ted that
reptile's notions of fair warfare with Leith as I looked at him. That
sullen face, with the eyes that would never brighten at a tale of
daring, or dim from a story of pathos, belonged to a man who would
imitate crocodile tactics by lying quiet till his prey was within
striking distance.

"What is all this about the white waterfall?" he repeated, after the
crooked fingers had dropped my hand.

"Oh, it's something that happened to Mr. Verslun," replied Miss Barbara.

"Where?" asked Leith.

"On the wharf over there," I answered coldly, nodding toward the
structure as I spoke. "It's really nothing important though, and I
related it solely for Miss Herndon's amusement."

"But Toni?" he growled, turning toward the two girls.

"Oh, Toni puts forward an alibi," laughed the youngest sister. "He
asserts that he was in the boat when the incident happened and he
persists in saying that he knows nothing about the matter."

Leith again turned toward me, and his brows straightened as he looked me
in the eyes. "Can't you tell the story over again?" he asked.

"I'd rather not," I said, somewhat rudely. "I'm tired of it. It was
really only a small happening that I am afraid I expanded a little in an
endeavour to thrill Miss Herndon, and the story is now her personal
property."

"But the bare facts?" he growled.

"There are no bare facts," I replied. "I covered them with fiction, and
I think Miss Herndon is going to copyright the whole."

He took the remark as a direct refusal on my part to give him an outline
of the affair to satisfy his curiosity, and I felt elated at noting the
sudden glint of anger that appeared in the lustreless eyes.

The two girls stood silent for a moment while Leith and I surveyed each
other without speaking, then a Tahitian boy broke the awkward silence by
informing me that the captain wished to see me in the cabin, and I
hurriedly excused myself to the sisters and went below.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER III

A KNIFE FROM THE DARK

It was after nine o'clock that evening before I again saw young Holman,
and by that time Levuka was far behind. We had taken advantage of a
stiff breeze that had sprung up about sunset, and _The Waif_ was
plunging through a moon-washed ocean, sending furrows of foam from her
forefoot while the wind snored through her canvas. I forgot the
happenings of the day as I felt the quivering vessel that seemed to
thrill with the ecstasy of life as she flung herse