d I shall, Dolly, and come back the same way. Don't you fear
for me, my lad," said I; "I've been in a fog before in my life, and out
of it, too, though I never loved them overmuch. If there's danger down
below, one man has eyes enough to see it. It would be a mortal waste
and pity that four should pay what one can give. But I won't forget
that you are hungry, and if there's roast duck about, Peter Bligh shall
have a wing, I promise him."

Well, they all sat up at this; and Peter Bligh, very solemnly crossing
his fingers after the Italian fashion, swore, as seamen will, that we'd
all go together, good luck or bad, the devil or the deep sea. Seth
Barker was no less determined upon it; and as for Dolly Venn, I believe
he'd have cried like a child if he'd been left behind. In the end I
gave way to them, and it was agreed that we should all set out
together, for better or worse, when the right time came.

"Your way, lads, not mine," said I; and pleased, too, at their
affection. "As you wish it, so shall it be; and that being agreed upon
I'll trouble Peter Bligh for his tobacco, for mine's low. We'll dine
this night, fog or no fog. 'Twould want to be something sulphurous, I'm
thinking, to put Peter off his grub. Aye, Peter, isn't that so? What
would you say now to an Irish stew with a bit of bacon in it, and a
glass of whisky to wash it down? Would fogs turn you back?"

"No, nor Saint Patrick himself, with a shillelagh in his hand. I'm
mortal empty, captain; and no man's more willing to leave this same
bird's nest though he had all the sulphur out of Vesuvius on his
diagram! We'll go down at sunset, by your leave, and God send us safely
back again!"

The others echoed my "Amen," and for an hour or more we all sat dozing
in the heat of the angry day. Once, I think towards seven bells of the
watch, Dolly Venn pointed out the funnels of a steamer on the northern
horizon; but the loom of the smoke was soon lost, and from that time
until six o'clock of the afternoon I do not think twenty words were to
be heard on the rock. We were just waiting, waiting, like weary men who
have a big work to do and are anxious to do it; and no sooner had the
sun gone down and a fresh breeze of night begun to blow, than we jumped
to our feet and told each other that the time had come.

"Do you, Peter, take the ladder and let Seth Barker steady the end of
it," said I. "The road's tricky enough, and precious little dinner
you'll get at the bottom