"They had a hard time, but they have won him over, and he is pledged to go with them."
"And you have tried to gain the good will of Pomp?"
"I have done my utmost, and have treated him with unusual leniency, making him many presents, some of which I gave him to understand came from you. But they've got him, for all that. There's our greatest safeguard."
As the mate spoke, he pointed to Inez, who, at that moment, came bounding up the steps of the cabin and ran laughing forward.
"Pomp thinks all the world of her, and she will be the peacemaker, perhaps."
"No; they wouldn't hesitate any more over killing her than they would in killing us."
"The villains!" muttered the horrified captain. "I never conceived it possible that any human being could fail to love such beauty and innocence as hers."
"There is no immediate danger," said the mate, somewhat surprised to observe how completely the discovery had taken possession of the mind of the captain. "Let's give our attention now to the business upon which we came, and there will be time enough to think of the other matter between now and nightfall."
Captain Bergen was sorely perplexed, but the circumstances were such that he was able to follow the suggestion of his faithful mate. They were now close to the island, which was of that singular formation so frequently seen in the Pacific. Countless millions of tiny insects, toiling through many years, had gradually lifted the foundations of coral from the depths of the ocean, until the mass, in the form of a gigantic ring or horse-shoe, was above the surface. Upon this had gradually gathered sand, seeds and vegetable matter, in the usual way, until beneath the tropical sun and the balmy climate the "desert blossomed like the rose." This took a long while, but the process it went through was similar to that of hundreds of much larger islands which to-day rest like nosegays upon the bosom of the vast Pacific.
Among these fruits were the banana, plantain, breadfruit, and a sort of mango, found in Farther India, and which, at first disliked, becomes in time a great favorite with every one. Most singular of all was the fact that at two widely-separated points burst forth a spring of clear, fresh water.