n her conduct, disappeared; and I found her society more
charming and her conversation more frank and enjoyable every day.

There was not a particle of coquettishness, or nonsense of any kind,
about her, and she made no hesitation whatever about acknowledging,
frankly yet modestly, the warmth of her affection.

She questioned me eagerly, and with the utmost interest, about my
father; and I saw with delight that there was already springing up
within her breast a feeling of regard for him, simply _because_ he
happened to be my father, which promised, with but a little
encouragement, to blossom into deep affection.

In the prospect of finding the treasure she also exhibited an interest,
but it was nothing in comparison with the other. On one occasion, for
example, when in speaking of it, I endeavoured to explain to her that
there was no absolute _certainty_ of our being able to find it, and that
if we failed I should be compelled of necessity to return to my own
profession as a means of support, she replied, "Well, Harry, dear, I
really _do_ hope you _will_ find it, for it would be very hard to have
you away from me for many months at a time, or indeed at all; but I
could reconcile myself to that if we only happen to be fortunate enough
to find your dear father, so that I might have the satisfaction of
knowing that when my darling was absent from me, he would be with a
beloved parent."

She was not at all insensible to the advantages of wealth; but I could
see, in many little ways, that she was quite sincere in the statement
she often made, that she would willingly sacrifice our chances of
securing the gold for the certainty of discovering my father.

When I went on deck at seven-bells, in answer to Bob's call, on the
morning but one succeeding the day of our departure from the island, I
found that the wind had dropped almost to a dead calm, the _Lily_ making
no more than about three knots, and that there was a heavy sultry
feeling in the air, quite different from the usual freshness of the sea
breeze. A thin and almost impalpable vapour was spread over the entire
firmament, like a curtain, and away to the eastward a heavy bank of dark
menacing cloud was slowly rising above the horizon.

A glance at the aneroid, which was fixed in the companion-way, so as to
be visible to the helmsman, revealed the fact that the pointer of the
instrument had gone considerably back; and this, together with the
threatening aspect of