We began to think
more and more of getting in touch with civilization. What a tale we
should have to tell. How we should put it over the other explorers
with their trite Solomons and threadbare Marquesas!
"Where do you think we'll land, Captain?" I asked Triplett.
"Hard to say," he answered, "accordin' to compass-plant I'm steerin'
a straight course for anywhere, but accordin' to the jackass (he had
dropped the word "quadrant" since Swank's thrust) we're spinnin' a web
round these seas from where we started to nowhere via where we be."
[Illustration: Baahaabaa Mourning the Departure of His Friends]
[Illustration Note: BAAHAABAA MOURNING THE DEPARTURE OF HIS FRIENDS
In all the history of great friendships there is nothing more touching
and more noble than the beautiful bond which existed between Baahaabaa,
the simple, primitive chief of the Filbertines and the white men who
spent the happiest months of their lives on his island and then so
strangely vanished. For several days after their departure he spoke
no word. But every evening at sunset he took his place opposite an
opening in the reef where the Kawa had first made her appearance
and there he sat until darkness covered him.
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