He looked sharply up and down the rocks and out to sea and I saw instantly what was in his mind. "Impossible! There was no signal. I have been looking out all the time," said he. I merely laughed. "How else do you think I could have come?" "So!" he murmured again, and then he asked a curious question. "Do you know if there are many sheep on this island?" So I had landed on an island! That was the first and chief deduction I drew from this enquiry. The second was that the man's English must be a little weak. Obviously he meant something rather different from what he said. "Sheep?" I said with a laugh. "No, my friend, I have something else to do than count sheep." Again he looked at me for a moment, his face now almost completely hidden by the peak of his sou'wester. If by any chance he were still doubting me the best thing seemed to be a touch of candour and an appeal he could scarcely resist. "See here," I said, lowering my voice, "I want to stop in this island to-night. In fact those are my orders. Now where can you find me a safe place?" He lowered his voice too. In fact he seemed to reciprocate my confidence very satisfactorily. "We must be very careful. I must see that the coast is clear first. Just you sit and wait here for ten minutes. I will be back." He nodded at me to enforce his injunctions and added as he turned away, "Keep sitting down. Mind that!" I sat down, finished filling my pipe, lit it, and waited. And as I waited I frankly confess I fairly hugged myself. Never before was there such a bit of luck, thought I. That that vagabond balloon should actually bring its passenger back to his native land instead of dropping him in the sea or landing him in Germany was fortunate almost beyond belief, but that he should then stumble on a German spy and actually convince the man that he was a confederate and lead him straight into the net already spreading for him, surely showed that after a considerable run of ill luck (and, I must confess, ill guidance), the passenger had suddenly become Fortune's prime favourite. Several very eligible and commodious castles were constructed in the night air by that lonely shore as I sat and smoked. And then I heard a cautious but distinct whistle, and up I jumped and looked all round me. There was no one to be seen, but the sound came from the right--the way I had come, and I set off through the thickening dusk in that direction. But the odd thing was that I walked considerably further than the sound of the whistle could have carried and never a sign of human being or of house did I see--nothing but that desolate grassy sea-board and the faintly gleaming waters.