pilot, accustomed to salt water,
quite handy, why not engage him also?"

"Willis, you have yourself said that the undertaking is perilous in
the extreme, and your life is not bound up like theirs in that of
their mother."

"True; but do you not see that I am sick of dry land, and that I am
getting rusty for the want of a little sea air?"

"I felt ashamed to ask you to share in so desperate an enterprise,
otherwise I would have proposed it to you, Willis."

"But you might have seen that I was growing thin, absolutely pining
away, and drying up on land. There are ducks that can live without
water, but I am not one of them."

"Am I, then, to understand that you offer to risk your life in this
forlorn hope?"

"Certainly, Mr. Becker; a man condemned to be hanged, running the risk
of being drowned is no great sacrifice."

"Willis, I accept your offer, to share in the dangers of this
enterprise, most gratefully. I thank you in the name of my sons and of
their mother, and trust that God may enable me to recompense you for
your devotion to them and to myself."

[Illustration]

"You forget," added Willis, wiping a tear from the corner of his
eye, that he ascribed to a grain of dust, "you forget that I was on
the point of venturing out to sea in the canoe, had you yourself and
Mr. Wolston not prevented me. There is work to be done, I admit; and
it is not impossible to cross even the Indian Ocean in the pinnace.
But we may find a doctor, perhaps, at some of the settlements--for
instance, at Manilla, in the Philippines."

"That is not to be hoped for, Willis; there is, probably, only one
skilful medical man in each colony, and he will be prevented leaving
by Government engagements."

"True; then we had better hoist sail for Europe direct, and trust to
falling in with a ship now and then."

"Alas!" sighed Becker, "in a path so wide as the ocean, it would be
unwise to trust to such chances; you will have to rely, I fear,
entirely upon the resources of the pinnace alone."

"Well, I dare say, though we may have to put up with half rations, we
shall not starve on the voyage, at all events."

They had unmoored the pinnace, and were on their way to Shark's
Island.

"You are about to announce to your sons their departure?" said Willis,
inquiringly.

"Yes; but my heart almost fails me."

"The iron must be struck while it is hot. Will you commission me to
whisper a few words in their ear?"

"Thanks, Willis; but what