do come.' The minister, the sheep-farmer, and the skipper met on common ground, or rather on common spirits and water, over a bowl of punch that was brewed by the reverend gentleman, after the soundest traditions of the fathers of the Church. 66 The stranger outside seemed | but he objected to suffocation by rancid deaf like Jeb; 'peared he was gettin' riled nicotine. 1 with being kept a-waitin', for soon Jeb could hear him stampin' and cussin'. 'Wal,' remarks Jeb, with a sigh, if I must get up to open I must; but I guess, my friend, I'll make you see stars some,' and he reaches out his hand to his slip of hickory, when all of a sudden the shingles cave in, and Judge Mason's bull is in Jeb Peabody's weskit. Jeb was a candid man, and as he said arterwards in mentioning the fact-The way I shouted and slipped out o' the winder like a greased streak o' lightnin', afore the crittur was done prancin' around, was a caution to iled snakes.' And that was you, stranger, as you hollered and made tracks; and as for me, like the judge's bull, I guess I was too fur taken aback to apologize." No one seemed greatly to appreciate the American's apologue or apology, which, considering there was but an ounce or two of the pure metal to some tons of quartz, was not much to be wondered at. But Winstanley felt more in charity towards him than before, since he saw that the transatlantic gentleman was well disposed to monopolize the talk, and that for himself he might play the part of listener. During dinner and afterwards, the voluble American sought to beguile the time with a fund of anecdote, of aphorism, and sage and moral reflection. Nevertheless, he did not have it all his own way by any means. The minister and the sheepfarmer had many subjects more or less in mammon, home missions, markets, the clip of wool, the outrecuidance of the crofters, and the oppression of the landowners. As for the skipper, he seldom opened his mouth, except to stow away the very solid victuals, or swallow whiskey and water. On the whole, Winstanley, not foreseeing what was to befall on the morrow, deemed him the most agreeable member of the party. common The supper, which came off at nine, was more successful than the dinner. After devouring everything indigestible, from cold corned beef to crabs and Welsh rabbit, the society settled down to steady drinking. The American, to do him justice, having taken a "cocktail or two" by way of digestive, stuck thenceforward to aerated water. But he talked nine to the dozen, as he chewed plugs of golden Virginia indefatigably, in deference to the scruples of his new English friend, who had strongly protested against smoking. Not that Mr. Winstanley disliked a cigar, "The stuff you brew at the preachings," observed the hillman with a solemn wink, or when you're seeking to come over the heritors for an augmentation, or an 'eke' to the manse.' ." And worthy Dr. M'Tavish, knowing well what his friend meant, fully met his expectations. Winstanley, who sat sipping some weak brandy and water, soon sought a refuge on the deck. But a mist that was very much of a drizzle was settling down thickly, and Willis was almost immediately at his elbow, like a warning conscience. For Willis was attached to his master, and detested the duty of acting as sick-nurse to an aggravating patient. Excuse me, sir, but this mist is the worst thing in the world for you. We should say it had set in for settled wet in the south. Believe me, you had much better go below." "But I am half suffocated already, Willis, and those good gentlemen seem to have no notion of going to bed." "Better be half smothered or half stunned, sir, than suffer pain for weeks to come," answered Willis sententiously. "The one will be soon over; but who can tell the end of the other?" So his master yielded to reason, and descended again to the Inferno, where his worst anticipations were fully realized. If the practice of patience be the discipline of life, Winstanley should have passed a profitable night. When he crept on to the deck in the morning, he felt a doubly injured man. In his sense of intense feverishness it seemed as if he were suffering vicariously for the indulgences of his shipmates - as if he had swallowed the contents of the punchbowls, while they had been simply looking on. But he revived in the freshness of the morning air, as he feasted his eyes on a magnificent Highland panorama. The Cuchullin was lying at anchor in the land-locked roadstead of Loch Rona. A thick undergrowth of dwarf oaks and alders, interlacing their boughs in great beds of bracken, came literally down to the beach of shingle; half-a-dozen streams were descending so many picturesque glens, breaking here and there over tiny waterfalls; while huge hills, with slopes of the softest green, and great shoulders draped in purple heather, were backed up by the splintered and weather-worn peaks that were partially veiled in the swirl of a drifting cloudland. In the foreground, near a little "change-house" (Anglicè, public-house) and a cluster of hovels, was a snug shooting-box, with its garden washed by the sea waves, where the luxuriance of the shrubs and the flower beds glorified the warmth of the Gulf stream. "The boat will be going ashore, sir, after breakfast, should you think well of that," said the shock-headed steward very civilly; and Winstanley thanked him as civilly and declined, although, to a man in his situation, the proposal sounded seduc tively. He would have liked nothing better than a temporary escape from his floating purgatory; but he was reconciled to his fate in remaining on board, when the sprightly American came up with his greeting. "I calculate, colonel, by the way you're sniffing the mountain air, you feel as fresh this morning as a four-year-old mustang. And if you're good for a run ashore, I'll come along and kinder take care o' you. No? You won't? Wal, then, if you like a hobble better, you're welcome to try one. Them rocks up there may be al mighty grand, but I'd sooner spekilate on their tallness any day than climb them." The morning passed slowly enough while the Cuchullin was leisurely landing cargo. The captain smoked and sipped his whiskey and water, leaving the superintendence of operations to his mate. Winstanley, after sundry unsuccessful attempts to kill time, gave himself over to reflections that were exceedingly unpleasant. He was condemned to two other days and nights of confinement in his present society before being landed at a Christian port in the Clyde. He made up his mind to the inevitable, in the spirit of an early martyr. And the inevitable promised to be worse than he imagined. As the day went on, in the bay, sheltered on three sides, scarcely a breath of air was stirring. But nevertheless a growing ground-swell came rolling round the bold headland to the westward. The sky had clouded over; there was oppression in the air; the leaden-colored rollers seemed sullenly smoothed down by oil; and the mate made the remark that the glass was tumbling. "There has been wild weather in the Atlantic there can be no doubt of that; and the question is, whether we will not have a storm on the coast here." As for the captain, casting all his cares upon Providence, he smoked and drank on imperturbably. The passengers had come on board; the Cuchullin had got up her steam, and was slewing her head round to the seachannel, when the mate sang out to slacken speed. A boat was seen putting out from the shore, and a signal flag was being waved in front of the public-house. "Now who may that be?" muttered Winstanley to himself. "It never rains but it pours, and here comes another ruffian to prove the possible aggravation of the least tolerable calamities.' For a man was seated in the sternsheets as the boatmen strained to the oars. Winstanley prided himself on his quick perceptions, and it struck him at once that the new-comer was a gentleman. Then the stranger's luggage was presumptive evidence in that direction, since it consisted of a couple of neat portmanteaus, a gun-case, and a hand-bag in Russian leather. The handbag bore the golden initial letters "J. V."; and the gun-case, as the shrewd reader may have supposed, was superscribed at length as belonging to John Venables, Esq. Jack was not gouty far from it. On the contrary, he was in the highest health and spirits; and he swung himself up the side ladder with the grace of a young Antinous. His first words were a polite apology to the captain for delaying him, which the captain acknowledged by inarticulate mutterings and a stare from his whiskey-sodden eyes. As for Winstanley, he was from the first attracted to the stranger. Here, ac. cording to outward appearances, was a man with whom he might possibly have common ideas and sympathies. So the pair made friends over the dinner table, and, had it not been for the interruptions of the irrepressible Yankee, would practically have monopolized the conversation. For the minister was overawed by consciousness of ignorance of the subjects the others discussed in a kind of easy freemasonry; and the sheep-farmer, like naturally modest men, was always in extremes, and either painfully shy or brilliantly audacious. It was just as well for Mr. Winstanley that he had found a companion he fancied, for it seemed likely that the voyage might be indefinitely prolonged. The night had settled down in a fog, denser and damper than that of the previous one; and ten hours after they started the an steamer was going half-speed over a heavy | where they had not broken from the fast- "It's but kittle steering here," the mate "And what if we were, my man?" re- They were bending over a chart spread on the cabin table, and the little company of passengers was grouped around them. "There's one of the reefs, then, I calculate," ejaculated the American drily, and with infinite promptitude. For as the captain spoke there was a shock and a long shivering, a rending of timber, and a tremulous rasping that had run along the ship's keel like electric ity, communicating with the passengers through their shaking limbs, and shooting a thrill to each nerve and fibre; while simultaneously rose shrill cries and wild shouts from the decks. Then came another shock, like the despairing struggle of a stranded whale, and a duller sound of the splintering of timbers. CHAPTER IX. THE SHIPWRECK. In the darkness and the turmoil, so far as could be judged, there were only four men who had kept their heads. These were the young mate, the shock-headed steward, the cool American, and Mr. Jack Venables. As for Mr. Winstanley, he was in mortal alarm, though he had too much self-respect to show it; and, rather to give himself time to calm down than for any better reason, he addressed a remark to Mr. Venables, who happened to be close by his side, and was busy stripping off coat and boots. "It's all over with us, I suppose." But Jack's courage was of the kind that is highest in emergencies, and his spirits rose buoyantly to the excitement of danger. "Not if I know it, sir. We may all get away in the boats; and if not, I mean to try to save myself by swimming. The steamer is upon rocks, and one may find a footing on them, till some passing vessel comes to take us off." Thus having spoken on the spur of the moment, the selfishness of his speech struck him. “I wish this crippled old gentleman, had not been here," So, we may suppose, ran the current of his thoughts. "But as he is here, I am bound to see him through it, worse luck." And then he added, "If you keep by me, or rather, stay by the companion here, I shall come back before I leave, and will gladly give you a helping hand." WINSTANLEY forgot his gout as the captain was suddenly sobered. There was a rush for the deck in that first alarm, Hardly even when talking to Mr. Moas of men who preferred to perish in the ray, had Jack ever invested words to betopen, rather than to be drowned below ter purpose. And indeed, in this case, decks like rats and cockroaches. Once Winstanley had reason to be doubly grate. on the deck there was little to be seen, ful. Not only did the calmness of the but a great deal to be heard. The lan- young stranger help him to regain his tern gave but a fitful light, throwing faint self-possession, but it was a promise of reflections on the grey wreaths of watery self-sacrifice which he felt assured would vapor. But out of the darkness, that was be redeemed. So whether his feelings to be felt rather than seen, came appalling were too much for him or not, he merely evidences of a general panic. The High-squeezed the young gentleman's hand by land forecastle passengers, more accus- way of answer. tomed to their hills than to the sea, had lost their heads, and were bellowing and "routing" like the cattle. And the cattle, While we have been lingering over this conversation apart between the only two people in whom we are greatly interested, incidents were being fast crowded into seconds. Had it been daylight, one might have looked on at a veritable panic. The Celts in the steerage had sufficiently recovered from their stupor to be seriously alarmed. They had animal courage enough, but it was ill adapted to unfamil iar circumstances. They made a rush at the boats, and carried them by storm. Their frenzied impetuosity knocked a hole in the bottom of one, which happened to be loaded with coils of wire fencing. As for the other, by the aid of the seamen it was lowered into the water tant bien que mal. But that boat was to the windward side of the ship, and the surf was strong, and the gear slightly fouled at one end. Naturally the boat upset under a cascade of human beings, most of them weighing considerably over fourteen stone; and then it became a case of "save who can," for no one had a thought to bestow upon his neighbors. Two or three who fell struggling in the deeper water, were swept to sea or under the ship's counter, and were seen no more. The rest, to their surprise and pleasure, regained their legs, and were either washed up against the swamped boat and the swinging tackle, or, clutching wildly at each other, their feet struck on the rocks, up which they scrambled through the shoaling water, till, clinging to the slippery seaweed like limpets, they had time for recollection and a long breath. Then one or two, with more presence of mind than the others, shouted out that there was firm footing under the ship's bows; and when the good news had slowly circulated on board, relief from the apprehension of immediate danger brought about a wonderful reaction. Their safety need only be a question of time, and the indolent side of the excitable Highlanders turned upwards again. And with a falling ground-swell and calm weather they might have been well contented to wait indefinitely. But as the first breaking of the dawn began to streak the eastern sky, there came an ominous sighing and whistling through the shrouds and the funnel-stays, which caused the mate and the shock-headed steward to prick their ears and exchange significant glances. The wind was getting up, as the glass had prognosticated a gale; and when the waves rose with the wind, the Cuchullin would probably go to pieces. Nor, as the breaking of the day made objects visible, was the sight of the reef on which they were hard and fast by any means reassuring. Low and rugged, and covered with slimy brown and green sea weed, it looked very like the slippery back of the fabulous kraken, and nearly as likely to be submerged at any moment. Assuredly it was sunk far out of sight in spring tides; probably the seas washed over it in such a gale as was coming on. The captain, although comparatively sobered by the catastrophe, was dazed, and disposed to take gloomy views, as he well might be, considering that under the most favorable circumstances his certificate was sure to be suspended by the Board of Trade. So he declared that as the vessel might break up at any moment, the passengers had better take refuge on the reef, which might be trusted not to go to pieces, though it was quite on the cards that it might be swamped. Had an unimaginative artist sought materials for the illustration of "Robinson Crusoe," assuredly he might have found them in the scene on the reef, which was locally known as the "Kittiwake's neb." The steerage passengers began by saving their personal property, and piled bags and blankets and wooden "kists" about them. Then, for sheer want of occupation, and by the offer of free rations of "Tallisker," they were persuaded by the mate and the steward to unload the live cargo. We can't say that humanity had much to do with it. So half-wild cattle that had the strength and suppleness of the famous Chillingham herd, were persuaded to leap from the deck into the water. The sheep followed their leaders, when one or two had been caught up and pitched over bodily. And then there was a scene, such as might have been witnessed when the ark brought up, after its seven months' cruise, on Mount Ararat. The cattle crowded together, as is their custom, with stooping heads and staring coats, playfully goring each other in the ribs with their tremendous horns, till the melancholy ocean resounded with their bellowing. The sheep, that jostled up against the oxen, although confining themselves to plaintive protests against their bad luck, were scarcely in the sum total less vociferous. We dare say the rats left the stranded ship, though, had they foreseen the fate that must befall them, they would have stuck by her so long as she floated. But the old cabin cat, which had slipped over the side when his betters set him the example, was perhaps more to be felt for than any person. He lowered himself over the side, from a natural instinct of self-preservation; but really he cared very little what became of him. He was too miserable, as he picked his way among But after a few whiffs of the pipe, a fresh idea seemed to strike him. pools of sea-water, and set down his feet | a pipe. If I keep well to leeward, perhaps gingerly on rocks that were slimy with you won't mind." trailing seaweed. His principles and his instincts denied him the resource of suicide for we believe that, among all the "What_a_picturesque sight it is, and memorabilia of remarkable cats, no one what comical groups of figures these are instance has been recorded of an animal in the foreground! Gray's odes come that drowned itself. But he strolled reck back to the memory. Confusion, fright, lessly under the very noses of collies who, ay, and famine too, and ever so many in ordinary circumstances, would have more realistic conceptions of the passions. made but a couple of mouthfuls of him. And what a bit that is, à la M. Gudin at As it was, in the presence of a common the Luxembourg, for example, where the danger, they saw him pass with an indif- waves are breaking against the sides of ference as appalling as his own, to any one the old ship, with the seaweed streaming who had leisure to remark the phenome- on the curl of the surf, and boxes and non. And so the desponding Thomas trunks bobbing about among the breakwent on, till he ran up against a gentle-ers!" man seated in a chair, when the domestic And from another of the numerous instincts asserted themselves, the more pockets in his shooting-jacket he produced decidedly for the delightful surprise. He something between a memorandum-book rubbed his sides against an upturned pair and a sketch-book, and, smiling, proceeded of trousers; he made the wearer wince by to draw. Winstanley looked at him curismoothing his whiskers against a muffled ously. His hand was steady and his eye foot; and then he gave a flying leap out was clear, and he handled the pencil for of the damp, arching his back and purring all the world as if he had been sitting on pleasantly against a woollen waistcoat. a camp-stool in some sequestered glen, with an immediate prospect of muffins and coffee. Jack marked the glance, and answered it in about five minutes, by carelessly passing his sketch-book to Winstanley. In fact it had been a pretty though a pathetic sight to see Mr. Venables piloting Mr. Winstanley to the highest point of the reef, and there depositing him on one of the two or three cane-bottomed chairs to be found on board the Cuchullin. Willis, who was still amenable to orders, though he had lost all power of initiation, followed, carrying the dressing-case that was placed under his master's feet. And there sat the Honorable Wilfred Winstanley, gathering the skirts of a trailing ulster round his legs, more painfully sensible than ever of his signal folly in flying so hastily from his comfortable quarters at Somerled. But if he had a feeling stronger than that of self-reproach, it was of gratitude to the cheery young fellow who had done so much for him. Already Winstanley had asked his name, and had been duly informed. To say nothing of Jack's sanguine spirit being contagious, it was difficult to seem depressed when the youth was near. He would have sat self-rebuked while Mr. Venables was quietly conversing, as if they had come to gether in a club smoking-room in Pall Mall. We will not undertake to say that there was not some swagger about Mr. Venables, but are content merely to record how he behaved. "I should prefer a cigarette, as I have gone without breakfast. But needs must be,' - you know the proverb, sir; so, by your leave, though I think I heard them say you objected to smoking, I shall light "Admirable, sir, admirable!" was that gentleman's verdict; for in fact his young companion, by some sharp and bold touches, had given a very fair idea of water in motion; while the rendering of the more prominent figures in the foreground was a clever blending of the grotesque with the veracious. And though he immediately dismissed the matter from his mind, the memory of it afterwards diď Jack good service. Indeed more serious considerations were soon to preoccupy him. A business of the kind must be slow at best, whether to those who figure in it or to those who read about it; so we spare our readers many of the details. But with the rising tide, driven over the reef by the winds, the water at every seventh wave or so actually washed over Winstanley's boot and slipper; and although it became pretty plain that no one need be actually drowned, it seemed probable that his constitution might be shattered for life. He was so lost in a labyrinth of gloomy thoughts, that he was indifferent even to the presence of the irrepressible American, who opined that he would rather run the chances of being sky-rocketed from high-pressure "ingines" among the snags of the Mississippi, than be cast adrift on |