nature of his expedition. She had gleaned enough from

von Horn to understand that some important scientific

experiments were to be undertaken; but what their

nature she could not imagine, for she had not the

slightest conception of the success that had crowned

her father's last experiment at Ithaca, although she

had for years known of his keen interest in the subject.

The girl became aware also of other subtle changes in

her father. He had long since ceased to be the jovial,

carefree companion who had shared with her her every

girlish joy and sorrow and in whom she had confided

both the trivial and momentous secrets of her

childhood. He had become not exactly morose, but

rather moody and absorbed, so that she had of late

never found an opportunity for the cozy chats that had

formerly meant so much to them both. There had been

too, recently, a strange lack of consideration for

herself that had wounded her more than she had

imagined. Today there had been a glaring example of it

in his having left her alone upon the boat without a

single European companion--something that he would

never have thought of doing a few months before.

As she sat speculating on the strange change which had

come over her father her eyes had wandered aimlessly

along the harbor's entrance; the low reef that

protected it from the sea, and the point of land to the

south, that projected far out into the strait like a

gigantic index finger pointing toward the mainland,

the foliage covered heights of which were just visible

above the western horizon.

Presently her attention was arrested by a tossing speck

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