exible as his own, Bob made no effort to dissuade him from
his purpose. On the contrary, he approved of the determination, for he
was pleased at the unexpected demonstration of affection which his
announcement had called forth in one who was by nature undemonstrative,
and who, having thus given vent to his aroused feelings, quickly resumed
the reserve from which he had been so suddenly drawn out. Massey,
therefore, shook hands with him, by way of sealing an unspoken compact
of eternal friendship, and suggested that they should proceed together
to the office of an emigration agent, who had recently made his
appearance in the village.

In the office they found a very small boy, with an air of
self-possession that would have been suitable in his grandfather.

"Is the agent in?" asked the coxswain.

"Yes, but engaged. Sit down; he'll attend to you directly."

The lifeboat men obeyed, almost sheepishly, the one speculating as to
whether highly developed precocity was not almost criminal, the other
wondering how such a boy would look and act if obliged to undergo the
process of being rescued--say by the hair of his head--from a wreck.

Their minds were diverted from this subject of contemplation by the
entrance of a man and woman. These, like themselves, were told to sit
down and wait. The man was long, thin, and lugubrious. The woman
short, slight, and lackadaisical, though rather pretty.

Evidently the agent was a busy man, for he kept them waiting some time.
When he at length appeared he almost took the breath away from his
visitors, by the rapid and enthusiastic way in which he described the
advantages of the great island on the other side of the globe. There
was gold--yes, _enormous_ quantities of gold in all directions. There
was land of the finest quality to be had for next to nothing; work for
all who were blessed with good bone and muscle; a constant demand for
labour--skilled or unskilled--at high wages; a climate such as the
Olympian gods might revel in, and--in short, if all England had heard
the oration delivered by that man, and had believed it, the country
would, in less than a month, have been depopulated of its younger men
and women, and left to the tender mercies of the old and middle-aged.

Our two fishermen were captivated. So were the lugubrious man and his
mild little wife. The end of it was that, three weeks later, these
four, with many other men and women of all ranks and conditions, fo