't believe he knows of any island at
all such as he talked about to the men, till he'd gammoned them or
bullied them over. Hah!" he continued, tasting his cookery; "wants a
dash more pepper and a twist of salt, and then that stuff's strong
enough to do the skipper and Mr Denning more good than all the doctor's
stuff. Young Walters, too; he's very bad, isn't he?"

"Terribly."

"Sarve him right. Wonderful island indeed! This galley's good enough
island for me. You didn't mean that, Mr Dale, sir. I got out of the
scrape as soon as I could, and so did those other three lads as come
aboard with me; and we'll all fight jolly hard to keep from getting into
it again. I believe that some of the others would drop the game, and be
glad to get back on board, if they weren't afraid of Frenchy, as we call
him. That man's mad as a hatter, sir."

"That's a true word, cookie," growled Bob Hampton. "You smell good,
mate, but I wish you'd keep your door shut. It makes me feel mut'nous,
and as if I wanted to turn pirate and 'tack the galley."

"Wind going to hold good, Bob?" I said, moving off.

"Arn't seen the clerk o' the weather this mornin', sir, so can't say."

"Jarette's mad--Jarette's mad," I repeated to myself as I left the
galley, and found Mr Preddle, with his head very much swollen and tied
up in a handkerchief, blowing away into the water where his fish still
survived.

"I shall get some of them across after all," he said, with a nod.

"I hope so," I replied; and after a look at the far-distant boats--mere
specks now--I went on aft to have a chat with Mr Denning, who lay on a
mattress in the shade, with his sister reading to him; but there was his
loaded gun lying beside him, to prove that it was not yet all peace. I
stopped to sit down tailor-fashion on the deck and have a chat with them
both, feeling pleased to see how their eyes lit-up, and what smiles
greeted me; and somehow it seemed to me then that they felt toward me as
if I were their younger brother, and they called me by my Christian name
quite as a matter of course.

"If the wind would only keep on!" Miss Denning said.

"Or if Mr Preddle would only use those bellows of his on the sails,"
said her brother, smiling.

"Why, you're ever so much better," I said quickly, "or you wouldn't joke
like that."

"Yes," he said with a sigh, "I feel better. Mr Frewen's doing me good,
or else it's this lovely soft, warm air."

"Oh, we shall have him run