of her own village, for fear that the relatives of
the murdered chiefs, Rao and Jelik, and other people of Ailap, would
kill her. But in some way Sepe had betrayed herself, and Letane was now
having a strict watch kept upon the girl by two or three of her women
attendants whom she had sent to reside in Ijeet, as Jinaban's village
was called. Ostensibly they had gone to visit some relatives there.
Sepe, however, was always on her guard, and so far the spies had learnt
nothing fresh.

At Porter's request the trader's wife gave him a description of Sepe's
appearance, and also described the exact position of the house in which
she lived with her mother. Then the half-caste unfolded his plan to
Palmer and his wife.

"And now," he said, "I must go. If I stay longer it may spoil our plans
by making Jinaban's friend suspicious. Give me the bottle of gin,
and I'll carry it so that every one can see it as I walk through the
village. And you must get all your men out of the way by the time I come
back. They might shoot me, but the women will be too frightened."

Palmer went to his trade room and returned with a large bottle of
Hollands, which he gave to Porter, together with a box of revolver
cartridges; these the half-caste carefully concealed in the bosom of his
singlet. Then, shaking hands with the trader and his wife, he walked out
of the house, down the steps, and along the path to the village.

"Parma," said Letane to her husband, as they watched the seaman
disappear among the coco-palms, "dost think this man will be true to us
in this thing?"

"Aye," replied the trader, "sure am I of his good faith; for he it
was who four years ago, single-handed, fought two hundred of the wild
man-eaters of the Solomon Islands, when they captured the ship in which
he sailed, and slew every man on board but himself. Twenty-and-three of
those devils of _kai tagata_ (cannibals) did he kill with his Winchester
rifle from the fore-top of the ship, although he was slashed in the
thigh with a deep knife wound, and was faint from loss of blood. And
then when the rest had fled in their canoes he came down and steered
the ship away from the land and sailed her in safety to a place called
Rubiana where white men dwell."

"Ah-h-h!" and Letane's dark eyes opened wide in admiration.

*****

An hour later Frank Porter, with an half-emptied bottle of liquor placed
before him on the matted floor, was sitting in a house in Jinaban's
village, surr