"What about petrol?"
"We've plenty to go on with. No fear of that."
"Well, good-bye for the present, M'ame Honorine. Shall I help you put the things on board?"
"Don't you trouble; you're in a hurry."
"Well, good-bye for the present," the old fellow repeated. "Till next time, M'ame Honorine. I'll have the parcels ready for you."
He went away, but, when he had gone a little distance, called out:
"All the same, mind the jagged reefs round that blessed island of yours! I tell you, it's got a nasty name! It's not called Coffin Island, the island of the thirty coffins, for nothing! Good luck to you, M'ame Honorine!"
He disappeared behind a rock.
Véronique had shuddered. The thirty coffins! The very words which she had read in the margin of that horrible drawing!
She leant forward. The woman had come a few steps nearer the boat and, after putting down some more provisions which she had been carrying, turned round.