munity from all engagements, indoors and out of doors, occurred. The monitors, however, had the privilege of asking for one such open day in each term, and they generally chose it for some special purpose of their own, and took care to have it on a fine day, if possible.

It was a very fine day on the occasion of which we write, one of the perfect days of June, when the summer is in the charm and freshness of its youth. The clear sky seemed to vibrate overhead as the sun shone through it, without a cloud to intercept its rays, and almost without a breath of wind to moderate its force. Some monitors and "naturals" had gone on walking expeditions by twos and threes. Boys who had friends in the neighbourhood, or within easy reach by rail, went to look them up and spend the day with them. Tom resolved, as soon as he heard of the holiday, to go to Sandy Frith by the first train, and asked and obtained permission for his friend Martin to go with him.

After an exciting run among sandhills and fields within sight of the seashore nearly all the way, the train entered a cutting, and presently afterwards emerged upon a new and very different scene. A bay, sheltered by two high promontories, with a village, consisting of two or three small streets and some scattered picturesque cottages, met their view.

"That's Sandy Frith," said Tom; "this is the place, I am sure. It is like what Captain Broad said. There are the boats-Mr. Dean's boats, very likely; and here-oh, here is the station."

The walls of the station shut out the view for the moment, and interrupted his speech; but the boys were very glad to alight, and ran off at once, without waiting to give up their tickets till stopped and recalled by the porter. They started afresh then, and kept on at a brisk trot till they approached the town. "We must ask the way to the shipyard," said Tom, breathless with pleasure and excitement.

"We shall soon find it," the other answered. "There do not seem to be many streets; it is quite a little place."

"It's a very nice place," said Tom, "and none the worse for being small.'

"It will soon be bigger; they are building in two or three places; large houses too; there, and there, and there." Martin pointed as he spoke to some blocks of scaffolding, where great numbers of workpeople were employed, and to smoke, which seemed to proceed from steam-engines.

"It's Chaffin," said Tom, "the contractor, you know. He told me they were going to make a watering-place of it; that is what they are doing now, no doubt. I hope they won't spoil it. Why, look there! Oh, I say! Talk of the-Dook, and he's sure to appear."

They both halted, and their countenances fell. Standing at the entrance of the Jolly Dolphin, leaning against the doorpost, with a cigar in his mouth, was their old schoolfellow, Marmaduke Chaffin! He looked two or three years older than when they had last seen him, though only a few weeks had elapsed. He was stylishly dressed, according to his idea of style-a sort of half-jockey, half-costermonger cut, but all new, as if he had at that moment been turned out of the tailor's shop. If he had been standing before one of the great clothing emporiums of the metropolis instead of at the door of a public-house he might have been taken for one of the wax effigies which challenge the admiration of the passengers,

and which serve at once as specimens of the skill of the artist, and of the grace required in the wearer in order to do justice to their efforts. He had an elegant silver-headed cane behind him, passed under his elbows; his hair was parted in the middle, and his upper lip was in training for a moustache, and looked a shade darker than the rest of his face. "Hullo, you fellows!" he cried, as soon as he caught sight of the two schoolboys; "where did you come from?"

They paused for a moment to look at him, and little Martin answered, "From Abbotscliff, to be sure." "Abbotscliff! Poor little chaps!"

"You would like to be there yourself," said Tom, very indignant at this expression of affected pity, "if it were not for-" He paused. "If it were not for what?" "The pump and the watercresses." "What do you mean?"

"If you meet with any of our fellows of your own size," said Tom, "they will soon inform you; so you had better look out."

Chaffin drooped visibly, and his cigar fell from his lips. "Are any of them here?" he asked-" any besides you, I mean?”

"No."

"Are you sure?" "Quite sure. You need not be afraid this time." "You are not telling me a lie, are you? Tom's eyes flashed fire, but he did not condescend to answer. It was not necessary; for Chaffin knew by his look that he had spoken the truth.

way.

"What do you mean by 'being afraid '?" he said. "It is like your impudence to talk in that It would serve you right if I were to give you a good licking. But I don't want to quarrel with you; it's too much trouble. How is old Piercey, and all the rest of them? So you think I should like to be back at Abbotscliff, do you? No, thank you; I'm in business now, don't you see? I'm getting on capitally!"

"You don't seem to be very busy just now," said Martin.

"Oh, yes, I am. Do you see all those new buildings? They are all under my charge; I'm looking after them; and those workmen are all under me. I have to keep them to their work."

"And to set them a good example of industry," Tom suggested.

"Yes," Chaffin answered; "I go round every now and then and take notes. They are obliged to work when they see me."

"I wonder they don't leave off to look at you," said Tom, contemplating him from head to foot with pretended admiration.

"Ah! you may say that," said Chaffin, looking down at his boots, and then throwing his head and shoulders back, after the manner of his father. "No," he continued, "I have done with Abbotscliff, thank goodness! Piercey need not think I'm going back there."

"He would not have you at any price," said Tom; "you know that very well."

"Nonsense; he was very much annoyed, I know, when the letter came to say I was to leave at once. It served him right, though. He wanted to make out that I had told lies; but it was he that told lies, not I. He is an old brute!" "Dr. Piercey a brute!-Dr. Piercey tell lies!" cried Tom, white with anger, "How dare you say so!"

"How dare I? Why shouldn't I? It's all stuff for him to pretend to be so particular about the truth. He did tell a lot of--”

Before he could repeat the offensive word Tom gathered himself together and sprang at the tall bully like a tiger. His fist, though a little one, was hard, and the fierceness of his indignation gave strength to his arm, so that the blow which he delivered just under Mr. Chaffin's chin was a sharp one; the cigar which had been replaced between his teeth was bitten in two, and part of it went into his throat and nearly choked him, while the doorpost against which his head was impelled with some violence, returned the blow with interest by the inevitable law of action and re-action. Chaffin, as soon as he could recover from the shock, scrambled away coughing into the house, and stood ready for instant flight in case the attack should be renewed. But Tom had no intention of renewing it; on the contrary, he was already ashamed of having given way to his passion. Not that he was afraid of Chaffin. Chaffin could have overwhelmed him with a few blows from his great fists, but the boy did not think of that. He felt that he had lowered himself by entering into a quarrel with such a fellow; and having waited before the door for a minute or two, that he might not seem to shrink from the consequences of his rash attack, ho walked slowly away, the Swallow keeping close behind and looking back continually to guard his friend from a surprise.

"I am sorry I hit him," said Tom.

"I'm glad, I'm very glad," said the Swallow; "if he had hit you again I would have gone at him myself."

The little fellow looked as if he were in earnest. His eye sparkled, and his chest heaved with indignation; otherwise it would have been ridiculous to hear him speak so.

"He deserved it," said Tom; "though I don't suppose he meant to say anything very bad after all. A fellow who can tell stories himself, and think nothing of it, would not understand how much any body else would hate to be accused of such a thing.' "Well then, that will teach him," said Martin, decidedly.

As soon as they were out of sight of the Jolly Dolphin they turned towards the shore and quickened their pace to a run. The aspect of the place was very different from what Tom had been led by Captain Broad's description of it to expect.

The contractor's boast to his directors of what he could accomplish in twelve months was in a fair way to be realised. The scene along the shore reminded Tom of a picture which he had once seen in an old Roman history, representing Romulus founding the city of Rome. In half a dozen different places buildings more or less substantial were being erected. Here the foundations were laid for a row of houses, there the site of some public building was being excavated. At one end of the village a group of scaffold-poles stood out like network against the sky; at the other a cloud of smoke and steam arose from a temporary engine-house, while the sounds of sawing, hammering, and ramming disturbed the wonted tranquillity of the place, wherever they passed. "Where is the shipyard?" Tom asked a labourer whom he met.

"You see that there iron shed," said the man; "that there's the shipyard what's left of it."

They went towards the spet pointed out. Upon

the shed in question was a board, with the inscription, "Daniel Chaffin, Contractor. Office." By the side of it was another board, with the same name, and the addition, "No admittance except on business." Carts were coming and going with bricks, of which large quantities were already stacked in the shipyard, and on every cart was the same legend, "Daniel Chaffin, Contractor."

"These are Mr. Chaffin's horses and chariots," said Martin; " and those," pointing to the carters and hodmen-"those are his servants.'

But Tom could not laugh at the old joke. "Hold your tongue," he said; " come round this way; there is a boat upon the stocks yonder, and that is Mr. Dean's house, I suppose."

One half of the old shipyard was still applied to its old uses, and a man was at work there caulking. The house did not look so neat or cheerful as when Mr. Chaffin paid his first visit to it; the garden was overgrown with weeds, and everything was smothered with lime and dust; even here some building materials had been laid down, and more were arriving. Tom threaded his way through carts and poles and ladders and drain-pipes, and walked up the garden path to the door.

CHAPTER XXVI.-CHANGES AT THE SHIPYARD.

Whip me such honest knaves.-Othello.

WHILE Tom and his companion are making their way towards Mr. Dean's house, and are standing at the door waiting for it to be opened, we will cast a glance inside the dwelling.

Order does not appear to rule there any more than out of doors. The old mother no longer occupies her accustomed seat in the trim parlour, but spends the greater part of her time in a corner of the kitchen. Lucy is generally busy there with household duties, which devolve almost entirely upon her, as there is no longer any servant to assist. With all her industry she is not able to keep the place in such good order as she would like, and she goes about her work languidly, sadly, and as if she had no heart in in it or courage to go at it. Joshua does what he can to help her, but he, too, seems depressed and out of sorts. Altogether there is something wrong with the place, and with those who dwell in it.

Joshua Dean is of course to blame for this; but not, perhaps, in the way and to the extent that the reader may anticipate. Mr. Chaffin's "What will you take?" has done its work, and brought a great deal of sorrow and trouble upon the shipbuilder and his home; but Joshua Dean has got the mastery once more of his unhappy propensity, and does not intend ever again to place himself within the reach of temptation if he can help it. Things have been brought to a low ebb with him; and the shipyard, with the dwelling-house in which his mother and sister have their home, are sold, beyond the power of redemption, he fears. But he intends to make an effort to recover both his position as a respectable man and his property. He will labour and strive and starve to raiso a sufficient sum, if possible, to induce Mr. Chaffin to forego his bargain; and he thinks he could be happy in enduring any privations for this end if he were himself the only sufferer. But it afflicts him to see his mother deprived of her small comforts, and his sister toiling from morning till night about the house, and suffering at the same time a heart-sickness which he can understand only too well, though she never says a

word to any one upon the subject, and does her best to hide it. Captain Broad is expected home soon, and Lucy cannot, under the altered circumstances of her own and her mother's lot, look forward to his return with that joy and comfort which the event would otherwise have inspired. She knows that nothing that has happened will cause any change in Captain Broad's love for her, or in the intentions he has so long cherished, unless it be to make him, if possible, kinder and more devoted than before; but she has decided, nevertheless, that she must give up all thoughts of marriage at present, and that her suitor must be at liberty to leave her altogether if he will; that the engagement between them had better, in point of fact, be broken off.

And yet she has in her possession, in her bosom, a letter from the captain full of the most delightful plans and proposals, a letter which would have caused her heart to leap for joy if it had come at any other time or under any other circumstances. He was always thinking of her, he said; always afraid that something might occur to separate them as they had never been separated yet. Distance was nothing, as long as their hearts were one. A rolling ocean, half the world, between them would be nothing when they should be joined together by bonds which were beyond the power of man to put asunder; but he could not be easy or happy leaving her again and again, uncertain what might happen. This was the nearest hint he gave to that failing to which, as he well knew, her brother, her only natural protector, was liable. He had known it before he left home, for it had even then been a matter of notoriety; but Joshua was supposed to have got the better of it, and had done so for a time. A rumour of his having gone back again to his old excesses had reached him in India, but he made no reference to that in his letter. The object of that letter was to urge his darling Lucy to fix an early day for their marriage, and to be ready for him as soon as he should return from his voyage. She need not leave her mother-that was not to be thought of. She might remain in her brother's house if she wished it; it would perhaps be better for them all that she should do so; but he begged and hoped and trusted that the marriage might not be postponed.

And to this earnest, affectionate letter, which she had shown to no one, Lucy felt that she must answer "No." She did not think that she could even give her reasons for a refusal. Captain Broad would perhaps guess them, or he might be too much offended to trouble himself about them, though that was not likely. The only thing that she was sure about at present was that she could not marry him now, and that it was not unlikely she might never marry him at all. Of course, her brother Joshua was the chief cause of this decision on her part. He had sold his house and land. The shipyard had ceased to belong to him, and he had not succeeded in procuring another site for carrying on his business. The small sum of money which he had received in the sale of his property was, part of it, gone to pay debts or in other ways. Mr. Chaffin had persuaded him to accept bonds, or shares, in the Sandy Frith Company for the bulk of the purchase money, and these were still in his possession, but brought in no return; they would be very valuable by-and-by he was told, and he must on no account part with them. He could not have done that if he had wished it ever so warmly, for there was no market for them. Meantime he had

| to pay rent for the house and yard. Lucy Dean was entitled to a small sum of money under her father's will, but this had remained in her brother's hands, "in the business," as it was said; he had paid her interest for it, and continued to do so, but there was no certainty that he would ever be able to pay the principal. Her mother was, according to the same will, to occupy the house as long as she should live, and her son was to provide for her out of the profits of the business. A great deal was expected from the business, and the business would have been quite equal to all requirements if it had been properly carried on; but under existing circumstances it was quite possible, as Lucy felt, that they might all be turned out of house and home, and that her mother might be left dependent upon her even for the neces saries of existence. She did not doubt that she should be able to earn enough to keep them both, whatever her brother might do; but she was firmly resolved not to impose such a burthen upon a husband.

Mr. Chaffin, it will be seen, had not kept strictly to the terms of his bargain with Joshua Dean. Mr. Chaffin considered himself a very fair dealing and honourable character in all business matters. There was not a more straightforward man in England than himself, according to his own opinion. He had never broken a contract, never taken an unfair advantage of any one with whom he had engagements. "I like to have everything in black and white," he used to say; "and then we know where we are." To do him justice, he kept to the black and white fairly enough; but conditions implied, and not included in the written agreement, were apt to be forgotten. Thus, although he had told Dean that he would not turn him out of the shipyard or cottage, he looked upon him as a yearly tenant, and gave him to understand that of course he could not expect to keep it for ever, as if the place were his own. He wanted first a corner of the land for his office; then a bit more for his "plant;" and at length taking offence at something that he had said or done, threatened him with notice to quit next quarter-day.

"Circumstances altered cases," he said; the only thing that could not be altered according to Mr. Chaffin's idea was a written deed or covenant, with a proper stamp upon it. Everything beyond that was of the nature of temporary arrangements, and might be modified as occasion required. Half the shipyard was occupied already by Mr. Chaffin's "plant," and there was no knowing how soon circumstances would render it necessary for him to occupy the rest. Joshua Dean never received a letter by post without a painful apprehension that it might be from Mr. Chaffin with a notice to quit; nor ever heard a knock at the front door without a fear that the contractor was come in person to impose some new demand. He loathed the sight of Mr. Chaffin, and could scarcely trust himself to speak to him when he met him in the street, regarding him as the chief cause of his unhappiness and of his moral degradation.

Thus it happened that while Tom Howard plied the knocker at the green door, wondering why no one came to open it, Joshua Dean was hurriedly putting on his coat with the intention of slipping away; and when at length Lucy appeared, the two boys could not help being struck with the unpleasant expression of her countenance. The anxious look and the incipient frown passed away when the boy told her who he was and why he had come; and she

invited him and his companion to come in, though still not very cordially, as they both thought.

"I wish you had come last summer," Lucy said. "I looked for you then."

"Did Captain Broad write to say I was coming?" Tom asked.

"He did mention your name, but we heard of you before that. A person of the name of Chaffin told us about you; a great friend of yours, he said he was." Lucy remembered that first visit of Mr. Chaffin only too well. She had been so glad then to see him, and to hear, though only at second-hand, some tidings of the captain. She had expected Tom's visit daily, and had planned a pleasant entertainment for him. But now she could not help associating him with Chaffin. Tom explained that he knew little or nothing of Chaffin, and declined altogether to acknowledge

him as his intimate friend.

"Are you fond of the sea?" Joshua asked. "I should think I am,' " said Tom. "I would rather be a sailor than anything else in the world. Have you got any boats?" 'would you like

"I have one boat," said Joshua; to see it? You can have a sail in it if you like. I can spare time to-day. Have something to eat first, and then I'll take you out."

Joshua said this to please his sister; he thought she would like him to be kind to Captain Broad's young friend; and he was very anxious to censult her wishes in trifles since he was conscious of having done her an injury in greater things. It need scarcely be said that Tom responded to his proposal with great joy. A cruise on the sea! It was the very thing he had been hoping for, yet scarcely daring to expect. They swallowed a hasty meal, and went out into the shipyard. The man who was at work there left his task to accompany them, for the "boat" was a good sized fishing smack, and required two hands at least to manage her, and they hastened down to the beach. Tom clambered over the side without much difficulty; Martin was lifted in; Dean followed. The other man, whose name was Bowley, put his back to the boat, and with the assistance of two or three others, who were loitering about, got her into the water. Then, with a vigorous shove, she glided down the shore, Bowley leaping in, wet up to his knees, at the last moment; sail was set, and they stood out gaily, with a light breeze from the land.

the Challenger during its voyage of scientific exploration, one of the most attractive for general readers is the famous island associated with "Robinson Crusoe." Mr. Moseley, the Naturalist of the Expedition, has given a valuable report of the present state of the island, and of its natural fea

tures.

It was with the liveliest interest that we approached the scene of Alexander Selkirk's life of seclusion and hardship, and an island with the existence of which, in the case of most of us, the very fact that we were at sea on a long voyage was more or less distinctly connected. The study of Robinson Crusoe certainly first gave me a desire to go to sea, and "Darwin's Journal" settled the matter. Defoe was obliged to lay the scene of his romance in the West Indies in order to bring in the Carib man, Friday. He thus gained the parrot, but he lost the seaelephants and fur-seals of Juan Fernandez, one of the latter of which would have made a capital pet for Crusoe.

The island is most beautiful in appearance. The dark basaltic cliffs contrast with the bright yellowgreen of the abundant verdure, and the island terminates in fantastic peaks, which rise to a height of about three thousand feet. Especially conspicuous is a precipitous mass which backs the view from the

"Notes by a Naturalist on the Challenger." By H. N. Moseley, F.R.S. Macmillan & Co.

from its form, "El Yunque" (the anvil).

There are upwards of twenty-four species of ferns growing in this small island, and in any general view the ferns form a large proportion of the main mass of vegetation. Amongst them are two tree-forns, one of which I only saw amongst the rocks in the distance, but could not reach. The preponderant ferns-especially the tree-ferns-give a pleasant yellow tinge to the general foliage. Curiously enough, the almost cosmopolitan common brake fern (Pteris acquilina) does not occcur in the island. Four species of the ferns out of the twenty-four present are peculiar to the island; and one (Thyrsopteris elegans) is of a genus which occurs only here. The appearance of this fern is very remarkable, for the cup-shaped sori hang down from the fronds in masses, looking just like bunches of millet-seed.

In

Everywhere, for the first few hundred feet, trees are absent, the wood having been all felled. 1830 a large quantity of dry old sandal-wood still remained in the valleys; but even then there were no growing sandal-wood trees remaining.* No doubt the general appearance of the vegetation is very different now from what it was when the island was first visited.

I landed and climbed with a guide a steep path

"Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of H.M.S. Adventure and Beagle," vol i. p. 302. London, 1889. Visit of Captain King, H.M.S. Adventure, accompanied by Signor Bertero, the Botanist, Feb, 1833.

In ascending the path, the first tree was met with at about seven hundred feet altitude; all below had been cut down. We passed through a hollow, overgrown by a dense growth of the gigantic rhubarb. like Gunnera chilensis. Darwin remarked on the large size of the leaves of this plant and height of its stalks, as seen by him in Chile.* The stalks of the plants he saw were not much more than a yard in height. In this hollow the stalks must have been seven feet in height. We walked through a narrow passage cut in a thicket of them, with the huge circular leaves above our heads. The leaves catch and hold a large quantity of rain-water. The size attained by the Gunnera varies with its situation. In many places the leaves are very conspicuous on the hill-slopes, crowding closely as an undergrowth, and not rising high above the ground.

It was now spring in Juan Fernandez, as at Tahiti. Most excellent strawberries grow wild about the lower slopes of the island, and especially well on banks beneath the cliffs close to the sea-shore. The strawberries are large and fine, but white in colour, being, I believe, a Spanish cultivated variety. If so, they have not at all reverted to the parent wild form, either in colour or size; a few only were just beginning to ripen.

At this time of the year the foliage of the myrtles, though evergreen, looks half dead, and these trees thus show out conspicuously amongst the rest. Here and there examples of the magnoliaceous tree "winter's bark" (Drymis winteri), a tree common in the Straits of Magellan, were covered with showy white flowers, and large patches of a small species of dock (Rumex) in full flower showed out red amongst the general green, whilst a white-flowered Iris, growing socially, formed well-marked patches of white. A tall bignoniaceous shrub, which was very common, was covered with dark blue tubular flowers.

Hovering over the flowering bushes and trees were everywhere to be seen two species of humming-birds, one of which (Eustephanus Fernandensis) is peculiar to the island, whilst the other (E. galeritus) of the same genus occurs also on the main land. A further closely-allied but peculiar speciesoccurs in the island named by the Spaniards "Mas-afuera," or farther out, because it lies ninety miles to the westward of Juan Fernandez, and so much farther from the Chilian coast.

The humming-birds were extremely abundant, hovering in every bush. In the species peculiar to the island of Juan Fernandez the male is very different in plumage from the female, being of a chocolate colour, with an iridescent golden-brown patch on the head, whilst the female is green. So different are the two sexes that they were formerly supposed to represent two distinct species, as has happened in the case of so many other birds. This endemic

* C Darwin. "Journal of Researches," p. 279.

In skinning some of the birds which I killed, I noticed that the feathers at the base of the bill and on the front of the head were clogged and coloured yellow with pollen. The birds, no doubt, in common with other species of humming-birds and other flower-frequenting birds, such as the Myzomelide, are active agents in the fertilisation of plants. I noticed, as has been already mentioned, pollen attached in a similar manner to a bird at Cape York.* Mr. Wallace concludes that the presence of these birds, as fertilisers, accounts for the abundance of conspicuous flowers in Juan Fernandez.

There are very few insects in the island, according to the observations of Mr. E. C. Reed, and only one very minute species of bee. Flies, of which there are twenty species, form the most prominent feature of the entomology of the island. Some fertilisers, either insects or birds, must act on a very comprehensive and effectual scale all over the island, as follows from the abundance of fruit yielded by various introduced plants.

Strawberries, cherries, peaches, apples, and figs bear well-strawberries and peaches, at all events, very abundantly. The wild peaches are spreading everywhere. These, the cherries and the apples, are possibly fertilised by the birds, but one would hardly suppose that the strawberries would be also thus pollenised, though at a height of 9,000 feet in the Andes I have watched humming-birds-possibly the same species as that at Juan Fernandez-hovering over the low mountain flowers quite close to the ground, where nothing like a bush was growing.

It would be very interesting, if it proved to be the case, that humming-birds have in this distant island adapted themselves to the fertilisation of our common garden-fruits. Besides the fruit-trees, there are many introduced plants, with well-developed flowers, which thrive in the island. A thistle is very abundant and luxuriant, as if eager to remind travellers to what race the world owes the immortal Selkirk, and a wild turnip is rapidly spreading. Possibly the abundant flies take some share in the fertilising work.

It must be remembered, with regard to insular floras, that a plant which had developed showy flowers to attract certain insects on some main land or other place where insects were abundant, might, when transferred to an island devoid of insects suitable to its requirements, nevertheless retain its gaudy flowers, little or not at all impaired, for an indefinite period, just as animals which have taken to deep-sea life have, some of them, retained their colours, though living in the dark.

Selkirk's monument is placed on the crest of a short, sharp ridge in a gap in the mountains, at a height of about 1,800 feet above the sea. From this a steep descent leads down on either side to the shore. Here Selkirk sat and watched the sea on both sides of the island in long-deferred hope of sighting a sail.

Here we rested for some time, enjoying the view. Juan Fernandez is only ten miles in length and twenty square miles in area; and from this elevated point nearly the whole extent of the island could be overlooked. Yet this tiny spot of land contains birds,

A. R. Wallace, "Tropical Nature,” pp. 270, 271.