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.