were invisible, the conclusion
was inevitable that they were in the cabin, whence issued the
appetizing odor of cooking fish, and where no doubt the young lady
was receiving the attention which she expected as her right.

At this instant a peculiar experience came to the captain of the yacht
_Coral_. A slight flaw in the breeze, which was bearing the vessel
forward, caused the sails to flap, and must have made a sort of funnel
of one of them for the moment; or rather, as may be said, it made a
temporary whispering gallery of the deck and rigging of the craft. And
being such, it bore the following ominous words to Captain Bergen,
uttered, as they were, by Hyde Brazzier in a most guarded undertone:

"We shall be the two richest men in America!"

Captain Bergen was in that state of intense nervous sensibility in
which his perceptions were unnaturally acute, and he felt, on the
instant the words struck his ear, that they had a frightful meaning.

The two continued their cautious conference, but the sail favored
acoustics no longer, and the listener did not catch another syllable.

"They mean to kill Abe and me," he said to himself, "and run away with
the pearls. If they had determined to be honest men, and we had
secured any particular amount of we