An inquest was held that afternoon, when the poor fellow was put into a shell in his clothes, and buried where he lay;--in consecrated ground, as I have already related. Some unfortunate speculations in business, working on a very sensitive nature, had turned his brain, and in a godless hour he had made away with himself. But two days before I had seen him full of fun and gaiety, although possibly the excitement was not natural, and now!----Alas, poor Jessamy, we had at least the melancholy satisfaction of shielding your defaced remains from the awe-inspiring surse pronounced against the Israelites, if they should fall away after the sinfulness of the Heathen--"And thy carcass shall be meat unto the fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them awa." But time and tide wait for no man; so we had to leave the sad scene, and proceed on our journey. * * * * * "I say, uncle," after we had talked ourselves _out_ on the melancholy affair, "when shall we come into the road?" "Road--road? why, if you go _off_ the road, Benjie, you will drop some five hundred feet, or so, down that precipice, that's all." "Oh, I see--so this _is the_ road; why, I thought we were strolling along some short cut of sheep paths and river courses. Road, indeed!" We held on, making easy stages of it from one friend's house to another, until, on the evening of the fifth day from the time we left Kingston, we were once more safe and snug under our own roof at Ballywindle. CHAPTER X. THE MOONBEAM. The morning after we arrived, we were sitting at breakfast, talking over our past expedition, and plans for the future, when two letters were laid on the table. The first was to my uncle, and ran as follows:-- "_Havanna, such a date._ "MY DEAR FRENCHE, "I sailed from this on the 15th ult., and had got pretty well to the northward, when it came on to blow like fury, and I was driven back with the loss of several of my sails, and the bowsprit badly sprung.