's have something to eat."

"But you have not yet told me, Bob," said Jackman, while the three
friends were discussing their meal, "what part of the world you intend
to visit. Does your father give you leave to go wherever you please,
and stay as long as you choose?"

"No; he limits me to the Western Isles."

"That's an indefinite limitation. D'you mean the isles of the Western
Pacific?"

"No; only those of the west of Scotland. And, to tell you the truth, I
have no settled or definite plan. Having got leave to use the yacht all
the summer on condition that I don't leave our own shores, I have
resolved to begin by running at once to the wildest and farthest away
part of the kingdom, leaving circumstances to settle the rest."

"A circumstantial account of the matter, no doubt, yet rather vague.
Have you a good crew?"

"Yes; two men and a boy, one of the men being skipper, and the nearest
approach to a human machine you ever saw. He is a Highlander, a
thorough seaman, hard as mahogany and about as dark, stiff as a poker,
self-contained, silent, except when spoken to, and absolutely obedient."

"And we set sail to-morrow, early?" asked Barret.

"Yes; after seeing the morning papers," said Mabberly with a laugh.

This, of course, turned the conversation on the accident, much to the
distress of Barret, who feared that the jovial, off-hand reckless man
from the "woods and forests" would laugh at and quiz him more severely
than his friend Bob. To his surprise and great satisfaction, however,
he found that his fears were groundless, for Jackman listened to the
account of the incident quite gravely, betrayed not the slightest
tendency to laugh, or even smile; asked a good many questions in an
interested tone, spoke encouragingly as to the probable result, and
altogether showed himself to be a man of strong sympathy as well as high
spirits.

Next morning found our three adventurers dropping down the Thames with
the first of the ebb tide, and a slight breeze from the south-west;
Mabberly and Jackman in the very small cabin looking after stores, guns,
rods, etcetera; Barret anxiously scanning the columns of a newspaper;
Quin and the skipper making each other's acquaintance with much of the
suspicion observable in two bull-dogs who meet accidentally; the boy in
the fore part of the vessel coiling ropes; and the remainder of the crew
at the helm.

"Port! port! stiddy," growled the skipper.

"Port it is; steady,"