tell ye wot it is," said he, the instant there was a lull in the
uproar of voices. "If you think that I'll stand here and see my Susan's
letter insulted before my eyes, you're very far out o' your reckoning.
Just cut them ropes an put any two o' ye'r biggest men, black or white,
before _me_, an' if I don't shew them a lot o' new stars as hasn't been
seed in no sky wotiver since Adam was a little boy, my name's--"

Up to this point Jo was heard, but the conclusion of his defiance was
drowned in roars of laughter.

"Cut the ropes," shouted the crowd.

Dan drew a clasp-knife from his pocket, and with one stroke set Bumpus
free.

"Shoulder high," yelled a voice; "hurrah!"

A wild rush was made at the table. Jo's executioners were overturned
and trampled under foot, and the table, with himself and his young
advocate sprawling on it, was raised on the shoulders of the crowd and
borne off in triumph.

Half-an-hour later, Bumpus was set down at the widow's door. Mrs
Stuart received him with a scream of surprise and joy, for she had given
him up as a lost man.

"Now, then, Mrs Stuart," said Jo, throwing himself on a chair and
wiping the perspiration from his forehead, "don't make such a fuss about
me, like a good creetur. But do get me a bit o' bacon, and let's be
thankful that I'm here to eat it. Cut it fat, Mrs Stuart; cut it fat;
for it's wonderful wot a appetite I've got after such a mornin's work as
I've gone through. Well, well, after all that yer friends have said of
ye, Jo Bumpus, I do believe that yer _not_ born to be hanged?"

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

THE RENDEZVOUS--AN EPISODE--PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES--AND OTHER MATTERS.

About five or six days' sail from the scene of our tale there lies one
of those small rocks or islets with which the breast of the Pacific is
in many places thickly studded.

It is a lonely coral isle, far removed from any of its fellows, and
presenting none of those grand features which characterise the island on
which the settlement of Sandy Cove was situated. In no part does it
rise more than thirty feet above the level of the sea; in most places it
is little more than a few feet above it. The coral reefs around it are
numerous; and as many of them rise to within a few feet of the surface,
the navigation in its neighbourhood is dangerous in the extreme.

At the time of which we write, the vegetation of the isle was not very
luxuriant. Only a few clusters of cocoa-nut palms gr