l of passing steamers. If the Australasian had come near
enough once to sight the island, he argued, then the homeward-bound
vessel, _en route_ for Honolulu, must have begun to take a new course
considerably to the eastward of the old navigable channel. If this were
so, their obvious plan was to keep a watch, day and night, for another
passing Australian liner, and whenever one hove in sight, to steal away
to the shore, seize a stray canoe, overpower, if possible, their Shadows,
or give them the slip, and make one bold stroke for freedom on the open
ocean.

None of them could conceal from their own minds, to be sure, the extreme
difficulty of carrying out this programme. In the first place, it was a
toss-up whether they ever sighted another steamer at all; for during the
weeks they had already passed on the island, not a sign of one had
appeared from any quarter. Then, again, even supposing a steamer ever
hove in sight, what likelihood that they could make out for her in an
open canoe in time to attract attention before she had passed the island?
Tu-Kila-Kila would never willingly let them go; their Shadows would watch
them with unceasing care; the whole body of natives would combine
together to prevent their departure. If they ran away at all, they must
run for their lives; as soon as the islanders discovered they were gone,
every war-canoe in the place would be manned at once with bloodthirsty
savages, who would follow on their track with relentless persistence.

As for Muriel, less prepared for such dangerous adventures than the two
men, she was rather inclined to attach a certain romantic importance (as
a girl might do) to the story of the parrot and the possible disclosures
which it could make if it could only communicate with them. The
mysterious element in the history of that unique bird attracted her
fancy. "The only one of its race now left alive," she said, with slow
reflectiveness. "Like Dolly Pentreath, the last old woman who could speak
Cornish! I wonder how long parrots ever live? Do you know at all,
monsieur? You are the King of the Birds--you ought to be an authority on
their habits and manners."

The Frenchman smiled a gallant smile. "Unhappily, mademoiselle," he said,
"though, as a medical student, I took up to a certain extent biological
science in general at the College de France, I never paid any special or
peculiar attention in Paris to birds in particular. But it is the
universal opinion of the