ve to bale all the time, and if
it came on to blow she'd turn turtle in half a minute."

"May be some vessel will be touching here, sir," suggested Kidd.

"Vessels never do touch here, except to be dashed in pieces against the
rocks."

"Well, I suppose we shall have to wait till a chance happens out. This
seems a nice place, and we are in no hurry, if you aren't."

So the two castaways became my guests; and if they waited to be taken off
by a passing ship they were likely to remain my guests as long as they
lived.

For a few days they rambled about the place with their hands in their
pockets and cigars (with which I supplied them liberally) in their mouths.
But after a while time began to hang heavy on their hands, and one day
they came to me with a proposal.

"We are tired of doing nothing, Mr. Fortescue," said Kidd.

"It is the hardest work I ever put my hand to, and not a grog-shop in the
place," interposed Yawl.

"Hold your jaw, Bill, and let me say my say out. We are tired of doing
nothing, and if you like we will build you a sloop."

"A sloop! To go away in, I suppose?"

"That is as you please, sir. Anyhow, a sloop, say of fifteen or twenty
tons, would be very useful. You might take a sail with your lady now and
again, and explore the coast. Yawl has been both ship's carpenter and
bo'son--he'll boss the job; and I'm a very fair amateur cabinet-maker. If
you want anything in that line doing at your house, sir, I shall be glad
to do it for you."

The project pleased me; an occasional cruise would be an agreeable
diversion, and I assented to Kidd's proposal without hesitation. There was
as much wreckage lying on the cliff as would build a man-of-war, and a
small cove at the foot of the oasis where the sloop could lie safely at
anchor.

So the work was taken in hand, some of my own people helping, and after
several months' labor the Angela, as I proposed to call her, was launched.
She had a comfortable little cabin and so soon as she was masted and
rigged would be ready for sea.

In the mean time I asked Kidd to superintend some alterations I was making
at Alta Vista, and among other things construct larger cabinets for my
mineral and entomological specimens. He did the work quite to my
satisfaction, but before it was well finished I made a portentous
discovery--several of my diamonds were missing. There could be no doubt
about it, for I knew the number to a nicety, and had counted them over and
over