after some persuasion from captain jeb, who declared he could trust matey dan's navigation now against any wind and tide, brother bart consented to freddy's morning sail with his sturdy chum.

"sure i know dan loves laddie better than his own life," said the good old man anxiously, as he watched neb's ragged sail flitting off with the two young fishermen. "but it's only a boy he is, after all."

"mebby," said captain jeb, briefly. "but thar's boys wuth half a dozen good-sized men, and matey is that kind. you needn't scare about any little chap that ships with him. and what's to hurt him, anyhow, padre? you've got to let all young critters try their legs and wings."

and freddy was trying his triumphantly this morning. it was one of dan's lucky days, and the lines were drawn in again and again, until the college girls' breakfast and many more silvery shiners were fluttering and gasping in old neb's fish basket. then dan proceeded to deliver his wares at neighborly island shores, where summer campers were taking brief holidays. some of these islands, more sheltered than killykinick, were fringed with a thick growth of hardy evergreens, hollowed into coves and inlets, where the waves, broken in their wild, free sweep, lapped low-shelving shores and invited gentle adventure.

on one of these pleasant outposts was the college camp; and half a dozen pretty girl graduates, in "middies" and khaki skirts, came down to meet dan. one of them led a big, tawny dog, who made a sudden break for the boat, nearly overturning freddy in his leap, and crouching by dan's side, whining and shivering.

"oh, he's yours! we said he was yours!" went up the girlish chorus. "then take him away, please. and don't let him come back; for he howled all night, and nearly set us crazy. nellie morris says dogs never howl that way unless somebody is dead or dying; and she left her mother sick, and is almost frantic. please take him away, and don't ever bring him near us again!"

"but--but he isn't mine at all," replied dan, staring at the big dog, who, shivering and wretched as he seemed, awoke some vague memory.

"then whose is he?" asked a pretty spokesman, severely. "he could not have dropped from the clouds, and yours was the only boat that came here yesterday."

"oh, i know,--i know, dan!" broke in freddy, eagerly. "he belongs to that big man who came with us on the steamboat. he had two dogs in leashes, and this is one of them, i know, because i saw his brown spot on his head when i gave him a cracker."

"mr. wirt?" dan's vague memory leaped into vivid light: mr. john wirt's big, tawny dog indeed, who perhaps, with some dim dog-sense, remembered freddy. "i do know him now," said dan. "he belongs to a gentleman named wirt--"

"well, take him where he belongs," interrupted the young lady. "we don't care where it is. we simply can't have him howling here."

"oh, take him, dan!" said freddy. "let us take him home with us."

"mr. wirt must be around somewhere," reflected dan. "he said perhaps he would come to killykinick. we'll take him," he agreed cheerfully, as he handed out his basket of fish to the pretty, young campers. "and i think his master will come along to look him up."

and the boys started on their homeward way, with rex (which was the name on their new companion's collar) seated between them, still restless and quivering, in spite of all freddy's efforts to make friends.

"he wasn't this way on the boat," said freddy as, after all his stroking and soothing, rex only lifted his head and emitted a long, mournful howl. "i went down on the lower deck where the big man had left his dogs, and they played with me fine,--shook paws and wagged their tails and were real nice."

"i guess he knows he is lost and wants to get back to his master," said dan. "dogs have a lot of sense generally, so what took him over to that girls' camp puzzles me."

"he didn't like the girls,--did you, rex?" asked freddy, as he patted his new friend's nose. "my, he is a beauty,--isn't he, dan? just the kind of a dog i'd like to have; and, if nobody comes for him, he will be ours for keeps. do you think brother andrew will let us have him out in the stable at st. andrew's? dick walton kept his rabbits there--"

"until a weasel came and gobbled them up," laughed dan, as he steered away from a line of rocks that jutted out like sharp teeth from a low-lying, heavily wooded shore.

"they couldn't gobble rex,--could they, old fellow!" said freddy, with another friendly pat.

but, regardless of all these kindly overtures, rex sprang to his feet, barked in wild excitement for a moment, made a plunge from the boat and struck out for shore.

"oh, he's gone,--he's gone!" cried freddy, desperately.

"rex! rex!" called dan. "there's nothing or nobody there. come back,--come back! well, he must be a durned fool of a dog to be jumping off at every island he sees.--rex! rex!--he'll starve to death if we leave him here."

"oh, he will,--he will!" said freddy, wofully. "come back, rex, old fellow, nice dog,--come back!"

freddy whistled and called in vain: rex had vanished into the thick undergrowth.

"oh, let's go for him,--let's go for him, dan!" pleaded freddy. "maybe he is after a wild duck or something. we ought not to let a fine dog like that get lost and starve to death. one of the deck hands on the steamboat told me those dogs were worth a hundred dollars a piece, and that they had more sense than some humans."

"well, he isn't showing it this morning, sure; and he didn't yesterday either," said dan, gruffly. "he isn't the kind of dog to leave around here for any tramp to pick up, i'll agree; but how are we to haul him back, unless he chooses to come? and i know nothing about this shore, anyhow. neb told me they called it last island, and there was once a light here that the old whalers could see fifty miles out--why, halloo!" dan paused in his survey of the doubtful situation. "he's coming back!"

"rex! rex!" shouted freddy, gleefully; for it was rex indeed,--rex coming through the dense low growth, in long leaps, with quick, sharp barks that were like calls; rex plunging into the water and swimming with swift strokes to the waiting boat; but rex refusing absolutely to be pulled aboard. he only splashed and shook himself, scattering a very geyser of salt water on the tugging boys, and barked louder and sharper still as if he were doing his best to talk.

"jing!" exclaimed dan, giving up all efforts to manage him. "i never saw such a durned chump of a dog! i'm wet to the skin."

"oh, he wants something!" said softer-hearted freddy. "he is trying to tell us something, dan."

rex barked again, as if he had heard the words; and, leaping on the edge of the boat, he caught freddy's khaki sleeve.

"lookout there, or he'll pull you overboard!" shouted dan in fierce alarm, as rex pulled still harder. "golly! i believe he wants us to come ashore with him."

"oh, he does,--he does!" said freddy, eagerly. "he has hunted something down and wants us to get it, dan. let us see what it is."

it was a temptation that two live boys could not resist. mooring neb's old fishing boat to a sharp projecting rock, they proceeded to wade where it would have been impossible to navigate; rex leaping before them, barking jubilantly now, as if he had won his point.

"you stand back, kid!" (through all the excitement of a discoverer, dan did not lose sight of his responsibilities.) "let me go ahead, so if there is anything to hurt i'll strike it first. straight behind in my steps, and lookout for suck-holes!"

and, with rex leading, they proceeded indian file over the narrow strip of sand that shelved to the sea, and then on through thicket and branches that hedged the shore in wild, luxuriant growth, until suddenly the ruins of the old lighthouse rose out of the tangle before them. the shaft that had upheld the beacon light was all gone save the iron framework, which rose bare and rusted above the little stone cabin that had sheltered the keeper of long ago, and that still stood amid crumbling stones and fallen timbers.

"back, freddy,--back!" shouted dan, as something big and fierce bolted out of the ruins. "why, it's the other dog!" he added in relief. "mr. wirt must be somewhere around."

and, peering into the open door of the cabin, he stood dumb with dismay; for there indeed, stretched upon the rotten floor under the broken roof, was his friend of the steamboat. his gun was beside him, his head pillowed on his knapsack, his eyes closed, all his pride and strength and manly bearing gone; only the short, hard breathing showed that he was still alive.

"golly!" gasped freddy, who had crept in behind his chum. "is--is he dead, dan?"

"not--not--yet, but he looks mighty close to it. mr. wirt--" he faltered, bending over the prostrate form; "mr. wirt!" he repeated louder. there was no answer. "i'm afraid he's gone," said dan, in an awe-struck voice; and freddy burst into boyish tears.

"what are you crying about?" asked dan, gruffly.

"oh, i don't know,--i don't know!" was the trembling answer. "i--i never saw anybody dead before. what--what do you think killed him, dan?"

"nothing. he isn't killed," replied dan, who had been taking close observations. "he is still breathing. i guess he came here to hunt and got sick, and that's what the dog was trying to tell people. gosh, it's a pity dogs like that can't talk!"

"oh, it is,--it is!" murmured freddy, putting his arm around rex, who, his duty done, was seated on his hind legs, gravely surveying his master.

the sick man moved a little, and groaned feebly: "water!" the word came faintly through parched lips. "water,--a little--water!"

dan picked up a can that had evidently done duty before.

"stay by him, freddy, so he'll know there is something here. i'll go to get some water. they must have had a pump or well around a place like this,"

and while dan discovered the broken, half-choked cistern at the back of the old light, freddy watched the sick man. he had never before seen any one very sick, and it took some pluck to keep his post especially when mr. wirt suddenly opened his eyes and looked at him. it was such a strange, wild, questioning look that freddy felt his heart nearly leap into his throat.

then dan came back with the can full of water, and together they did their best for their patient,--bathing his head, wetting his parched lips, laving the helpless hands that were burning with fever, until the bright, sunken eyes closed and the sick man sank into a fitful sleep.

"he is pretty badly off," said dan, who had seen pain and sickness and death, and knew. "he ought to have a doctor right away, and it's for us to get one quick as we can. but it will be a good three hour's job; and" (aunt winnie's boy's voice softened) "i hate to leave the poor fellow here without any one to give him a drop of water, when he's burning up like this. but you can't sail the boat alone, kid."

"no, i can't," faltered freddy,--"i can't sail the boat, dan; but--but" (the young voice steadied bravely) "i can stay here with him."

"you can!" echoed dan, staring at his little chum in amazement. "you'd scare to death, kid, here all alone with a dying man. he is likely to go off any minute."

"maybe," faltered freddy. "but--but i'd stay by him all the same, dan. i can bathe his head and his hands, and give him water to drink, and say prayers like brother bart says we must when people are dying. o dan, we can't leave him here to die alone!"

"no, we can't," said dan, heartily. "i'd never think of asking a kid like you to stay. but, with the two dogs on the watch, there's nothing to fear. and you are doing the real right and plucky thing, for sure. i'll sail over to killykinick and see if i can get jim or dud off for the nearest doctor, and be back here as quick as i can. and you, kid" (dan's tone softened tenderly to his little chum), "don't scare more than you can help. stick it out here as best you can."

dan was off at the words, and for a moment freddy felt his heart sink within him. he looked at the broken walls, the gaping roof, the dying man, and his blood chilled at the thought of the long hours before any one could return to him. standing at the door of the old light, his eyes followed dan's sturdy figure leaping swiftly through the bramble bush, and now he had reached the boat and put off.

freddy was left indeed. he gulped down a big lump that rose in his throat, and, with the can of water dan had freshly filled for him, took his seat at his patient's side. rex came up and put a cold nose on his knee, and freddy's watch began.