that? You will be able to see him for yourself,
and show the youngster what men are like into the bargain. It's very
strange how they have escaped; and that lazy, self-sufficient dog is
with them.'

"'I cannot possibly leave our young one at present,' said the Mother
Albatross, 'and he certainly cannot get so far. It will be very
provoking if the men leave the island before I can see them.'

"'There is not much to fear of that,' her mate answered. 'A lucky wave
has brought them to shore, but it will take a good many lucky waves to
bring a ship to carry them home.'

"Father Albatross was right; but his mate saw the strangers sooner
than she expected. Her nest, though built on the ground, was on the
highest point of the island, and to this the shipwrecked men soon made
their way; and there the Mother Albatross had ample chance of seeing
the bright eyes of the captain as they scanned the horizon line with
keen anxiety. Presently they fell upon the bird herself.

"'What splendid creatures they are!' he said to his companion; 'and so
grandly fearless. I was never on one of these islands where they breed
before. What a pity it is that they cannot understand one! That fellow
there, who is just stretching his noble wings, might take a message
and bring us help.'

"'He is a fine creature,' said the Mother Albatross, peeping at the
captain from her nest; 'that is, he would be if he had wings, and
could speak properly, instead of making that unmusical jabbering like
a monkey.'

"'I would give a good deal to one of them for a report of the first
boat,' the captain went on. 'Heaven knows I would be content to die
here if I could know that it was safe. But I'm afraid--I'm afraid; oh!
dear!'

"And the captain paced up and down, the other consoling him.

"'He doesn't seem as tame as one might expect,' said the Mother
Albatross, 'he's so restless. But possibly he is hungry.'

"Truly it was a great amusement for the mother bird to watch the
strangers from her nest, and to question her mate on their
peculiarities.

"'What is he doing now?' she asked on one occasion, when the captain
was reading a paper which he had taken from the note-book in his
pocket.

"'That is a letter,' said the Father Albatross. 'And from the look of
it I gather that, like ourselves, he has got a young one somewhere,
wherever his nest may be.'

"'How do you gather that?' his mate inquired.

"'Because the writing is so large,' answered the Father A