rries, and
if so we shall soon have something to drink instead of this nectar, of
which I confess I am beginning to get very tired, delicious as it tasted
while I was suffering from fever."

Dick sighed as he thought, "Perhaps the young lord will get tired of
other things, as also of my society, when he regains his strength."

His companion looked at him, but made no remark. "What about the boat
you propose building?" asked Lord Reginald, when breakfast was over.
"Could not we begin on that? And if you will show me how I can best
help you, we will lose no time."

"I am very sure your lordship--I beg your pardon--you are not strong
enough to do any heavy work," answered Dick, "especially in the sun. I
must first make you a hat such as I wear, which will help to guard your
head, and we will then, in the cool of the evening, begin work. We must
first strip off the bark from the outside, then cut away the angles at
the bows and stern. By-the-by, I have just remembered finding some
books in an officer's chest, and though I cannot read them, as they are
in French, they may amuse you while I am at work."

"That is fortunate," exclaimed Lord Reginald. "Pray get the books, and
let me have a look at them. I shall be very glad to read while you are
at work, if you still insist on my not helping you."

Dick hurried out to his store-room, and soon returned with several
volumes. Two were on navigation, another on astronomy, and a fourth on
natural history; but Lord Reginald found that the others were not such
as were likely to prove edifying either to himself or Dick. He first
took up one, and glancing over its pages, said, "Throw that into the
fire." A second and a third were treated in the same way. He looked at
the last more carefully, but finished by saying, "Let that go, too. I
am very sure that it will be better not to read at all than to fill our
minds with the evil thoughts such works as these are likely to create.
I should at one time have been amused, and considered that there was no
harm in perusing such tales. After being so mercifully preserved, I
look at matters in a very different light. I am sure that allowing our
minds to dwell on any such subjects as those books contained, is
offensive to a pure and holy God. What would I not give for some really
well-written books, and more than anything for a Bible, which, after
all, as I have often heard my mother say, is the Book of books."

"I have heard my