be unable to help himself, or he might lower himself down
by a rope," observed Mr Brand. "Make a line fast round me; I think
that I could manage to got in just under the quarter, and so haul myself
up by some of the ropes I see hanging over it."

To propose was with Cousin Silas to act, and in another moment he was
striking out towards the wreck. Avoiding the main-mast--close to which,
with some of its spars, he had to pass--he at length got hold of the
quarter without injury. He was soon up alongside the stranger. The man
was apparently unable to walk; so Mr Brand supported him as he helped
him along the keel, till he reached the after-part; and then, securing a
line to him, he beckoned us to pull in, while he lowered both himself
and the man into the boat. We quickly pulled back again, before the
shattered mast drove towards the hull. From the appearance of the
wreck, she did not look as if she would have floated much longer. The
stranger was a mulatto--a fine, tall fellow, apparently, but now looking
very wretched and weak from loss of blood and want of food. We soon had
him on board, dried and put into a clean hammock, under the doctor's
care. His manner at first was rough, and somewhat sullen; but it
improved by degrees, and he seemed grateful for the kindness shown to
him. He was evidently suffering so much from pain that no one asked him
for particulars about the wreck, or how he had been brought into his
present position. It was not till the doctor came in to dinner that we
began to suspect the truth.

"Do you know that that man has received a couple of desperate wounds
with a long, sharp knife?" said he. "When I discovered this, it
occurred to me that he must have been one of the crew of the vessel
which passed us yesterday, and that she had met the fate which was to be
expected."

"No doubt about it," answered Captain Frankland. "I have thought so
from the first; but I did not wish to prejudice anybody against the
man."

"He is not disinclined to be communicative; but whether he speaks the
truth or not is another question," said the doctor. "He says that the
vessel capsized was a Peruvian brig; that he and another man had a
quarrel, in which he received two stabs; that soon after the brig was
struck by a squall, and capsized; that one of the boats was uninjured,
and that some dozen people escaped in her."

"I think the latter part of his account is very likely in some respects
to be true,"