water and slowly drew the shoulders up; "now, a good heave and--that's
it."

The body slid heavily on the raft, and the motion seemed to rouse the
seaman's spirit, for he uttered a faint cheer, while they knelt round
him, and tried in various ways to restore him to consciousness.

"Hurrah for old England!" he cried presently, in an imbecile manner,
making an abortive effort to lift his loose arm; "never say die--
s'long's there's--a shok in th' lotter."

"Well done, old saltwater!" cried Slagg, unable to restrain a laugh;
"you'll live to fight yet, or I'm mistaken."

There was indeed some prospect that the poor fellow would recover, for,
after a short time, he was able to gaze at his rescuers with an
intensity of surprise that betokened the return not only of
consciousness but of reason.

"Well, well," he said, after gazing around for some time in silence as
he lay with his head supported on the sail, "I s'pose it's all right,
and I'll wake up all square in the mornin', but it's out o' sight the
most comical dream I've had since I was a babby. I only hope it'll take
a pleasanter turn if it's agoin' to continue."

With this philosophical reflection the sailor shut his eyes, and
disposed himself to sleep until the period of real waking should arrive.

Thinking this the best thing he could do in the circumstances, his
rescuers turned to examine whether any of the others had survived the
explosion, but, finding that all were dead or had sunk, they returned to
the land.

Here, after securing the raft, they made a sort of litter, with the sail
spread on the oar and a plank, on which they carried the sailor to the
sheltered spot whence they had witnessed the fight. As the poor man had
by that time fallen into a genuine slumber--which appeared to be
dreamless--he was left under the care of Stumps and Slagg, while Sam and
Robin went off to ascertain whether or not the island was inhabited.

"We will go straight up to the highest point at once, so as to get a
bird's-eye view of it," said Sam. "I can't help thinking that it must
be inhabited, for these scoundrels would not care to land, I should
fancy, unless there was some one to rob."

"It may be so, Sam. But if they had come to rob, don't you think they
would not have returned to their ship without captives or booty?"

"There is something in that, Robin. Come; we shall see."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

STRANGE DISCOVERIES ON PIRATE ISLAND.

On reaching the fi