o doubt,'
said I, lifting the heavy cross and, as I stooped to shoulder it,
picking up the ship's mallet, which lay at my feet. 'Will it be
here--or here?' I asked, choosing the spot and prodding the sharpened
foot of the cross into the sand. . . . His face blanched.
'You accursed fool!' said I, 'do you suppose I haven't, these four
days, been watching you and the dog?'--and, as I said it, the point
of the mast struck upon timber. 'Come and help me to drive it deep,'
I commanded. 'If we can work it down within reach of mallet, three
taps will drive it so that it will stand firm above such tides as
reach this anchorage of hers.'

"He came down the beach heavily and we heaved our strength together,
driving the cross down by the coffin's head. 'The mallet is handy by
you,' said I. 'Pick it up and use it while I hold steady.'

"This work done, without another word between us, we returned, picked
up axe, saw, and a wallet to collect any specimens of fruit we might
find on our way, and, still without a word, breasted the hill side by
side, the dog running ahead of us.

"We got no farther that day than to the stream which ran between our
hill and the second volcano, the edge of which--like that of our own
broken and truncated one, ran down steeply to the western shore.
The wood beside the stream grew so thick, interlaced with tendrils of
tropical plants, that we were forced to turn aside and make for the
coast in hope to find a crossing.

"We descended into the sound of the beating surf before we found one:
and there an impish fancy took me. I had been losing grip on
Farrell, and despite my small triumph of that morning, I felt a
sudden desire to test him. Pretending that my purpose was only to
cross and report, I waded the stream and dodged upward through the
undergrowth; recrossed it, about a hundred yards above, crawled
another yard and again recrossed, all to baffle the hound's scent,
since from Farrell I could have hidden by this time securely enough.
In a very few minutes I heard his voice hallooing to me, and then the
dog's yelp began to chime in with it. By and by the beast, well
baffled, was baying hard through the undergrowth between me and the
surf.

"After a while of this play I crept out and strolled easily back to
my first ford, my hands in my pockets.

"'What the devil's up with your beast?' I asked, wading across to the
bank on which Farrell stood.

"His face was white. 'My God!' he said. 'I