finished eating his supper
when Nep appeared.

"You ungrateful dog!" exclaimed Lord Reginald. "You have been tempted
off by my enemy. I'll take care that you don't go again," and fastening
a piece of rope to the animal's collar, he secured it to a portion of
the wreck, which had been thrown up not far from the mouth of the cave.

Poor Nep looked very much surprised at the way he was treated, but
accustomed to obey, he lay down with his face between his paws, while
Lord Reginald retired into the cave and threw himself on the ground.
While actively engaged, he had for a time thrown off the painful
sensation caused by fever, but the terrible disease had now a firm grip
on him. His head and limbs ached, his throat burned. Though he drank
and drank again from the water which he had brought in the clam-shell,
no quantity seemed to assuage his thirst. He was unable to sleep for a
moment, tossing about, now rolling on one side, now on the other, and
often crying out in the intensity of his sufferings that death might
relieve him.

Thus the night passed by. Day came, but brought no cessation of the
fever, which rather increased than diminished. All day long he lay
racked by pain on the cold sand. A mournful howl reached his ears, and
he saw Neptune straggling to release himself from the rope which held
him. He attempted to rise and set his dog free, but his strength was
gone, and he sank back again, unable to crawl from the spot.

He thought of home, of his mother and sisters, and of his father, always
kind and indulgent to him, whom he would never see again. The
recollection of his numberless sinful acts came with fearful force into
his mind. "No hope, no hope!" he muttered, as he clenched his hands.
"What would I now give for a few weeks, or even days, to redeem the
past? That lad Hargrave, whom I tore from his home and ill treated,
whose life I took a pleasure in making miserable; he would not forgive
me, even if I asked him; and should he discover me he would exult over
my sufferings."

Such were the thoughts which passed through his brain. Often he groaned
with pain, and when at length he had exhausted every drop of water, the
fever seemed to increase, and he felt himself growing weaker and weaker.
He almost wished that he had shared the fate of Voules and the rest of
his companions, and had been drowned before he reached the shore. He
had had a few days of grace granted him, but he had made no use of th