r work, and had put his son
in the ship in his place. He did not know me at first, but I was soon
brought to his mind when I told him who I was. I found from him that the
land which I had bought on my way to the isle was now worth much.

As it was a long way off, I felt no wish to go and live there so I made
up my mind to sell it, and in the course of a few months, I got for it a
sum so large as to make me a rich man all at once.

Weeks, months, and years went by; I had a farm, a wife, and two sons,
and was by no means young; but still I could not get rid of a strong
wish which dwelt in my thoughts by day and my dreams by night, and that
was to set foot once more in my old isle.

I had now no need to work for food, or for means of life; all I had to
do was to teach my boys to be wise and good, to live at my ease, and
see my wealth grow day by day. Yet the wish to go back to my wild haunts
clung round me like a cloud, and I could in no way drive it from me,
so true is it that "what is bred in the bone will not come out of the
flesh."

At length I lost my wife, which was a great blow to me, and my home was
now so sad, that I made up my mind to launch out once more on the broad
sea, and go with my man Friday to that lone isle where dwelt all my
hopes.

I took with me as large a store of tools, clothes, and such like goods
as I had room for, and men of skill in all kinds of trades, to live in
the isle. When we set sail, we had a fair wind for some time, but one
night the mate, who was at the watch, told me he saw a flash of fire,
and heard a gun go off. At this we all ran on deck, from whence we saw a
great light, and as there was no land that way, we knew that it must be
some ship on fire at sea, which could not be far off, for we heard the
sound of the gun.

The wind was still fair, so we made our way for the point where we saw
the light, and in half an hour, it was but too plain that a large ship
was on fire in the midst of the broad sea. I gave the word to fire off
five guns, and we then lay by, to wait till break of day. But in the
dead of the night, the ship blew up in the air, the flames shot forth,
and what there was left of the ship sank. We hung out lights, and our
guns kept up a fire all night long, to let the crew know that there was
help at hand.

At eight o'clock the next day we found, by the aid of the glass, that
two of the ship's boats were out at sea, quite full of men. They had
seen us, and had d