the flesh would very rapidly become uneatable. Having hung
up the remainder, he placed a fire inside, piled up with green wood,
which burnt slowly, producing a large amount of smoke. Not until he had
done this did he--hungry as he was--fall to on the venison. Scarcely
had he put a morsel in his mouth than he thought of Lord Reginald.

"I wonder whether he has been able to procure any food like this," he
said to himself. "If not it will go hard with him, for although
shell-fish may do very well for a short time, with nothing else to live
on they would prove very unwholesome. However, I suppose he will come
to his senses by-and-by. If he makes his appearance, I shall be glad to
offer some to him. Fancy the proud young gentleman coming, hat in hand,
and asking for a slice of venison! I wonder poor Nep doesn't show
himself, as before, to get a meal. I should have thought his instinct
would have induced him to come. Surely his master cannot be so cruel as
to keep him back, unless he has found plenty of food for him."

Such thoughts occupied Dick's mind while he ate a hearty meal, the most
abundant he had enjoyed since the shipwreck. He had just finished, and
having hung up the remainder of the roast meat, was about to add more
fuel to the fire in his curing-house, when by chance looking up the
valley, he saw Neptune scampering rapidly along towards him.

"Oh, oh! knowing old fellow! He's found out there's something to eat in
this direction," said Dick. "He shall have it, too, and willingly would
I give it to his master."

As Neptune drew near, Dick was surprised to observe a piece of rope
round his neck, and a part trailing on the ground two or three feet in
length. In a minute Nep was up to him, licking his hand. Dick was at
once struck with his woebegone, starved appearance; the very countenance
of the dog seemed changed; there was even an expression of melancholy in
his eye, which spoke as much as words could have done. Dick examined
the rope, which was a pretty thick one, such as Neptune, strong as he
might be, could not have broken. The end, he was convinced, had been
gnawed through.

"Now, if that young lord hasn't had the barbarity to tie up the dog, to
prevent its coming to me," he exclaimed. "He deserves to starve, and I
suspect he and the dog have been doing that for some days, or Nep would
not look so thin and miserable," and he returned to his larder, followed
by Nep, who ravenously bolted