CHAPTER XXVIII.
WILLIS PROVES THAT THE ONLY WAY TO BE FREE IS TO GET SENT TO
PRISON--AN ESCAPE--A DISCOVERY--PROMOTIONS--SOMNAMBULISM.
Three weeks after the events narrated in the foregoing chapter, the
thrice-rescued produce of Oceania had been converted into the current
coin of the empire.
The greater portion of the proceeds was placed at the disposal of
Willis, to facilitate him in procuring the means of returning to New
Switzerland. He--like connoisseurs who buy up seemingly worthless
pictures, because they have detected, or fancy they have detected,
some masterly touches rarely found on modern canvas--had bought, not a
ship, but the remains of what had once been one. This he obtained for
almost nothing, but he knew the value of his purchase. The carcass was
refitted under his own eye, and, when it left the ship-yard, looked as
if it had been launched for the first time. The timbers were old; but
the cabins and all the internal fittings were new; a few sheets of
copper and the paint-brush accomplished the rest. When the mast was
fitted in, and the new sails bent, the little sloop looked as jaunty
as a nautilus, and, according to Willis himself, was the smartest
little craft that ever hoisted a union-jack.
Whether the captain and the missionary still entertained the belief
that the Pilot's wits had gone a wool-gathering or not, certain it is
that they had followed his instructions, in so far as to relinquish
their parole, and thus to lose their personal liberty.
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