he
burst his lungs at the same time, or got the 'bends,' for he died in two
hours. He died screaming. They could hear him for miles. He was the most
powerful native I ever saw. Half a dozen of my divers have died of the
bends. And more men will die, more men will die."

"Oh, hush your croaking, Parlay," chided one of the captains. "It ain't
going to blow."

"If I was a strong man, I couldn't get up hook and get out fast enough,"
the old man retorted in the falsetto of age. "Not if I was a strong man
with the taste for wine yet in my mouth. But not you. You'll all stay, I
wouldn't advise you if I thought you'd go, You can't drive buzzards away
from the carrion. Have another drink, my brave sailor-men. Well, well,
what men will dare for a few little oyster drops! There they are, the
beauties! Auction to-morrow, at ten sharp. Old Parlay's selling out, and
the buzzards are gathering--old Parlay who was a stronger man in his day
than any of them and who will see most of them dead yet."

"If he isn't a vile old beast!" the supercargo of the _Malahini_
whispered to Peter Gee.

"What if she does blow?" said the captain of the _Dolly_. "Hikihoho's
never been swept."

"The more reason she will be, then," Captain Warfield answered back. "I
wouldn't trust her."

"Who's croaking now?" Grief reproved.

"I'd hate to lose that new engine before it paid for itself," Captain
Warfield replied gloomily.

Parlay skipped with astonishing nimbleness across the crowded room to
the barometer on the wall.

"Take a look, my brave sailormen!" he cried exultantly.

The man nearest read the glass. The sobering effect showed plainly on
his face.

"It's dropped ten," was all he said, yet every face went anxious, and
there was a look as if every man desired immediately to start for the
door.

"Listen!" Parlay commanded.

In the silence the outer surf seemed to have become unusually loud.
There was a great rumbling roar.

"A big sea is beginning to set," some one said; and there was a movement
to the windows, where all gathered.

Through the sparse cocoanuts they gazed seaward. An orderly succession
of huge smooth seas was rolling down upon the coral shore. For some
minutes they gazed on the strange sight and talked in low voices, and in
those few minutes it was manifest to all that the waves were increasing
in size. It was uncanny, this rising sea in a dead calm, and their
voices unconsciously sank lower. Old Parlay shocked them wi