amma--then
a rough scratchy paw was dabbed on my hand, and directly after my
fingers were wiped by a hot moist tongue. At the same time there was a
whimpering noise, and though I did not know it then, I had made one of
the ugliest but most faithful friends I ever had.

The days glided by, and we progressed very slowly, for the weather fell
calm after the typhoon, and often for twenty-four hours together we did
nothing but drift about with the current, the weather being so hot that
we were glad to sit under the shade of a sail.

The doctor quite took to Jack Penny, saying that he was an oddity, but
not a bad fellow. I began to like him better myself, though he did
nothing to try and win my liking, being very quiet and distant with us
both, and watching us suspiciously, as if he thought we were always
making plots to get rid of him, and thwart his plans.

Gyp had remained undiscovered, the poor brute lying as quiet as a mouse,
except when Jack Penny and I went down to feed him, when he expressed
his emotion by rapping the planks hard with his tail.

At last the captain, who had been taking observations, tapped me on the
shoulder one hot mid-day, and said:

"There, squire, we shall see the coast to-morrow before this time, and I
hope the first thing you set eyes on will be your father, waving his old
hat to us to take him off."

Just then Jimmy, whose wound had healed rapidly, and who had forgotten
all about the big bunyip fly buzzing in his head, suddenly popped his
face above the hatchway with his eyes starting, his hair looking more
shaggy than usual, and his teeth chattering with horror.

He leaped up on the deck, and began striking it with the great knob at
the end of his waddy, shouting out after every blow.

"Debble, debble--big bunyip debble. Jimmy, Jimmy see big bunyip down
slow!"

"Here, youngster, fetch my revolver," shouted the captain to me. "Here,
doctor, get out your gun, that Malay chap's loose again."

"A no--a no--a no," yelled Jimmy, banging at the deck. "Big bunyip--no
brown fellow--big black bunyip debble, debble!"

"Get out, you black idiot; it's the Malay."

"A no--a no--a no; big black bunyip. 'Gin eat black fellow down slow."

To my astonishment, long quiet Jack Penny went up to Jimmy and gave him
a tremendous kick, to which the black would have responded by a blow
with his war-club had I not interposed.

"What did you kick him for, Jack?" I cried.

"A great scuffle-headed