m knew that one line she had recited was more
singularly applicable to their case than that which they paid heed to.
"The great stars that globed themselves in Heaven," were shining clear
and bright in the vast arch above. Resplendent amidst the throng rose
the Pleiades, the mythological seven hailed by the Greeks as an augury
of safe navigation. And the Dyaks--one of the few remaining savage
races of the world--share the superstition of the people who fashioned
all the arts and most of the sciences.

The Pleiades form the Dyak tutelary genius. Some among a bloodthirsty
and vengeful horde were even then pointing to the clustering stars that
promised quick voyage to the isle where their kinsmen had been struck
down by a white man who rescued a maid. Nevertheless, Grecian romance
and Dyak lore alike relegate the influence of the Pleiades to the sea.
Other stars are needed to foster enterprise ashore.

CHAPTER X

REALITY _V_. ROMANCE--THE CASE FOR THE PLAINTIFF

Night after night the Pleiades swung higher in the firmament; day after
day the sailor perfected his defences and anxiously scanned the ocean
for sign of friendly smoke or hostile sail. This respite would not have
been given to him, were it not for the lucky bullet which removed two
fingers and part of a third from the right hand of the Dyak chief. Not
even a healthy savage can afford to treat such a wound lightly, and ten
days elapsed before the maimed robber was able to move the injured limb
without a curse.

Meanwhile, each night Jenks slept less soundly; each day his face
became more careworn. He began to realize why the island had not been
visited already by the vessel which would certainly be deputed to
search for them--she was examining the great coast-line of China and
Siam.

It was his habit to mark the progress of time on the rudely made
sun-dial which sufficiently served their requirements as a clock. Iris
happened to watch him chipping the forty-fourth notch on the edge of
the horizontal block of wood.

"Have we really been forty-four days here?" she inquired, after
counting the marks with growing astonishment.

"I believe the reckoning is accurate," he said. "The _Sirdar_ was
lost on the 18th of March, and I make this the 1st of May."

"May Day!"

"Yes. Shall we drive to Hurlingham this afternoon?"

"Looked at in that way it seems to be a tremendous time, though indeed,
in some respects, it figures in my mind like many years. That