a cloud
of smoke rising from its site, as from an altar, gave ample evidence of
its fate. A blazing log from the fire Phil left in its hearth must have
rolled out on to the floor directly after his departure. Now only a heap
of ashes and glowing embers remained to mark Nel-te's home.

"It is best so," said Phil, as the two lads stood beside the smouldering
ruins of what had been a home and was now become a sepulchre. "And oh,
Serge! think what might have been the child's fate if I had left him
behind, as I at first intended. Poor little chap! I realize now, as
never before, how completely his past is wiped out and how entirely his
future lies in our hands. It is a trust that came without our seeking,
but I accepted it; and now beside his mother's ashes I swear to be true
to the promise I gave her."

"Amen!" said Serge, softly.

They planted a rude wooden cross, the face of which was chipped to a
gleaming whiteness, close in front of the smouldering heap, and near it
Serge fastened a streamer of white cloth to the tip of a tall young
spruce. Cutting off the limbs as he descended, he left it a slender
pole, and thus provided the native symbol of a place of burial.

[Illustration: "A FLYING-FISH-CATCHER FROM OLD HONG-KONG--YO HO! ROLL A
MAN DOWN!"]

As they approached the camp they were astonished to hear Jalap Coombs
singing in bellowing tones the rollicking old sea chant of "Roll a Man
Down!"

"A flying-fish-catcher from old Hong-Kong--
Yo ho! roll a man down--
A flying-fish-catcher comes bowling along;
Give us some time to roll a man down,
Roll a man up and roll a man down,
Give us some time to roll a man down.
From labbord to stabbord away we go--
Yo ho! roll a man down."

Jalap's voice was not musical, but it possessed a mighty volume, and as
the quaint sea chorus roared and echoed through the stately forest, the
very trees appeared to be listening in silent wonder to the unaccustomed
sounds. Even Musky, Luvtuk, big Amook, and the other dogs seemed by
their dismal howlings to be expressing either appreciation or
disapprobation of the sailor-man's efforts.

The performers in this open-air concert were too deeply intent on their
own affairs to pay any heed to the approach of the returning sledge
party, who were thus enabled to come within full view of a most
extraordinary scene unnoticed. Just beyond the camp, in a semicircle,
facing the fire, a dozen dogs, resting on their haunc