uckland _Herald_, that she was
"a daughter of the late General Deighton Ransome, Commander-in-Chief of
the Straits Settlements," etc.

In a few months Mrs. Brabant was equally the best-liked and best-hated
woman in Fiji--the men paying her the most undivided attention, because
she liked it and was Brabant's wife, and the women hating her because
she would be, at times, languidly insolent to them, and practically
monopolised even the attentions of the naval officers when a dance was
given. That nine out of ten of her lady friends detested her merely
afforded her secret pleasure--secret, that is, so far as her husband
went, for she feared but one thing in the world, and that was that John
Brabant would discover her true and worthless nature.

For some minutes the two mates smoked on in silence, then Diaz made a
backward gesture towards the bungalow on the hills: "Are you going there
to-night?"

Lester nodded. "I think so. He asked me, you see."

The Chileno remained silent for a minute or so, then said, "She is the
most beautiful fair woman I have ever seen."

Again Lester nodded, but made no remark. He was well aware that Pedro
Diaz shared his dislike for the captain's wife, though he had never
openly said so. The Chileno, morose and grim as he was, was intensely
devoted to Brabant, who had twice saved his life--once under a heavy
rifle fire in the Solomon Islands, when Diaz and his boat's crew were
all but cut off and massacred by the natives, and Brabant came out of
the fray with a broken arm and a bullet through his shoulder; and once
at sea, when he was knocked overboard by the parting of a boom guy, and
his captain sprang overboard after him, though the night was as dark as
pitch, and the _Maritana_ was like to have been smothered by the heavy,
lumping seas which fell upon her decks when she was brought to.

"He is a doomed man," resumed the second mate presently, with a sullen
yet emphatic tone; "that woman will be his doom. She is beautiful, and
as false as she is beautiful. I can see it in her eyes; _he_ cannot see.
But were I in his place I should not leave her alone. She is not to be
trusted."

Lester thought the same, but said nothing, and he and Diaz rose and
went on the main deck to welcome Bruce, whose cutter was now coming
alongside.

"How are you, Jim? How are you, Mr. Diaz?" said the doctor, a big,
bronzed-faced Scotsman with kindly blue eyes, as he sprang over the side
and shook hands with the