The officer shook the young seaman’s hand.  “I for one will have no hand in it, my lad; and I wish there were more of us on board of our way of thinking.  I wish we could leave the ship.  I would rather die of thirst on the open ocean ...  Macy, my lad, will you stand to me?”

“Stand to you, sir!  Aye, Mr. North.  If you mean to take to our boat, sir, I am with you.”

“No,” answered North in a whisper.  “That, after all, would only save us two from being mixed up in this murderous business—­I want to prevent it altogether.  Have you heard how far it is across the island to this place Leasse?”

“Seven miles, sir, over the mountains.”

“And twenty by the boats!  Macy, I am determined to leave the ship to-night, cut across the island, and save the poor people from massacre.  Will you come?  We may pay for it with our lives.”

The harpooner raised his rough hand.  “We must all die some day, sir.”

For some minutes they conversed in whispered tones; then Macy slipped on deck, and North took his pistols from their racks, filled his coat pockets with ammunition, and then followed him.  His own boat was lying astern.

Telling the cooper, who was the only one of the afterguard on deck, that he was going ashore to look at the dance, and that only Macy and another hand need come with him, North ordered the boat to be hauled alongside.  A quarter of an hour later he and Macy stepped out upon the shore under the shadow of a high bluff, and quite out of view from Ross and his party, although the many camp-fires cast long lines of light across the sleeping waters of the little harbour.

Informing the boat-keeper that they should return in a couple of hours, the two men first walked along the beach in the direction of the encampment.  Then once out of sight from the boat, they struck inland into a deep valley through which, Macy said, a narrow track led up to the range, and then downwards to the two villages.  After a careful search the track was found, and the bright stars shining through the canopy of leaves overhead gave them sufficient light to pursue their way.  For two hours they toiled along through the silent forest, hearing no sound except now and then the affrighted rush of some startled wild boar, and, far distant, the dull cry of the ever-restless breakers upon the coral reef.  At last the summit of the range was reached, and they sat down to rest upon the thick carpet of fallen leaves which covered the ground.  Here North took a spirit-flask from his jacket, and Macy and he drank in turns.

“Do you know, sir,” said Macy, as he returned the flask to the officer, “that there’s a white man living at this village?”

“He’s not there now, Macy.  He’s gone away to another island in his cutter.”