shore, and there he found the boat. He rowed back to the yacht and
fetched some quinine. Then, together with the skipper, the steward,
and some other sailors, he returned to the ominous house. They found it
empty. There was no trace of Stewart. They shouted in the wood till they
were hoarse, but no answer broke the heavy stillness.

Then sending for the rest of the crew, Lewis organised a regular search
over the whole island. This lasted till sunset, and they returned in the
evening without having found any trace of Stewart or of any other human
being. In the night a high wind rose, which soon became a gale; they
were obliged to weigh anchor so as not to be dashed against the island,
and for twenty-four hours they underwent a terrific tossing. Then the
storm subsided as quickly as it had come.

They made for the island once more and reached the spot where they had
anchored three days before. There was no trace of the island. It had
completely disappeared.

When they reached Teneriffe the next day they found that everybody was
talking of the great tidal wave which had caused such great damage and
destruction in the islands.

THE MAN WHO GAVE GOOD ADVICE

To Henry Cust

When he was a child his baby brother came to him one day and said that
their elder brother, who was grown up, had got a beautiful small ship in
his room. Should he ask him for it? The child who gave good advice said:
"No, if you ask him for it he will say you are a spoilt child; but go
and play in his room with it before he gets up in the morning, and he
will give it to you." The baby brother followed this advice, and sure
enough two days afterwards he appeared triumphant in the nursery with
the ship in his hands, saying: "He said I might choose, the ship or
the picture-book." Now the picture-book was a coloured edition of Baron
Munchausen's adventures; the boy who gave good advice had seen it and
hankered for it. As the baby brother had refused it there could be no
harm in asking for it, so the next time his elder brother sent him on an
errand (it was to fetch a pin-cushion from his room) judging the moment
to be propitious, he said to him: "May I have the picture-book that baby
wouldn't have?" "I don't like little boys who ask," answered the big
brother, and there the matter ended.

The child who gave good advice went to school. There was a rage for stag
beetles at the school; the boys painted them and made them run races on
a chessboard.