, but I don't think we
shall miss it if we steer W. by S., as on the south end there is a coral
mound about a hundred feet high. If we do miss it we can steer south for
New Ireland; we can't miss _that_ if we tried to, and would get there
sooner than we could reach Ponape. Then there is another advantage in
our making for Pikirami--we can run before the night squalls, and the
harder they blow the better it will be for us--we'll get there all the
sooner."

Then Harvey went on to say that at Piki-rami--which he knew well--they
would meet with a friendly reception from the few natives who inhabited
two islets out of the thirty which formed the atoll. Twice every year
the place was visited by a small German trading schooner from Blanche
Bay, in New Britain, and possibly, he thought, they might either find
her there loading a cargo of copra; or, if not, they could wait for her.
In the latter case he would on Tessa's behalf charter the vessel to take
them all to Ponape, for her father's name and credit were well known
from one end of the Pacific to the other, and there would be no
difficulty in making terms with the master.

Atkins agreed willingly to Harvey's suggestions, for he well knew the
great risks that would attend the attempt to reach Ponape under such
circumstances as were theirs; and the native crew, much as they wished
to pursue the captain and wreak their vengeance upon him and the
supercargo, readily acquiesced in Harvey's plan of steering for Pikirami
Lagoon in when he pointed out to them the difficulties and dangers that
lay before them by making for Ponape, or, indeed, any other island of
the Caroline Group.

"And those men there," said Harvey, speaking in Samoan, and pointing
to the captain's boat, which was now more than a mile distant, "cannot
escape punishment for their crimes; for is not this the word of God:
'Thou shalt do no murder'? And those two men have done murder, and God
will call them to account."

Roka, the big Manhikian native, whose brother had been killed, answered
for himself and his comrades in the same tongue.

"Ay, that is true. But yet it is hard that I, whose brother's blood is
before my eyes and the smell of it in my nostrils, cannot see these men
die. How can we tell, master, that men will judge them for their crimes?
They are sailing away, and may reach some country far distant, and so be
safe."

Harvey partly assented. "They may escape for a time, Roka, but not for
long. Re