formation about Seabridge and the _Foam_.

"The _Swallow's_ just come up in the tier," he concluded; "and if you
want to see Mr. Fraser, I'll go and see if he's aboard."

The skipper agreed, and after exacting renewed assurances of secrecy
from both men, waited impatiently in the private bar of the Waterman's
Arms while they put off from the stairs and boarded the steamer.

In twenty minutes, during which time the penniless skipper affected
not to notice the restless glances of the landlord, they returned
with Fraser, and a hearty meeting took place between the two men. The
famished skipper was provided with meat and drink, while the two A. B.'s
whetted their thirst in the adjourning bar.

"You've had a rough time," said Fraser, as the skipper concluded a
dramatic recital of his adventures.

Flower smiled broadly. "I've come out of it right side uppermost," he
said, taking a hearty pull at his tankard; "the worst part was losing my
money. Still, it's all in the day's work. Joe tells me that Elizabeth is
walking out with Gibson, so you see it has all happened as I bargained
for."

"I've heard so," said Fraser.

"It's rather soon after my death," said Flower, thoughtfully; "she's
been driven into it by her mother, I expect. How is Poppy?"

Fraser told him.

"I couldn't wish her in better hands, Jack," said the other, heartily,
when he had finished; "one of these days when she knows everything--at
least, as much as I shall tell her--she'll be as grateful to you as what
I am."

"You've come back just in time," said Fraser, slowly; "another week, and
you'd have lost her."

"Lost her?" repeated Flower, staring.

"She's going to New Zealand," replied the other; "she's got some
relations there. She met an old friend of her father's the other day,
Captain Martin, master of the _Golden Cloud_, and he has offered her a
passage. They sail on Saturday from the Albert Dock."

Flower pushed the tankard from him, and regarded him in consternation.

"She mustn't go," he said, decisively.

Fraser shrugged his shoulders. "I tried to persuade her not to, but it
was no use. She said there was nothing to stay in England for; she's
quite alone, and there is nobody to miss her."

"Poor girl," said Flower, softly, and sat crumbling his bread and gazing
reflectively at a soda-water advertisement on the wall. He sat so long
in this attitude that his companion also turned and studied it.

"She mustn't go," said Flower, at leng