sent him stumbling
backward against the rail. The fall stunned him for a few moments and he
rolled about in the wash; then Soma, the Kanaka who jerked the knife at
me, rushed from the galley door and dragged him to his feet. The native
steered him to the companionway, where he stood for a moment glaring at
me as if undecided whether to continue the fight or beat a retreat, but
the wild plunging of the yacht convinced him that the spot was not one
where he figured to advantage, so he stumbled below.

I looked around and saw Holman clinging to the rigging, his boyish face
wearing an expression of extreme pleasure.

"You're getting wise," he cried, as he scrambled toward me; "but don't
think you've walloped him. He'll come back at you when he has a better
opportunity of beating you up."

[Illustration]

CHAPTER V

I MAKE A PROMISE

The morning following the unpleasant incident with Leith broke clear and
sunny. The Pacific, as if tired after its mad pranks of the preceding
three days, was a shimmering stretch of placid blue water, and the
shattered spars and loose cordage of _The Waif_ were the only reminders
of the terrific storm that had swept us before it.

Captain Newmarch set all hands at work to repair the damage, and before
midday we were bowling along under as much canvas as we could spread.
The storm being directly from the southwest had not carried us from our
course, and Newmarch chuckled when he had taken an observation.

"We'll strike it in the morning," he growled.

"What? Penrose Island?" I asked.

"No, the Isle of Tears," he answered sharply.

"The Isle of Tears?" I repeated.

"That's what I said," he remarked sourly. "And now you know as much as I
know. It was kept a little secret by the orders of my employers, but we
are so close to the spot now that I don't think it will matter if I let
the cat out of the bag."

"And is it there that the Professor will conduct his search?" I asked.

"You had better ask that question of Professor Herndon," he replied. "I
know nothing about what they'll do ashore."

He left the poop before I had time to put another question to him, and
as I walked up and down I turned over in my mind the tiny morsel of
information I had received. The captain's secrecy was peculiar, to say
the least, and as I reasoned that Professor Herndon knew absolutely
nothing of the Islands, it was quite evident that the orders prohibiting
Newmarch from making known the exact des