1

"The scream of a Tammie Norie," I answered Ochiltree; "I know the cry well."

"No," replied Lovel, "it was a human voice."

A distant hail was repeated, the sound plainly distinguishable among the various elemental noises and the clang of the sea-mews by which they were surrounded. The mendicant and Lovel exerted their voices in a loud halloo, the former waving Miss Wardour's handkerchief on the end of his staff to make them conspicuous from above.

Though the shouts were repeated, it was some time before they were in exact response to their own, leaving the unfortunate sufferers uncertain whether, in the darkening twilight and increasing storm, they had made the persons who, apparently, were traversing the verge of the precipice to bring them assistance, sensible of the place in which they had found refuge. At length their halloo was regularly and distinctly answered, and their courage confirmed by the assurance that they were within hearing, if not within reach, of friendly assistance.

On the verge of the precipice an anxious group had now assembled. . . . The fishers had brought with them the mast of a boat, and as half the country fellows about had now appeared, either out of zeal or curiosity, it was soon sunk in the ground and sufficiently secured.

A yard across the upright mast, and a rope stretched

1 A cormorant.

along it, and reeved through a block at each end, formed an extempore crane, which afforded the means of lowering an armchair, well-secured and fastened, down to the flat shelf on which the sufferers had rested. . . . It swung about a yard free of the spot they occupied, obeying each impulse of the tempest, the empty air all around it, and depending upon the security of a rope which in the increasing darkness had dwindled to an almost imperceptible thread. But, to diminish the risk as much as possible, the experienced seamen had let down with the chair another line, which, being attached to it and held by persons beneath, might serve by way of guy to render its descent in some measure steady and regular.

With the sedulous attention of a parent to a child, Lovel bound Miss Wardour with his handkerchief, neck-cloth, and the mendicant's leathern belt to the back and arms of the chair, ascertaining accurately the security of each knot, while Ochiltree kept Sir Arthur quiet.

"What are you doing with my bairn? What are you doing? She shall not be separated from me. Isabel, stay with me, I command you."

"Sir Arthur, hold your tongue, and be thankful to God that there's wiser folk than you to manage this job," cried the beggar, worn out by the unreasonable demands of the poor baronet.

"Farewell, my father," murmured Isabella; "farewell, my my friends;" and, shutting her eyes, as

Edie's experience recommended, she gave the signal to Lovel, and he to those who were above. She rose, while the chair in which she sat was kept steady by the line which Lovel managed beneath. With a beating heart he watched the flutter of her white dress, until the vehicle was on a level with the brink of the precipice.

"Canny, now, lads, canny, now!" exclaimed old Mucklebackit, who acted as commodore; "swerve the yard a bit. Now there! there she sits safe on dry land!"

A loud shout announced the successful experiment to her fellow-sufferers beneath, who replied with a ready and cheerful halloo. . .

"This is a naughty night to swim in," said the Antiquary. "Miss Wardour, let me convey you to your chariot."

"Not for worlds, till I see my father safe."

"Right, right, that's right, too. I should like to see the son of Sir Gamelyn de Guardover on dry land myself. . . . But he's safe now, and here he comes, here he comes; bowse away, my boys, canny with him. A pedigree of a hundred links is hanging on a tenpenny rope; the whole barony of Knockwinnock depends on three plies of hemp. Welcome, welcome, my good old friend, to firm land, though I cannot say to warm or dry land."

While Oldbuck ran on in this way, Sir Arthur was safely wrapped in the embraces of his daughter, who,

assuming that authority which the circumstances demanded, ordered some of the assistants to convey him to the chariot, promising to follow in a few minutes. She lingered on the cliff, holding an old countryman's arm, to witness probably the safety of those whose dangers she had shared.

"What have we here?" said Oldbuck, as the vehicle once more ascended. "What patched and weather-beaten matter is this?" Then, as the torches illumined the rough face and gray hairs of old Ochiltree "What! is it thou? Come, old mocker, I must needs be friends with thee!

Oldbuck thrust something into his hand. Ochiltree looked at it by the torchlight and returned it. "No, no! I never take gold; besides, you may be ruing it to-morrow." Then turning to the group of fishermen and peasants -"Now, sirs, who will give me a supper and some clean pease-straw?"

66

"I," "And I," "And I," answered many a ready

voice.

"Well, since it is so, and I can only sleep in one barn at once, I'll go down with Saunders Mucklebackit; he has always a sup of something comfortable about his house; and, children, maybe I shall live to put each one of you in mind some other night that you have promised me lodging and something to eat;" and away he went with the fisherman.

[Abridgment. Scotch dialect Englished.]

WALTER Scott.

THE RETURN OF THE REFUGEES.

times reëlected to that office.

PATRICK HENRY was born in Studley, Hanover County, Virginia, May 29, 1736. From his father he received a classical education. In 1760 he entered the legal profession, and such was his eloquence at the bar and in the forum that he came to be regarded as the most powerful of American orators. The burning words spoken by him in the Virginia House of Burgesses upon the question of American independence may be regarded as the most memorable utterance in the early political history of the American people. In 1776 Henry was chosen governor of Virginia, and was four

He died at Redhall, Virginia, June 6, 1799.

[NOTE. Immediately after the close of the Revolutionary War, Patrick Henry proposed, in the Virginia Assembly, that those persons who had left the state in consequence of their adherence to the policy of the mother country should be permitted to return. This measure was violently resisted, but was finally adopted, chiefly under the impression produced by Henry's overwhelming eloquence.]

Cast your eyes, Sir, over this extensive country; observe the salubrity of your climate; the variety and fertility of your soil; and see that soil intersected in every quarter by bold, navigable streams flowing to the east and to the west, as if the finger of Heaven were marking out the course of your settlements, inviting you to enterprise and pointing the way to wealth.

Sir, you are destined, at some time or other, to become a great agricultural and commercial people;