outh. 'But,' he began in
his astonishment, 'they are as common as dirt, boys are. There's heaps
of them--loads.'

'True,' the other made answer, 'true. But when one abandons the world,
and, embracing the profession of the eremite, devotes one's life to
solitude and reflection, one is deprived of the pleasure of intercourse
with so attractive a personality as that of the average boy.'

'Ye-es,' dubiously from Chimp. 'But,' he added, 'you were a boy yourself
once.'

'No,' the Hermit made reply. 'Never.'

'Never a boy!' Chimp exclaimed. 'Well, that beats everything.'

'Never,' repeated the recluse. 'You see,' he remarked in explanation, 'I
was articled by my parents to a hermit at a very tender age--to the
learned man, in fact, who preceded me in the tenancy of this modest
cell. We plunged immediately into the fascinating study of metaphysics,
and the period of boyhood slipped by unnoticed.'

Chimp whistled,--he had no words adequate to the occasion.

'For many years,' the Hermit continued, 'I did not feel the loss of this
experience, being deeply engrossed in other subjects; but now, in the
fall of life, I find myself regretting it keenly. Much as I love my
studies, much as I am attached to the solitary life, I sometimes think
it a finer thing to have been a boy even than to have been a hermit.'

Chimp thought it would be kind of him to say something cheery, yet could
hit upon nothing but, 'Oh no, not at all,' just as if the Hermit had
apologised for treading on his toe; yet it seemed to please the old man.

'However,' he broke off, 'this is by the way. Come, Alexander Joseph
Chemmle, tell me about your adventures; how did you find your way to
this island? How is it you are alone? Tell me everything.'

Chimp, wincing a little at the appalling formality of the Hermit's mode
of address, began. By the time his story was finished it was evening,
for the Hermit asked numberless questions which sent Chimp off on
numberless side tracks of narrative. At the end of the recital the
bloater paste was produced again, and Chimp again ate heartily.

'Now,' said the Hermit, 'I will show you something of the island.'

So saying, he took his staff and they set forth. First they visited the
spring whence the Hermit brought water, and then climbing to a peak of
rock, the Hermit described the island as it lay beneath them.

'There,' said he finally, indicating the little creek to which the
footpath led, 'that is where the boat