ubmerging
and bruising those that clung on, and went out over the stern-rail.

Mulhall saw him first, and drew Grief's attention. It was Narii Herring,
crouching and holding on where the dim binnacle light shone upon him. He
was quite naked, save for a belt and a bare-bladed knife thrust between
it and the skin.

Captain Warfield untied his lashings and made his way over the bodies of
the others. When his face became visible in the light from the binnacle
it was working with anger. They could see him speak, but the wind tore
the sound away. He would not put his lips to Narii's ear. Instead, he
pointed over the side. Narii Herring understood. His white teeth showed
in an amused and sneering smile, and he stood up, a magnificent figure
of a man.

"It's murder!" Mulhall yelled to Grief.

"He'd have murdered Old Parlay!" Grief yelled back.

For the moment the poop was clear of water and the _Malahini_ on an even
keel. Narii made a bravado attempt to walk to the rail, but was flung
down by the wind. Thereafter he crawled, disappearing in the darkness,
though there was certitude in all of them that he had gone over the
side. The Malahini dived deep, and when they emerged from the flood that
swept aft, Grief got Mulhall's ear.

"Can't lose him! He's the Fish Man of Tahiti! He'll cross the lagoon and
land on the other rim of the atoll if there's any atoll left!"

Five minutes afterward, in another submergence, a mess of bodies poured
down on them over the top of the cabin. These they seized and held
till the water cleared, when they carried them below and learned their
identity. Old Parlay lay oh his back on the floor, with closed eyes and
without movement. The other two were his Kanaka cousins. All three were
naked and bloody. The arm of one Kanaka hung helpless and broken at his
side. The other man bled freely from a hideous scalp wound.

"Narii did that?" Mulhall demanded.

Grief shook his head. "No; it's from being smashed along the deck and
over the house!"

Something suddenly ceased, leaving them in dizzying uncertainty. For
the moment it was hard to realize there was no wind. With the absolute
abruptness of a sword slash, the wind had been chopped off. The schooner
rolled and plunged, fetching up on her anchors with a crash which for
the first time they could hear. Also, for the first time they could hear
the water washing about on deck. The engineer threw off the propeller
and eased the engine down.

"We'r