CHAPTER XV.

FAREWELL TO ARRECIFOS.

Barradas and Mrs. Tracey met him as soon as he stepped on the deck,
which was covered with loose sticks of tobacco, ship biscuit, bags of
rice, etc.--the present intended for the relatives of the dead
men--which were being passed over the side into the other boat, where
the eager, excited Tebuan people received every article with shouts of
approval.

"Why, you have got along splendidly," he said, with a smile to Mrs.
Tracey, whose dainty little hands were stained and discoloured with
counting out tobacco, and whose perfect oval face was flushed with her
exertions, as, sitting down on deck and leaning against Pani, she held
her hands up before him with a laugh.

"Indeed we have! Mr. Barradas opened the tierce of tobacco, and Pani
and Toea and I dug out the nasty sticky layers with sheath knives. I
_think_ we counted out three thousand sticks; but we got a little bit
confused, so perhaps there are rather more."

A smile--the first that they had ever seen on his face--lit up the
swarthy features of the Spanish mate. "I think there's nearer four
thousand than three, madam."

"Oh well, never mind, Mr. Barradas. We mustn't be _too_ particular,"
she said merrily, "but I _should_ like some hot water to clean my
hands. Please tell the steward. When is the wedding to be, Mr. Barry?
The bride that is to be is very nervous, and, in fact, says she'd
rather Velo married her in native fashion. But I'm not going to let
her disappoint me. Big Joe is to be _her_ best man, and the bridegroom
is to be 'supported' by Mose the steward."

"I'll be ready in half an hour, Mrs. Tracey," replied Barry; "the
Church Service is in my pocket, as it is."

"Ah!" and her eyes filled. "How wrong and childish of me to forget!
You must forgive me; . . . but I am not myself. You have just come
from the presence of death, and my first words to you are a jest. Do
not be angry with me. I am not so heartless . . ."

A quick glance at her face showed Barry that she was on the verge of
hysteria. "Come, Mrs. Tracey, come below."

"Yes, take me below--quickly, please," and she rose tremblingly to her
feet. "I am very silly, am I not? I----"

The mate swept her up in his arms as if she were a baby and carried her
below.

"Poor little woman," he said pityingly to himself, as he laid her down
in her own berth; and then he added aloud, "You are overwrought and
done up, Mrs. Tracey. Rest awhi