appeared fertile, not a
single habitation or hut could we discover. The doctor supposed that
this was on account of the occasional outbreak of the volcano, and that
the people from the neighbouring islands were afraid to take up their
residence on it.

We now descended the hill, and went along another valley, of course
looking out all the time for the stranger.

We were passing a small grove near a hollow in the side of a hill, which
was partly concealed by trees, when we heard a cock crow just as an
English cock would do. At once that sound made my thoughts, as it did
those of the others, probably, rush back to our far-distant homes.

"If there's a cock, there must be hens and a hen-roost hereabouts,"
observed Miles Soper, hurrying in the direction whence the sounds
proceeded.

We followed; there, sure enough, sheltered by the hill, and under the
shade of the trees, was not only a hen-house of good size, but a hut
scarcely bigger than it was neatly built and thatched with palm-leaves.

"It must be the residence of the stranger. He himself can't be far
off," said the doctor.

The hut was just large enough to hold one man. It had a door formed of
thin poles lashed together with sennit. At the farther end was a
bedstead covered with rough matting, and in the centre a small table,
with a three-legged stool.

No one had any longer any doubt that we had seen a man, or that this
must be his abode, and that he must be a white man, but whether English
or not was doubtful. Miles Soper examined the matting, and as he was
looking about he found a knife on a shelf close to the bed. Taking it
up, he examined it with a curious eye, opening and shutting it, and
turning it round and round.

"Well, that's queer, but I think I've seen this knife before," he said.
"If the owner is the man I guess he is I am glad."

"Who do you suppose he is?" I inquired, eagerly.

"Well, Peter, that's what I don't want to say just yet. I must make
sure first," he answered.

"Can he be my brother Jack?" I exclaimed, my breath coming and going
fast in my anxiety.

"Well then, Peter, I'll tell you. Jack knew how to make matting just
like this, because he learnt the way on board the _Harriet_, and so did
I. He had a knife which, if this isn't it, is the fellow to it, so you
see that I have some reason to think that the man who built this hut,
and lives in it, is he. But then again, you know, I may be mistaken.

"Why, if he is Ja