--doubtless a
difficult task; for how was he to induce a surgeon of standing to
abandon his connexion, his family, and his fame, and to undertake a
perilous voyage to the antipodes, for the purpose of performing an
operation in a desert, where there were neither newspapers to proclaim
it, academicians to discuss it, nor ribbons to reward it? As for the
gentlemen of the dentist and barber school, like Drs. Sangrado and
Fontanarose of Figaro, the remedy was even worse by a great deal than
the disease. But, as we have said, Jack promised to find a surgeon,
and the research was so arduous, that he was scarcely ever seen during
the day by either Willis or his brother.

To Willis was confided the office of chartering a ship for the
homeward voyage, and there were not a few obstacles to overcome in
order to accomplish this. French ship-masters at that time engaged in
very little legitimate business; they embarked their capital in
privateering, prefering to capture the merchantmen of England to
risking their own. One morning, Willis started as usual in search of a
ship, but soon returned to the inn where they had established their
head-quarters in a state of bewilderment; he threw himself into a
chair, and, before he could utter a word, had to fill his pipe and
light it.

"Well," said he, "I am completely and totally flabbergasted."

"What about?" inquired the two brothers.

"You could not guess, for the life of you, what has happened."

"Perhaps not, Willis, and would therefore prefer you to tell us at
once what it is."

"After this," continued Willis, "no one need tell me that there are no
miracles now-a-days."

"Then you have stumbled upon a miracle, have you, Willis?"

"I should think so. That they do not happen every day, I can admit;
but I have a proof that they do come about sometimes."

"Very probably, Willis."

"It is my opinion that Providence often leads us about by the hands,
just as little children are taken to school, lest they should be
tempted to play truant by the way."

"Not unlikely, Willis; but the miracle!"

"I was going along quietly, not thinking I was being led anywhere in
particular, when, all at once, I was hove up by--If a bullet had hit
me right in the breast, I could not have been more staggered."

"Whatever hove you up then, Willis?"

"I was hove up by the sloop."

"What sloop?"

"The _Nelson_."

"Was it taking a walk, Willis?" inquired Jack.

"Have you been to sea since we