“Why do you want to know?” inquired the commander of the Sea Queen, suspiciously, for usually the natives were only too glad to have a steamer spend some days at one of their islands.
“Oh, me just ask for friendly like. When you go?”
“In the morning, if the weather’s good,” was the answer.
“Walla t’ink wedder good,” said the native grinning. “You go mornin’.”
“Tom, there’s something wrong here!” said the commander a little later, as he and our hero walked down toward the beach. “That native is altogether too anxious to get rid of us.”
“Why—do you think——” began Tom, his heart beating fast.
“I don’t know what to think, my boy, but——”
“Do you imagine dad and mother—may have been here?”
“I don’t know, but I think that Walla knows something. I think we’ll just stroll around a bit, and we don’t leave to-morrow, no matter what the weather is.”