"What!" cried the mate. "Do you mean to say you are going back to the island--in that boat--all by yourself?" "I am going back to the island," answered the Captain, as quietly as ever; "in this boat--all by myself." He pushed off from the ship, and hoisted the sail as he spoke. "You're deserting your duty!" the old sea-dog shouted, with one of his loudest oaths. "Attend to my directions," the Captain shouted back, as he drifted away into the darkness. Mr. Duncalf--violently agitated for the first time in his life--took leave of his superior officer, with a singular mixture of solemnity and politeness, in these words: "The Lord have mercy on your soul! I wish you good-evening." VIII. ALONE in the boat, the Captain looked with a misgiving mind at the flashing of the volcano on the main island. If events had favored him, he would have removed Aimata to the shelter of the ship on the day when he saw the emptied basin on the lake. But the smoke of the Priest's sacrifice had been discovered by the chief; and he had dispatched two canoes with instructions to make inquiries. One of the canoes had returned; the other was kept in waiting off the cape, to place a means of communicating with the main island at the disposal of the Priest. The second shock of earthquake had naturally increased the alarm of the chief. He had sent messages to the Priest, entreating him to leave the island, and other messages to Aimata suggesting that she should exert her influence over her father, if he hesitated. The Priest refused to leave the Temple. He trusted in his gods and his sacrifices--he believed they might avert the fatality that threatened his sanctuary. Yielding to the holy man, the chief sent re-enforcements of canoes to take their turn at keeping watch off the headland. Assisted by torches, the islanders were on the alert (in superstitious terror of the demon of the prophecy) by night as well as by day. The Captain had no alternative but to keep in hiding, and to watch his opportunity of approaching the place in which he had concealed his canoe. It was only after Aimata had left him as usual, to return to her father at the close of evening, that the chances declared themselves in his favor. The fire-flashes from the mountain, visible when the night came, had struck terror into the hearts of the men on the watch. They thought of their wives, their children, and their possessions on the main island, and they one and all deserted their Priest. The Captain seized the opportunity of communicating with the ship, and of exchanging a frail canoe which he was ill able to manage, for a swift-sailing boat capable of keeping the sea in the event of stormy weather. As he now neared the land, certain small sparks of red, moving on the distant water, informed him that the canoes of the sentinels had been ordered back to their duty.