ng to wait till we get there."

"How are you going to manage it, then?"

"This way. I'm coming, mother!"

And Captain Jack Bergen sprang overboard and went out of sight.

"Heavens! what was that?" exclaimed Mate Storms, leaping forward from
where he had been dozing upon his couch.

"The captain has jumped overboard!" was the horrified reply of Fred
Sanders, who was bringing the proa around as fast as he could.

Without another word, Mate Storms made a bounding plunge after him,
leaving the young captain to manage the craft as best he could. The
latter uttered a sharp command which brought the crew to their feet in
an instant, and, in an incredibly short space of time, the proa came
around, and, scarcely losing any headway, moved back toward the spot
where the demented man had sprung into the sea, which was now a long
distance astern.

It was a startling awaking for Abram Storms, who did his utmost for
his unfortunate captain. The mate was a splendid swimmer, and,
plunging forward with a powerful stroke, he called to his friend again
and again, frequently lifting himself far out of the water, when on
the crest of a swell, and straining his eyes to pierce the moonlight
about him, hoping to catch sight of the figure of the captain, who was
also a strong swimmer. But if he had jumped overboard with the
intention of suicide, it was not to be supposed he would continue
swimming. The mate, however, was hopeful that in that awful minute
when he went beneath the waters, something like a realizing sense of
what he had done would come to him and he would struggle to save
himself.

But, alas, for poor Captain Jack Bergen, who had journeyed so many
thousand miles, and had endured such a long imprisonment upon a lonely
island! He sent back no answering shout to the repeated calls of his
mate, whose eyes failed to catch sight of his gray head as he rose and
sank for a brief while on the water.

When Fred Sanders got the proa about he guided its movements by
the sound of the mate's voice, and, in a short while, he ran
alongside and assisted him on board. Nothing had been seen nor
heard of the captain, and there could be no doubt now that he was
gone forever. Nevertheless, the proa continued cruising around the
place for fully an hour, in widening circles, until all were convinced
that not a particle of hope remained, when they filled away again,
and a long, last farewell was uttered to Captain Jack Bergen.

He had procured