they were both English Dick had already
ascertained; he therefore did not go through the formality of inquiring
their nationality, but at once addressed them in his and their own
language.

"Well, lads," he exclaimed cheerfully, "I hope you are feeling better?"

"Thank you, sir," answered the one who had lifted his cap, "yes, we are
beginning to pull round again all right. And I am glad to have this
early opportunity to thank you on behalf of myself and the bo'sun here
for the service you've done us in taking us off the raft and bringing us
ashore here. You've saved our lives, sir; there's no mistake about
that, and we're both very much obliged to you, I'm sure."

"Ay, ay; right ye are, Mr Nicholls; very much obliged indeed we are;
and that's puttin' the matter in a nutshell," supplemented the second
man, with another sea-scrape of his foot.

Leslie was agreeably surprised at these men's appearance, now that they
had removed from their persons the most repulsive evidences of their
late misfortune, for whereas when he had taken them off the raft they
were a pair of perfect scarecrows, mere skeletons, dirty, and in
rags, they now--although still of course thin, haggard, and
cadaverous-looking--wore the semblance of thoroughly honest,
trustworthy, and respectable seamen. One of them, indeed, the younger
of the two, who had been addressed by his companion as "Mr Nicholls,"
presented the appearance of a quite exceptionally smart young sailor,
and Leslie at once put him down for--what he presently proved to be--the
second mate of the lost ship. As for the other, Nicholls had spoken of
him as "the bo'sun;" and he looked it--an elderly man, of burly build no
doubt when in health, straightforward and honest as the day, and a prime
seaman; "every finger a fish-hook, and every hair a ropeyarn." Leslie
felt delighted beyond measure at the acquisition of two such invaluable
assistants as these men would certainly prove so soon as they had
recovered their lost strength.

"Oh, that is all right," said Dick, in response to their expressions of
thanks; "I am, of course, very glad that it has fallen to my lot to
render you such a service. And it was no doubt a lucky accident for you
that I happened to be cruising outside the reef to-day. But for that
circumstance I should certainly not have seen the raft, and in that case
I am afraid there would have been no hope for you, for the raft would
have passed some miles to the westw