Her troubled brain refused to wonder at such a reply from an ordinary seaman.

The sailor deliberately spilled the contents of a remaining leaf on the sand.
"No, madam," he said, with an odd mixture of deference and firmness.
"No more at present.

I must first procure you some food." She looked up at him in momentary silence.
"The ship is lost ?" she said after a pause.
"Yes, madam." "Are we the only people saved ?" "I fear so." "Is this a desert island ?" "I think not, madam.

It may, by chance, be temporarily uninhabited, but fishermen from China come to all these places to collect tortoise-shell and _beche-de-mer_.

I have seen no other living beings except ourselves; nevertheless, the islanders may live on the south side." Another pause.