oard, when
Tom Rogers announced to the commander who they were, and the condition
in which he had found them. Broth and other restoratives being quickly
prepared, and duly administered, in a very short time they were able to
use their tongues sufficiently to give an account of themselves.

"Well, I'm glad we fell in with you," cried Tom, "and so is my brother
Jack--if not for your sake, on account of his old shipmates, Murray and
Adair. They would have been precious sorry to lose you, and so should
I. And now we've fallen in with each other, we shall have the chance of
some good fun together, for the brig is to be employed, during the
remainder of her commission, in slave-hunting. My brother Jack is only
acting-commander of the _Romp_, but he's sure to be confirmed before
long. He got no end of credit in the work we've been engaged in up the
Irrawaddy, of which I'll tell you by and by. I often wished that you
fellows were with us. It beat all the service we saw out in South
America."

"And Archie and I have often, of late, said how we longed to have you
with us, Tom," answered Desmond; "not that we've had the same sort of
fun we enjoyed in our first cruise. It has been much rougher work, on
the whole, and I haven't fallen in with any Irish cousins, or the lots
of nice girls we met in the West Indies; but, after all, the life we
lead when boat-cruising is as much to my taste as anything I can fancy."

Tom, of course, replied that he hoped to have some of it, and that he
should try to get his brother to send him away on an expedition.

Though but a short time had been lost in picking up the canoe, it was
sufficient to allow the dhow to run out of sight. Jack, who was bound
for Zanzibar, of course had now to bring up off Mafamale, for the sake
of landing Archie and Gerald, and to set Adair's anxiety about them at
rest. He was very glad also of the opportunity he should thus obtain of
seeing his old shipmates.

The two midshipmen, though still somewhat weak, had greatly recovered by
the time the island was sighted. Scarcely had the _Romp_ dropped her
anchor than Adair came on board. His surprise on seeing Jack was almost
as great as his satisfaction at finding the midshipmen and the two other
men safe and sound. Jack had some time before heard of the death of
Kathleen. The recollection of her threw a shade of melancholy over the
meeting of the two friends, but after a short time he managed to cast it
off,