No ship's boat could live in that sea, even if the crew were able to launch one.

It was another of ocean's tragedies, with the fifth act left to the imagination.
To examine every sand patch and tree-covered shoal in the China Sea was an impossible task.

All the _Orient_ could do was to visit the principal islands and institute inquiries among the fishermen and small traders.

At last, the previous night, a Malay, tempted by hope of reward, boarded the vessel when lying at anchor off the large island away to the south, and told the captain a wondrous tale of a devil-haunted place inhabited by two white spirits, a male and a female, whither a local pirate named Taung S'Ali had gone by chance with his men and suffered great loss.

But Taung S'Ali was bewitched by the female spirit, and had returned there, with a great force, swearing to capture her or perish.