ve effectually driven
every letter of the Greek alphabet out of their heads for the time
being.

The event was nothing else but the arrival in port of the collier brig,
_Hail! Columbia_ with a cargo of coals from the Tyne, and _mirabile
dictu_! with the _Martha_ lying comfortably, bottom upwards, safe and
sound, on her deck.

The collier, according to the account of the skipper, had been running
across the head of the bay on the 5th of June last, in half a cap of
wind from the shore, when it sighted the _Martha_ drifting empty out to
sea. Having sent one of his men after her to capture her, and being
convinced by the absence of oars or tackle that she must have drifted
from her moorings empty, he took her on board; and, as he was bound to
deliver his cargo by a certain day, and the wind being against his
putting into Templeton, he stowed his prize comfortably away amidships,
where she had been ever since, awaiting his next call at Templeton.

With the free-and-easy business ways of his craft, he had neglected to
send any letter or message announcing the safety of the _Martha_ to her
afflicted friends; and having been detained in this place and that by
stress of weather or business, he had now, after more than three months'
absence, his first opportunity of restoring the lost property to its
rightful owner.

If the simple fishermen of Templeton had been inclined to believe in
miracles, the strange reappearance of the missing _Martha_ at this
particular time must have savoured of something of the sort. But being
matter-of-fact folk, they contented themselves with lounging round the
boat as she lay once more on the beach, staring at her, and wondering
between their whiffs what the solicitors and judges would say now.

The skipper of the _Hail! Columbia_ had neither the time nor the
patience to discover who just now was the lawful owner of the boat.
Some said Tom White; some said Tom White's partners; some said the
pawnbroker.

The master disposed the problem off his mind very simply by setting down
the _Martha_ on the beach, and letting those who chose to claim her
settle their squabble among themselves.

The news of the return of the prodigal was not long in spreading; and by
the time the Templeton boys came down for their afternoon bathe it was
common property.

Our heroes heard it in the water, from Raggles, and immediately landed
and dressed. They scarcely exchanged a word till they stood at the side
of