Frank lit it with great care. For one terrible moment, as they all
hung breathless over it, it seemed as if it was going out. It finally
caught, however, and flared up bravely.

"Now the shirt," cried Frank.

It was thrust into his hands and he waved the blazing garment above
his head till the flames streaked out in the night.

This time a cheer went up from the castaways on the raft.

Their signal had been seen.

At least so it appeared, for the searchlight, which had been sweeping
about near the island, suddenly shot its long finger of light in their
direction. As the vessel bearing it neared them a bright glow
enveloped the figures on the raft, who were alternately hugging each
other and shaking hands over the prospect of their speedy deliverance.

A few minutes later all doubt was dissolved. The approaching vessel
was the Southern Cross, and the adventurers were soon answering to
excited hails from her bridge. To lower a boat and get them on board
once more did not take long, and it was not till late that night that,
the story of their perils having been told and retold at least twenty
times, they managed to get to their old bunks.

Never had the mattresses seemed so soft or the sheets so comfortable
as they did to the tired boys. Their heads had hardly touched the
pillows before they were off in dreamland--a region in which, on that