at the last moment--perhaps just when the sinking swimmer might
require a helping hand to drag him from the clutches of the grasping
billows that sought to overwhelm him as he was getting beyond their
reach!

"There's no doubt of that," echoed Fritz, who had got off his platform
on the wheelbarrow with much more agility than he had been capable of a
short time before. "The sea has swallowed up those who were not dashed
to pieces on the headland! I hardly know which fate was the least
preferable of the two?"

"I do hope that the bonfire did not lead to their misfortune," said Eric
presently. "If so, I should consider myself to be the cause of their
death!"

"No, I don't think it was, laddie," replied Fritz, to cheer him, the lad
being greatly distressed at the thought of having occasioned the
catastrophe. "You see, the ship must have been coming from the other
side of the headland, whose height would shut all view of our valley
entirely from the sea."

"Well, I only hope so," replied Eric, only half consoled. "I'm afraid,
however, the people on board took the flame of the burning grass to be
some beacon to warn them."

"In that case, they would have kept away from it, of course," said Fritz
decidedly; "so, no blame can be attached to you. The wind, you see, was
blowing a gale from the north-east; and, probably, they were driving on
before it, never thinking they were near Inaccessible Island, nor
believing that there was such a place anywhere within miles of them, or
land at all, for that matter, till they should reach the South American
coast!"

"Perhaps so," rejoined Eric, in a brighter tone; "but then, again, they
might have thought the light to be a ship on fire, and, in going out of
their way to lend assistance, they possibly met with their doom, eh?"

"Ah, that would be sad to believe," said Fritz. "However, I don't think
we should worry ourselves over the dispensations of providence. Poor
fellows, whoever they are, or whatever they were about at the time of
the disaster, I'm sorry for them from the bottom of my heart!"

"And so am I," chimed in his brother. "But now, old fellow," added
Eric, "it is time for you to be getting back indoors, with your poor
back and wounded leg."

"Yes, I shan't be sorry to lie down now; for, I've exerted myself more
than I should have done. Oh," continued Fritz, as the lad helped him on
to the wheelbarrow platform, again preparing to return to the hut, "I
shall