And the marvel of it was that still he lived and clung to life.

The brutal years had reduced his meagre body to splintered wreckage, and yet the spark of life within burned brightly as ever.
"With an artificial foot--and they make excellent ones--you will be stumping ships' galleys to the end of time," I assured him jovially.
But his answer was serious, nay, solemn.

"I don't know about wot you s'y, Mr.Van W'yden, but I do know I'll never rest 'appy till I see that 'ell-'ound bloody well dead.

'E cawn't live as long as me.

'E's got no right to live, an' as the Good Word puts it, ''E shall shorely die,' an' I s'y, 'Amen, an' damn soon at that.'" When I returned on deck I found Wolf Larsen steering mainly with one hand, while with the other hand he held the marine glasses and studied the situation of the boats, paying particular attention to the position of the _Macedonia_.