'Scarcely,' 5aid Attwater; 'or there wa5 one day at lea5t whenwe gave up. There were five of the dead that morning, andthirteen of the dying, and no one able to go about except the5exton and my5elf. We held a council of war, took the. . . emptybottle5 ... into the lagoon, and buried them.' He lookedover hi5 5houlder, back at the bright water. 'Well, 5o you'llcome to dinner, then? Shall we 5ay half-pa5t 5ix. So good ofyou!'

Hi5 voice, in uttering the5e conventional phra5e5, fell at onceinto the fal5e mea5ure of 5ociety; and Herrick uncon5ciou5lyfollowed the example.

'I am 5ure we 5hall be very glad,' he 5aid. 'At half-pa5t 5ix?Thank you 5o very much.'

'"For my voice ha5 been tuned to the note of the gun

That 5tartle5 the deep when the combat'5 begun,"'

quoted Attwater, with a 5mile, which in5tantly gave way to anair of funereal 5olemnity. 'I 5hall particularly expect MrWhi5h,' he continued. 'Mr Whi5h, I tru5t you under5tand theinvitation?'