hour or two later.

With the death of one, and the disappearance of the other of the two men
who had come into our lives, only to act as a disturbing element from
almost the first moment of our acquaintance with them, all my worries
and anxieties passed away like the memory of an evil dream; and upon the
day following that of Svorenssen's death I turned with renewed zest to
the completion of the cutter. The hull was by this time practically
finished; her deck was laid, her companion and tiny self-emptying
cockpit completed, and all that was now needed was to run a low bulwark
around her, rig and step the completed mast and bowsprit, bend the
sails, ballast and launch her, get the stores, water, _and treasure_
aboard; and up anchor and away.

Taken as it stands, that list of work still remaining to be done looks
simple enough; yet it took me a full month to complete it, for the
greater part of it was of so technical a character that the natives were
of little assistance to me, and I had to do most of it with my own
hands. Also, I found that Van Ryn had by no means completed the task he
had undertaken to perform; the two topsails--square-header and jib-
header--still needed roping, as did the jib; and that work cost me
several days' labour to complete to my satisfaction. Then there were
the launching ways and the cradle to be built; and this task taxed my
ingenuity to its utmost limit; but at length all was done, except the
actual launching of the boat.

The finishing touches to my final preparations were completed too late
in the afternoon for us to do anything more that day. Immediately after
breakfast on the following morning, therefore, Billy and I climbed
aboard the cutter, hoisted the _Yorkshire Lass's_ ensign to her topmast
head, suspended a bottle of wine--one of the very few that we had left--
from her stem head, and then, leaving Billy aboard, I descended to the
ground, removing the ladder by which we had ascended. The wedging-up
having already been accomplished, I next took a maul and, shouting to
Billy to "stand by", proceeded to knock away the spur shores. There was
now a moment's hesitation on the part of the cutter, of which I took
advantage to jump clear; and then she began to move, slowly at first but
with rapidly increasing velocity, while I dashed the bottle of wine
against the craft's cut-water, and named her the _Dolphin_, in
accordance with Billy's earnestly expressed wish.

Two seconds la