of mind enough to kick as I did, I should have bu'st in your arms!"
"Well, well, so be it," resumed Jack, with a smile, "but the upshot of it was, that we had to hold another consuliation on the point, and I really believe that, had it not been for a happy thought of mine, we should have been consulting there yet."
"I wish we had," again interrupted Peterkin, with a sigh. "I'm sure, Ralph, if I had thought that you were coming back again, I would willingly have awaited your return for months, rather than have endured the mental agony which I went through! But proceed."
"The thought was this," continued Jack, " that I should tie Peterkin's hands and feet with cords, and then lash him firmly to a stout pole about five feet long, in order to render him quite powerless, and keep him straight and stiff. You should have seen-his face of horror, Ralph, when I suggested this; but he came to see that it was his only chance, and told me to set about it as fast as I could; 'for, said he, 'this is no jokin', Jack, I can tell you, and the sooner it's done the better.' I soon procured the cordage, and a suitable pole, with which I returned to the cave, and lashed him as stiff and straight as an Eeyptian mummy; and to say truth, he was no bad representation of what an English mummy would be, if there were such things, for he was as white as a dead man."
"Now, said Peierkin, in a tremulous voice, 'swim with me as near to the edge of the hole as you can before you dive, then let me take a long breath, and, as I shan't be able to speak after I've taken it, you'll watch my face, and the moment you see me wink—dive! And oh!' he added, earnestly, ' pray don't be long!'
