"I believe he is in with them," was the conclusion which Storms, the mate, finally reached, after watching and listening as best he could for several days. "They're hatching some conspiracy--most likely a mutiny to take possession of the ship. Captain Bergen doesn't suspect it--he is so absorbed in the pearl business; and I'll let him alone for the present, though it may be best to give him a hint or two to keep him on his guard."
It never can be known what the restraining power of little Inez Hawthorne was on board that vessel on her extraordinary voyage to the Paumotu Islands, in the South Seas. She lived over again the same life that was hers during the few days spent on the _Polynesia_. She ran hither and thither, climbing into dangerous places at times, but with such grace and command of her limbs that she never once fell or even lost her balance. She chatted and laughed with Brazzier and Redvig, but she preferred the others, and showed it so plainly in her manner, that, unfortunately, the two could not avoid noticing it.
"See here," said Captain Bergen, one evening while sitting in the cabin with the child on his knee, "I want you to try and think hard and answer me all the questions I ask you. Will you?"
"Of course I will, if you don't ask too hard ones."
"Well, I will be easy as I can. You have told me all about the big steamer that you were on when we found you, and you said that you lived with your Uncle Con in San Francisco, and that it was he and your Aunt Jemima that put you on board."
"I didn't say any such thing!" indignantly protested Inez. "I haven't got any Aunt Jemima--it was my Aunt Letitia."
The captain and mate smiled, for a little piece of strategy had succeeded. They had never before got the girl to give the name of her aunt, though she mentioned that of her uncle. But she now spoke it, her memory refreshed by the slight teasing to which she was subjected.
"That's very good. I'm glad to learn that your uncle and aunt had two such pretty names as Con and Letitia Bumblebee."
"Ain't you ashamed of yourself?" demanded Inez, turning upon him with flashing eyes. "I never heard of such a funny name as that."
"I beg pardon. What, then, is their name?"
The little head was bent and the fair brow wrinkled with thought. She had tried the same thing before, though it must be believed that she could not have tried very hard, or she would not have failed to remember the name of those with whom she lived but a short time before. But she used her brain to its utmost now, and it did not take her long to solve the question. In a few seconds she looked up and laughed.