“‘At any rate,’ said I, ‘I’ll be on my guard.’

“This suspicion on my behalf has become quite a mania with my host.  I thought it best to let him grumble his fill, and then endeavoured to thank him for his great kindness.

“‘Don’t say another word,’ he interrupted.  ’I owe ye some reparation for being mixed up in this at all.  It’s a serious matter, mark ye, for a respectable clerk like myself to be aiding and abetting in this mad chase; and, to tell the truth, Trenoweth, I took a fancy to ye when first I set eyes on your face, and—­Don’t say another word, I’ll ask ye.’

“My friend’s eyes were full of tears.  I arose, shook him silently by the hand, and went to my room.

“Nov. 26th.—­I am off.  I write this in my cabin, alone—­Colliver having had another assigned to him by Mr. Sanderson’s express wish.  He saw Colliver for the first time to-day on the quay, and drew me aside at the last moment to warn me against ’that fellow with the devilish eyes.’  As I stood on deck and watched his stiff little figure waving me farewell until it melted into the crowd, and Bombay sank behind me as the city of a dream, I wondered with sadness on the little chance we had of ever meeting on this earth again.  Colliver’s voice at my elbow aroused me.

“’Odd man, that friend of yours—­made up of emotion, and afraid of his life to show it.  Has he done you a favour?’

“‘He has,’ I replied, ’as great a favour as one man can do for another.’

“‘Ah,’ said he, ’I thought as much.  That’s why he is so full of gratitude.’

“Dec. 6th.—­Never shall I forget the dawn out of which Ceylon, the land of my promise, arose into view.  I was early on deck to catch the first sight of land.  Very slowly, as I stood gazing into the east, the pitch-black darkness turned to a pale grey, and discovered a long, narrow streak, shaped like the shields one sees in Bible prints, and rising to a point in the centre.  Then, as it seemed to me, in a moment, the sun was up and as if by magic the shield had changed into a coast fringed with palms and swelling upwards in green and gradual slopes to a chain of mighty hills.  Around these some light, fleecy clouds had gathered, but sea and coast were radiant with summer.  So clear was the air that I could distinguish the red sand of the beaches and the white trunks of the palms that crowded to the shore; and then before us arose Colombo, its white houses gleaming out one by one.

“The sun was high by the time our pilot came on board, and as we entered the harbour the town lay deep in the stillness of the afternoon.  We had cast anchor, and I was reflecting on my next course of action when I heard my name called from under the ship’s side.  Looking down, I spied a tall, grave gentleman seated in a boat.  I replied as well as I could for the noise, and presently the stranger clambered up on deck and announced himself as Mr. Eversleigh, to whom Mr. Sanderson had recommended