XVII.

"NO GOOD IT BETOKENETH."

The positions of the two on Yelholme were reversed, and it became the
man's part to speak words of comfort.

"There are plenty of boats about--must be in these parts, my lad," he
said, "and some one will see your skiff. Don't lose courage about the
little one. I'm as vexed as can be that this should have happened for
me. I'd rather have died straight away."

The generous heart of Yaspard Adiesen was stirred from its bitterness
of grief by such words, and after a time he allowed himself to hope
that Signy might be rescued after all. Of his own position he thought
not at all, until considering that of his companion. Then he
remembered that there were some scraps of biscuit in his jacket
pocket--kept there for his pets--and pulling these out he said, "I
wonder if these will be of any use till some boat picks us up. I dare
say you need food?"

The biscuit was very welcome; but the jacket had been of still more
service in restoring a degree of warmth to the chilled and sorely
injured body, and Yaspard would not listen to the man's remonstrance as
he tucked the coat closer around him.

"I am not in the least cold, and don't need a jacket in such sunny
weather," said Yaspard; "but I hope some of the haaf-boats may come
this way soon, for you ought to be in the doctor's hands. Now I wonder
if I can do anything in the way of a bandage?"

It was wonderful how the sight of those wounds had restored the lad's
equanimity, and drawn his distracted mind from thoughts of the forlorn
child tossing amid the waves. But that was the way God answered his
prayers at first; and it is a way God often uses for helping us to bear
some overwhelming calamity. The suffering of another is presented
before us, and our better nature, our least selfish part, is evoked in
a way that makes us dwell less upon our own trial. Yaspard's
handkerchief and necktie, torn into strips, helped wonderfully to bind
up some of the wounds, although the boy's hands were inexperienced at
such work, and he sickened over the job.

When that was done there was nothing more to do but exercise patience,
and scan the seas in hope of sighting a vessel of some sort. While
they so waited, and tried to cheer each other's flagging courage,
Yaspard asked, "Did you fall from a ship; or how was it you came to be
tossed up here?"

The answer was startling. "You have some cursed bad men in those
Shetland Isles," said the sailor, w