the old man.

"But where did you get them all, Captain Hardy?"

"As for that, I picked them up all about the world, and I could tell a
story about every one of them."

"O, isn't that splendid?--won't you tell us now?" inquired William.

"And knock off telling you what the Dean and I were doing up there by
the North Pole, on that island without a name?"

William was a little puzzled to know what reply he should make to that,
for he thought the Captain looked as if he did not half like what he had
said; so he satisfied himself with exclaiming, "No, no, no," a great
number of times, and then asked, "But won't you tell us all about them
when you get out of the North Pole scrape?"

"Maybe so, my lad, maybe so; we'll see about that; one thing at a time
is a good rule in story-telling as well as in other matters. And now you
may look at all these things, and when you are satisfied, and I have got
done putting them to rights, we'll go on with the story again."

The children were greatly delighted with everything they saw, and they
passed a very happy hour, helping the Captain to put his cabin in
"ship-shape order," as he said. Then they all crowded up into one
corner, and the Captain, seated on an old camp-stool, which had
evidently seen much service in a great number of places, did as he had
promised.

What he said, however, deserves a chapter by itself; and so we'll turn
another leaf and start fresh again.

CHAPTER IX.

Contains a Recovery, a Discovery, and a Disappointment.

"And now," said the Captain, "what was the young man doing, when we
knocked off the other day, after the storm?"

William, whose memory was always as good as his words were ready, said
he was "just going to sleep."

"True, that's the thing; and I went to sleep and slept soundly, I can
tell you. And this you may well enough believe when you bear in mind how
much I had passed through since the last sleep I had on board the
ship,--for since then had come the shipwreck, the saving of the Dean and
carrying him ashore, the walk around the island, besides all the anxiety
and worriment of mind in consequence of my own unhappy situation and the
Dean's uncertain fate.

"More than twenty-four hours had elapsed since the shipwreck, and if I
tell you that I slept full twelve hours, without once waking up, you
must not be at all surprised.

"When I opened my eyes again, we were in the shadow of the cliffs once
more; that is, the sun had gone