Phil had had a severe sunstroke two days before, and had, the doctor thought, hurt his head in the fall that ensued. At any rate, he had remained insensible ever since, and gave no symptom of returning consciousness. Since that memorable day ten years ago, when the two lads had sworn an eternal friendship and gone away together over the sea, they had never been separated for any but the briefest periods, and their romantic youthful friendship had ripened into something worthy the sacred name. Tor was the leading spirit, and Phil’s ‘guide, philosopher, and friend.’ Tor planned and thought; Tor plunged them into strange adventures and difficulties, and piloted them manfully out again. Tor was Phil’s hero and referee, and unconsciously he grew to lean on him, to imitate him, and to become, in fact, his very shadow. As lads, the two friends had been thought to resemble one another in disposition; but as their characters developed they grew widely dissimilar. Phil was brilliant in conversation, fascinating in manner; and gifted with an almost boyish ingenuousness, which went far to win hearts. His nature was, without being exactly indecisive, so far facile and easy-going that ‘no’ was a hard word to him, and many people felt that but for the moral support given by Tor’s influence, he would be easily led and easily overcome by anyone with a strong will and a purpose to serve. His outward man was prepossessing. He was tall and rather slight, with dark brown hair which lay in silky waves across his brow, and well-shaped brown eyes which were particularly frank and expressive. He had regular, clearly-cut features, a well-trimmed dark moustache, and a very engaging smile. Altogether, Phil Debenham was considered in society a very charming man; and very much did some people wonder how it was he seemed to prefer the society of his friend Torrington Torwood to any other. Tor was cast in a manlier mould than Phil. He stood six-feet-two in his stockings, was broad in proportion, and was gifted with physical strength to correspond. His thick curly hair and long moustache were of a tawny gold; his face was deeply bronzed by exposure to the weather, and, although the features were good, the face attracted more by its power and singularity of expression than by its symmetry of form. Tor’s great grey eyes were the marked feature of his face. They were bright and piercing as an eagle’s, and yet could soften in a manner one would hardly have looked for in a man of his calibre. They could flash, too, upon occasion; and when they did so upon an offender, he always showed a marked reluctance to encounter their glance again.