and carried off everything of
value which they found in the hut. Among other articles were my
sextant, chronometer, and nautical almanacks, which I had brought in my
chest from the _Dolphin_, though unable to use them on board the
privateer till the day I spoke of. The chronometer I had carefully
wound up every day, and it was still going when I returned to the wreck.
I was thus able when on the island to verify my previous calculations
and to ascertain its exact position.

"Having claimed the sextant and chronometer when I was carried on board,
I was told that they were no longer mine, and care was taken that I
should not ascertain the ship's position. In short, for several days I
was kept below, so that I could not even discover the course we were
steering. From what I overheard, however, I found that three days after
leaving the island we were chased during a heavy gale by an English
frigate, when we narrowly escaped destruction on a reef at its western
end, on which it was supposed the frigate had been cast away. She, I
have no doubt from what I have since heard, was the _Falcon_, to which
Ralph Michelmore belonged. From my own experience, I have hopes if such
was the case that some of the people may have reached the shore, and are
still living there."

"Oh, father! I cannot doubt it; and that Ralph is among them,"
exclaimed Jessie, clasping her hands.

"I pray for your sake, my child, that he may be," said Captain Flamank.
"Such scenes as took place when I was wrecked in the privateer are not
likely to have occurred on board a well-disciplined man-of-war. After
again, as I have described, narrowly escaping shipwreck, I began to hope
that the time when I should be free and able to return to England was
approaching. Notwithstanding the vigilance of the Frenchmen, I managed
on several occasions to creep on deck at night, when a glance at the
stars in the clear sky overhead assured me that the ship was steering to
the northward, and as I supposed to one of the French settlements in
India. What was my surprise, therefore, to find one morning that we
were standing towards a small hilly island, with the appearance of which
I was totally unacquainted. On being seen by the captain I was sent
below, and when I was allowed to return on deck I discovered that we
were in a completely land-locked harbour, with several other ships at
anchor, most of which I knew from their build to be English. Lofty
cliffs circled