ived my
promotion yesterday, and I asked to be transferred for immediate
service. I may get my orders any day. If I send thee, I may have to
sail without thee, and yet not see my wife and child. No, I will not
part with thee, Snorro; thou art a certain gain, and about the rest, I
will think well. Now we will say no more, for I am weary and weak; my
head aches also, and I fear I have fever again."

The next day Jan was very ill, and it was soon evident that typhoid
fever of a long and exhausting character had supervened on a
condition enfeebled by African malaria. For many weeks he lay below
the care of love or life, and indeed it was August when he was able
to get on deck again. Then he longed for the open sea, and so urged
his desire, that he received an immediate exchange to the ship Hydra,
going out to Borneo with assistance for Rajah Brooke, who was waging
an exterminating war against the pirates of the Chinese and Indian
seas.

The new ship was a very fine one, and Jan was proud of his command.
Snorro also had been assigned to duty on her, having special charge of
a fine Lancaster gun which she carried, and no words could express
his pride and joy in his position. She was to sail on the 15th day of
August, one hour after noon, and early in the morning of that day, Jan
went off the ship alone. He went direct to the Post Office, and with
trembling hands, for he was still very weak, he dropped into it the
following letter:

MY DEAR WIFE--MY FAIR DEAR MARGARET:

I have never ceased to love thee. Ask Dr. Balloch to tell thee
all. To-day I leave for the Chinese sea. If thou wilt forgive and
forget the past, and take me again for thy husband, have then a
letter waiting for me at the Admiralty Office, and when I return I
will come to Shetland for thee. Snorro is with me. He hath told me
all about thy goodness, and about our little Jan. Do what thy
heart tells thee to do, and nothing else. Then there will be
happiness. Thy loving husband,

JAN VEDDER.

A few hours after this letter had been posted Jan stood on his quarter
deck with his face to the open sea, and Snorro, in his new uniform,
elate with joy and pride, was issuing his first orders to the
quarter-master, and feeling that even for him, life had really begun
at last.

CHAPTER XIII.

LITTLE JAN'S TRIUMPH.

"I deemed thy garments, O my hope, were gray,
So far I viewed thee. Now the space between
Is passed at leng