Then he came back to where Justin and Britomarte stood, and said that he was ready to accompany them. CHAPTER XXVI. THE CAPTAIN OF THE SEA SCOURGE. They walked on through a grove of palms, and then through a thicket that clothed the base of the mountain, until they reached the front of Britomarte’s grotto. “You see it is to no house that we are able to invite you, captain, but we will make you very heartily welcome to this ‘hole in the wall’ of the mountain,” said Justin, smiling, as he opened the door, and drew aside the curtain that concealed the entrance to Britomarte’s grotto. “A palace for Pan and the wood nymphs, upon my soul!” said the captain, in sincere admiration, as he followed Justin and Britomarte into the grotto, and looked around upon its glistening white walls and brilliant skylight. “We like it very much,” said Britomarte. “Like it! Who would dwell in houses made with hands, when they might live in a fairy grotto like this?” exclaimed the captain. Justin drew one of the armchairs forward, and invited him to take it. And Judith removed the woolen table cover, and replaced it with a damask tablecloth, preparatory to spreading the lunch. As plates, dishes, glasses, castors, knives, forks and spoons were in turn placed upon the table, the captain of the _Sea Scourge_ looked on with ever-increasing amazement. Turning his eyes from the well-appointed table to the comfortably-furnished grotto, he said: “It appears to me that you saved a great deal from the wreck.” “Yes,” said Justin, cautiously, for he could not as yet feel full confidence in his guest; “yes, the ship was cast very high upon the rocks, and when the sea went down she was almost entirely out of the water, and we saved at least enough furniture from the cabins and dining-saloons to fit up this grotto comfortably. The crockery in the dining-saloon suffered most in the storm, for out of a mountain of broken glass and earthenware, we rescued only a dozen or so of whole pieces; and indeed the whole pieces are not entirely whole, for there is scarcely one that is not cracked or chipped.” “It must have been a stupendous labor for one man to get all these things, especially this heavy furniture, from the wrecked ship to the shore.” “It was the labor of months,” answered Justin, “but I did not accomplish it alone. Miss Conyers brought all the light articles over, and Judith Riordan, who is a model of strength, assisted me to bring the heavy ones.” While the two men conversed, Judith, under the direction of Britomarte, spread the table with a cold ham, a chicken pie, a loaf of bread, cheese, and a bottle of brandy. “Brandy, too!” exclaimed the captain of the _Sea Scourge_, on beholding this last welcome addition to the feast. “Brandy, too! you are very fortunate, as well as industrious. You must have saved a lot of it, to have lasted you nearly two years.”