lad.'

"Peterkin drew in a breath so long that I could not help thinking of the
frog in the fable, that wanted to swell itself as big as the ox. Then I
looked into his face earnestly. Slap went the lid of his right eye;
down went my head, and up went my heels. We shot through the passage
like an arrow, and rose to the surface of the open sea before you could
count twenty.

"Peterkin had taken in such an awful load of wind that, on reaching the
free air, he let it out with a yell loud enough to have been heard a
mile off; and then the change in his feelings was so sudden and great
that he did not wait till we landed, but began, tied up as he was, to
shout and sing for joy as I supported him with my left arm to the shore.
However, in the middle of a laugh that a hyena might have envied, I let
him accidentally slip, which extinguished him in a moment.

"After this happy deliverance, we immediately began our search for your
dead body, Ralph; and you have no idea how low our hearts sank as we set
off; day after day, to examine the valleys and mountain-sides with the
utmost care. In about three weeks we completed the survey of the whole
island, and had at least the satisfaction of knowing that you had not
been killed. But it occurred to us that you might have been thrown into
the sea; so we examined the sands and the lagoon carefully, and
afterwards went all round the outer reef. One day, while we were upon
the reef, Peterkin espied a small, dark object lying among the rocks,
which seemed to be quite different from the surrounding stones. We
hastened towards the spot, and found it to be a small keg. On knocking
out the head we discovered that it was gunpowder."

"It was I who sent you that, Jack," said I with a smile.

"Fork out!" cried Peterkin energetically, starting to his feet and
extending his open hand to Jack. "Down with the money, sir, else I'll
have you shut up for life in a debtor's prison the moment we return to
England!"

"I'll give you an I.O.U. in the meantime," returned Jack, laughing, "so
sit down and be quiet.--The fact is, Ralph, when we discovered this keg
of powder Peterkin immediately took me a bet of a thousand pounds that
you had something to do with it, and I took him a bet of ten thousand
that you had not."

"Peterkin was right, then," said I, explaining how the thing had
occurred.

"Well, we found it very useful," continued Jack, "although some of it
had got a little damp; and we f