“If I can’t persuade him, perhaps you can. Tell him to take the course I recommend.”
For some reason Nina’s cheeks grew scarlet under the brown tan of constant exposure to the weather, nor did a pronounced wink by Sturgess at Madge tend to restore her composure. But she met the Indian girl’s appeal with seeming nonchalance and bravely ignored the obvious inference.
“I suppose she thinks that I may exercise some influence in the matter, Alec,” she said, striving in vain to suppress a nervous little laugh. “I do honestly believe she means well. She is extraordinarily grateful to us. I have been watching her, and there is a dog-like devotion in her eyes when we render any little service that is reassuring.”
“Those islets out there may be bare rocks,” protested Maseden. He had little knowledge of sailing boats, and hesitated at a long trip in these fickle waters.
“Perhaps that is why she wishes us to go that way. They lie due east, and that is something in their favor.”
Still was he dubious, largely owing to the intervening stretch of open sea, but again he essayed to question their would-be pilot.
The girl was quite emphatic in her direction as to the course, and equally opposed to the more cautious method he favored. A good deal of this was expressed in pantomime, but it was none the less understandable.
Finally, finding that the others had faith in her, Maseden nodded to Madge, who was at the tiller, as the rudder had been shipped when the sail was hoisted; and the boat was put across the wind. The Indian girl smiled, and was satisfied. They lifted her down to her place amidships, where her head rested on the package of treasure, and she remained there contentedly many hours.
Long before the violet-hued blurs in front took definite shape as a group of two fair-sized islands, with trees, lying among a great many stark rocks, sticking straight up out of the sea, the voyagers became aware of at least one good reason for their guide’s choice of direction. The coast of Hanover Island began to fall away sharply to the northeast, and a wide gap opened up between it and the nearest land, a gap which must have been crossed in any event.