“I would not have it otherwise were it in my power,” he answered.  For an instant he left unchallenged the girl’s assumption that she was in any way responsible for the disasters which had broken up his career.  He looked into her eyes and almost forgot himself.  Then the sense of fair dealing that dominates every true gentleman rose within him and gripped his wavering emotions with ruthless force.  Was this a time to play upon the high-strung sensibilities of this youthful daughter of the gods, to seek to win from her a confession of love that a few brief days or weeks might prove to be only a spasmodic, but momentarily all-powerful, gratitude for the protection he had given her?

And he spoke aloud, striving to laugh, lest his words should falter—­

“You can console yourself with the thought, Miss Deane, that your presence on the island will in no way affect my fate at the hands of the Dyaks.  Had they caught me unprepared today my head would now be covered with a solution of the special varnish they carry on every foreign expedition.”

“Varnish?” she exclaimed.

“Yes, as a preservative, you understand.”

“And yet these men are human beings!”

“For purposes of classification, yes.  Keeping to strict fact, it was lucky for me that you raised the alarm, and gave me a chance to discount the odds of mere numbers.  So, you see, you really did me a good turn.”

“What can be done now to save our lives?  Anything will be better than to await another attack.”

“The first thing to do is to try to get some sleep before daylight.  How did you know I was not in the Castle?”

“I cannot tell you.  I awoke and knew you were not near me.  If I wake in the night I can always tell whether or not you are in the next room.  So I dressed and came out.”

“Ah!” he said, quietly.  “Evidently I snore.”

This explanation killed romance.

Iris retreated and the sailor, tired out at last, managed to close his weary eyes.

Next morning he hastily constructed a pole of sufficient length and strong enough to bear his weight, by tying two sturdy young trees together with ropes.  Iris helped him to raise it against the face of the precipice, and he at once climbed to the ledge.

Here he found his observations of the previous night abundantly verified.  The ledge was even wider than he dared to hope, nearly ten feet deep in one part, and it sloped sharply downwards from the outer lip of the rock.  By lying flat and carefully testing all points of view, he ascertained that the only possible positions from which even a glimpse of the interior floor could be obtained were the branches of a few tall trees and the extreme right of the opposing precipice, nearly ninety yards distant.  There was ample room to store water and provisions, and he quickly saw that even some sort of shelter from the fierce rays of the sun and the often piercing cold of the night might be achieved by judiciously rigging up a tarpaulin.