st
bewildering manner possible; the old chief, Mr Stokes, and Garry O'Neil
staring at the pair of us with equal amazement.

"By George, the girl and the dog, the girl and the dog. Why, it's the
very same ship, as you say, Haldane; it must be so, and, by George, my
boy, you were right after all! By George, you were!" at length
exclaimed the skipper in a voice, the genuineness of whose astonishment
could not be doubted. "Colonel Vereker, I would not have credited this
had any one told it me and sworn to the truth of it on oath, but the
proof is so strong that I cannot possibly disbelieve it, sir, though it
is to my mind a downright impossibility according to every argument of
common sense. It is certainly the most wonderful thing that has ever
happened to me, and the most wonderful thing that I have ever heard of
since I have been at sea!"

"Heavens!" cried the other. "But why? You surprise me, sir."

"Aye, colonel," rejoined the skipper. "But I am going to surprise you
more. Now don't laugh at me, and don't think me an idiot and gone off
my head, sir, when I tell you that this lad, Dick Haldane, here, whether
by reason of some mirage or other I cannot tell, for it's beyond my
understanding altogether, distinctly saw your ship with her signal of
distress, and says he saw your little daughter with the dog by her side,
aboard her, last Friday night at sunset. More than that, sir, he
described to me at the time, exactly as you have done now, colonel,
everything he saw, even to the very hue of the young girl's hair and the
colour and texture of the dog's coat! It is altogether marvellous and,
indeed, incredible!"

"Well, but--" said Colonel Vereker slowly, and pausing between every
word as if trying to comprehend it all. "Why, how is that, sir?"

"Your ship, colonel, must have been more than five hundred miles away
from ours at the time--that is all!"

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

BUTCHERED.

"Dios!" exclaimed Colonel Vereker. "Are you--certain of this, sir?"

Captain Applegarth shrugged his shoulders.

"Ask Mr Stokes here and your doctor there, Mr O'Neil, whether they did
not hear Haldane's yarn about your ship five days ago, sir, before we
ever clapped eyes on you," said he in a slightly aggrieved tone, as if
he thought his word was being doubted. "Why, colonel, this poor lad was
becoming the butt for everybody's chaff on board on account of it!"

"Gracious!" cried the other. "This is indeed really wo