and his new friends on the floor. There was the faintest semblance of a smile on the hermit's face as he quietly observed his visitor, and waited till he should recover self-possession. As for Moses--words are wanting to describe the fields of teeth and gum which he displayed, but no sound was suffered to escape his magnificent lips, which closed like the slide of a dark lantern when the temptation to give way to feeling became too strong. "My cave interests you," said the hermit at last. "It amazes me," returned our hero, recovering himself and looking earnestly at his host, "for you seem not only to have all the necessaries of life around you in your strange abode, but many of the luxuries; among them the cheering presence of sunshine--though how you manage to get it is beyond my powers of conception." "It is simple enough, as you shall see," returned the hermit. "You have heard of the saying, no doubt, that 'all things are possible to well-directed labour'?" "Yes, and that 'nothing can be achieved without it.'" "Well, I have proved that to some extent," continued the hermit. "You see, by the various and miscellaneous implements on my shelves, that I am given to dabbling a little in science, and thus have made my lonely home as pleasant as such a home can be--but let us not talk of these matters just now. You must be hungry. Have you had breakfast?" "No, we have not--unless, at least, you count a sea biscuit dipped in salt water a breakfast. After all, that may well be the case, for hermits are noted for the frugality of their fare." "I am not a genuine hermit," remarked his host gravely. "Men do indeed call me the Hermit of Rakata, because I dwell alone here under the shadow of this particular cone of Krakatoa, but I do not ape the austere life of the conventional hermit, as you see, either in my domestic arrangements or food. Come, your breakfast is ready. From my outlook I saw your boat approaching some hours ago, and knew that it was mine, so I made ready for your arrival, though I did not guess that Moses was bringing me a guest instead of a servant!" So saying, he led the way through a short natural passage to an inner cave, the entrance to which, like the outer one, was boarded. On opening a small door, Nigel was again greeted as before with brilliant rays of sunshine, and, in addition, with a gush of odours that were exceedingly grateful to a hungry man. A low "Ho! ho!" behind him told that his black companion was equally gratified. The inner cave or mess-room, as the host styled it, combined dining-room and kitchen, for while in one corner stood a deal table with plates,