and in
another moment Captain Blyth, alive, well, and as hearty as ever, stood
once more on his own quarter-deck, shaking hands convulsively with
everybody who came near him, with the unheeded tears chasing each other
down his cheeks as he huskily replied to the enthusiastic greetings of
those who had long ago given him up for lost.

His story was a long one, but it may be condensed into a few words. The
raft, contrary to all expectation, had held together and lived through
the terrific hurricane, before which it was driven furiously to the
southward, to be wrecked eventually upon a small islet, whence, after
many months of hardship and privation, the skipper had been rescued by a
sandal-wood trader and conveyed to Singapore. He there joined the
barque, homeward bound, the hospitable skipper gladly offering him a
passage home, and, by a singular coincidence, had arrived in the river
only an hour or two ahead of his own ship. He was full of pride and
delight at the way in which Ned had outwitted the pirates at last and
run away with the ship; and could find no words in which to express his
admiration of Sibylla's courage under her long-protracted and trying
ordeal, and his gratitude at her escape; and when at length the stories
of the various actors in this little drama had been fully told, and he
had congratulated them upon their marvellous deliverance, he wound up
all by saying:

"Well, I took the ship out, it is true, and I lost her; but, thanks be
to God, I can now face my owners with the words, `There is your ship, in
as good order and condition as when you placed her in my charge; and if
I didn't get her back from the pirates for you, I at least had the
training of the man who did, which is almost as good, I take it.'"

The arrival home of the vessel, so long overdue, and the publication of
the adventures of those who went out and came home again in her, created
a profound sensation almost throughout the length and breadth of
England, and proved quite a god-send to the daily papers for a few days;
but it was soon obliterated by the occurrence of events of greater
importance to the community at large, and the chief personages of the
story were allowed to sink back into a welcome obscurity, although the
public interest in the subject was fitfully revived from time to time by
accounts of proceedings in connection with the restoration, as far as
possible, to its rightful owners of the booty brought home in the
_F