small spirals of sand were
eddying up from the bottom, where it shelved steeply from the shore.

Iris followed him. "See," she cried excitedly. "I was not mistaken.
There _was_ something here."

A creepy sensation ran up the man's spine and passed behind his ears.
At this spot the drowned Lascars were lying. Like an inspiration came
the knowledge that the cuttlefish, the dreaded octopus, abounds in the
China Sea.

His face was livid when he turned to Iris. "You are over-wrought by
fatigue, Miss Deane," he said. "What you saw was probably a seal;" he
knew the ludicrous substitution would not be questioned. "Please go and
lie down again."

"I cannot," she protested. "I am too frightened."

"Frightened! By a dream! In broad daylight!"

"But why are _you_ so pale? What has alarmed you?"

"Can you ask? Did you not give the agreed signal?"

"Yes, but--"

Her inquiring glance fell. He was breathless from agitation rather than
running. He was perturbed on her account. For an instant she had looked
into his soul.

"I will go back," she said quietly, "though I would rather accompany
you. What are you doing?"

"Seeking a place to lay our heads," he answered, with gruff
carelessness. "You really must rest, Miss Deane. Otherwise you will be
broken up by fatigue and become ill."

So Iris again sought her couch of sand, and the sailor returned to the
skeleton. They separated unwillingly, each thinking only of the other's
safety and comfort. The girl knew she was not wanted because the man
wished to spare her some unpleasant experience. She obeyed him with a
sigh, and sat down, not to sleep, but to muse, as girls will,
round-eyed, wistful, with the angelic fantasy of youth and innocence.

CHAPTER IV

RAINBOW ISLAND

Across the parched bones lay the stick discarded by Jenks in his alarm.
He picked it up and resumed his progress along the pathway. So closely
did he now examine the ground that he hardly noted his direction. The
track led straight towards the wall of rock. The distance was not
great--about forty yards. At first the brushwood impeded him, but soon
even this hindrance disappeared, and a well-defined passage meandered
through a belt of trees, some strong and lofty, others quite immature.

More bushes gathered at the foot of the cliff. Behind them he could see
the mouth of a cave; the six months' old growth of vegetation about the
entrance gave clear indication as to the time which had elapsed sinc