Ten days before the Maritana left Brabant bade his wife goodbye, for the Loelia was to sail first. He kissed her but once, and looked so searchingly into her eyes as he held her hand that every vestige of colour left her cheeks.
“You must try and enjoy yourself,” he said. “Minea” (her Samoan maid) “and you will be very comfortable on board. You'll have the entire cabin to yourselves, as Lester will take up his quarters in the deck-house.”
Half an hour later he was giving Lester his final instructions.
“You will not leave Sydney till either you hear from me or see me. I may follow you in the Loelia in a month. But no one else is to know this—not even Mrs. Brabant.”
“You may depend on me,” replied Lester.
“I know it well. Goodbye, Lester.”
That evening the Loelia sailed from Levuka. Pedro Diaz had been transferred from the Maritana and was now mate of the cutter.
As night came on, and the green hills of Ovalau Island changed to purple, Brabant turned suddenly to his officer.
“Come below, Pedro, I want to talk to you.”