See here, my girl, this is all bunk. I don't believe a word of it. But
I don't want you to try any of your monkey tricks with Bananas. He ain't
a beauty, but he's a first-rate mate."

He would have said a good deal more, but he was tired out. He suddenly
felt very weak and faint. It was always at that hour that he felt worse.
He closed his eyes. The girl watched him for a minute and then slipped
out of the cabin. The moon, nearly full, made a silver pathway over the
dark sea. It shone from an unclouded sky. She looked at it with terror,
for she knew that with its death the man she loved would die. His life
was in her hands. She could save him, she alone could save him, but the
enemy was cunning, and she must be cunning too. She felt that someone
was looking at her, and without turning, by the sudden fear that seized
her, knew that from the shadow the burning eyes of the mate were fixed
upon her. She did not know what he could do; if he could read her
thoughts she was defeated already, and with a desperate effort she
emptied her mind of all content. His death alone could save her lover,
and she could bring his death about. She knew that if he could be
brought to look into a calabash in which was water so that a reflection
of him was made, and the reflection were broken by hurtling the water,
he would die as though he had been struck by lightning; for the
reflection was his soul. But none knew better than he the danger, and he
could be made to look only by a guile which had lulled his least
suspicion. He must never think that he had an enemy who was on the watch
to cause his destruction. She knew what she had to do. But the time was
short, the time was terribly short. Presently she realised that the mate
had gone. She breathed more freely.

Two days later they sailed, and there were ten now before the new moon.
Captain Butler was terrible to see. He was nothing but skin and bone,
and he could not move without help. He could hardly speak. But she dared
do nothing yet. She knew that she must be patient. The mate was cunning,
cunning. They went to one of the smaller islands of the group and
discharged cargo, and now there were only seven days more. The moment
had come to start. She brought some things out of the cabin she shared
with the captain and made them into a bundle. She put the bundle in the
deck cabin where she and Bananas ate their meals, and at dinner time,
when she went in, he turned quickly and she saw that he h