ze, a hail was heard on the weather bow.
It was so faint, that had the screw been going at the time, it would not
have been noticed. Mr Mildmay, who was officer of the watch, ordered
the yards to be braced up, and kept the ship in the direction from
whence the hail came. Again it was heard louder.

"There's no doubt about it," he exclaimed; "that must come from the
boats--call the commander."

In a minute Jack was on deck. At length the two boats could be seen
under sail, running down towards the ship. She was immediately hove-to,
and in another minute they were alongside. Instead of the woebegone,
half-starved beings Jack expected to see, he was delighted to find them
all in good condition and excellent spirits. Green and Tom gave a rapid
account of their adventures; after leaving the island they had gone to
Santa Cruz, where, not liking the manners of the natives, after
obtaining a fresh supply of water, they immediately put to sea again in
search of the _Dragon_, which Green felt pretty sure would not be
far-off. No one was at all the worse for the adventure, and Green's old
shipmate, Pat Casey, from being able to speak the language of the
natives, proved of great assistance during the remainder of the cruise.
He, to be sure, did not always make himself understood, but that might
have been because the natives spoke a different dialect to the one he
had acquired. Numberless atrocities were brought to light, some
committed by the sandal-wood trader and kidnappers, who were generally
the aggressors; but others by the natives, who had treacherously cut off
several boats' crews and murdered numerous individuals, who had been
surprised much as was Mr Large. Where the crime could be brought home
to the natives, they were punished by the destruction of their villages
and canoes. In one or two instances in which the chiefs had been
implicated, they were carried off and left on other islands at a
distance, from whence they were not likely to be able to return. It was
a far more difficult matter to get the white men convicted and punished
for the foul deeds of which they had been guilty in these regions.

At length the _Dragon's_ course was shaped for Sydney, where Jack had
the satisfaction of finding the _Eolus_, which had arrived a short time
before him. Adair had numerous adventures to recount, very similar to
those which the _Dragon_ had met with. The chief satisfaction they
experienced on their arrival was t