of days in some little manner.

"Yer 'live an' hearty yet, lad!" was his greeting as he came around in
the "Gull's" boat with a variety of provisions for winter use, one
cloudy afternoon. "Well, I mus' say I didn't think to find ye so?
Lonesome any? Goin' to let me carry ye back to Hastings afore the
'Gull' stops runnin'?"

"No," said Noll, bravely, "I'm going to stay, skipper."

"Ye'll find the weather a tough un, bime-by," drawled Mr. Snape, as he
rolled a flour-barrel up the sand.

"Yes," said the skipper, "winters are mos'ly hard uns down here. An'
what ye goin' to do when the 'Gull' stops cruisin' fur the season, an'
ye can't get a word frum the city?"

This was a contingency for which Noll had made no calculation. Not
hear a word from Hastings for a whole long winter?

"Well," he said at last, "that isn't pleasant to think of, but I'll
manage somehow, skipper. And you must bring me a great packet of
letters to last till the 'Gull' commences her trips again."

"Ay, lad," said the skipper, his eyes twinkling. "What be these?"
drawing a parcel from under his pea-jacket.

Noll's eager "Letters! and for me?" tickled the old sailor
wonderfully.

"Yes, these be letters," he said, chuckling; "Jack, here, talks o'
runnin' a smack down this winter purpose to bring yer mail!"

"'Tw'u'd take something bigger'n a smack," observed Mr. Snape, looking
askance to see how Noll grasped the precious parcel.

"All yer frien's said as how I was to bring ye back on the 'Gull,'"
called the skipper after him, as Noll went running across the sand
toward the house.

"Oh, how I wish--No! I can't go, skipper; it's no use talking," Noll
answered back as he gained the piazza, and there sat down to open his
precious missives.

Five or six of his boy friends had agreed to surprise him each with a
letter, and here they were, together with a kind note from Mr. Gray.
What a comfort and pleasure they were! It was almost like seeing the
writers' faces and talking with them, Noll thought.

Trafford came out upon the piazza while he sat there absorbed in their
contents, and as he walked along toward the skipper, who stood waiting
at the bottom of the steps, noted the boy's eager, delighted face, and
wondered why the lad did not return to his friends, where, it was
quite evident, he was much desired and longed for. Why did he stay on
this dreary Rock? What was there here to make the place endurable for
a boy