She was telling him all the Island news, of new schooners, new stations, and new captains: of how old So-and-so had taken a new native wife, and Jack Bounce had been called down and thrashed by a new chum; of the stranding of the _Wee Willie_ whilst Cap'n Ben was locked in his cabin killing imaginary snakes, and how the new trader on Pleasant Island had got a forty-four Colt bullet through the back from Nigger Bill, as a gentle hint to clear out; that Billy Cæsar, a noted chief in the Hebrides, had been wearing out his teeth on tough missionary again; how the blackbirder _May Allen_ had lost a boat and her new recruiter in the Louisiade Archipelago, and numerous other small bits of South Sea gossip. "She's shore a peach!" assented Broncho to the bluejacket's remark. "Don't she smile be-e-autiful?" chimed in Jim, with an awestruck voice of admiration. "Lor, but she's a fine lady!" "You can see that stickin' out a foot," agreed Bill Benson. "She'll 'ave a gunny-sack o' dibs too, bein' 'Awksley's widder. 'Eavens! but she is 'traps,'" and he turned up his eyes expressively. "I don't surmise Jack'll let her handle any o' that Hawksley varmint's crooked-gained wad," declared Broncho. "He's powerful proud, is Jack." "An' what about them maroonin' jokers on the _Black Adder_?" queried the bosun's mate reflectively. "Does you-alls allow they're liable to come heavin' up on the scenery?" inquired the cowpuncher. "Very pre-obbable," said the bluejacket. "They may 'ave the curiosity to see 'ow we're makin' out. If that Dago Charlie--him that were 'Awksley's mate an' did the maroonin' act--if 'e, I sez, comes protrudin' that snaky schooner our way, there'll be trouble, sure; but I won't panic much if 'e do come mine-droppin' under our bows. I just itches to draw a bead on 'im with one o' these Winchesters. Howsomedever, I fancies he's too busy lootin' copra stations an' fishin' other jossers' pearls." "Let's bathe," proposed the boy suddenly; and rising languidly to their feet, they strolled off to the lagoon. Here they were wont to disport themselves in the water four or five times a day, and to Jack especially this was a great pleasure, for he found that his blindness was no great inconvenience in the water. As the lagoon of this atoll was completely surrounded by the growth, resulting from the toil of the coral insect, it was safe to bathe in it, without fear of the dreaded sharks which swarmed round the outer reef. It made an ideal bathing-place. The white beach shelved gradually, and such was the transparency of the water that the bottom, with its clumps of coral, its glittering pearl-oyster beds, and its brilliantly hued fish, could be seen with ease. Jim, the first few days on the island, fished with his usual ardour, and caught a number of queer-shaped marine monsters. He was all keenness to cook and eat his catch, but Jack and Tari put their veto upon it.