rse spirits, and sat brooding over their
fate in total silence.

"Well, Fairburn," I at last exclaimed, with a sigh, "our prospects seem
bad enough now, at all events."

"Oh, they might have been worse," he answered, smiling in spite of our
situation. "You know the gentlemen might have cut our throats, or made
us walk the plank, or stripped us of our clothes, or lashed us to
different parts of the vessel apart from each other, or they might have
amused themselves by beating us, or we might have been sent to work at
the oars. Then, perhaps, our Malay is persuading the chief that he will
make more of us by ransoming us, and, as we are still alive, we may find
a chance of escaping. Oh, depend upon it, things might be much worse
than they are; and we should be grateful."

"I like your philosophy; but it is difficult to follow," I observed.

"No, not at all," he replied. "Only get accustomed to believe that
everything is ordered for the best, and you will find it very easy. We
cannot tell what misfortunes we may have escaped by the adventure which
has befallen us. We should always compare our present state with what
it might have been under still more adverse circumstances, not with what
we wish it to have been."

"Then you mean to say, that if we had remained in the boats, some
greater misfortune might have happened to us?" said I.

"Exactly so," he answered. "The boats might have sprung leaks, and have
gone down, or might have run on some coral bank in the night, and have
been lost; or a storm might have arisen and overwhelmed them, or some
other casualties might have occurred. My firm belief is that God is
everywhere, he orders everything for the best. We cannot too often
repeat this for we may even forget the greatest truths at times when
they are most needed. If we could but always remember this one, we
should be saved the guilt of much impious repining and despondency."

"True; true; I was almost forgetting this," I exclaimed. "Thanks,
Fairburn, for reminding me."

I can assure my young friends that the perfect confidence I felt in
God's kind providence enabled me to bear up wonderfully against the
misfortunes which had overtaken me; and I am sure that, in similar
cases, if they put their trust in God, He will equally support them.

While we had been speaking I had observed a young Malay lad pass
constantly, and put his head in to look at us. There appeared to be a
look of peculiar intelligence on