take me to the
islands. I informed Mr. Glass of my intention, and he remarked,
still in a tone of annoyance,--

"As for your captain, I have not even seen the colour of his
hair."

"I don't think he has any intention of coming ashore."

"Is he ill?"

"Not to my knowledge. But it does not concern you, since he has
sent his lieutenant to represent him."

"Oh, he's a cheerful person! One may extract two words from him
occasionally. Fortunately, it is easier to get coin out of his
pocket than speech out of his lips."

"That's the important thing, Mr. Glass."

"You are right, sir--Mr. Jeorling, of Connecticut, I believe?"

I assented.

"So! I know your name, while I have yet to learn that of the
captain of the _Halbrane_."

"His name is Guy--Len Guy."

"An Englishman?"

"Yes--an Englishman."

"He might have taken the trouble to pay a visit to a countryman of
his, Mr. Jeorling! But stay! I had some dealings formerly with a
captain of that name. Guy, Guy--"

"William Guy?" I asked, quickly.

"Precisely. William Guy."

"Who commanded the _Jane_?"

"The _Jane_? Yes. The same man."

"An English schooner which put in at Tristan d'Acunha eleven
years ago?"

"Eleven years, Mr. Jeorling. I had been settled in the island
where Captain Jeffrey, of the _Berwick_, of London, found me in the
year 1824, for full seven years. I perfectly recall this William
Guy, as if he were before me. He was a fine, open-hearted fellow,
and I sold him a cargo of seal-skins. He had the air of a gentleman,
rather proud, but good-natured."

"And the _Jane_!"

"I can see her now at her moorings in the same place as the
_Halbrane_. She was a handsome vessel of one hundred and eighty tons,
very slender for'ards. She belonged to the port of Liverpool."

"Yes; that is true, all that is true."

"And is the _Jane_ still afloat, Mr. Jeorling?"

"No, Mr. Glass."

"Was she lost?"

"The fact is only too true, and the greater part of her crew with
her."

"Will you tell me how this happened?"

"Willingly. On leaving Tristan d'Acunha the _Jane_ headed for the
bearings of the Aurora and other islands, which William Guy hoped to
recognize from information--"

"That came from me," interrupted the ex-corporal. "And those
other islands, may I learn whether the _Jane_ discovered them?"

"No, nor the Auroras either, although William Guy remained several
weeks in those waters, running from east to west, with a look-out
always at the m