he invitation?"

"I believe you, my boy!" replied the genial Huish.

"That is right, then; and quite understood, is it not?" said Attwater.
"Mr. Whish and Captain Brown at six-thirty without fault--and you, Hay,
at four sharp."

And he called his boat.

During all this talk a load of thought or anxiety had weighed upon the
captain. There was no part for which nature had so liberally endowed him
as that of the genial ship-captain. But to-day he was silent and
abstracted. Those who knew him could see that he hearkened close to
every syllable, and seemed to ponder and try it in balances. It would
have been hard to say what look there was, cold, attentive, and
sinister, as of a man maturing plans, which still brooded over the
unconscious guest; it was here, it was there, it was nowhere; it was now
so little that Herrick chid himself for an idle fancy; and anon it was
so gross and palpable that you could say every hair on the man's head
talked mischief.

He woke up now, as with a start. "You were talking of a charter," said
he.

"Was I?" said Attwater. "Well, let's talk of it no more at present."

"Your own schooner is overdue, I understand?" continued the captain.

"You understand perfectly, Captain Brown," said Attwater; "thirty-three
days overdue at noon to-day."

"She comes and goes, eh? plies between here and ...?" hinted the
captain.

"Exactly; every four months; three trips in the year," said Attwater.

"You go in her ever?" asked Davis.

"No; one stops here," said Attwater; "one has plenty to attend to."

"Stop here, do you?" cried Davis. "Say, how long?"

"How long, O Lord," said Attwater, with perfect, stern gravity. "But it
does not seem so," he added, with a smile.

"No, I daresay not," said Davis. "No, I suppose not. Not with all your
gods about you, and in as snug a berth as this. For it is a pretty snug
berth," said he, with a sweeping look.

"The spot, as you are good enough to indicate, is not entirely
intolerable," was the reply.

"Shell, I suppose?" said Davis.

"Yes, there was shell," said Attwater.

"This is a considerable big beast of a lagoon, sir," said the captain.
"Was there a--was the fishing--would you call the fishing anyways
_good_?"

"I don't know that I would call it anyways anything," said Attwater, "if
you put it to me direct."

"There were pearls, too?" said Davis.

"Pearls too," said Attwater.

"Well, I give out!" laughed Davis, and his laughter rang cracked