he passions
of men?"

"Assuredly: what a curse is gold!"

"And what a blessing!" replied Krantz. "I am sorry Pedro is left with
them."

"It is their destiny," replied Philip; "so let's think no more of them.
Now what do you propose? With this vessel, small as she is, we may sail
over these seas in safety, and we have, I imagine, provisions sufficient
for more than a month."

"My idea is, to run into the track of the vessels going to the westward,
and obtain a passage to Goa."

"And if we do not meet with any, we can, at all events, proceed up the
Straits, as far as Pulo Penang without risk. There we may safely remain
until a vessel passes."

"I agree with you; it is our best, nay our only, place; unless, indeed,
we were to proceed to Cochin, where junks are always leaving for Goa."

"But that would be out of our way, and the junks cannot well pass us in
the Straits, without their being seen by us."

They had no difficulty in steering their course; the islands by day, and
the clear stars by night, were their compass. It is true that they did
not follow the more direct track, but they followed the more secure,
working up the smooth waters, and gaining to the northward more than to
the west. Many times they were chased by the Malay proas which infested
the islands, but the swiftness of their little peroqua was their
security; indeed, the chase was, generally speaking, abandoned as soon
as the smallness of the vessel was made out by the pirates, who expected
that little or no booty was to be gained.

That Amine and Philip's mission was the constant theme of their
discourse, may easily be imagined. One morning, as they were sailing
between the isles, with less wind than usual, Philip observed:

"Krantz, you said that there were events in your own life, or connected
with it, which would corroborate the mysterious tale I confided to you.
Will you now tell me to what you referred?"

"Certainly," replied Krantz; "I've often thought of doing so, but one
circumstance or another has hitherto prevented me; this is, however, a
fitting opportunity. Prepare, therefore, to listen to a strange story,
quite as strange, perhaps, as your own:--

"I take it for granted, that you have heard people speak of the Hartz
Mountains," observed Krantz.

"I have never heard people speak of them, that I can recollect," replied
Philip; "but I have read of them in some book, and of the strange things
which have occurred there."