fs. Getting
ashore with little difficulty, we were dismayed to find ourselves in an
uninhabited wilderness, devoid even of vegetation other than moss and
low growing shrubs. One of my first discoveries was this cavern with
its subterranean stream of water, and two openings, one of which gives
easy access to the sea. Knowing that our ship must, sooner or later,
go to pieces, and desirous of saving what property I might, I rigged up
a derrick at the mouth of the cavern, and, with the aid of my brave
wife, transferred everything movable from the wreck; a labour of months.

"Winter was now at hand, and, foreseeing that we must spend it where we
were, I walled up the openings and made all possible preparations to
fight the coming cold. We burned wood from the wreck while it lasted,
and in the meantime I labored almost night and day at the establishment
of an electric plant. But the awful winter came and found it still
unfinished, and before the coming of another spring I was left alone."

Here the speaker paused, overcome as much by his feelings as by
weakness, and, during the silence that followed, Cabot stole away,
ostensibly to see that the dynamo was running smoothly. When he
returned the narrator had recovered his calmness, and was ready to
continue his story.

"She had never been strong," he said, "and I so cruelly allowed her to
overwork herself that she had no strength left with which to fight the
winter. She died in my arms in this very room, and I promised never to
leave her. Also, after her death, I vowed that my last words to her
should be my last to any human being, and, until this day, I have kept
that vow, foolish and wicked though it was. I have talked and read
aloud when alone, but to no man have I spoken. I have also avoided
intercourse with my fellows, selfishly preferring to nurse my sorrow in
sinful rebellion against God's will. Now am I justly punished by being
stricken down in the pride of my strength. At the same time God has
shown his everlasting mercy by sending you to me in the time of my sore
need. And you have promised to stay with me until the end, which I
feel assured is not far off."

"I trust it may be," said Cabot, "for the world can ill afford to spare
a man of your attainments."

"The world has forgotten me ere this," replied Mr. Balfour, with a
faint smile, "and has also managed to get along very well without me.
Whether it has or has not I feel that I am shortly to rejo