"But it's a fact that these seas are constantly changing," said Barnett. "They're so little travelled that no one happens to be around to see an island born. I don't suppose there's a part on the earth's surface more liable to seismic disturbances than this region." "Seismic!" cried Billy Edwards, "I should say it was seismic! Why, when a native of one of these island groups sets his heart on a particular loaf of bread up his bread-fruit tree, he doesn't bother to climb after it. Just waits for some earthquake to happen along and shake it down to him." "Good boy, Billy," said Dr. Trendon, approvingly. "Do another." "It's a fact," said the ensign, heatedly. "Why, a couple of years back there was a trader here stocked up with a lot of belly-mixture in bottles. Thought he was going to make his pile because there'd been a colic epidemic in the islands the season before. Bottles were labelled 'Do not shake.' That settled his business. Might as well have marked 'em 'Keep frozen' in this part of the world. Fellow went broke." "In any case," said Barnett, "such a glow as that we sighted last night I've never seen from any volcano." "Nor I," said Trendon. "Don't prove it mightn't have been." "I'll just bet the best dinner in San Francisco that it isn't," said Edwards. "You're on," said Carter. "Let me in," suggested Ives. "And I'll take one of it," said McGuire. "Come one, come all," said Edwards cheerily. "I'll live high on the collective bad judgment of this outfit." "To-night isn't likely to settle it, anyhow," said Ives. "I move we turn in." Expectant minds do not lend themselves to sound slumber. All night the officers of the _Wolverine_ slept on the verge of waking, but it was not until dawn that the cry of "Sail-ho!" sent them all hurrying to their clothes. Ordinarily officers of the U.S. Navy do not scuttle on deck like a crowd of curious schoolgirls, but all hands had been keyed to a high pitch over the elusive light, and the bet with Edwards now served as an excuse for the betrayal of unusual eagerness. Hence the quarter-deck was soon alive with men who were wont to be deep in dreams at that hour. They found Carter, whose watch on deck it was, reprimanding the lookout. "No, sir," the man was insisting, "she didn't show no light, sir. I'd 'a' sighted her an hour ago, sir, if she had." "We shall see," said Carter grimly. "Who's your relief?" "Sennett." "Let him take your place. Go aloft, Sennett." As the lookout, crestfallen and surly, went below, Barnett said in subdued tones: "Upon my word, I shouldn't be surprised if the man were right. Certainly there's something queer about that hooker. Look how she handles herself."