t was that made me a
book agent. If I hadn't been shipwrecked on that island I wouldn't be
here now with this book on my knees."

Mrs. Weaver's face flushed.

"I'm sure I ask you to excuse me," she exclaimed. "I don't know what I
was thinkin' of not to ask to take your package. Let me put it aside for
you. They ain't no use for you to be bothered with it."

"Thank you, ma'm," said Eliph', "but I'll just keep it. No offense, but
I never let it go out of my hands, day or night. It saved my life, not
once, but many times, this book did, and I keep it handy. But for this
book that shipwreck would have been my last day."

"Land sakes, now!" cried Mrs. Weaver, "won't you tell us about it?"

"Well, as I said, but for this book I'd be bones at the bottom of the
sea. Yes, ladies and gents, bones, of which there is one hundred and
ninety-eight in the full grown human skeleton, composed of four-fifths
inorganic and one-fifth organic matter."

"How dreadful!" exclaimed Mrs. Weaver, who, being a doctor's wife, had
a particular dislike for bones, as for useless things that cluttered up
the house, and were not ornamental. "But how come you to get wrecked?"

"Five years ago," said Eliph' Hewlitt, "I was a confidence man in New
York. New York is the largest city in the Western Hemisphere; population
estimated over three million; located on the island of Manhattan, at
the mouth of the Hudson River. And, if I do say it myself, I was a good
confidence man. I was a success; I got rich. And what then? The police
got after me, and I had to run away. Yes, ladies and gents, I had to fly
from my native land. I took passage on a ship for Ceylon. Ceylon," he
added, "is an island southeast of India; population three millions;
principal town, Colombo; English rule; products, tea, coffee, spices,
and gems.

"We had a good trip until we almost got there, and then a big storm come
up, and blew our ship about like it was a peanut shell, tossing it up
and down on the mighty waves, and round and back; and the third day we
bumped on a rock, and the ship began to sink. In the hurry I was left
behind when the crew and passengers went off in the boats. Think of it,
ladies and gents, not even a life preserver to save me, and the ship
sinking a foot a minute."

"Goodness me!" said Mrs. Weaver, "you wasn't drowned, was you?"

"No," said Eliph' Hewlitt, "or I wouldn't be here to tell it. I rushed
to the captain's cabin. I thought maybe I would find a l