re, when, a
breeze freshening, he shaped a course for the Thames.

"Come," he said, "we have done a good turn to our Dutch friend; I hope
that he will manage to escape from their clutches."

CHAPTER SEVEN.

We must now return to Eversden. Months had passed by since Roger and
Stephen had sailed from Bristol, and no news had been received of them.
At length one day Mr Battiscombe made his appearance, having ridden
over from Langton Park, and desired to have a word with the Colonel
alone. He looked graver and sadder than usual.

"I bring you news," he said, "and I beg you to break it to my friend
Willoughby. Our two sons, as you know, sailed in the _Dolphin_. The
owners write me word that so long a time has elapsed since they heard of
her without receiving tidings of her, that they are compelled to give
her up as lost. She had not been heard of at any of the ports up the
Mediterranean. It is within the pale of possibility that the lads may
have escaped, yet surely we should have heard."

"God's will be done," said Mr Willoughby when he heard the account. "I
will not give up all hope of their return, though what has happened to
them it is indeed hard to guess; still there are chances by which they
may have effected their escape."

Though he could not at all times hide his grief, yet he bore up
remarkably well. The only person in the family who would not consent to
believe that Roger and Stephen were lost was Alice Tufnell.

"If it had been known that the _Dolphin_ had gone down, and there was
one survivor who could report that all the rest had perished, we might
then believe that the ship had foundered," she said, talking to Madam
Pauline. "Who can tell but that the _Dolphin_ may have been driven on
the shore of some unknown island, whence the crew have been hitherto
unable to escape? I have read of many such adventures. The ocean is
very wide, and perhaps Roger and Stephen are even now living the lives
of castaways, and engaged, may be, in building a vessel in which they
will some day return home. If I were a man I should like to fit out a
ship and go in search of them."

"My dear, such undertakings appear very easy to the imagination, but
practically the matter is very different," answered Madam Pauline. "It
would be like looking for a needle in a bundle of hay. Supposing that
the two dear lads are still alive, you would not know in what direction
to go. You might sail about the ocean for years