e those
people acquainted with the fact that we are on an aerial and submarine,
as well as an ordinary ship; they need know very little more about us
than those people of the _Baroda_ know. And we can trans-ship them into
the next craft belonging to a civilised nation that we fall in with."

"Yes, of course we can," assented Sir Reginald. "Their fuel seems to be
pretty damp, poor chaps; there is a good deal more smoke than fire
there, to my thinking."

"That, I take it, is intentional," said Mildmay. "They have probably
seen us, and are making that big smoke to attract our attention. With
your permission, Elphinstone, I will hoist our ensign, to let them know
that we have seen them, and will get one of the boats ready for
lowering."

"Right, skipper; I will come and lend you a hand with the boat. Perhaps
it would be as well to get both boats to the quarters, wouldn't it, as
we are henceforth going to remain on the surface until we can say
good-bye to those people."

Mildmay agreed that it would; and in a few minutes both boats were
hanging from their davits over the ship's two quarters, and the ensign
flying from the staff. By this time the ship was within two miles of
the island, and the interested watchers had caught sight of a man
standing upon the highest point of his mere hand's-breadth of territory,
waving his arms, as though still doubtful whether he had succeeded in
attracting their attention.

"There seems to be but one man there," observed Lethbridge, as the two
men joined him. "If so, he must have had a pretty bad time of it. How
long will he have been there, I wonder!"

"Not very long, I suspect," answered Mildmay. "He probably got cast
away in the gale that we had two days ago."

Five minutes later the engines of the _Flying Fish_ were stopped; and
presently, when she had sufficiently lost her way, one of the boats was
lowered, and Sir Reginald and Mildmay went away in her. There was no
beach to speak of on the island, and it was so exceedingly small that
the swell ran right round it, making the beaching of the boat both a
difficult and a dangerous matter. The castaway, however--there was but
one--solved the difficulty by watching his opportunity and rushing down
into the water after a retreating wave and flinging himself and a bundle
into the boat before the on-rush of the next sea came.

He was an elderly man, rather tall, slim of build, and somewhat
cadaverous of feature, with light