to procure certain things from the wreck. Also,
he requested Bastin to continue his ministrations as the latter greatly
desired to do. But to this proposal I would not allow him to give any
direct answer at the moment. Indeed, I dared not do so until I was sure
of Oro's approval.

Towards evening they departed in their canoes, leaving behind them the
usual ample store of provisions.

We cooked our meal as usual, only to discover that what Yva had said
about the Life-water was quite true, since we had but little appetite
for solid food, though this returned upon the following day. The same
thing happened upon every occasion after drinking of that water which
certainly was a most invigorating fluid. Never for years had any of us
felt so well as it caused us to do.

So we lit our pipes and talked about our experiences though of these,
indeed, we scarcely knew what to say. Bastin accepted them as something
out of the common, of course, but as facts which admitted of no
discussion. After all, he said, the Old Testament told much the same
story of people called the Sons of God who lived very long lives and ran
after the daughters of men whom they should have left alone, and thus
became the progenitors of a remarkable race. Of this race, he presumed
that Oro and his daughter were survivors, especially as they spoke of
their family as "Heaven born." How they came to survive was more than he
could understand and really scarcely worth bothering over, since there
they were.

It was the same about the Deluge, continued Bastin, although naturally
Oro spoke falsely, or, at any rate, grossly exaggerated, when he
declared that he had caused this catastrophe, unless indeed he was
talking about a totally different deluge, though even then he could not
have brought it about. It was curious, however, that the people drowned
were said to have been wicked, and Oro had the same opinion about those
whom he claimed to have drowned, though for the matter of that, he could
not conceive anyone more wicked than Oro himself. On his own showing he
was a most revengeful person and one who declined to agree to a quite
suitable alliance, apparently desired by both parties, merely because it
offended his family pride. No, on reflection he might be unjust to Oro
in this particular, since he never told that story; it was only shown
in some pictures which very likely were just made up to astonish us.
Meanwhile, it was his business to preach to this old