t to the island by means of this raft. I
offered to put her on it and let her float; but she refused,
preferring to be in the water.

"The river was pretty wide here, and the water was shallow, so that we
were able to wade for a long distance, pushing the raft before us. At
length it became deep, and then the lady held on while I floated and
tried to direct the raft toward the island. I had managed while wading
to guide the raft up the stream, so that when we got into deep water
the current carried us toward the island. At length we reached it
without much difficulty, and then, utterly worn out, I fell down on
the grass, and either fainted away or fell asleep.

"When I revived I had several very queer sensations. The first thing
that I noticed was that I hadn't any whiskers."

"What! no whiskers?"

"No--all gone; and my eyebrows and mustache, and every wisp of hair
from my head."

"See here, old fellow, do you mean to say that you've only taken one
year to grow those infernally long whiskers that you have now?"

"It's a fact, my boy!"

"I wouldn't have believed it; but some fellows can do such
extraordinary things. But drive on."

"Well, the next thing I noticed was that it was as smoky as ever. Then
I jumped up and looked around. I felt quite dry, though it seemed as
if I had just come from the river. As I jumped up and turned I saw my
friend. She looked much better than she had. Her clothes also were
quite dry. She greeted me with a mournful smile, and rose up from the
trunk of a tree where she had been sitting, and made inquiries after
my health with the most earnest and tender sympathy.

"I told her I was all right, laughed about my hair, and inquired very
anxiously how she was. She assured me that she was as well as ever.
Some conversation followed; and then, to my amazement, I found that I
had slept for an immense time, or had been unconscious, whichever it
was, and that the adventure had taken place on the preceding day. It
was now about the middle of the next day. You may imagine how
confounded I was at that.

[Illustration:
"ALL GONE; MY EYEBROWS, AND MUSTACHE, AND EVERY WISP OF
HAIR FROM MY HEAD."]

"The air was still abominably close and smoky; so I looked about the
island, and found a huge crevice in the rocks, which was almost a
cave. It was close by the water, and was far cooler than outside. In
fact, it was rather comfortable than otherwise. Here we took refuge,
and talked over our situati