the place where I am bound to," answered Lingard, opening the
letter again and glancing at it uneasily. "He does not describe very
well the coast, and his latitude is very uncertain," he went on. "I
am not clear in my mind where exactly you are stranded. And yet I know
every inch of that land--over there."

Carter cleared his throat and began to talk in his slow drawl. He seemed
to dole out facts, to disclose with sparing words the features of the
coast, but every word showed the minuteness of his observation, the
clear vision of a seaman able to master quickly the aspect of a strange
land and of a strange sea. He presented, with concise lucidity, the
picture of the tangle of reefs and sandbanks, through which the yacht
had miraculously blundered in the dark before she took the ground.

"The weather seems clear enough at sea," he observed, finally, and
stopped to drink a long draught. Lingard, bending over the table, had
been listening with eager attention. Carter went on in his curt and
deliberate manner:

"I noticed some high trees on what I take to be the mainland to the
south--and whoever has business in that bight was smart enough to
whitewash two of them: one on the point, and another farther in.
Landmarks, I guess. . . . What's the matter, Captain?"

Lingard had jumped to his feet, but Carter's exclamation caused him to
sit down again.

"Nothing, nothing . . . Tell me, how many men have you in that yacht?"

"Twenty-three, besides the gentry, the owner, his wife and a Spanish
gentleman--a friend they picked up in Manila."

"So you were coming from Manila?"

"Aye. Bound for Batavia. The owner wishes to study the Dutch colonial
system. Wants to expose it, he says. One can't help hearing a lot when
keeping watch aft--you know how it is. Then we are going to Ceylon
to meet the mail-boat there. The owner is going home as he came out,
overland through Egypt. The yacht would return round the Cape, of
course."

"A lady?" said Lingard. "You say there is a lady on board. Are you
armed?"

"Not much," replied Carter, negligently. "There are a few muskets and
two sporting guns aft; that's about all--I fancy it's too much, or not
enough," he added with a faint smile.

Lingard looked at him narrowly.

"Did you come out from home in that craft?" he asked.

"Not I! I am not one of them regular yacht hands. I came out of the
hospital in Hongkong. I've been two years on the China coast."

He stopped, then added in