himself that there was no danger to be apprehended, he transferred all his
anxiety over to his young friend while he sailed off into the land of
dreams. When he awoke and recalled where he was, he spoke to Fred; but,
receiving no reply, supposed he was asleep, and passed his hand about in
quest of him. After groping several minutes in vacancy, he muttered:

"Be the powers! if he hasn't fell out of bed, as me brother Tom used to
remark to the ould gintleman, after he'd kicked me out of the same. The
fall ain't far enough to hurt him seriously, but these laddies have a way
of getting hurt, where a man couldn't do it, if he tried."

After calling and searching further, he struck a match and held it up. A
transient glimpse was gained of an area of several hundred feet, in which,
it is needless to say, he saw nothing of his young friend.

"Be the powers! but he strayed away," added Mickey, somewhat impatiently.
"He thought there was something that it would pay to chase, and he's gone
off, and, of course, will be lost."

With a view to bringing him back, the Irishman called his name, whistled,
and, after a time, fired his gun. The echoes were not so loud as when Fred
had fired, but the racket was sufficient to make him confident it would
reach the ears of the boy, if he were not asleep or injured.

Mickey, as will be seen, formed the right opinion of the action of his
young friend, and hoped that he would be able to work his way back to
camp, as they called it, without any mishap or assistance from him.

"He thinks there's another door that opens into the sunshine, and that
isn't locked, and, if it is, he can pick the kay. He may work away till he