, and the time to be
worrying will be when you are well. You've friends now, lad. You were
no one before--that is, you were one amongst many. Now you have brought
your name into prominence. We don't have men fished out of the surf
every day of the year."

He spoke the truth, too, and Dick soon realised that his gallant action
had brought him much honour and many friends. The Governor came that
very afternoon to congratulate him, while the members of the household,
the ladies of the Governor's party, fussed about their guest. Officers
called to see the plucky youngster, while, such is the reward of
popularity, two of the traders on the coast made offers for Dick's
houses and the good-will of the stores. It was amazing, and if our
hero's head had hummed before with the memory of his buffeting in the
surf, it hummed still louder now. He was in a glow. The clothes on his
bed seemed like lead. The place stifled him. He longed to be able to
get out, to shake off the excitement.

"An attack of fever," said the surgeon that evening, as he came to the
room and found Dick wandering slightly. "The shock, hard times for the
last few weeks, and thoughtless exposure to the sun, are probable
causes. That's what many of the youngsters do. They think that because
an older hand can at a pinch work during the heat of the day and in the
sun, they can do the same. They can't. They haven't the stamina of
older men. Here's an example. He'll be in bed for another week."

And in bed Dick was for more than that time. At last, when the fever
had left him, he was allowed to get into a chair, where for a few days
he remained till his strength was partially restored. Another week and
he emerged into the open. And here at length he made the acquaintance
of the men he had rescued from the surf.

CHAPTER THREE.

A MINING EXPEDITION.

Dick could have shouted with merriment as the two strangers whom he had
rescued after their upset in the surf came up the steep steps of
Government House to greet him, and still more was his merriment roused
as the stout little man came forward to shake him by the hand. For this
rotund and jolly-looking individual was dressed in immaculate white,
with an enormously broad red cummerbund about his middle, making his
vast girth even more noticeable. His round, clean-shaven face beamed
with friendly purpose, while there was about him the air of a leader.
He struggled to appear dignified. He h