| I. | [RAMSAY IS RELEASED FROM CUSTODY ] | 216 |
| II. | [GAOL-BREAKING EXTRAORDINARY ] | 228 |
| III. | [THE ISLAND ] | 243 |
| IV. | [RESCUED ] | 257 |
| V. | [RAMSAY MEETS OLD FRIENDS ] | 270 |
| VI. | [CONCLUSION ] | 288 |
IN STRANGE COMPANY.
INTRODUCTION.
IN WHICH IS SET FORTH HOW THE BOOK CAME TO BE WRITTEN.
First and foremost it should be stated how I, Luke Sanctuary, came to be connected with this most extraordinary and, to say the least of it, mysterious business. For my own part, I do not doubt but that when you have read a few pages you will have come to the conclusion that, personally, I had no share in its actual making, for I am a man of peaceful disposition, as much unaccustomed as I am unfitted to bear a hand in such adventurous concerns; and what is perhaps more to the point, one who has never been out of England in the whole course of his existence.
This preliminary having been set forth, and your mind disabused of any false impression, I am brought to the plain matter at issue, namely, the reason of, the facts which led to, and the people who induced my taking up the writing of this book. And as this again—for it seems I am not permitted to escape it—necessitates the narration of more concerning myself, let me, if I can be nothing else, be brief.
To begin with, my name is Luke Sanctuary; I am a bachelor; a man of regular and studious habits; the possessor of what is vaguely termed a comfortable income; and, as the result of such an income, a house, my friends tell me, of considerable attractions, situated in that Garden of all England, the Isle of Wight.