and a
much smaller room, where, to the great satisfaction of the Englishmen,
they found a substantial meal awaiting them, and to this the entire
party forthwith sat down. The appetite of the ex-prisoners was by this
time brought to a fine edge by their somewhat protracted fast, and they
did full justice to the fare placed before them, to the wonder and
admiration of their hosts, who, it appeared, were themselves but
indifferent trenchermen. The meal over, and the attendants dismissed,
Malachi, the chief of the Elders, and the man who had delivered judgment
in the Judgment Hall, turned to Grosvenor and said:

"And now, O Philip! the moment has arrived when we, the Elders, must
decide in what manner you and he whom you call Dick may best serve
Izreel. Tell me, therefore, I pray you, what ye can both best do, in
order that we may assign to each of you a useful vocation."

"That is all very well," remarked Grosvenor rather ruefully, when he had
translated this speech to Dick. "So far as you are concerned the matter
is simple enough; you are a doctor, and when once these chappies have
had an example of your skill in that line I expect they'll find you
plenty to do. But what can I do? Absolutely nothing useful! I can
ride, shoot, sail a yacht passably--"

"Stop!" cried Dick impulsively. "Ask these ancients whether they know
what sails are. If they don't--and I'll bet they do not, or they would
have used them yesterday--your vocation is cut out for you. You can
teach them how to use sails, and also how to model their craft upon
better lines; and by the time that you have finished that job I have no
doubt another will turn up. Just talk to the old gentlemen along those
lines, and see what comes of it."

And Grosvenor did, with the happiest results. He ascertained that the
Izreelites knew nothing whatever about sails, or indeed how to use the
wind in any way as a labour-saver; and when he told his little audience
that boats could be propelled, corn ground, water pumped, and a number
of other useful things done by the power of wind alone, they were at
first very strongly inclined to suspect him of romancing. But when he
further offered to demonstrate to them the truth of his assertion they
at once agreed to afford him every facility for so doing, and cheerfully
promised to place at his disposal such men and material as he might
require.

And when he came to speak of Dick's qualifications as a healer of all
man