d helped
to bring you down into the cabin!"

"And what did you find?" demanded Leslie, anxiously.

"I found," answered Miss Trevor, "that the ship is lying stranded on an
immense reef of rocks, and is within about two miles of _land_--a large
island, I take it to be, for I can see the sea beyond each end of it.
But that is not the worst of it. The ship is a complete wreck, both her
masts being broken and lying in the water beside her, most of her
bulwarks broken and gone, and not one of the crew to be found!"

"I must get up; I really _must_!" insisted Leslie. "_Please_ do not
attempt to keep me here," he continued, as his companion strove to
dissuade him from his purpose. "I _must_ go on deck and take a look
round, if only for a few minutes, just to satisfy myself as to the
actualities of our situation. If I cannot do that, I shall simply lie
here and worry myself into a fever, thinking and fearing every
imaginable thing."

"Well," remarked the girl, doubtfully, "if that is to be the result of
confinement to your cabin, perhaps I had better yield to your wish and
allow you to go on deck, just for a few minutes. But you must promise
to be very good and obedient, to do exactly as I tell you, and--in
short, to leave yourself entirely in my hands. Will you?"

"Oh, of course I will," assented Leslie, with an eagerness and alacrity
that were not altogether convincing to his companion, who saw, however,
that she would have to yield somewhat to this headstrong patient of hers
if she wished to retain any control at all over him.

She accordingly assisted him first to sit up in his berth and then to
climb out of it--he still being dressed in the clothes that he was
wearing when the accident happened to him--and eventually, with very
considerable difficulty--Leslie finding himself curiously weak, and so
giddy that he could not stand without support--she contrived to get him
up the companion ladder and out on deck, where Sailor accorded them both
a boisterous and effusive welcome.

Arrived there, Leslie sank upon the short seat that ran fore and aft
alongside the companion cover, and cast his eyes about him. It was a
melancholy sight that met his view. The brig, with a list of about four
strakes to port, was hard and fast upon the inner edge of a reef that
seemed to be about a mile wide, and stretched for many miles in either
direction, ahead and astern, she lying broadside-on to the run of the
reef. The jury main