later, Bumpus was set down at the widow's door. Mrs. Stuart
received him with a scream of surprise and joy, for she had given him up
as a lost man.

"Now, then, Mrs. Stuart," said Jo, throwing himself on a chair and
wiping the perspiration from his forehead, "don't make such a fuss about
me, like a good creetur. But do get me a bit o' bacon, and let's be
thankful that I'm here to eat it. Cut it fat, Mrs. Stuart; cut it fat;
for it's wonderful wot a appetite I've got after such a mornin's work as
I've gone through. Well, well, after all that yer friends have said of
ye, Jo Bumpus, I do believe that yer _not_ born to be hanged!"

CHAPTER XXII.

THE RENDEZVOUS--AN EPISODE--PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES--OTHER MATTERS.

About five or six days' sail from the scene of our tale there lies one
of those small rocks or islets with which the breast of the Pacific is
in many places thickly studded.

It is a lonely coral isle, far removed from any of its fellows, and
presenting none of those grand features which characterize the island on
which the settlement of Sandy Cove was situated. In no part does it rise
more than thirty feet above the level of the sea; in most places it is
little more than a few feet above it. The coral reefs around it are
numerous; and as many of them rise to within a few feet of the surface,
the navigation in its neighborhood is dangerous in the extreme.

At the time of which we write, the vegetation of the isle was not very
luxuriant. Only a few clusters of cocoanut palms grew here and there
over its otherwise barren surface. In this respect it did not resemble
most of the other islands of the Pacific. Owing partly to its being out
of the usual course of ships, and partly to the dangerous reefs already
referred to, the spot was never approached by vessels, or, if a ship
happened to be driven towards it, she got out of its way as speedily as
possible.

This was the rendezvous of the pirates, and was named by them the Isle
of Palms.

Here, in caverns hollowed out of the coral rock, Gascoyne had been wont
to secrete such goods and stores as were necessary for the maintenance
of his piratical course of life; and to this lone spot did Manton convey
his prisoners after getting rid of his former commander. Towards this
spot, also, did Gascoyne turn the prow of the cutter Wasp in pursuit of
his mutinous first mate.

Manton, for reasons best known to himself (certainly not from goodness
of heart), was k