g water from a fountain in fairy realms. Up in the clouds; high
in the blue ether; down in the coral caves; deep in the ocean waves; out
on the mountain heaths; far in the rocky glens, or away in the wild
woods green--it was all one to Glynn; he leaped away in an instant, with
a long train of adventurers at his heels--male and female, little and
big, old and young, pretty and plain, grave and gay. And didn't they go
through adventures that would have made the hair of mortals not only
stand on end, but fly out by the roots altogether? Didn't he make them
talk, as mortals never talked before; and sing as mortals never dreamed
of? And, oh! didn't he just make them stew, and roast, and boil joints
of savoury meat, and bake pies, and tarts, and puddings, such as Soyer
in his wildest culinary dreams never imagined, and such as caused the
mouths of the crew of the _Maid of the Isle_ to water, until they were
constrained, poor fellows, to tell him to "clap a stopper upon that,"
and hold his tongue, for they "couldn't stand it!"

Phil Briant and Gurney dealt in the purely comic line. They remarked--
generally in an undertone--that they left poetry and prose to Glynn and
the captain; and it was as well they did, for their talents certainly
did not lie in either of these directions. They came out strong after
meals, when the weather was fine, and formed a species of light and
agreeable interlude to the more weighty efforts of the captain and the
brilliant sallies of Glynn.

Gurney dealt in _experiences_ chiefly, and usually endeavoured by
asseveration and iteration to impress his hearers with the truth of
facts said to have been experienced by himself, which, if true, would
certainly have consigned him to a premature grave long ago. Briant, on
the other hand, dealt largely in ghost stories, which he did not vouch
for the truth of, but permitted his hearers to judge of for themselves--
a permission which they would doubtless have taken for themselves at any
rate.

But tales and stories occupied, after all, only a small portion of the
men's time during that long voyage. Often, very often, they were too
much exhausted to talk or even to listen, and when not obliged to labour
at the oars they tried to sleep; but "Nature's sweet restorer" did not
always come at the first invitation, as was his wont in other days, and
too frequently they were obliged to resume work unrefreshed. Their
hands became hard and horny in the palms a