iven him some experience of local navigation; and it was upon
the strength of this experience that, having built his pilot boat,
he intended to start in opposition to my father.

The greater part of what Mansie and Colin said, as they sat in the
comfortable kitchen of Lyndardy, was entirely new to me. I felt a
strange pleasure in hearing now, for the first time, that Thora
Kinlay owed her life, in some sort, to my own father. When he
carried the little girl up to the farm, with a seaman's jacket
covering her from the cold--for the women and children had all been
in their beds when the ship struck--she was at once claimed by Mrs.
Kinlay. They named her Thora, after Mrs. Quendale, who had shown
some kindness to her during the voyage, by reason of a resemblance
that existed between the two children--Mrs. Quendale's own child
and the child of Mrs. Kinlay--both of whom were of a like age.

The story of the wreck of the Undine gave me many matters to ponder
over. But the one practical thing that I learnt was this existence
of a cave in the North Gaulton cliffs. I had not known that there
was such a cave at that spot, although, indeed, I prided myself
upon my knowledge of the whole coastline from Rora to Birsay. I
accordingly determined to explore the cliff at some future time.

Chapter XIX. Tom Kinlay's Bargain.

I must not omit to mention that Willie Hercus and Robbie Rosson
duly delivered up to Mr. Drever their shares of Jarl Haffling's
treasure. The dominie was, I believed, already in communication
with the proper authorities concerning the claims that would be
imposed according to what he called the law of treasure trove. But
there were many delays in coming to an agreement, owing, as I
understood, to official indifference and to the difficulty of
determining the value of the relics, which Mr. Drever contended
were worth more than their mere weight in silver. Meanwhile, the
schoolmaster, anxious to keep the collection, as he said, intacto,
for preservation in some museum, still held possession of the
antiquities, and was nightly burning much oil in his absorbed study
of them.

Since Tom Kinlay had left the school Mr. Drever had not seen him.
But, betimes, a message was sent by Thora to intimate to Tom that
we others had given our parts of the viking's treasure into his
charge, and advising that Tom should send in the remainder without
delay. But Tom, who now owed no direct duty to the dominie,
resolutely refu