w Diaz swing the boat's head seaward.

The Chileno turned his face slowly towards him.

"You shall not die alone, Senor Danvers. You shall have company--good
company."

CHAPTER IV

One evening Captain Lester of the _Maritana_, then lying in Sydney
harbour "awaiting orders," called on Mrs. Brabant at the Royal Hotel.

"I have just received this from Captain Brabant, madam," he said with
studied, but cold politeness, as he handed her a letter.

She took it with an impatient gesture. "A letter to you and none to me!
Surely he must have written, and the letter has miscarried."

"No doubt, madam," replied the captain of the _Maritana_ in the same
stiff tones.

Mrs. Brabant motioned him to a seat as she read the letter, first
telling Minea, the Samoan maid, who was present, to leave the room. The
girl obeyed, and as she passed Lester she gave him such a curious
but friendly glance, that now for the first time he began to have a
suspicion that she was not false to her master. Then, too, it suddenly
flashed across his mind that according to Samoan custom, unknown to her
mistress, Minea was a "sister" to Brabant, who had exchanged names with
her father, a minor chief of a good family, on whose land Brabant had
settled when he first came to Samoa. That alone, he knew, would ensure
the girl's unswerving loyalty and devotion to her "brother"--she could
not conceal from him anything that affected his honour or reputation.

"She'll tell him," he thought, as he watched Mrs. Brabant read the
letter; "thank God I shall be spared the task."

Brabant's letter to Lester was very short. It was dated from Vavau,
Friendly Islands, and was as follows:--

"Dear Lester,--I send you this hurried note by the Tongan
Government schooner _Taufaahau_. I am here in the _Loelia_,
inspecting my stations in connection with their transference
to Captain Danvers's company. He is very anxious to realise
his ideal, and I do not wish to keep him waiting. If Mrs.
Brabant is not in Sydney when this reaches you, please
communicate with her as quickly as possible. No doubt she
will be quite anxious to return to Fiji now, and I shall be
here awaiting the _Maritana_. I hope to see you within three
weeks after you receive this. Make the _Maritana_ sail for
all she is worth.

"Yours sincerely,

"John Brabant."

She handed him the letter. "Thank you, Captain Lester. When do you
pr