island a few miles off the coast opposite the mouth of

a small river--an island which fulfilled in every

detail their requirements.

It was uninhabited, fertile and possessed a clear,

sweet brook which had its source in a cold spring in

the higher land at the island's center. Here it was

that the Ithaca came to anchor in a little harbor,

while her crew under von Horn, and the Malay first

mate, Bududreen, accompanied Professor Maxon in search

of a suitable location for a permanent camp.

The cook, a harmless old Chinaman, and Virginia were

left in sole possession of the Ithaca.

Two hours after the departure of the men into the

jungle Virginia heard the fall of axes on timber and

knew that the site of her future home had been chosen

and the work of clearing begun. She sat musing on the

strange freak which had prompted her father to bury

them in this savage corner of the globe; and as she

pondered there came a wistful expression to her eyes,

and an unwonted sadness drooped the corners of her mouth.

Of a sudden she realized how wide had become the gulf

between them now. So imperceptibly had it grown since

those three horrid days in Ithaca just prior to their

departure for what was to have been but a few months'

cruise that she had not until now comprehended that the

old relations of open, good-fellowship had gone,

possibly forever.

Had she needed proof of the truth of her sad discovery

it had been enough to point to the single fact that her

father had brought her here to this little island

without making the slightest attempt to explain the

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