d; "but first fill your
glass from that bottle. I should imagine that you have almost forgotten
the taste of wine."

"I have not touched it since two days after we were wrecked, sir; but on
the whole we have not done at all badly with regard to food."

"In the first place, what has become of your boat's crew?"

"They are all dead, sir. Some were killed or washed overboard during the
storm; the rest were drowned at the time of the wreck."

"That is a bad business. However, begin at the beginning, and tell the
story your own way. I have plenty of time to listen to it, and the fuller
you make it the better."

Stephen related the story, from the time of his leaving the ship until he
had anchored in the bay. As he saw that the admiral wished to have full
details, he told the story at length, and the sun was setting by the time
he brought it to a conclusion.

"You have done wonderfully well, lad," Lord Cochrane said warmly when he
had ceased speaking, "wonderfully well indeed; no one could have done
better. The arrangements throughout were excellent, and you showed a noble
spirit in delaying your departure for four days in order to assist the
poor wretch who had murdered your companion, and would have murdered
yourself in his greed for gold. I do not praise you for bringing the
treasure back here; it is the conduct that I should expect from every
British officer; but, at the same time, it is clear that you had it in
your power to leave it buried on that island, so that you could have gone
back in some craft, and brought it away with you. I shall represent your
conduct in the strongest light to the government. By the rules of the
service, of course, you are entitled only to a junior officer's share of
the ship's portion of the prize-money, but I shall certainly suggest that
your case shall be specially considered. Now, I will take you ashore with
me. I am going to a dinner given by the president, and I shall create a
sensation when I state that I have, after deducting a fifth for the
fleet's share of the prize-money, four hundred thousand dollars to hand
over to them.

"I shall take you first to my wife. She will be delighted to see you
again, and so will the children. You can give her an outline of your
story. If you had been three days later you would not have found me here.
For the last four months I have been endeavouring to get my ships fitted
out, but in vain, and I am putting to sea no stronger than when I came