retty tidy
comfortable," observed Leslie's guest as he entered the tent and stared
about him in astonishment; "picters, fancy lamps, tables and chairs with
swagger cloths and jigmarees upon 'em, and a brass-mounted bedstead and
beddin' fit for a king! They're a blame sight better quarters than
you'll find aboard the _Minerva_, and so I tell ye."

Leslie laughed lightly. "What does that matter?" he demanded. "True, I
am fond of comfort, and always make a point of getting it where I can;
but I can rough it with anybody when it becomes necessary."

Dick was obliged to leave his guest alone in the tent for a short time
while he looked after the preparations for luncheon; and he had little
doubt that during his absence the man would without scruple peer and pry
into the other compartments of the tent. But to this contingency he was
quite indifferent, for he had foreseen and forestalled it, before going
off to the barque, by carefully gathering up and stowing away such few
traces of a woman's presence as Flora had left behind her. That
Turnbull had followed the natural propensity of men of his stamp was
made clear immediately upon Dick's return, for, quite unabashed, the
fellow remarked--

"I say, mister, you're doin' the thing in style here, and no mistake.
I've been havin' a look round this here tent of yourn while you've been
away, and I see as you've acshully got a pianner in the next room. And
where's your shipmate gone to?"

"My shipmate?" repeated Leslie, staring blankly at him.

"Ay, your shipmate," reiterated Turnbull, severely. "You told me you
was all alone here, but I see as you've got _two_ bedrooms rigged up
here. Who's t'other for, and where is he?"

"Really, Captain," said Dick, coldly, "I cannot see what possible
difference it can make to you whether I have a shipmate or not, if you
will pardon me for saying so. But," he continued, somewhat more
genially, "it is perfectly evident that you have never lived alone on an
island, or you would understand what a luxury it is to be able to change
one's sleeping-room occasionally."

"Oh, that's it, is it?" returned Turnbull, with sudden relief. "You
sleeps sometimes in one bed and sometimes in t'other, by way of a
change, eh?"

"As you see," answered Dick, briefly. "And now, will you draw up your
chair? It is not a very tempting meal that I can offer you; but you can
make up for it when you return to your ship this evening."

It was evident to L