hat did not interrupt his talk, the captain with a heavy and anxious
consideration.

'Well, I must say this sherry is a really prime article,' said Huish.
''Ow much does it stand you in, if it's a fair question?'

'A hundred and twelve shillings in London, and the freight to
Valparaiso, and on again,' said Attwater. 'It strikes one as really not
a bad fluid.'

'A 'undred and twelve!' murmured the clerk, relishing the wine and the
figures in a common ecstasy: 'O my!'

'So glad you like it,' said Attwater. 'Help yourself, Mr Whish, and keep
the bottle by you.'

'My friend's name is Huish and not Whish, sit,' said the captain with a
flush.

'I beg your pardon, I am sure. Huish and not Whish, certainly,' said
Attwater. 'I was about to say that I have still eight dozen,' he added,
fixing the captain with his eye.

'Eight dozen what?' said Davis.

'Sherry,' was the reply. 'Eight dozen excellent sherry. Why, it seems
almost worth it in itself; to a man fond of wine.'

The ambiguous words struck home to guilty consciences, and Huish and the
captain sat up in their places and regarded him with a scare.

'Worth what?' said Davis.

'A hundred and twelve shillings,' replied Attwater.

The captain breathed hard for a moment. He reached out far and wide to
find any coherency in these remarks; then, with a great effort, changed
the subject.

'I allow we are about the first white men upon this island, sir,' said
he.

Attwater followed him at once, and with entire gravity, to the new
ground. 'Myself and Dr Symonds excepted, I should say the only ones,' he
returned. 'And yet who can tell? In the course of the ages someone may
have lived here, and we sometimes think that someone must. The cocoa
palms grow all round the island, which is scarce like nature's planting.
We found besides, when we landed, an unmistakable cairn upon the beach;
use unknown; but probably erected in the hope of gratifying some mumbo
jumbo whose very name is forgotten, by some thick-witted gentry whose
very bones are lost. Then the island (witness the Directory) has been
twice reported; and since my tenancy, we have had two wrecks, both
derelict. The rest is conjecture.'

'Dr Symonds is your partner, I guess?' said Davis.

'A dear fellow, Symonds! How he would regret it, if he knew you had been
here!' said Attwater.

''E's on the Trinity 'All, ain't he?' asked Huish.

'And if you could tell me where the Trinity 'All was, you would confer a
f