o
my hold, so I obediently got upon the stepladder.

"Bowser came towards me, thinking I might have something for him, and
as he turned his head at the creaking of the door I threw myself on his
back and grasped him firmly around the neck. The big door swung open,
Bowser ran forward, and as soon as he was outside rose into the air.
We soared away, straight towards the village which lay nearest the sea.

"Bowser's flight proved how hungry he was, for the village lights drew
nearer very rapidly, and we were going so fast over the sands that I
did not dare look down for fear of getting dizzy.

"In what seemed but a few minutes Bowser began to descend and glancing
down I saw that we were directly over a peach orchard. He alighted,
and at the same moment I slid off his back and ran as fast as I could
for some distance. When I reached the fence which enclosed the place I
looked back, and could see him gobbling all around a tree, so he had
already shaken the peaches off one at least. He had not bothered about
me at all, as I was afraid he would.

"I walked to the inn and went to bed in a very thankful state of mind,
determined to start for home next day.

"But the next day I found it was not as easy as I thought. The only
boat leaving port was a peach boat, bound for a port only a few miles
away. However, I went by that, and on reaching the port had to wait
two days to get a passage on a boat loaded with iron which was bound
for the Island of Laurels.

"The weather was fine when we set out, and the wind good, so in spite
of the heavy cargo we were making fair progress. On the fourth night
we ran into a dense fog. After running carefully for some hours the
Captain thought it advisable to lie to until morning, as we were within
a few miles of the Island of Despair and some very dangerous reefs.

"I went to my cabin and lay down to read. I fell asleep and slept for
some time, when I was awakened by a tremendous blow under the ship
which jerked me out on the floor. Running to the deck I found the
whole crew assembled getting ready to drop the life-boats. In place of
the dead calm which had prevailed earlier in the evening a terrible
storm now raged, and the gale had driven the ship on the dreaded reefs.

"To add to the danger the iron loaded in the hold had become loose and
we could hear it pounding around in the hold as the ship lurched about
on the rocks. It was only a matter of a few moments before the ship