s friend by both shoulders, and gazed into his face; it was
a very thin and careworn face at that time, as if much of the bloom of
youth had been wiped from it for ever.

"Willie! Am I dreaming?" exclaimed Miles.

"If you are, so must I be," replied his friend, "for when I saw you last
you had not taken to half-nakedness as a costume!"

"Come now," retorted Miles, "you have not much to boast of in that way
yourself."

"There you are wrong, Miles, for I have to boast that I made my garment
myself. True, it's only a sack, but I cut the hole in the bottom of it
for my head with my own hand, and stitched on the short sleeves with a
packing-needle. But, I say, what's been the matter with Molloy? Have
they been working you too hard, Jack?"

"No, Willum, no, I can't exactly say that, but they've bin hangin' me
too hard. I'll tell 'ee all about it in coorse o' time. Man alive! but
they _have_ took the flesh off your bones somehow; let's see--no, your
neck's all right. Must have bin some other way."

"The way was simple enough," returned the other. "When they separated
us all at first, they set me to the hardest work they could find--to
dig, draw water, carry burdens that a horse might object to, sweep, and
clean up; in fact, everything and anything, and they've kep' us hard at
it ever since. I say _us_, because Rattlin' Bill Simkin was set to help
me after the first day, an' we've worked all along together. Poor
Simkin, there ain't much rattle in him now, except his bones. I don't
know why they sent me here and not him. And I can't well make out
whether I'm sent here for extra punishment or as a favour!"

"Have you seen or heard anything of Stevenson?" asked Moses.

"I saw him once, about a week ago, staggering under a great log--whether
in connection with house-builders or not I can't tell. It was only for
a minute, and I got a tremendous cut across the back with a cane for
merely trying to attract his attention."

The tide, it will be seen, had been rising pretty fast that afternoon.
It may be said to have come in with a rush, when, towards evening, the
door of their prison once more opened and Simkin with Stevenson were
ushered in together, both clothed alike in an extemporised sack-garment
and short drawers, with this difference, that the one wore a species of
felt hat, the other a fez.

They were still in the midst of delighted surprise at the turn events
seemed to be taking, when two men entered be