tly.

'Are _you_ on the Rock?' he repeated.

'On the rock, sir? oh, yes,' I said, thinking he could not have
understood what I said before. 'All these buildings are built into the
rock, or the wind and sea would carry them away.'

'But _you_,' said the old gentleman again, 'are _you_ on the Rock?'

'I don't quite understand you, sir,' I said.

'Never mind,' he said; 'I'll ask your grandfather when he comes down.'
So I sat still, wondering what he could mean, and almost thinking he
must have gone out of his mind.

As soon as my grandfather returned, he put the same question to him; and
my grandfather answered it as I had done, by assuring him how firmly and
strongly the lighthouse and its surroundings were built into the solid
rock.

'And you yourself,' said Mr. Davis 'how long have you been on the Rock?'

'I, sir?' said my grandfather. 'I suppose you mean how long have I lived
here; forty years, sir--forty years come the twelfth of next month I've
lived on this rock.'

'And how much longer do you expect to live here?' said the old
gentleman.

'Oh, I don't know, sir,' said my grandfather. 'As long as I live, I
suppose. Alick, here, will take my place by-and-by; he's a fine, strong
boy is Alick, sir.'

'And where will you live when you leave the island?' asked Mr. Davis.

'Oh, I never mean to leave it,' said my grandfather; 'not till I die,
sir.'

'And _then_; where will you live _then_?'

'Oh, I don't know, sir,' said my grandfather. 'In heaven, I suppose.
But, dear me, I'm not going there just yet,' he said, as if he did not
like the turn the conversation was taking.

'Would you mind answering me one more question?' said old Mr. Davis.
'Would you kindly tell me _why_ you think you'll go to heaven? You won't
mind my asking you, will you?'

'Oh dear, no,' said my grandfather, 'not at all, sir. Well, sir, you see
I've never done anybody any harm, and God is very merciful, and so I've
no doubt it will be all right at last.

'Why, my dear friend,' said the old gentleman, 'I thought you said you
were on the Rock. You're not on the Rock at all, you're on the sand!' He
was going to add more, when one of Captain Sayer's men ran up to say
the steamer was ready to start, and would they kindly come at once, as
it was late already. So the two gentlemen jumped up, and prepared
hastily to go down to the beach.

But as old Mr. Davis took leave of my grandfather, he said earnestly,--

'My friend, you are buildin