e tears rolling down my cheeks;
I remember hearing myself make strange sounds, which I suppose were those
of relief and thankfulness. And then the horror of being unseen, of being
left to endure more tortures of thirst, of the steamer changing her
course, fell on me, and long before she was anywhere near me I was
trying to balance myself on the grating, so that I could stand erect and
attract her attention.

She was a very slow-going craft that--not able to do more than nine or
ten knots at best--and another hour passed before she was anywhere near
me. But, thank God! she came within a mile of me, and I made shift to
stand up on my raft and to wave to her. And thereon she altered her
course and lumbered over in my direction. She was one of the ugliest
vessels that ever left a shipyard, but I thought I had never seen
anything so beautiful in my life as she looked in those moments, and I
had certainly never been so thankful for anything as for her solid and
dirty deck when willing and kindly hands helped me up on it.

Half an hour after that, with dry clothes on me, and hot coffee and rum
inside me, I was closeted with the skipper in his cabin, telling him,
under a strict pledge of secrecy, as much of my tale as I felt inclined
to share with him. He was a sympathetic and an understanding man, and he
swore warmly and plentifully when he heard how treacherously I had been
treated, intimating it as the--just then--dearest wish of his heart to
have the handling of the man who had played me the trick.

"But you'll be dealing with him yourself!" said he. "Man!--you'll not
spare him--promise me you'll not spare him! And you'll send me a
newspaper with the full account of all that's done to him when you've set
the law to work--dod! I hope they'll quarter him! Them was grand days
when there was more licence and liberty in punishing malefactors--oh! I'd
like fine to see this man put into boiling oil, or something of that
sort, the cold-hearted, murdering villain! You'll be sure to send me the
newspaper?"

I laughed--for the first time since--when? It seemed years since I had
laughed--and yet it was only a few hours, after all.

"Before I can set the law to work on him, I must get on dry land,
captain," I answered. "Where are you going?"

"Dundee," he replied. "Dundee--and we're just between sixty and seventy
miles away now, and it's near seven o'clock. We'll be in Dundee early in
the afternoon, anyway. And what'll you do ther