Poll," replied the captain, musingly. "I wonder why
it is that some men seem as if they had been meant for women; maybe it
is by way of balancing those women who seem to have been meant for men!"

Polly listened to this with a look of grave consideration, but not
having formed an opinion on the subject, wisely held her tongue.

Meanwhile O'Rook led his companion towards the highest part of the
islet, which, being clear of trees, seemed likely to afford them a good
outlook. The sailor was a man of inquiring disposition, and, being of a
free-and-easy nature, did not hesitate to speak out his mind on all
occasions. After walking beside his tall companion and eyeing his thin
figure and sad countenance in silence for some time, he said--

"You're a cadaverous sort o' man, Mr Luke."

"Think so?" said Mr Luke, gently.

"Of course; I can't help thinkin' so, because I see it," returned
O'Rook. "Was it a fall, now, w'en you was a babby, that did it, or
measles?"

"Neither, that I am aware of," replied Mr Luke, with a good-natured
smile; "my father before me was cadaverous."

"Ah!" said O'Rook, with a look of sympathy, as he touched the region of
his heart with his left thumb, "p'r'aps it was somethin' o' this sort,
eh? I've bin through that myself in the ould country, where as purty
a--well, well, it's all over now, but I've a fellow-feelin' for--"

"No," interrupted Mr Luke, with a sigh, "it wasn't a disappointment, it
was--oh! what a splendid view!"

They had reached the top of the ridge at the moment, and the view of the
verdant islet that burst upon them might well have called forth
admiration from men of coarser mould than they.

O'Rook forgot for a few minutes the subject of his curiosity, and
compared the prospect to some of the beautiful scenery of Ireland,
though there was no resemblance whatever between the two. He soon
returned, however, to the previous subject of conversation, but Mr Luke
had ceased to be communicative.

"What is that lying on the beach there?" he said, pointing in the
direction referred to.

"It's more than I can tell," answered O'Rook; "looks like a boat, don't
it?"

"Very," said Mr Luke, "and there is something lying beside it like a
man. Come, let's go see."

The two explorers went rapidly down the gentle slope that led to the
beach, and soon found that the object in question was indeed a boat,
old, rotten, and blistered with the sun. Beside it lay the skeleton of
a man,