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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Michael Penguyne, by William H. G. Kingston
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Michael Penguyne
+       Fisher Life on the Cornish Coast
+
+Author: William H. G. Kingston
+
+Release Date: October 25, 2007 [EBook #23188]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHAEL PENGUYNE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+Michael Penguyne; Fisher Life on the Cornish Coast, by William H G
+Kingston.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+In this rather short book Kingston tells us of the hard life and its few
+pleasures of the fisher-folk of Cornwall.  Gales and a forbidding
+coast-line can often spell disaster to the poor fisherman caught out in
+a rising tempest.  Yet throughout this he and his family, with few
+exceptions, remain steadfast and God-fearing, with relatives springing
+to the aid of orphans and wives following a tragedy.
+
+Kingston is here at his most persuasively Christian, arguing that both
+the good things of life and the bad, are dealt out to us by an
+all-seeing fatherlike God.
+
+It does not take long to read, but you will certainly enjoy it.  As it
+probably didn't take long to write it is not one of Kingston's great
+masterpieces, but it is certainly worth taking note of.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+MICHAEL PENGUYNE, FISHER LIFE ON THE CORNISH COAST, BY WILLIAM H G
+KINGSTON.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+As the sun rose over the Lizard, the southernmost point of old England,
+his rays fell on the tanned sails of a fleet of boats bounding lightly
+across the heaving waves before a fresh westerly breeze.  The distant
+shore, presenting a line of tall cliffs, towards which the boats were
+steering, still lay in the deepest shade.
+
+Each boat was laden with a large heap of nets and several baskets filled
+with brightly-shining fish.
+
+In the stern of one, tiller in hand, sat a strongly-built man, whose
+deeply-furrowed countenance and grizzled hair showed that he had been
+for many a year a toiler on the ocean.  By his side was a boy of about
+twelve years of age, dressed in flushing coat and sou'wester, busily
+employed with a marline-spike, in splicing an eye to a rope's-end.
+
+The elder fisherman, now looking up at his sails, now stooping down to
+get a glance beneath them at the shore, and then turning his head
+towards the south-west, where heavy clouds were gathering fast,
+meanwhile cast an approving look at the boy.
+
+"Ye are turning in that eye smartly and well, Michael," he said.
+"Whatever you do, try and do it in that fashion.  It has been my wish to
+teach you what is right as well as I know it.  Try not only to please
+man, my boy, but to love and serve God, whose eye is always on you.
+Don't forget the golden rule either: `Do to others as you would they
+should do to you.'"
+
+"I have always wished to understand what you have told me, and tried to
+obey you, father," said the boy.
+
+"You have been a good lad, Michael, and have more than repaid me for any
+trouble you may have caused me.  You are getting a big boy now, though,
+and it's time that you should know certain matters about yourself which
+no one else is so well able to tell you as I am."
+
+The boy looked up from his work, wondering what Paul Trefusis was going
+to say.
+
+"You know, lad, that you are called Michael Penguyne, and that my name
+is Paul Trefusis.  Has it never crossed your mind that though I have
+always treated you as a son--and you have ever behaved towards me as a
+good and dutiful son should behave--that you were not really my own
+child?"
+
+"To say the truth, I have never thought about it, father," answered the
+boy, looking up frankly in the old man's face.  "I am oftener called
+Trefusis than Penguyne, so I fancied that Penguyne was another name
+tacked on to Michael, and that Trefusis was just as much my name as
+yours.  And oh! father, I would rather be your child than the son of
+anybody else."
+
+"There is no harm in wishing that, Michael; but it's as well that you
+should know the real state of the case, and as I cannot say what may
+happen to me, I do not wish to put off telling you any longer.  I am not
+as strong and young as I once was, and maybe God will think fit to take
+me away before I have reached the threescore years and ten which He
+allows some to live.  We should not put off doing to another time what
+can be done now, and so you see I wish to say what has been on my mind
+to tell you for many a day past, though I have not liked to say it, lest
+it should in any way grieve you.  You promise me, Michael, you won't let
+it do that?  You know how much I and granny and Nelly love you, and will
+go on loving you as much as ever."
+
+"I know you do, father, and so do granny and Nelly; I am sure they love
+me," said the boy gazing earnestly into Paul's face, with wonder and a
+shade of sorrow depicted on his own countenance.
+
+"That's true," said Paul.  "But about what I was going to say to you.
+
+"My wife, who is gone to heaven, Nelly's mother, and I, never had
+another child but her.  Your father, Michael, as true-hearted a seaman
+as ever stepped, had been my friend and shipmate for many a long year.
+We were bred together, and had belonged to the same boat fishing off
+this coast till we were grown men, when at last we took it into our
+heads to wish to visit foreign climes, and so we went to sea together.
+After knocking about for some years, and going to all parts of the
+world, we returned home, and both fell in love, and married.  Your
+mother was an orphan, without kith or kin, that your father could hear
+of--a good, pretty girl she was, and worthy of him.
+
+"We made up our minds that we would stay on shore and follow our old
+calling and look after our wives and families.  We had saved some money,
+but it did not go as far as we thought it would, and we agreed that if
+we could make just one more trip to sea, we should gain enough for what
+we wanted.
+
+"You were about two years old, and my Nelly was just born.
+
+"We went to Falmouth, where ships often put in, wanting hands, and
+masters are ready to pay good wages to obtain them.  We hadn't been
+there a day, when we engaged on board a ship bound out to the West
+Indies.  As she was not likely to be long absent, this just suited us.
+Your father got a berth as third mate, for he was the best scholar, and
+I shipped as boatswain.
+
+"We made the voyage out, and had just reached the chops of the Channel,
+coming back, bound for Bristol, and hoping in a few days to be home
+again with our wives, when thick weather came on, and a heavy gale of
+wind sprang up.  It blew harder and harder.  Whether or not the captain
+was out of his reckoning I cannot say, but I suspect he was.  Before
+long, our sails were blown away, and our foremast went by the board.  We
+did our best to keep the ship off the shore, for all know well that it
+is about as dangerous a one as is to be found round England.
+
+"The night was dark as pitch, the gale still increasing.
+
+"`Paul,' said your father to me as we were standing together, `you and I
+may never see another sun rise; but still one of us may escape.  You
+remember the promise we made each other.'
+
+"`Yes, Michael,' I said, `that I do, and hope to keep it.'
+
+"The promise was that if one should be lost and the other saved, he who
+escaped should look after the wife and family of the one who was lost.
+
+"I had scarcely answered him when the look-out forward shouted `Breakers
+ahead!' and before the ship's course could be altered, down she came,
+crashing on the rocks.  It was all up with the craft; the seas came
+dashing over her, and many of those on deck were washed away.  The
+unfortunate passengers rushed up from below, and in an instant were
+swept overboard.
+
+"The captain ordered the remaining masts to be cut away, to ease the
+ship; but it did no good, and just as the last fell she broke in two,
+and all on board were cast into the water, I found myself clinging with
+your father to one of the masts.  The head of the mast was resting on a
+rock.  We made our way along it; I believed that others were following;
+but just as we reached the rock the mast was carried away, and he and I
+found that we alone had escaped.
+
+"The seas rose up foaming around us, and every moment we expected to be
+washed away.  Though we knew many were perishing close around us we had
+no means of helping them.  All we could do was to cling on and try and
+save our own lives.
+
+"`I hope we shall get back home yet, Michael,' I said, wishing to cheer
+your father, for he was more down-hearted than usual.
+
+"`I hope so, Paul, but I don't know; God's will be done, whatever that
+will is.  Paul, you will meet me in heaven, I hope,' he answered, for he
+was a Christian man.  `If I am taken, you will look after Mary and my
+boy,' he added.  Again I promised him, and I knew to a certainty that he
+would look after my Nelly, should he be saved and I drowned.
+
+"When the morning came at last scarcely a timber or plank of the wreck
+was to be seen.  What hope of escape had either of us?  The foaming
+waters raged around, and we were half perished with cold and hunger.  On
+looking about I found a small spar washed up on the rock, and, fastening
+our handkerchiefs together, we rigged out a flag, but there was little
+chance of a boat putting off in such weather and coming near enough to
+see it.  We now knew that we were not far off the Land's End, on one of
+two rocks called The Sisters, with the village of Senum abreast of us.
+
+"Your father and I looked in each other's faces; we felt that there was
+little hope that we should ever see our wives and infants again.  Still
+we spoke of the promise we had made each other--not that there was any
+need of that, for we neither of us were likely to forget it.
+
+"The spring tides were coming on, and though we had escaped as yet, the
+sea might before long break over the rock and carry us away.  Even if it
+did not we must die of hunger and thirst, should no craft come to our
+rescue.
+
+"We kept our eyes fixed on the distant shore; they ached with the strain
+we put on them, as we tried to make out whether any boat was being
+launched to come off to us.
+
+"A whole day passed--another night came on.  We did not expect to see
+the sun rise again.  Already the seas as they struck the rock sent the
+foam flying over us, and again and again washed up close to where we
+were sitting.
+
+"Notwithstanding our fears, daylight once more broke upon us, but what
+with cold and hunger we were well-nigh dead.
+
+"Your father was a stronger man than I fancied myself, and yet he now
+seemed most broken down.  He could scarcely stand to wave our flag.
+
+"The day wore on, the wind veered a few points to the nor'ard, and the
+sun burst out now and then from among the clouds, and, just as we were
+giving up all hope, his light fell on the sails of a boat which had just
+before put off from the shore.  She breasted the waves bravely.  Was
+she, though, coming towards us?  We could not have been seen so far off.
+Still on she came, the wind allowing her to be close-hauled to steer
+towards the rock.  The tide meantime was rapidly rising.  If she did not
+reach us soon, we knew too well that the sea would come foaming over the
+rock and carry us away.
+
+"I stood up and waved our flag.  Still the boat stood on; the spray was
+beating in heavy showers over her, and it was as much as she could do to
+look up to her canvas.  Sometimes as I watched her I feared that the
+brave fellows who were coming to our rescue would share the fate which
+was likely to befall us.  She neared the rock.  I tried to cheer up your
+father.
+
+"`In five minutes we shall be safe on board, Michael,' I said.
+
+"`Much may happen in five minutes, Paul; but you will not forget my Mary
+and little boy,' he answered.
+
+"`No fear of that,' I said; `but you will be at home to look after them
+yourself.'
+
+"I tried to cheer as the boat came close to the rock, but my voice
+failed me.
+
+"The sails were lowered and she pulled in.  A rope was hove, and I
+caught it.  I was about to make it fast round your father.
+
+"`You go first, Paul,' he said.  `If you reach the boat I will try to
+follow, but there is no use for me to try now; I should be drowned
+before I got half way.'
+
+"Still I tried to secure the rope round him, but he resisted all my
+efforts.  At last I saw that I must go, or we should both be lost, and I
+hoped to get the boat in nearer and to return with a second rope to help
+him.
+
+"I made the rope fast round my waist and plunged in.  I had hard work to
+reach the boat; I did not know how weak I was.  At last I was hauled on
+board, and was singing out for a rope, when the people in the boat
+uttered a cry, and looking up I saw a huge sea come rolling along.  Over
+the rock it swept, taking off your poor father.  I leapt overboard with
+the rope still round my waist, in the hopes of catching him, but in a
+moment he was hidden from my sight, and, more dead than alive, I was
+again hauled on board.
+
+"The crew of the boat pulled away from the rock; they knew that all
+hopes of saving my friend were gone.  Sail was made, and we stood for
+the shore.
+
+"The people at the village attended me kindly, but many days passed
+before I was able to move.
+
+"As soon as I had got strength enough, with a sad heart I set out
+homewards.  How could I face your poor mother, and tell her that her
+husband was gone?  I would send my own dear wife, I thought, to break
+the news to her.
+
+"As I reached my own door I heard a child's cry; it was that of my
+little Nelly, and granny's voice trying to soothe her.
+
+"I peeped in at the window.  There sat granny, with the child on her
+knee, but my wife was not there.  She has gone to market, I thought.
+Still my heart sank within me.  I gained courage to go in.
+
+"`Where is Nelly?'  I asked, as granny, with the baby in her arms, rose
+to meet me.
+
+"`Here is the only Nelly you have got, my poor Paul,' she said, giving
+me the child.
+
+"I felt as if my heart would break.  I could not bring myself to ask how
+or when my wife had died.  Granny told me, however, for she knew it must
+be told, and the sooner it was over the better.  She had been taken with
+a fever soon after I had left home.
+
+"It was long before I recovered myself.
+
+"`I must go and tell the sad news I bring to poor Mary,' I said.
+
+"Granny shook her head.
+
+"`She is very bad, it will go well-nigh to kill her outright,' she
+observed.
+
+"I would have got granny to go, but I wanted to tell your poor mother of
+my promise to your father, and, though it made my heartache, I
+determined to go myself.
+
+"I found her, with you by her side.
+
+"`Here is father,' you cried out, but your mother looked up, and seemed
+to know in a moment what had happened.
+
+"`Where is Michael?' she asked.
+
+"`You know, Mary, your husband and I promised to look after each other's
+children, if one was taken and the other left; and I mean to keep my
+promise to look after you and your little boy.'
+
+"Your mother knew, by what I said, that your father was gone.
+
+"`God's will be done,' she murmured; `He knows what is best--I hope soon
+to be with him.'
+
+"Before the month was out we carried your poor mother to her grave, and
+I took you to live with granny and Nelly.
+
+"There, Michael, you know all I can tell you about yourself.  I have had
+hard times now and then, but I have done my duty to you; and I say
+again, Michael, you have always been a good and dutiful boy, and not a
+fault have I had to find with you."
+
+"Thank you, father, for saying that; and you will still let me call you
+father, for I cannot bring myself to believe that I am not really your
+son."
+
+"That I will, Michael; a son you have always been to me, and my son I
+wish you to remain.  And, Michael, as I have watched over you, so I want
+you to watch over my little Nelly.  Should I be called away, be a
+brother and true friend to her, for I know not to what dangers she may
+be exposed.  Granny is old, and her years on earth may be few, and when
+she is gone, Michael, Nelly will have no one to look to but you.  She
+has no kith nor kin, that I know of, able or willing to take care of
+her.  Her mother's brother and only sister went to Australia years ago,
+and no news has ever come of them since, and my brothers found their
+graves in the deep sea, so that Nelly will be alone in the world.  That
+is the only thing that troubles me, and often makes me feel sad when we
+are away at night, and the wind blows strong and the sea runs high, and
+I think of the many I have known who have lost their lives in stouter
+boats than mine.  But God is merciful; He has promised to take care of
+the widow and orphan, and He will keep His word.  I know that, and so I
+again look up and try to drive all mistrustful thoughts of His goodness
+from my mind."
+
+"Father, while I have life I will take care of Nelly, and pray for her,
+and, if needs be, fight for her," exclaimed Michael.
+
+He spoke earnestly and with all sincerity, for he intended, God willing,
+to keep his word.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+The fleet of fishing-boats as they approached the coast steered in
+different directions, some keeping towards Kynance and Landewednach,
+while Paul Trefusis shaped his course for Mullyan Cove, towards the
+north, passing close round the lofty Gull Rock, which stands in solitary
+grandeur far away from the shore, braving the fierce waves as they roll
+in from the broad Atlantic.
+
+Asparagus Island and Lion Rock opened out to view, while the red and
+green sides of the precipitous serpentine cliffs could now be
+distinguished, assuming various fantastic shapes: one shaped into a
+complete arch, another the form of a gigantic steeple, with several
+caves penetrating deep into the cliff, on a level with the narrow belt
+of yellow sand.
+
+Young Michael, though accustomed from his childhood to the wild and
+romantic scenery, had never passed that way without looking at it with
+an eye of interest, and wondering how those cliffs and rocks came to
+assume the curious forms they wore.
+
+The little "Wild Duck," for that was the name Paul Trefusis had given
+his boat, continued her course, flying before the fast increasing gale
+close inshore, to avoid the strong tide which swept away to the
+southward, till, rounding a point, she entered the mouth of a narrow
+inlet which afforded shelter to a few boats and small craft.  It was a
+wild, almost savage-looking place, though extremely picturesque.  On
+either side were rugged and broken cliffs, in some parts rising sheer
+out of the water to the gorse-covered downs above, in others broken in
+terraces and ledges, affording space for a few fishermen's cottages and
+huts, which were seen perched here and there, looking down on the
+tranquil water of the harbour.
+
+The inlet made a sharp bend a short distance from its mouth, so that, as
+Paul's boat proceeded upwards, the view of the sea being completely shut
+out, it bore the appearance of a lake.  At the further end a stream of
+water came rushing down over the summit of the cliffs, dashing from
+ledge to ledge, now breaking into masses of foam, now descending
+perpendicularly many feet, now running along a rapid incline, and
+serving to turn a small flour-mill built a short way up on the side of
+the cliff above the harbour.
+
+Steep as were the cliffs, a zigzag road had been cut in them, leading
+from the downs above almost to the mouth of the harbour, where a rock
+which rose directly out of the water formed a natural quay, on which the
+fishing-boats could land their cargoes.  Beyond this the road was rough
+and steep, and fitted only for people on foot, or donkeys with their
+panniers, to go up and down.  Art had done little to the place.
+
+The little "Wild Duck," a few moments before tossed and tumbled by the
+angry seas, now glided smoothly along for a few hundred yards, when the
+sails were lowered, and she floated up to a dock between two rocks.
+Hence, a rough pathway led from one of the cottages perched on the side
+of the cliff.  At a distance it could scarcely have been distinguished
+from the cliff itself.  Its walls were composed of large blocks of
+unhewn serpentine, masses of clay filling up the interstices, while it
+was roofed with a thick dark thatch, tightly fastened down with ropes,
+and still further secured by slabs of stone to prevent its being carried
+away by the fierce blasts which are wont to sweep up and down the ravine
+in winter.
+
+There was space enough on either side of the cottage for a small garden,
+which appeared to be carefully cultivated, and was enclosed by a stone
+wall.  At the upper part of the pathway a flight of steps, roughly hewn
+in the rock, led to the cottage door.
+
+The door opened as soon as Paul's boat rounded the point, and a young
+girl with a small creel or fish basket at her back was seen lightly
+tripping down the pathway, followed by an old woman, who, though she
+supported her steps with a staff, also carried a creel of the ordinary
+size.  She wore a large broad-brimmed black hat, and a gaily-coloured
+calico jacket over her winsey skirt; an apron, and shoes with metal
+buckles, completing the ordinary costume of a fish-wife of that
+district.  Little Nelly was dressed very like her grandmother, except
+that her feet were bare, and that she had a necklace of small shells
+round her throat.  Her face was pretty and intelligent, her well-browned
+cheeks glowed with the hue of health, her eyes were large and grey, and
+her black hair, drawn up off her forehead, hung in neat plaits tied with
+ribbons behind her back.  Nelly Trefusis was indeed a good specimen of a
+young fisher-girl.
+
+She tripped lightly down the pathway, springing to the top of the
+outermost rock just before her father's boat glided by it, and in an
+instant stepping nimbly on board, she threw herself into his arms and
+bestowed a kiss on his weather-beaten brow.
+
+Michael had leaped on shore to fend off the boat, so that he lost the
+greeting she would have given him.
+
+"You have had a good haul with the nets to-night, father," she said,
+looking into the baskets; "Granny and I can scarce carry half of them to
+market, and unless Abel Mawgan the hawker comes in time to buy them, you
+and Michael will have work to do to salt them down."
+
+"It is well that we should have had a good haul, Nelly, for dirty
+weather is coming on, and it may be many a day before we are able to
+cast our nets again," answered Paul, looking up affectionately at his
+child, while he began with a well-practised hand to stow the boat's
+sail.
+
+Nelly meantime was filling her creel with fish, that she might lessen
+the weight of the baskets which her father and Michael had to lift on
+shore.  As soon as it was full she stepped back on the rock, giving a
+kiss to Michael as she passed him.
+
+The baskets were soon landed, and the creel being filled, she and Nelly
+ascended the hill, followed by Paul and Michael, who, carrying the
+baskets between them, brought up the remainder of the fish.
+
+Breakfast, welcome to those who had been toiling all night, had been
+placed ready on the table, and leaving Paul and his boy to discuss it,
+Polly Lanreath, as the old dame was generally called, and her little
+granddaughter, set off on their long journey over the downs to dispose
+of their fish at Helston, or at the villages and the few gentlemen's
+houses they passed on their way.  It was a long distance for the old
+woman and girl to go, but they went willingly whenever fish had been
+caught, for they depended on its sale for their livelihood, and neither
+Paul nor Michael could have undertaken the duty, nor would they have
+sold the fish so well as the dame and Nelly, who were welcomed whenever
+they appeared.  Their customers knew that they could depend on their
+word when they mentioned the very hour when the fish were landed.
+
+The old dame's tongue wagged cheerfully as she walked along with Nelly
+by her side, and she often beguiled the way with tales and anecdotes of
+bygone days, and ancient Cornish legends which few but herself
+remembered.  Nelly listened with eager ears, and stored away in her
+memory all she heard, and often when they got back in the evening she
+would beg her granny to recount again for the benefit of her father and
+Michael the stories she had told in the morning.
+
+She had a cheerful greeting, too, for all she met; for some she had a
+quiet joke; for the giddy and careless a word of warning, which came
+with good effect from one whom all respected.  At the cottages of the
+poor she was always a welcome visitor, while at the houses of the more
+wealthy she was treated with courtesy and kindness; and many a housewife
+who might have been doubtful about buying fish that day, when the dame
+and her granddaughter arrived, made up her mind to assist in lightening
+Nelly's creel by selecting some of its contents.
+
+The dame, as her own load decreased, would always insist on taking some
+of her granddaughter's, deeming that the little maiden had enough to do
+to trot on so many miles by her side, without having to carry a burden
+on her back in addition.  Nelly would declare that she did not feel the
+weight, but the sturdy old dame generally gained her point, though she
+might consent to replenish Nelly's basket before entering the town, for
+some of their customers preferred the fish which the bright little
+damsel offered them for sale to those in her grandmother's creel.
+
+Thus, though their daily toil was severe, and carried on under summer's
+sun, or autumn's gales, and winter's rain and sleet, they themselves
+were ever cheerful and contented, and seldom failed to return home with
+empty creels and well-filled purses.
+
+Paul Trefusis might thus have been able to lay by a store for the time
+when the dame could no longer trudge over the country as she had
+hitherto done, and he unable to put off with nets or lines to catch
+fish; but often for weeks together the gales of that stormy coast
+prevented him from venturing to sea, and the vegetables and potatoes
+produced in his garden, and the few fish he and Michael could catch in
+the harbour, were insufficient to support their little household, so
+that at the end of each year Paul found himself no richer than at the
+beginning.
+
+While Nelly and her grandmother and the other women of the village were
+employed in selling the fish, the men had plenty of occupation during
+the day in drying and mending their nets, and repairing their boats,
+while some time was required to obtain the necessary sleep of which
+their nightly toil had deprived them.  Those toilers of the sea were
+seldom idle.  When bad weather prevented them from going far from the
+coast, they fished with lines, or laid down their lobster-pots among the
+rocks close inshore, while occasionally a few fish were to be caught in
+the waters of their little harbour.  Most of them also cultivated
+patches of ground on the sides of the valley which opened out at the
+further end of the gorge, but, except potatoes, their fields afforded
+but precarious crops.
+
+Paul and Michael had performed most of their destined task: the net had
+been spread along the rocks to dry, and two or three rents, caused by
+the fisherman's foes, some huge conger or cod-fish, had been repaired.
+A portion of their fish had been sold to Abel Mawgan, and the remainder
+had been salted for their own use, when Paul, who had been going about
+his work with less than his usual spirit, complained of pains in his
+back and limbs.  Leaving Michael to clean out the boat and moor her, and
+to bring up the oars and other gear, he went into the cottage to lie
+down and rest.
+
+Little perhaps did the strong and hardy fisherman suppose, as he threw
+himself on his bunk in the little chamber where he and Michael slept,
+that he should never again rise, and that his last trip on the salt sea
+had been taken--that for the last time he had hauled his nets, that his
+life's work was done.  Yet he might have had some presentiment of what
+was going to happen as he sailed homewards that morning, when he
+resolved to tell Michael about his parents, and gave him the account of
+his father's death which has been described.
+
+The young fisher boy went on board the "Wild Duck," and was busily
+employed in cleaning her out, thinking over what he had heard in the
+morning.  Whilst thus engaged, he saw a small boat coming down from the
+head of the harbour towards him, pulled by a lad somewhat older than
+himself.
+
+"There is Eban Cowan, the miller's son.  I suppose he is coming here.  I
+wonder what he wants?" he thought.  "The `Polly' was out last night, and
+got a good haul, so it cannot be for fish."
+
+Michael was right in supposing that Eban Cowan was coming to their
+landing-place.  The lad in the punt pulled up alongside the "Wild Duck."
+
+"How fares it with you, Michael?" he said, putting out his hand.  "You
+did well this morning, I suspect, like most of us.  Did Abel Mawgan buy
+all your `catch'?  He took the whole of ours."
+
+"No, granny and Nelly started off to Helston with their creels full, as
+they can get a much better price than Mawgan will give," answered
+Michael.
+
+"I am sorry that Nelly is away, for I have brought her some shells I
+promised her a month ago.  But as I have nothing to do, I will bide with
+you till she comes back."
+
+"She and granny won't be back till late, I am afraid, and you lose your
+time staying here," said Michael.
+
+"Never mind, I will lend you a hand," said Eban, making his punt fast,
+and stepping on board the "Wild Duck."
+
+He was a fine, handsome, broad-shouldered lad, with dark eyes and hair,
+and with a complexion more like that of an inhabitant of the south than
+of an English boy.
+
+He took up a mop as he spoke, whisking up the bits of seaweed and
+fish-scales which covered the bottom of the boat.
+
+"Thank you," said Michael; "I won't ask you to stop, for I must go and
+turn in and get some sleep.  Father does not seem very well, and I shall
+have more work in the evening."
+
+"What is the matter with Uncle Paul?" asked Eban.
+
+Michael told him that he had been complaining since the morning, but he
+hoped the night's rest would set him to rights.
+
+"You won't want to go to sea to-night.  It's blowing hard outside, and
+likely to come on worse," observed Eban.
+
+Though he called Paul "uncle," there was no relationship.  He merely
+used the term of respect common in Cornwall when a younger speaks of an
+older man.
+
+Eban, however, did not take Michael's hint, but continued working away
+in the boat till she was completely put to rights.
+
+"Now," he said, "I will help you up with the oars and sails.  You have
+more than enough to do, it seems to me, for a small fellow like you."
+
+"I am able to do it," answered Michael; "and I am thankful that I can."
+
+"You live hard, though, and your father grows no richer," observed Eban.
+"If he did as others do, and as my father has advised him many a time,
+he would be a richer man, and you and your sister and Aunt Lanreath
+would not have to toil early and late, and wear the life out of you as
+you do.  I hope you will be wiser."
+
+"I know my father is right, whatever he does, and I hope to follow his
+example," answered Michael, unstepping the mast, which he let fall on
+his shoulder preparatory to carrying it up to the shed.
+
+"I was going to take that up," said Eban; "it is too heavy for you by
+half."
+
+"It is my duty, thank you," said Michael, somewhat coldly, stepping on
+shore with his burden.
+
+Slight as he looked, he carried the heavy spar up the pathway and
+deposited it against the side of the house.  He was returning for the
+remainder of the boat's gear, when he met Eban with it on his shoulders.
+
+"Thank you," he said; "but I don't want to give you my work to do."
+
+"It's no labour to me," answered Eban.  "Just do you go and turn in, and
+I will moor the boat and make a new set of `tholes' for you."
+
+Again Michael begged that his friend would not trouble himself, adding--
+
+"If you have brought the shells for Nelly and will leave them with me, I
+will give them to her when she comes home."
+
+Nothing he could say, however, would induce Eban to go away.  The latter
+had made up his mind to remain till Nelly's return.
+
+Still Michael was not to be turned from his purpose of doing his own
+work, though he could not prevent Eban from assisting him; and not till
+the boat was moored, and her gear deposited in the shed, would he
+consent to enter the cottage and seek the rest he required.
+
+Meantime Eban, returning to his punt, shaped out a set of new tholes as
+he proposed, and then set off up the hill, hoping to meet Nelly and her
+grandmother.
+
+He must have found them, for after some time he again came down the hill
+in their company, talking gaily, now to one, now to the other.  He was
+evidently a favourite with the old woman.
+
+Nelly thanked him with a sweet smile for the shells, which he had
+collected in some of the sandy little bays along the coast, which
+neither she nor Michael had ever been able to visit.
+
+She was about to invite him into, the cottage, when Michael appeared at
+the door, saying, with a sad face--
+
+"O granny!  I am so thankful you are come; father seems very bad, and
+groans terribly.  I never before saw him in such a way, and have not
+known what to do."
+
+Nelly on this darted in, and was soon by Paul's bedside, followed by her
+grandmother.
+
+Eban lingered about outside waiting.  Michael at length came out to him
+again.
+
+"There is no use waiting," he said; and Eban, reluctantly going down to
+his boat, pulled away up the harbour.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+Paul continued to suffer much during the evening; still he would not
+have the doctor sent for.  "I shall get better maybe soon, if it's God's
+will, though such pains are new to me," he said, groaning as he spoke.
+
+The storm which had been threatening now burst with unusual strength.
+Michael, with the assistance of Nelly and her grandmother, got in the
+nets in time.
+
+All hope of doing anything on the water for that night, at all events,
+must be abandoned; the weather was even too bad to allow Michael to fish
+in the harbour.
+
+Little Nelly's young heart was deeply grieved as she heard her father
+groan with pain--he who had never had a day's illness that she could
+recollect.  Nothing the dame could think of relieved him.
+
+The howling of the wind, the roaring of the waves as they dashed against
+the rock-bound coast, the pattering of the rain, and ever and anon the
+loud claps of thunder which echoed among the cliffs, made Nelly's heart
+sink within her.  Often it seemed as if the very roof of the cottage
+would be blown off.  Still she was thankful that her father and Michael
+were inside instead of buffeting the foaming waves out at sea.
+
+If careful tending could have done Paul good he would soon have got
+well.  The old dame seemed to require no sleep, and she would scarcely
+let either of her grandchildren take her place even for a few minutes.
+Though she generally went marketing, rather than leave her charge she
+sent Michael and Nelly to buy bread and other necessaries at the nearest
+village, which was, however, at some distance.
+
+The rain had ceased, but the wind blew strong over the wild moor.
+
+"I am afraid father is going to be very ill," observed Michael.  "He
+seemed to think something was going to happen to him when he told me
+what I did not know before about myself.  Have you heard anything about
+it, Nelly?"
+
+"What is it?" asked Nelly; "till you tell me I cannot say."
+
+"You've always thought that I was your brother, Nelly, haven't you?"
+
+"As to that, I have always loved you as a brother, and whether one or
+no, that should not make you unhappy.  Has father said anything to you
+about it?"
+
+"Yes.  He said that I was not your brother; and he has told me all about
+my father and mother: how my father was drowned, and my mother died of a
+broken heart.  I could well-nigh have cried when I heard the tale."
+
+Nelly looked up into Michael's face.
+
+"It's no news to me," she said.  "Granny told me of it some time ago,
+but I begged her not to let you find it out lest it should make you
+unhappy, and you should fancy we were not going to love you as much as
+we have always done.  But, Michael, don't go and fancy that; though you
+are not my brother, I will love you as much as ever, as long as you
+live: for, except father and granny, I have no friend but you in the
+world."
+
+"I will be your brother and your true friend as long as I live, Nelly,"
+responded Michael; "still I would rather have thought myself to be your
+brother, that I might have a better right to work for you, and fight for
+you too, if needs be."
+
+"You will do that, I know, Michael," said Nelly, "whatever may happen."
+
+Michael felt that he should be everything that was bad if he did not,
+though it did not occur to him to make any great promises of what he
+would do.
+
+They went on talking cheerfully and happily together, for though Nelly
+was anxious about her father, she did not yet understand how ill he was.
+
+They procured the articles for which they had been sent, and, laden with
+them, returned homewards.  They were making their way along one of the
+hedges which divide the fields in that part of Cornwall--not composed of
+brambles but of solid rock, and so broad that two people can walk
+abreast without fear of tumbling off--and were yet some distance from
+the edge of the ravine down which they had to go to their home, when
+they saw Eban Cowan coming towards them.
+
+"I wish he had gone some other way," said Nelly.  "He is very kind
+bringing me shells and other things, but, Michael, I do not like him.  I
+do not know what it is, but there is something in the tone of his voice;
+it's not truthful like yours and father's."
+
+"I never thought about that.  He is a bold-hearted, good-natured
+fellow," observed Michael.  "He has always been inclined to like us, and
+shown a wish to be friendly."
+
+"I don't want to make him suppose that we are not friendly," said Nelly;
+"only still--"
+
+She was unable to finish the sentence, as the subject of their
+conversation had got close up to them.
+
+"Good-day, Nelly; good-day, Michael," he said, putting out his hand.
+"You have got heavy loads; let me carry yours, Nelly."
+
+She, however, declined his assistance.
+
+"It is lighter than you suppose, and I can carry it well," she answered.
+
+He looked somewhat angry and then walked on, Michael having to give way
+to let him pass.  Instead, however, of doing so, he turned round
+suddenly and kept alongside Nelly, compelling Michael in consequence to
+walk behind them.
+
+"I went to ask after your father, Nelly," he said, "and, hearing that
+you were away, came on to meet you.  I am sorry to find he is no
+better."
+
+"Thank you," said Nelly; "father is very ill, I fear; but God is
+merciful, and will take care of him and make him well if He thinks fit."
+
+Eban made no reply to this remark.  He was not accustomed in his family
+to hear God spoken of except when that holy name was profaned by being
+joined to a curse.
+
+"You had better let me take your creel, Nelly; it will be nothing to
+me."
+
+"It is nothing to me either," answered Nelly, laughing.  "I undertook to
+bring home the things, and I do not wish anybody else to do my work."
+
+Still Eban persisted in his offers; she as constantly refusing, till
+they reached the top of the pathway.
+
+"There," she said, "I have only to go down hill now, so you need not be
+afraid the load will break my back.  Good-bye, Eban, you will be wanted
+at home I dare say."
+
+Eban looked disconcerted; he appeared to have intended to accompany her
+down the hill, but he had sense enough to see that she did not wish him
+to do so.  He stopped short, therefore.
+
+"Good-bye, Eban," said Michael, as he passed him; "Nelly and I must get
+home as fast as we can to help granny nurse father."
+
+"That's the work you are most fitted for," muttered Eban, as Michael
+went on.  "If it was not for Nelly I should soon quarrel with that
+fellow.  He is always talking about his duty, and fearing God, and such
+like things.  If he had more spirit he would not hold back as he does
+from joining us.  However, I will win him over some day when he is
+older, and it is not so easy to make a livelihood with his nets and
+lines alone as he supposes."
+
+Eban remained on the top of the hill watching his young acquaintances as
+they descended the steep path, and then made his way homewards.
+
+When Nelly and Michael arrived at the cottage the dame told them, to
+their sorrow, that their father was not better but rather worse.  He
+still, however, forbad her sending for the doctor.
+
+Day after day he continued much in the same state, though he endeavoured
+to encourage them with the hopes that he should get well at last.
+
+The weather continued so bad all this time that Michael could not get
+out in the boat to fish with lines or lay down his lobster-pots.  He and
+Nelly might have lost spirit had not their granny kept up hers and
+cheered them.
+
+"We must expect bad times, my children, in this world," she said.  "The
+sun does not always shine, but when clouds cover the sky we know they
+will blow away at last and we shall have fine days again.  I have had
+many trials in my life, but here I am as well and hardy as ever.  We
+cannot tell why some are spared and some are taken away.  It is God's
+will, that's all we know.  It was His will to take your parents,
+Michael, but He may think fit to let you live to a green old age.  I
+knew your father and mother, and your grandmother too.  Your grandmother
+had her trials, and heavy ones they were.  I remember her a pretty,
+bright young woman as I ever saw.  She lived in a gentleman's house as a
+sort of nurse or governess, where all were very fond of her, and she
+might have lived on in the house to the end of her days; but she was
+courted by a fine-looking fellow, who passed as the captain of a
+merchant vessel.  A captain he was, though not of an honest trader, as
+he pretended, but of a smuggling craft, of which there were not a few in
+those days off this coast.  The match was thought a good one for Nancy
+Trewinham when she married Captain Brewhard.  They lived in good style
+and she was made much of, and looked upon as a lady, but before long she
+found out her husband's calling, and right-thinking and good as she was
+she could not enjoy her riches.  She tried to persuade her husband to
+abandon his calling, but he laughed at her, and told her that if it was
+not for that he should be a beggar.
+
+"He moved away from Penzance, where he had a house, and after going to
+two or three other places, came to live near here.  They had at this
+time two children, a fine lad of fifteen or sixteen years old, and your
+mother Judith.
+
+"The captain was constantly away from home, and, to the grief of his
+wife, insisted on taking his boy with him.  She well knew the hazardous
+work he was engaged in; so did most of the people on the coast, though
+he still passed where he lived for the master of a regular merchantman.
+
+"There are some I have known engaged in smuggling for years, who have
+died quietly in their beds, but many, too, have been drowned at sea or
+killed in action with the king's cruisers, or shot landing their goods.
+
+"There used to be some desperate work going on along this coast in my
+younger days.
+
+"At last the captain, taking his boy with him, went away in his lugger,
+the `Lively Nancy,' over to France.  She was a fine craft, carrying
+eight guns, and a crew of thirty men or more.  The king's cruisers had
+long been on the watch for her.  As you know, smugglers always choose a
+dark and stormy night for running their cargoes.  There was a cutter at
+the time off the coast commanded by an officer who had made up his mind
+to take the `Lively Nancy,' let her fight ever so desperately.  Her
+captain laughed at his threats, and declared that he would send her to
+the bottom first.
+
+"I lived at that time with my husband and Nelly's mother, our only
+child, at Landewednach.  It was blowing hard from the south-west with a
+cloudy sky, when just before daybreak a sound of firing at sea was
+heard.  There were few people in the village who did not turn out to try
+and discover what was going on.  The morning was dark, but we saw the
+flashes of guns to the westward, and my husband and others made out that
+there were two vessels engaged standing away towards Mount's Bay.  We
+all guessed truly that one was the `Lively Nancy,' and the other the
+king's cutter.
+
+"Gradually the sounds of the guns grew less and the flashes seemed
+further off.  After some time, however, they again drew near.  It was
+evident that the cutter had attacked the lugger, which was probably
+endeavouring to get away out to sea or to round the Lizard, when, with a
+flowing sheet before the wind, she would have a better chance of escape.
+
+"Just then daylight broke, and we could distinguish both the vessels
+close-hauled, the lugger to leeward trying to weather on the cutter,
+which was close to her on her quarter, both carrying as much sail as
+they could stagger under.  They kept firing as fast as the guns could be
+loaded, each trying to knock away her opponent's spars, so that more
+damage was done to the rigging than to the crews of the vessels.
+
+"The chief object of the smugglers was to escape, and this they hoped to
+do if they could bring down the cutter's mainsail.  The king's officer
+knew that he should have the smugglers safe enough if he could but make
+them strike; this, however, knowing that they all fought with ropes
+round their necks, they had no thoughts of doing.
+
+"Though the lugger stood on bravely, we could see that she was being
+jammed down gradually towards the shore.  My good man cried out, `that
+her fore-tack was shot away and it would now go hard with her.'
+
+"The smugglers, however, in spite of the fire to which they were
+exposed, got it hauled down.  The cutter was thereby enabled to range up
+alongside.
+
+"By this time the two vessels got almost abreast of the point, but there
+were the Stags to be weathered.  If the lugger could do that she might
+then keep away.  There seemed a good chance that she would do it, and
+many hoped she would, for their hearts were with her rather than with
+the king's cruiser.
+
+"She was not a quarter of a mile from the Stags when down came her
+mainmast.  It must have knocked over the man at the helm and injured
+others standing aft, for her head fell off and she ran on directly for
+the rocks.  Still her crew did their best to save her.  The wreck was
+cleared away, and once more she stood up as close as she could now be
+kept to the wind.  One of her guns only was fired, for the crew had
+somewhat else to do just then.  The cutter no longer kept as close to
+her as before; well did her commander know the danger of standing too
+near those terrible rocks, over which the sea was breaking in masses of
+foam.
+
+"There seemed a chance that the lugger might still scrape clear of the
+rocks; if not, in a few moments she must be dashed to pieces and every
+soul on board perish.
+
+"I could not help thinking of the poor lad whom his father had taken
+with him in spite of his mother's tears and entreaties.  It must have
+been a terrible thought for the captain that he had thus brought his
+young son to an untimely end.  For that reason I would have given much
+to see the lugger escape, but it was not to be.
+
+"The seas came rolling in more heavily than before.  A fierce blast
+struck her, and in another instant, covered with a shroud of foam, she
+was dashed against the wild rocks, and when we looked again she seemed
+to have melted away--not a plank of her still holding together.
+
+"The cutter herself had but just weathered the rocks, and though she
+stood to leeward of them on the chance of picking up any of the luggers
+crew who might have escaped, not one was found.
+
+"Such was the end of the `Lively Nancy,' and your bold grandfather.
+Your poor grandmother never lifted up her head after she heard of what
+had happened.  Still she struggled on for the sake of her little
+daughter, but by degrees all the money she possessed was spent.  She at
+once moved into a small cottage, and then at last she and her young
+daughter found shelter in a single room.  After this she did not live
+long, and your poor mother was left destitute.  It was then your father
+met her, and though she had more education than he had, and remembered
+well the comfort she had once enjoyed, she consented to become his wife.
+He did his best for her, for he was a true-hearted, honest man, but she
+was ill fitted for the rough life a fisherman's wife has to lead, and
+when the news of her husband's death reached her she laid down and died.
+
+"There, Michael, now you have learned all you are ever likely to know of
+your family, for no one can tell you more about them than I can.
+
+"You see you cannot count upon many friends in the world except those
+you make yourself.  But there is one Friend you have Who will never, if
+you trust to Him, leave or forsake you.  He is truer than all earthly
+friends, and Paul Trefusis has acted a father's part in bringing you up
+to fear and honour Him."
+
+"I do trust God, for it is He you speak of, granny," said Michael, "and
+I will try to love and obey Him as long as I live.  He did what He knew
+to be best when He took my poor father away, and gave me such a good one
+as he who lies sick in there.  I wish, granny, that you could have given
+me a better account of my grandfather."
+
+"I thought it best that you should know the truth, Michael, and as you
+cannot be called to account for what he was, you need not trouble
+yourself about that matter.  Your grandmother was an excellent woman,
+and I have a notion that she was of gentle blood, so it is well you
+should remember her name, and you may some day hear of her kith and kin:
+not that you are ever likely to gain anything by that; still it's a
+set-off against what your grandfather was, though people hereabouts will
+never throw that in your face."
+
+"I should care little for what they may say," answered Michael; "all I
+wish is to grow into a strong man to be able to work for you and Nelly
+and poor father, if he does not gain his strength.  I will do my best
+now, and when the pilchard season comes on I hope, if I can get David
+Treloar or another hand in the boat, to do still better."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+Day after day Paul Trefusis lay on his sick-bed.  A doctor was sent for,
+but his report was unfavourable.  Nelly asked him, with trembling lips,
+whether he thought her father would ever get well.
+
+"You must not depend too much on that, my little maiden," he answered;
+"but I hope your brother, who seems an industrious lad, and that
+wonderful old woman, your grandmother, will help you to keep the pot
+boiling in the house, and I dare say you will find friends who will
+assist you when you require it.  Good-bye; I'll come and see your father
+again soon; but all I can do is to relieve his pain."
+
+Dame Lanreath and Michael did, indeed, do their best to keep the pot
+boiling: early and late Michael was at work, either digging in the
+garden, fishing in the harbour, or, when the weather would allow him,
+going with the boat outside.  Young as he was, he was well able, under
+ordinary circumstances, to manage her by himself, though, of course,
+single-handed, he could not use the nets.
+
+Though he toiled very hard, he could, however, obtain but a scanty
+supply of fish.  When he obtained more than were required for home
+consumption, the dame would set off to dispose of them; but she had no
+longer the companionship of Nelly, who remained to watch over her poor
+father.
+
+When Paul had strength sufficient to speak, which he had not always, he
+would give his daughter good advice, and warn her of the dangers to
+which she would be exposed in the world.
+
+"Nelly," he said, "do not trust a person with a soft-speaking tongue,
+merely because he is soft-speaking; or one with good looks, merely
+because he has good looks.  Learn his character first--how he spends his
+time, how he speaks about other people, and, more than all, how he
+speaks about God.  Do not trust him because he says pleasant things to
+you.  There is Eban Cowan, for instance, a good-looking lad, with
+pleasant manners; but he comes of a bad stock, and is not brought up to
+fear God.  It is wrong to speak ill of one's neighbours, so I have not
+talked of what I know about his father and his father's companions; but,
+Nelly dear, I tell you not to trust him or them till you have good cause
+to do so."
+
+Nelly, like a wise girl, never forgot what her father said to her.
+
+After this Paul grew worse.  Often, for days together, he was racked
+with pain, and could scarcely utter a word.  Nelly tended him with the
+most loving care.  It grieved her tender heart to see him suffer; but
+she tried to conceal her sorrow, and he never uttered a word of
+complaint.
+
+Michael had now become the main support of the family; for though Paul
+had managed to keep out of debt and have a small supply of money in
+hand, yet that was gradually diminishing.
+
+"Never fear, Nelly," said Michael, when she told him one day how little
+they had left; "we must hope for a good pilchard-fishing, and we can
+manage to rub on till then.  The nets are in good order, and I can get
+the help I spoke of; so that I can take father's place, and we shall
+have his share in the company's fishing."
+
+Michael alluded to a custom which prevails among the fishermen on that
+coast.  A certain number, who possess boats and nets, form a company,
+and fish together when the pilchards visit their coast, dividing
+afterwards the amount they receive for the fish caught.
+
+"It is a long time to wait till then," observed Nelly.
+
+"But on most days I can catch lobsters and crabs, and every time I have
+been out lately the fish come to my lines more readily than they used to
+do," answered Michael.  "Do not be cast down, Nelly dear, we have a
+Friend in heaven, as father says, Who will take care of us; let us trust
+Him."
+
+Time passed on.  Paul Trefusis, instead of getting better, became worse
+and worse.  His once strong, stout frame was now reduced to a mere
+skeleton.  Still Nelly and Michael buoyed themselves up with the hope
+that he would recover.  Dame Lanreath knew too well that his days on
+earth were drawing to an end.
+
+Michael had become the mainstay of the family.  Whenever a boat could
+get outside, the "Wild Duck" was sure to be seen making her way towards
+the best fishing-ground.
+
+Paul, before he started each day, inquired which way the wind was, and
+what sea there was on, and advised him where to go.  "Michael," said
+Paul, as the boy came one morning to wish him good-bye, "fare thee well,
+lad; don't forget the advice I have given thee, and look after little
+Nelly and her grandmother, and may God bless and prosper thee;" and
+taking Michael's hand, Paul pressed it gently.  He had no strength for a
+firm grasp now.
+
+Michael was struck by his manner.  Had it not been necessary to catch
+some fish he would not have left the cottage.
+
+Putting the boat's sail and other gear on board, he pulled down the
+harbour.  He had to pull some little way out to sea.  The wind was
+setting on shore.  He did not mind that, for he should sail back the
+faster.  The weather did not look as promising as he could have wished:
+dark clouds were gathering to the north-west and passing rapidly over
+the sky.  As he knew, should the wind stand, he could easily regain the
+harbour, he went rather more to the southward than he otherwise would
+have done, to a good spot, where he had often had a successful fishing.
+He had brought his dinner with him, as he intended to fish all day.  His
+lines were scarcely overboard before he got a bite, and he was soon
+catching fish as fast as he could haul his lines on board.  This put him
+in good spirits.
+
+"Granny will have her creel full to sell to-morrow," he thought.  "Maybe
+I shall get back in time for her to set off to-day."
+
+So eagerly occupied was he that he did not observe the change of the
+weather.  The wind had veered round more to the northward.  It was every
+instant blowing stronger and stronger, although, from its coming off the
+land, there was not much sea on.
+
+At last he had caught a good supply of fish.  By waiting he might have
+obtained many more, but he should then be too late for that day's
+market.  Lifting his anchor, therefore, he got out his oars and began to
+pull homewards.  The wind was very strong, and he soon found that, with
+all his efforts, he could make no headway.  The tide, too, had turned,
+and was against him, sweeping round in a strong current to the
+southward.  In vain he pulled.  Though putting all the strength he
+possessed to his oars, still, as he looked at the shore, he was rather
+losing than gaining ground.  He knew that the attempt to reach the
+harbour under sail would be hopeless; he should be sure to lose every
+tack he made.  Already half a gale of wind was blowing, and the boat,
+with the little ballast there was in her, would scarcely look up even to
+the closest reefed canvas.
+
+Again he dropped his anchor, intending to wait the turn of the tide,
+sorely regretting that he could not take the fish home in time for
+granny to sell on that day.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Dame Lanreath and Nelly had been anxiously expecting Michael's return,
+and the dame had got ready to set off as soon as he appeared with the
+fish they hoped he would catch.  Still he did not come.
+
+Paul had more than once inquired for him.  He told Nelly to go out and
+see how the wind was, and whether there was much sea on.
+
+Nelly made her way under the cliffs to the nearest point whence she
+could obtain a view of the mouth of the harbour and the sea beyond.  She
+looked out eagerly for Michael's boat, hoping to discover her making her
+way towards the shore; but Nelly looked in vain.  Already there was a
+good deal of sea on, and the wind, which had been blowing strong from
+the north-west, while she was standing there veered a point or two more
+to the northward.
+
+"Where could Michael have gone?"  She looked and looked till her eyes
+ached, still she could not bring herself to go back without being able
+to make some report about him.  At last she determined to call at the
+cottage of Reuben Lanaherne, a friend of her father's, though a somewhat
+older man.
+
+"What is it brings you here, my pretty maiden?" said Uncle Reuben, who,
+for a wonder, was at home, as Nelly, after gently knocking, lifted the
+latch and entered a room with sanded floor and blue painted ceiling.
+
+"O Uncle Lanaherne," she said, "can you tell me where you think Michael
+has gone? he ought to have been back long ago."
+
+"He would have been wiser not to have gone out at all with the weather
+threatening as it has been; but he is a handy lad in a boat, Nelly, and
+he will find his way in as well as any one, so don't you be unhappy
+about him," was the answer.
+
+Still Reuben looked a little anxious, and putting on his hat, buttoning
+up his coat, and taking his glass under his arm, he accompanied Nelly to
+the point.  He took a steady survey round.
+
+"Michael's boat is nowhere near under sail," he observed.  "There seems
+to me a boat, however, away to the southward, but, with the wind and
+tide as at present, she cannot be coming here.  I wish I could make out
+more to cheer you, Nelly.  You must tell your father that; and he knows
+if we can lend Michael a hand we will.  How is he to-day?"
+
+"He is very bad, Uncle Lanaherne," said Nelly, with a sigh; "I fear
+sometimes that he will never go fishing again."
+
+"I am afraid not, Nelly," observed the rough fisherman, putting his hand
+on her head; "but you know you and your brother will always find a
+friend in Reuben Lanaherne.  An honest man's children will never want,
+and if there ever was an honest man, your poor father is one.  I will
+keep a look-out for Michael, but do not be cast down, Nelly; we shall
+see him before long."
+
+The fisherman spoke in a cheery tone, but still he could not help
+feeling more anxiety than he expressed for Michael.
+
+Every moment the wind was increasing, and the heavy seas which came
+rolling in showed that a gale had been blowing for some time outside.
+
+Nelly hastened back to tell her father what Uncle Lanaherne had said.
+
+When she got to his bedside she found that a great change had taken
+place during her absence.  Her father turned his dim eye towards her as
+she entered, but had scarcely strength to speak, or beckon her with his
+hands.  She bent over him.
+
+"Nelly dear, where is Michael?" he asked, "I want to bless him, he must
+come quickly, for I have not long to stay."
+
+"He has not come on shore yet, father, but Uncle Lanaherne is looking
+out for him," said Nelly.
+
+"I wanted to see him again," whispered Paul.  "It will be too late if he
+does not come now; so tell him, Nelly, that I do bless him, and I bless
+you, Nelly, bless you, bless you;" and his voice became fainter.
+
+Nelly, seeing a change come over her father's features, cried out for
+her granny.  Dame Lanreath hastened into the room.  The old woman saw at
+a glance what had happened.  Paul Trefusis was dead.
+
+Closing his eyes, she took her grandchild by the hand, and led her out
+of the room.
+
+Some time passed, however, before Nelly could realise what had happened.
+
+"Your father has gone, Nelly, but he has gone to heaven, and is happier
+far than he ever was or ever could be down on earth even in the best of
+times.  Bad times may be coming, and God in His love and mercy took him
+that he might escape them."
+
+"But, then, why didn't God take us?" asked Nelly, looking up.  "I would
+have liked to die with him.  Bad times will be as hard for us to bear as
+for him."
+
+"God always does what is best, and He has a reason for keeping us on
+earth," answered the dame.  "He has kept me well-nigh fourscore years,
+and given me health and strength, and good courage to bear whatever I
+have had to bear, and He will give you strength, Nelly, according to
+your need."
+
+"Ah, I was wicked to say what I did," answered Nelly; "but I am sad
+about father and you and myself, and very sad, too, about Michael.  He
+will grieve so when he comes home and finds father gone, if he comes at
+all.  And, O granny, I begin to fear that he won't come home! what has
+happened to him I cannot tell; and if you had seen the heavy sea there
+was rolling outside you would fear the worst."
+
+"Still, Nelly, we must trust in God; if He has taken Michael, He has
+done it for the best, not the worst, Nelly," answered Dame Lanreath.
+"But when I say this, Nelly, I don't want to stop your tears, they are
+given in mercy to relieve your grief; but pray to God, Nelly, to help
+us; He will do so--only trust Him."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+The day was drawing to a close when the storm, which had been
+threatening all the morning on which Paul Trefusis died, swept fiercely
+up the harbour, showing that the wind had again shifted to the westward.
+
+Poor Nelly, though cast down with grief at her father's death, could not
+help trembling as she thought of Michael, exposed as she knew he must be
+to its rage.  Was he, too, to be taken away from them?
+
+She was left much alone, as Dame Lanreath had been engaged, with the
+assistance of a neighbour, in the sad duty of laying out the dead man.
+Nelly several times had run out to look down the harbour, hoping against
+hope that she might see Michael's boat sailing up it.
+
+At length, in spite of the gale, she made her way to Reuben Lanaherne's
+cottage.  His wife and daughter were seated at their work, but he was
+not there.  Agitated and breathless from encountering the fierce wind,
+she could scarcely speak as she entered.
+
+"Sit down, maiden; what ails thee?" said Dame Lanaherne, rising, and
+kindly placing her on a stool by her side.
+
+Nelly could only answer with sobs.
+
+Just then old Reuben himself entered, shaking the spray from his thick
+coat.
+
+"How is thy father, Nelly?" he asked.
+
+"He has gone," she answered, sobbing afresh.  "And, O Uncle Reuben, have
+you seen Michael's boat? can you tell me where he is?"
+
+"I have not forgotten him, Nelly, and have been along the shore as far
+as I could make my way on the chance that he might have missed the
+harbour, and had run for Kynance Cove, but not a sign of him or his boat
+could I see.  I wish I had better news for you, Nelly.  And your good
+father gone too!  Don't take on so--he is free from pain now--happy in
+heaven; and there is One above Who will look after Michael, though what
+has become of him is more than I can tell you."
+
+The old fisherman's words brought little comfort to poor Nelly, though
+he and his wife and daughter did their best to console her.  They
+pressed her to remain with them, but she would not be absent longer from
+her granny, and, thanking them for their kindness, hurried homewards.
+
+The wind blew fiercely, but no rain had as yet fallen.
+
+Their neighbour, having rendered all the assistance required, had gone
+away, and the old dame and her young grandchild sat together side by
+side in the outer room.  They could talk only of Michael.  The dame did
+not dare to utter what she thought.  His small boat might have been
+swamped in the heavy sea, or he might have fallen overboard and been
+unable to regain her; or, attempting to land on a rocky coast, she might
+have been dashed to pieces, and he swept off by the receding surf.  Such
+had been the fate of many she had known.
+
+As each succeeding gust swept by, poor Nelly started and trembled in
+spite of her efforts to keep calm.
+
+At length down came the rain battering against the small panes of glass.
+
+At that instant there was a knocking at the door.
+
+"Can you give us shelter from the storm, good folks?" said a voice; and,
+the latch being lifted, an elderly gentleman, accompanied by two ladies,
+one of whom was young and the other more advanced in life, appeared at
+the entrance.
+
+They evidently took it for granted that they should not be denied.
+
+"You are welcome, though you come to a house of mourning," said Dame
+Lanreath, rising, while Nelly hastened to place stools for them to sit
+on.
+
+"I am afraid, then, that we are intruders," said the gentleman, "and we
+would offer to go on, but my wife and daughter would be wet through
+before we could reach any other shelter."
+
+"We would not turn any one away, especially you and Mistress Tremayne,"
+said the dame, looking at the elder lady.
+
+"What! do you know us?" asked the gentleman.
+
+"I know Mistress Tremayne and the young lady from her likeness to what I
+recollect of her mother," answered Dame Lanreath.  "I seldom forget a
+person I once knew, and she has often bought fish of me in days gone
+by."
+
+"And I, too, recollect you.  If I mistake not you used to be pretty
+widely known as Polly Lanreath," said the lady, looking at the old
+fish-wife.
+
+"And so I am now, Mistress Tremayne," answered the dame, "though not
+known so far and wide as I once was.  I can still walk my twenty miles
+a-day; but years grow on one; and when I see so many whom I have known
+as children taken away, I cannot expect to remain hale and strong much
+longer."
+
+"You have altered but little since I knew you," observed Mrs Tremayne,
+"and I hope that you may retain your health and strength for many years
+to come."
+
+"That's as God wills," said the dame.  "I pray it may be so for the sake
+of my little Nelly here."
+
+"She is your grandchild, I suppose," observed Mrs Tremayne.
+
+"Ay, and the only one I have got to live for now.  Her father has just
+gone, and she and I are left alone."
+
+"O granny, but there is Michael; don't talk of him as gone," exclaimed
+Nelly.  "He will come back, surely he will come back."
+
+This remark of Nelly's caused Mr and Mrs Tremayne to make further
+inquiries.
+
+They at first regretted that they had been compelled to take shelter in
+the cottage, but as the dame continued talking, their interest in what
+she said increased.
+
+"It seemed strange, Mistress Tremayne, that you should have come here at
+this moment," she observed.  "Our Michael is the grandson of one whom
+you knew well in your childhood; she was Nancy Trewinham, who was nurse
+in the family of your mother, Lady Saint Mabyn; and you, if I mistake
+not, were old enough at the time to remember her."
+
+"Yes, indeed, I do perfectly well; and I have often heard my mother
+express her regret that so good and gentle a young woman should have
+married a man who, though apparently well-to-do in the world, was more
+than suspected to be of indifferent character," said the lady.  "We
+could gain no intelligence of her after she left Penzance, though I
+remember my father saying that he had no doubt a noted smuggler whose
+vessel was lost off this coast was the man she had married.  Being
+interested in her family, he made inquiries, but could not ascertain
+whether she had survived her unhappy husband or not.  And have you,
+indeed, taken charge of her grandson in addition to those of your own
+family whom you have had to support?"
+
+"It was not I took charge of the boy, but my good son-in-law, who lies
+dead there," said the dame.  "He thought it but a slight thing, and only
+did what he knew others would do by him."
+
+"He deserved not the less credit," said Mr Tremayne.  "We shall,
+indeed, be anxious to hear that the boy has come to no harm, and I am
+sure that Mrs Tremayne will be glad to do anything in her power to
+assist you and him should he, as I hope, have escaped.  We purpose
+staying at Landewednach for a few days to visit the scenery on the
+coast, and will send down to inquire to-morrow."
+
+While Mr and Mrs Tremayne and the old dame had been talking, Miss
+Tremayne had beckoned to Nelly to come and sit by her, and, speaking in
+a kind and gentle voice, had tried to comfort the young girl.  She,
+however, could only express her hope that Michael had by some means or
+other escaped.  Though Nelly knew that that hope was vain, the sympathy
+which was shown her soothed her sorrow more than the words which were
+uttered.
+
+Sympathy, in truth, is the only balm that one human being can pour into
+the wounded heart of another.  Would that we could remember that in all
+our grief and sufferings we have One in heaven Who can sympathise with
+us as He did when He wept with the sorrowing family at Bethany.
+
+The rain ceased almost as suddenly as it had commenced, and as Mr and
+Mrs Tremayne, who had left their carriage on the top of the hill, were
+anxious to proceed on their journey, they bade Dame Lanreath and Nelly
+good-bye, again apologising for having intruded on them.
+
+"Don't talk of that please, Mistress Tremayne," said the old dame.
+"Your visit has been a blessing to us, as it has taken us off our own
+sad thoughts.  Nelly already looks less cast down, from what the young
+lady has been saying to her, and though you can't bring the dead to life
+we feel your kindness."
+
+"You will let me make it rather more substantial, then, by accepting
+this trifle, which may be useful under the present circumstances," said
+the gentleman, offering a couple of guineas.
+
+The old dame looked at them, a struggle seemed to be going on within
+her.
+
+"I thank you kindly, sir, that I do," she answered; "but since my
+earliest days I have gained my daily bread and never taken charity from
+any one."
+
+"But you must not consider this as charity, dame," observed Mrs
+Tremayne; "it is given to show our interest in your little granddaughter
+and in the boy whom your son-in-law and you have so generously protected
+so many years.  I should, indeed, feel bound to assist him, and
+therefore on his account pray receive it and spend it as you may
+require."
+
+The dame's scruples were at length overcome, and her guests, after she
+had again expressed her feelings of gratitude, took their departure.
+
+They had scarcely gone when Eban Cowan appeared at the door.
+
+"I have just heard what has happened, and I could not let the day pass
+without coming to tell you how sorry I am," he said, as he entered.
+
+Nelly thanked him warmly.
+
+"Father has gone to heaven and is at rest," she said, quietly.
+
+"I should think that you would rather have had him with you down on
+earth," observed Eban, who little comprehended her feelings.
+
+"So I would, but it was God's will to take him, and he taught me to say,
+`Thy will be done;' and I can say that though I grieve for his loss,"
+answered Nelly.  "But, O Eban, when you came I thought that you had
+brought some tidings of Michael."
+
+"No!  Where is he?  I did not know that he was not at home."
+
+Nelly then told Eban how Michael had gone away with the boat in the
+morning and had not returned.  "I will go and search for him then," he
+said.  "He has run in somewhere, perhaps, along the coast.  I wonder,
+when you spoke to Uncle Lanaherne, that he did not set off at once.  But
+I will go.  I'll get father to send some men with me with ropes, and if
+he is alive and clinging to a rock, as he may be, we will bring him
+back."
+
+Nelly poured out her thanks to Eban, who, observing that there was no
+time to be lost, set off to carry out his proposal.
+
+Dame Lanreath had said but little.  She shook her head when he had gone,
+as Nelly continued praising him.
+
+"He is brave and bold, Nelly, but that could be said of Captain Brewhard
+and many others I have known, who were bad husbands and false friends,
+and there is something about the lad I have never liked.  He is inclined
+to be friendly now; and as you grow up he will wish, maybe, to be more
+friendly; but I warn you against him, Nelly dear.  Though he speaks to
+you ever go fair, don't trust him."
+
+"But I must be grateful to him as long as I live if he finds Michael,"
+answered Nelly, who thought her grandmother condemned Eban without
+sufficient cause.
+
+Had she known how he had often talked to Michael, she might have been of
+a different opinion.
+
+The storm continued to blow as fiercely as ever, and the rain again came
+pelting down; ever and anon peals of thunder rattled and crashed
+overhead, and flashes of lightning, seen more vividly through the
+thickening gloom, darted from the sky.
+
+Dame Lanreath and Nelly sat in their cottage by the dead--the old woman
+calm and unmoved, though Nelly, at each successive crash of thunder or
+flash of lightning, drew closer to her grandmother, feeling more secure
+in the embrace of the only being on whom she had now to rely for
+protection in the wide world.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+Young Michael sat all alone in his boat, tossed about by the foaming
+seas.  His anchor held, so there was no fear of his drifting.  But that
+was not the only danger to which he was exposed.  At any moment a sea
+might break on board and wash him away, or swamp the boat.
+
+He looked round him, calmly considering what was best to be done.  No
+coward fear troubled his mind, yet he clearly saw the various risks he
+must run.  He thought of heaving his ballast overboard and trying to
+ride out the gale where he was, but then he must abandon all hope of
+reaching the harbour by his own unaided efforts.  He might lash himself
+to a thwart, and thus escape being washed away; still the fierce waves
+might tear the boat herself to pieces, so that he quickly gave up that
+idea.  He was too far off to be seen from the shore, except perhaps by
+the keen-sighted coast-guard men; but even if seen, what boat would
+venture out into the fast-rising sea to his rescue.  He must, he felt,
+depend upon himself, with God's aid, for saving his life.
+
+Any longer delay would only increase his peril.  The wind and tide would
+prevent him gaining any part of the coast to the northward.  He would
+therefore make sail and run for Landewednach, for not another spot where
+he had the slightest prospect of landing in safety was to be found
+between the Gull Rock and the beach at that place.  He very well knew,
+indeed, the danger he must encounter even there, but it was a choice of
+evils.  He quickly made up his mind.
+
+He at first set to work to bail out the boat, for already she had
+shipped a good deal of water.  He had plenty of sea room, so that he
+might venture to lift his anchor.  But it was no easy work, and the sea,
+which broke over the bows again and again, made him almost relinquish
+the effort, and cut the cable instead.  Still he knew the importance of
+having his anchor ready to drop, should he be unable to beach the boat
+on his arrival at the spot he had selected, so again he tried, and up it
+came.  He quickly hauled it in, and running up his sail he sprang to the
+tiller, hauling aft his main-sheet.
+
+Away flew the boat amid the tumbling seas, which came rolling in from
+the westward.  He held the sheet in his hand, for there was now as much
+wind as the boat could look up to, and a sudden blast might at any
+moment send her over.  That, too, Michael knew right well.  On she flew
+like a sea-bird amid the foaming waves, now lifted to the summit of one,
+now dropping down into the hollow, each sea as it came hissing up
+threatening to break on board; now he kept away to receive its force on
+his quarter; now he again kept his course.
+
+The huge Gull Rock rose up under his lee, the breakers dashing furiously
+against its base; then Kynance Cove, with its fantastically-shaped
+cliffs, opened out, but the sea roared and foamed at their base, and not
+a spot of sand could he discover on which he could hope to beach his
+boat, even should he pass through the raging surf unharmed.  Meantale
+Point, Pradanack, and the Soapy Rock appeared in succession, but all
+threatened him alike with destruction should he venture near them.
+
+He came abreast of a little harbour, but he had never been in there, and
+numerous rocks, some beneath the surface, others rising but just above
+it, lay off its entrance, and the risk of running for it he considered
+was too great to be encountered.  Those on shore might have seen his
+boat as she flew by, but, should they have done so, even the bravest
+might have been unwilling to risk their lives on the chance of
+overtaking her before she met that fate to which they might well have
+believed she was doomed.
+
+Michael cast but a glance or two to ascertain whether any one was
+coming; he had little expectation of assistance, but still his courage
+did not fail him.
+
+The rocks were passed; he could already distinguish over his bow the
+lighthouses on the summit of the Lizard Point.  Again he kept away and
+neared the outer edge of a line of breakers which roared fiercely upon
+it.  He must land there notwithstanding, or be lost, for he knew that
+his boat could not live going through the race to the southward of the
+Lizard.
+
+When off the Stags he could distinguish people moving along the shore.
+He had been seen by them he knew, and perhaps a boat might be launched
+and come to his rescue.  There was no time, however, for consideration.
+What he had to do must be promptly done.
+
+The water in the bay was somewhat smoother than it had hitherto been.
+In a moment his sail was lowered and his anchor let go.  The rain came
+down heavily.
+
+"The wind is falling," he thought; "I will wait till the turn of the
+tide, when, perhaps, there will be less surf on."
+
+He could see the people on the shore watching him, but no attempt was
+made to launch a boat; indeed he knew that no boat could pass that
+foaming barrier in safety.  He sat down with folded arms, waiting the
+progress of events.  His mind was occupied for a time rather with those
+at home than about himself; he thought of little Nelly and of Dame
+Lanreath, and of the kind friend of his youth who had, though he knew it
+not at that time, left this world of toil and trouble.  He had a simple
+faith in the merits of One Who had died for him, and he had perfect
+trust, not in his own honesty and uprightness, but in the merits and
+all-sufficient atonement of that loving Saviour Who died for him.  He
+could therefore, young as he was, calmly contemplate the probability of
+being unable after all to reach the shore.  Still he would not allow
+himself to dwell long on that matter.
+
+He was soon aroused indeed to exertion by finding the seas breaking into
+his boat.  He bailed away as fast as they came on board.  But he saw
+that he must abandon all hope of remaining where he was.  Should he stay
+much longer the boat might be swamped; the surf, too, might increase,
+and more effectually than at present bar his progress to the shore.
+Another huge sea rolling in half filled his boat.  Undaunted, he bailed
+it out.  A second of like size might sink her.
+
+Evening was coming on; he must dare the fearful passage through the
+breakers, or perish where he was.  He stood up, holding on to the mast,
+that he might survey the shore.  He was abreast of the best place for
+landing, although he was convinced there were rocks to the north and
+south of him, their black heads appearing every now and then amid the
+snow-white foam.  In a moment, should his boat touch them, they would
+dash her to fragments.
+
+Promptly Michael made up his mind what to do.  Hoisting his foresail he
+carried the main-sheet aft, and felt that the tiller was securely fixed.
+Taking out his knife, he held it in his teeth--he had sharpened it
+afresh the previous evening.  With one hand holding the main halyards,
+with a stroke he severed the cable, then as the boat paid off up went
+his mainsail and he sprang aft to the helm.  The sheet was eased off.
+The hissing seas followed fast astern.  In another minute he would be
+among the raging breakers, and then safe on shore, or, what was too
+probable, whirled and tossed and tumbled over and over as he and the
+fragments of his boat were carried back in their cruel embrace.
+
+Mr and Mrs Tremayne and their daughter had reached the little hotel at
+the Lizard Head, when they heard that a small boat had been seen in a
+fearfully perilous position anchored at a short distance outside the
+breakers.  They hastened down to the beach, where some of the
+coast-guard men and several other persons were collected.
+
+They made inquiries as to the probability of the boat reaching the shore
+in safety.
+
+"Not the slightest hope through such a surf as this," was the answer.
+
+"Who is on board?" asked Mr Tremayne.
+
+"It seems to be a young lad, as far as we can make out," said a
+coast-guard man.  "His best chance is to hold on till low water, when,
+as there will be a pretty broad piece of sand, if the wind goes down, he
+may happen to get in without being swamped."
+
+"But if the wind does not go down, and the weather still looks
+threatening, what can he do?"
+
+"His fate will be that of many another poor fellow," said the man.  "He
+is a brave young chap, though, or he would not have brought up in the
+way he did.  I have not once seen him waving his arms or seeming to be
+crying out for help, as most would be."
+
+"Can he be young Michael Penguyne, of whom we have just heard!"
+exclaimed Mrs Tremayne.  "Oh, can nothing be done to save him?"
+
+"Will none of you fine fellows launch a boat and go out and try and
+bring in the boy?" asked Mr Tremayne.  "I will give twenty pounds to
+the crew of the boat which brings him in."
+
+"I am sorry, sir, that I cannot allow my men to go out," said the
+officer of the coast-guard, who heard the offer made.  "We should not
+have waited for a reward if it could be done, but the best boat we have
+would be swamped to a certainty, and the lives of all her crew
+sacrificed.  I much regret being compelled to say this; there is not a
+man here who would not do his best to save the life of the lad if it
+were possible."
+
+"Are none of the fishermen's boats better fitted for the purpose?" asked
+Mr Tremayne.  "I will give twenty-five pounds to the boat which saves
+the lad.  Surely if so small a boat as his can live, a large
+fishing-boat would run but comparatively little risk."
+
+The officer explained that the danger would be incurred in passing
+through the breakers, and that once outside, although the sea was very
+heavy, a boat properly handled would keep afloat.
+
+"I have," he added, "sent to a little harbour to the north of this, but
+the boats there are small, and I doubt whether any of the fishermen will
+venture so near the breakers as that boat has brought up.  I will,
+however, send again with your generous offer, though some time must
+elapse before a boat can be got ready, even if a crew can be found
+willing to risk their lives in the service."
+
+"I will go myself to urge them to undertake it if you can devise no
+other means of saving the lad," said Mr Tremayne.
+
+"The distance is considerable, and it will be night before you can reach
+the place," answered the officer.  "I would advise you, sir, not to make
+the attempt.  They will trust to my promise, as I will send one of my
+own men."
+
+"Tell them you will give them twenty-five pounds if they will start at
+once," exclaimed Mrs Tremayne, eagerly; "surely men will not stand
+calmly by and allow the poor boy to perish in their sight."
+
+"I will do as you wish," answered the officer.
+
+Just as they were speaking, however, there was a cry from those looking
+on.
+
+"He has cut his cable--he has hoisted his sail--he is going to venture
+it," exclaimed several people simultaneously.
+
+The boat's head was turned towards the shore.  Onward she came.  Now she
+rose to the summit of a huge wave, now plunged downwards.  For an
+instant the sail flapped, becalmed by another sea which rolled up
+astern.
+
+A cry escaped the spectators: "She will be swamped! she will be
+swamped!"
+
+But no; again the sail filled and on she came.  The young boy was seen
+seated in the stern of his boat grasping the tiller with one hand and
+the main-sheet with the other.  Over she heeled to the blast--again she
+rose, and again sunk down, and now she was among the hissing, roaring,
+foaming breakers.  The waters bubbled up, tumbling into her on either
+side; but still the boy held firm hold of his tiller.  Again the sail
+flapped--there was a sudden lull.
+
+"She is lost, she is lost!" was the cry.  "The next sea must swamp her;"
+but the wind came faster than the wave--the sail bulged out, and on she
+flew.
+
+For another moment she seemed to hang in the midst of a breaker as it
+rushed backwards from the shore, but another lifted her, and, carried
+forward on its crest, she came like a thing of life escaping from her
+savage pursuers towards the beach.
+
+A dozen stout hands, incited by the address of Mr Tremayne, rushed
+forward to grasp the boat, regardless now of their own safety, for the
+work was one of no little danger; ere they could seize the boat's
+gunwale she might be dashed against them, or be swept out by the
+receding wave as it went hissing backwards in a sheet of foam.  But they
+were well accustomed to the duty they had undertaken.
+
+Michael to the last kept his seat, steering his boat stem on to the
+beach.  As he felt the keel touch the sand he sprang forward and was
+grasped by the sturdy arms of one of those who had gone to his rescue,
+and carried in triumph out of the reach of the foaming breaker, which
+came roaring up as if fierce at the escape of its prey.
+
+With difficulty those who had gone down to seize the boat made their way
+after their companion, and she, before they could haul her up, was
+thrown on the beach and rolled over and over with her sides crushed in.
+
+"Oh, the boat, the boat! what will poor father and those at home do?"
+exclaimed Michael, as he saw what had happened.  "I thought to have
+saved her."
+
+"Never mind the boat," answered a stout lad, one of those who had gone
+down to his rescue, wringing him by the hand.  "We are right glad to
+have you safe.  I only got here just in time to see you standing for the
+shore.  I did not think you would reach it.  I have been hunting for you
+all along the coast, and made sure that you were lost."
+
+"Thank you, Eban," answered Michael, for it was Eban Cowan who spoke to
+him.  "But poor father will grieve when he hears the boat is lost after
+all."
+
+"Thy father won't grieve for that or anything else, Michael," said Eban,
+thoughtlessly; "he is dead."
+
+"Dead!" exclaimed poor Michael, grasping the arm of the man who had
+brought him on shore, and who was still standing by him, and overcome by
+the strain on his nerves, which he had hitherto so manfully endured, and
+the sad news so abruptly given him, he would have fallen to the ground
+had not the fisherman supported him.
+
+Mr Tremayne and his wife and daughter now came up.
+
+"Poor boy, it is not surprising that he should give way at last,"
+observed Mrs Tremayne.  "We will have him carried to our inn, where he
+can be properly attended to."
+
+Mr Tremayne agreed to her proposal, and, begging two of the stout
+fishermen to carry the lad, he promised a reward to those who could
+secure the boat and her gear.
+
+"That will be my charge," said the coast-guard officer.  "But I am
+afraid that the boat herself is a complete wreck, and that very little
+of her gear will be saved."
+
+Michael, on being placed in a comfortable bed in the inn, soon returned
+to consciousness, and was greatly surprised to find two kind-looking
+ladies watching by his side.  The younger one called her father from an
+adjoining room.
+
+"You have had a hard tussle for your life; you behaved courageously, my
+lad," observed Mr Tremayne, taking his hand.
+
+"I am thankful that God has spared my life," answered Michael in a low
+voice, which showed how much his strength was prostrated.  "But, O sir,
+Eban told me that father is dead, and the boat is all knocked to pieces,
+and what will Nelly and poor granny do?  Next to God, they can only look
+to the boat and me for help."
+
+"What! young as you are, do you expect to be able to support yourself
+and those you speak of?" asked Mrs Tremayne.
+
+"Yes; father gave them into my charge, and if God had given me strength,
+and the boat had been spared, I would have done my best."
+
+"We know Nelly and your granny, and more about you than you may
+suppose," said Mrs Tremayne, kindly; "we paid them a visit to-day, and
+heard of their loss.  But set your mind at rest about your boat, we will
+endeavour to obtain another for you, and help you in any other way you
+may wish."
+
+Michael expressed his gratitude with an overflowing heart.  A night's
+quiet rest completely restored his strength, and, being eager to assure
+Nelly and Dame Lanreath of his safety, after he had bade his new friends
+good-bye he set off on his return home.
+
+Mrs Tremayne promised to have his boat looked after, and to pay him a
+visit in the course of a day or two to arrange about the purchase of
+another.
+
+On reaching home Michael found that Eban Cowan had been before him, and
+given Nelly and her granny tidings of his safety.  They had heard,
+however, only of the loss of his boat, and had been naturally anxious at
+the thoughts of what they should do without her.  The news he brought
+that he was to have a new one greatly revived their spirits.
+
+"God is indeed kind to us in sending us help in our time of need," said
+Dame Lanreath.  "O my children! never forget His loving-kindness, but
+serve and obey Him as long as you live."
+
+Michael's grief was renewed as he went in to see the friend who had
+acted the part of a father to him all his life; but happily deep grief
+does not endure long in young hearts, and he now looked forward to Mr
+Tremayne's promised visit.
+
+"I hope the young lady and her mother will come with him.  O Nelly! she
+looked like an angel as she watched by me, when I scarcely knew whether
+I was alive or being knocked over and over in the breakers," he
+observed.  "For hours after I was safe on shore I had their sound in my
+ears in a way I never knew before."
+
+Mr Tremayne came to the cottage just as Dame Lanreath, with Michael and
+Nelly, had returned from attending the funeral of Paul Trefusis.  It was
+a calm and lovely day, and contrasted greatly with the weather which had
+before prevailed.
+
+In the harbour, just below the cottage, lay a boat somewhat smaller than
+the "Wild Duck," but nearly new, with freshly-tanned sails, and well
+fitted in every respect.  Mrs and Miss Tremayne were seated in it, with
+two men who had rowed it round from the Lizard.
+
+Mr Tremayne invited the inmates of the cottage to come down and see it.
+
+"What do you think of her?" he asked, after they had greeted the two
+ladies.
+
+"She is a handy craft, sir, and just suited for this place," answered
+Michael.
+
+"I hope you will find her so," replied Mr Tremayne.  "Here is a paper
+which assigns her to you as her master, and if you will moor her fast
+her present crew will leave her, as we purpose to continue our journey
+by land, and have ordered the carriage to meet us at the top of the
+hill."
+
+Michael was unable to express his gratitude in words.  Dame Lanreath
+spoke for him.
+
+"May God reward you and your wife and children for your kindness to the
+orphans, and to an old woman who has well-nigh run her course on earth.
+We were cast down, though we know that His mercy endureth for ever, and
+you have lifted us up and shown us that He is faithful and never fails
+to send help in time of need."
+
+Nelly took Miss Tremayne's hand, and, prompted by her feelings, kissed
+it affectionately; but even she was for the moment unable to express her
+feelings by words.
+
+"Thank you, sir, thank you," said Michael at last, as they went back.
+"You have made a man of me, and I can now work for those who have to
+look to me for support."
+
+"I hope you will have the strength, as I am sure you have the will, and
+may God bless you, my lad," said Mr Tremayne, shaking him warmly by the
+hand, for he was far more pleased with the few words Michael had uttered
+than had he poured out his gratitude in measured language.  As he and
+the ladies proceeded up the pathway, Nelly ran into the cottage.  She
+soon again overtook them.
+
+"Will you please, miss, take these small shells?" she said; "they are
+little worth, I fear, but I have nothing else to give which you might
+wish to accept, and they may put you in mind of this place, and those
+who will pray for you and bless your father and mother as long as they
+live."
+
+Miss Tremayne, much pleased, thanked Nelly for her gift, and, assuring
+her that she should never forget her or Michael and her granny, accepted
+the gift.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to say that Michael spent a considerable
+portion of the remainder of the day examining his new boat over and over
+again, blessing the donor in his heart, and thankful that he should now
+be able to support Nelly and her granny.
+
+Then the little family assembled in their sitting room, and offered up
+their thanks to the merciful Being Who looked down upon them in their
+distress.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+Michael Penguyne made ample use of his new boat.  Nelly proposed that
+she should be called the "Dove."
+
+"You see she was sent to us when all around seemed so dark and gloomy,
+just as the dove returned to Noah, to show that God had not forgotten
+him."
+
+"Then we will call her the `Dove'," said Michael; and the "Dove" from
+henceforth became the name of Michael's new boat.
+
+Early and late Michael was in his boat, though he took good care not to
+be caught to leeward of his port again by a gale of wind.  When ashore
+he was employed mending his nets and refitting his boat's gear or his
+fishing-lines.  Never for a moment was he idle, for he always found
+something which ought to be done; each rope's-end was pointed; his
+rigging was never chafed; and the moment any service was wanted he put
+it on.
+
+Thus a couple of years passed by, Dame Lanreath and Nelly setting out
+day after day to sell the fish or lobsters and crabs he caught, for
+which they seldom failed to obtain a good price.
+
+At length, however, he found that he could do better with a mate.
+
+"I must get David Treloar, as I said some time ago," he observed to
+Nelly.  "He is twice as strong as I am, though it would not do to trust
+him alone in a boat, as he never seems to know which way the wind is, or
+how the tide is running; but he is honest and good-natured, and staunch
+as steel, and he will do what I tell him.  That's all I want.  If he had
+been with me in the little `Duck,' we might have gained the harbour and
+saved her, and though I take all the care I can, yet I may be caught
+again in the same way."
+
+David Treloar was a nephew of old Reuben Lanaherne, who had done his
+best to bring up the poor lad, and make a fisherman of him.  His father
+had been lost at sea, and his mother had gone out of her mind, and soon
+afterwards died.
+
+Michael found him near his uncle's house, attempting, though not very
+expertly, to mend a net.
+
+He was a broad-shouldered, heavy-looking youth, with an expression of
+countenance which at first sight appeared far from prepossessing; but
+when spoken to kindly, or told to do anything he liked--and he was ready
+to do most things--it brightened up, and even a stranger would have said
+he was a trustworthy fellow, though he might be lacking in intelligence.
+
+"So glad you are come, Michael," he said.  "Here have I been working
+away at these meshes, and cannot make them come even; the more I pull at
+them the worse they are.  Just do you use your fingers and settle the
+job for me, and I will do anything for you."
+
+"I know you will, David, and so I am pretty certain that you will come
+and work in my boat."
+
+"What, this afternoon?" asked David.
+
+"No, but always.  I want you to be my mate."
+
+"Hurra! hurra! that I will, lad, with all my heart.  Uncle Reuben has
+got enough lads of his own, he does not want me, and the rest are always
+making fun at me; but you won't do that, Michael, I know.  We will soon
+show them that we can catch as many fish as they can, you and I
+together; and uncle often says I am as strong as a grown man, and
+stronger than many."  And the young Hercules stretched out his brawny
+arms.
+
+Michael had not expected to obtain a mate so easily, for David never
+thought of making terms; provided he got food enough for the day, that
+was all he thought about.  Michael, however, intended to settle that
+matter with Uncle Reuben.  His wish was to act justly towards all men,
+and pay David fully as much as he was worth.
+
+Able now to use his nets, Michael could look forward to the pilchard
+season, when he might hope to reap a rich harvest from the sea.
+
+Soon after this he fell in with Eban Cowan.
+
+"So I see you have got that dolt David Treloar as your mate," observed
+Eban.  "If you had asked me, I would have advised you to take a chap
+worth two of him.  He is big and strong enough, but he has no sense.  I
+wonder, indeed, Michael, that you can go on year after year content to
+catch a few fish and lobsters, when you might make no end of money and
+live at home most days in the week enjoying your comfort and doing
+nothing.  Just see how father and I live.  You don't suppose the mill,
+and the fish, and our few acres of ground enable us to do that."
+
+"I don't ask how you get your living--I do not wish to interfere with my
+neighbours; but I know that it is my duty to work hard every day that
+the weather will let me," answered Michael.
+
+"That may be your taste; but I wonder you like to see Nelly wearing her
+old frock and hood which have become far too small for her, and Aunt
+Lanreath's old jacket and petticoat are well-nigh worn out."
+
+Michael acknowledged that such was the case, and observed that he hoped
+they would soon get new garments.
+
+"You might get them at once if you will join us in our business,"
+answered Eban.  "What with the fellows who have gone to sea, and some
+few who have been taken and sent to prison, and those who have been
+drowned or lost their lives in other ways, we have not as many men as we
+want.  There is good pay to be got, and other profits besides.  You
+would be perfectly safe, for you have a good character, and no one would
+suspect you of being engaged in the free-trade service."
+
+"I tell you, Eban, once for all, I will have nothing to do with
+smuggling," answered Michael, firmly.  "You say no one will suspect me,
+but you forget that God sees and hears everything we do, or say, or
+think.  Though my fellow-men might not suspect me, He would know that I
+was engaged in unlawful work.  Darkness is no darkness to Him.  Day and
+night to Him are both alike."
+
+"I don't let myself think about those sort of things," answered Eban
+Cowan, in an angry tone.  "I ask you again, will you be a sensible
+fellow and unite with us as I have invited you?"
+
+"No, I will not," said Michael.  "I do not wish to be unfriendly with
+you, but when you ask me to do what I know to be wrong I cannot look
+upon you as a friend."
+
+"Take your own way, then," exclaimed Eban, angrily.  "You may think
+better of the matter by-and-by: then all you have to do is to come to me
+and say so."
+
+Eban and Michael parted for the time.  The former, however, was a
+constant visitor at Dame Lanreath's cottage.  He did not disguise his
+admiration for Nelly Trefusis.  She might have been flattered, for he
+was a good-looking, fair-spoken youth, and as he dressed well and had
+always plenty of money in his pocket, he was looked upon as one of the
+principal young men in the neighbourhood.
+
+Still Nelly did not consider him equal to Michael.
+
+Time went on: she was becoming a young woman, and Michael was no longer
+the little boy she had looked upon in her early days as her brother.
+He, too, had ceased to treat her with the affectionate familiarity he
+used to do when he supposed her to be his sister.  Still he looked upon
+her as the being of all others whom he was bound to love, and protect,
+and support to the utmost of his power.  Had, however, any young man
+whom he esteemed, and whom Nelly liked, appeared and offered to become
+her husband, he would possibly have advised her to accept him, though he
+might have felt that the light of his home had departed.  Indeed, he was
+so occupied that the thought of marrying at some future time had never
+entered his head.
+
+Though Nelly gave Eban Cowan no encouragement, he still continued,
+whenever he could get a fair pretence, to visit the cottage, and never
+failed to walk by her side when he met her out.  Generally he came
+saying that he wished to see Michael, whom he always spoke of as his
+most intimate friend, though Michael did not consider himself so.  He
+knew too much about Eban to desire his friendship; indeed, he doubted
+very much that Eban really cared for him.
+
+"Your friend Eban has been here again to-day," said Nelly, one evening
+when Michael returned home late.  "He waited and waited, and though I
+told him I could not say when you would come back, he still sat on,
+declaring that he must see you, as he wanted you to go somewhere with
+him, or do something, though what it was he would not tell us.  At last,
+as it grew dark, he was obliged to be off, and neither granny nor I
+invited him to stay longer."
+
+"I am glad he did go," answered Michael; "but do not call him my friend.
+If he was a true friend he would give me good advice and try to lead me
+aright; instead of that he gives me bad advice, and tries to lead me to
+do what I know is wrong.  There--you now know what I think of Eban
+Cowan."
+
+"And you think very rightly," observed Dame Lanreath.  "I do not trust
+him, and perhaps you know more about him and have greater reasons for
+not liking him than I have."
+
+"Michael," said Nelly, looking up, "I will trust only those whom you
+trust, and I do not wish to like any one whom you do not like."
+
+Still, although Nelly took no care to show any preference for Eban, it
+was not in her heart to be rude or unkind to him; but Dame Lanreath
+tried to make him understand that his visits were not wished for.  He,
+however, fancied that she alone did not like him, and still flattered
+himself that he was making his way with Nelly.
+
+Thus matters went on month after month.  Michael and David Treloar
+succeeded together better even than at first expected.  David was always
+ready to do the hard work, and, placing perfect confidence in Michael's
+skill and judgment, readily obeyed him.
+
+It was the height of summer-time.  The pilchards in vast schools began
+to visit the coast of Cornwall, and the fishermen in all directions were
+preparing for their capture.  The boats were got ready, the nets
+thoroughly repaired, and corks and leads and tow lines and warps fitted.
+_Huers_, as the men are called who watch for the fish, had taken their
+stations on every height on the look-out for their approach.  Each
+_huer_ kept near him the "white bush," which is the name given to a mass
+of furze covered with tow or white ribbons.  This being raised aloft is
+the sign that a school is in sight.  The boats employed were of two
+descriptions, the largest of from twenty to thirty tons, carrying seven
+or eight men; and the smaller somewhat larger than the "Dove," having
+only three or four men.
+
+Michael had succeeded in obtaining another hand, so that, small as his
+boat was, he was fully able to take a part in the work.
+
+The pilchard belongs to the herring family, but is somewhat smaller, and
+differs from that fish in external appearance, having a shorter head and
+a more compact body; its scales, too, are rather longer than those of
+the common herring.  It is supposed to retire during the winter to the
+deep water of the ocean, and to rise only as the summer approaches to
+the surface, when it commences its travels and moves eastward towards
+the English Channel.
+
+At first it forms only small bands, but these increase till a large army
+is collected, under the guidance, it is supposed, of a chief.  Onward it
+makes its way, pursued by birds of prey who pounce down and carry off
+thousands of individuals, whose loss, however, scarcely diminishes the
+size of the mighty host.  Voracious fish, too, pursue the army as it
+advances in close columns, and swallow immense numbers.
+
+As it approaches the Land's End it divides, one portion making its way
+northward along the west coast, while the other moves forward along the
+south coast towards the Start.
+
+The huers can distinguish the approach of a school by a change in the
+colour of the sea.  As it draws near, the water appears to leap and boil
+like a cauldron, while at night the ocean is spread over, as it were,
+with a sheet of liquid light, brilliant as when the moonbeams play on
+the surface rippled by a gentle breeze.
+
+From early dawn a number of boats had been waiting off the shore,
+keeping their position by an occasional pull at the oars as necessity
+required, with their nets ready to cast at a moment's warning.
+Michael's boat was among them.  He and his companions cast their eyes
+constantly at the huers on the summit of the cliffs above, anxiously
+expecting the signal that a school had been seen in the far distance.
+But whether it would approach the shore near enough to enable them to
+encircle it was uncertain.  It might come towards them, but then it
+might suddenly sweep round to a different part of the coast or dart back
+again into deep water.  Hour after hour passed by.
+
+The crews of the boats had their provisions with them, and no one at
+that time would think of returning to the shore for breakfast or dinner.
+They kept laughing and talking together, or occasionally exchanging a
+word with those in the boats on either side of them.
+
+"I hope we shall have better luck than yesterday," said David Treloar.
+"I had made up my mind that we should have the schools if they came near
+us, and yet they got off again just at the time I thought we had them
+secured."
+
+"You must have patience, David; trust to Him Who helped the fishermen of
+Galilee when they had toiled all day and caught nothing," answered
+Michael.  "I do not see that we should expect to be better off than they
+were; He Who taught the pilchards to visit our shores will send them
+into our nets if He thinks fit.  Our business is to toil on and to trust
+to His kindness."
+
+"Ah, Michael! you are always right; I do not see things as clearly as
+you do," said David.
+
+"If you do not, still you know that God cares for you as much as He does
+for me or anyone else; and so do you trust to Him, and depend upon it
+all will turn out right.  That's what Uncle Paul used to say, and your
+Uncle Reuben says."
+
+Michael had for some time past taken pains to let it be known that he
+was not, as supposed to be, the son of Paul Trefusis, and had told all
+his friends and acquaintances the history which Paul had given him.
+Many of the elder people, indeed, were well acquainted with the
+circumstances of the case, and were able to corroborate what he said.
+Eban Cowan, however, had hitherto been ignorant of the fact, and had
+always supposed that Michael was Nelly's brother.  This had originally
+made him anxious to gain Michael's friendship for her sake.  Almost from
+his boyhood he had admired her, and his admiration increased with his
+growth, till he entertained for her as much affection as it was in his
+nature to feel.
+
+No sooner was he aware of the truth than jealousy of Michael sprang up
+in his heart, and instead of putting it away, as he ought to have done,
+he nourished it till his jealousy grew into a determined and deadly
+hatred of one whom he chose to consider as his rival.
+
+Michael, not aware of this, met him in the same frank way that he had
+always been accustomed to do, and took no notice of the angry scowl
+which Eban often cast at him.
+
+Eban on this occasion had command of his father's boat.  He was reputed
+to be as good and bold a fisherman as anyone on the coast.  Michael did
+not observe the fierce look Eban cast at him as they were shoving off in
+the morning when the two boats pulled out of the harbour together side
+by side.
+
+The boats had now been waiting several hours, and when the huers were
+seen to raise their white boughs and point to a sandy beach to the north
+of the harbour (a sign that a school of pilchards was directing its
+course in that direction), instantly the cry of "_heva_" was raised by
+the numerous watchers on the shore, and the crews of the boats, bending
+to their oars, pulled away to get outside the school and prevent them
+from turning back.
+
+Two with nets on board, starting from the same point, began quick as
+lightning to cast them out till they formed a vast circle.
+
+Away the rowers pulled, straining their sinews to the utmost, till a
+large circle was formed two thousand feet in circumference, within which
+the shining fish could be seen leaping and struggling thickly together
+on the surface.  The seine, about twelve fathoms deep, thus formed a
+wall beyond which the fish could not pass, the bottom being sunk by
+heavy leads and the upper part supported by corks.  In the meantime a
+boat was employed in driving the fish towards the centre of the
+enclosure, lest before the circle was completed they might alter their
+course and escape.
+
+Although the fish were thus enclosed, their enormous weight would
+certainly have broken through the net had an attempt been made to drag
+them on to the beach.  The operation was not yet over.  Warping or
+dragging them into shallow water had now to be commenced.  Gradually the
+circle was drawn nearer and nearer the shore, till shallow water was
+reached.  The seine was then moored, that is, secured by grappling
+hooks.  It had next to be emptied.  In bad weather this cannot be done,
+as the work requires smooth water.  On the present occasion, however,
+the sea was calm, and several boats, supplied with smaller nets and
+baskets, entered the circle and commenced what is called _tucking_.  The
+small nets were used to encircle as many fish as they could lift, which
+were quickly hauled on board in the ordinary way, while other boats
+ladled the pilchards out of the water with baskets.  As soon as a boat
+was laden she returned to the shore by the only passage left open, where
+men stood ready to close it as soon as she had passed.
+
+On the beach were collected numbers of women and lads, with creels on
+their backs ready to be filled.  As soon as this was done they carried
+them up to the curing-house, situated on a convenient spot near the bay.
+Among those on the beach were Dame Lanreath and Nelly, and as Michael
+assisted to fill their creels he expressed his satisfaction at having
+contributed so materially to the success of the undertaking, for his
+boat had been one of the most actively employed.
+
+As all engaged in the operation belonged to the same company, they
+worked with a will, each person taking his allotted duty, and thus doing
+their utmost to obtain success.
+
+Some time was occupied in thus emptying the seine, for after the fish on
+the surface had been caught many more which were swimming lower down and
+making endeavours to escape, were obtained with the _tucking_ nets.  The
+whole net itself was then dragged up, and the remainder of the fish
+which had been caught in the meshes, or had before escaped capture, were
+taken out.
+
+Such is the ordinary way of catching the pilchard on the coast of
+Cornwall with seines.
+
+The inhabitants of the village congratulated themselves on their
+success.
+
+Often, as has been said, tucking has to be delayed in consequence of a
+heavy sea for several days, and sometimes, after all, the fish have been
+lost.
+
+"I mind, not long ago," observed Uncle Reuben, "when we were shooting a
+net to the southward, it was caught by the tide and carried away against
+the rocks, where, besides the fish getting free, it was so torn and
+mangled that it took us many a long winter's evening to put to rights.
+And you have heard tell, Michael, that at another time, when we had got
+well-nigh a thousand pounds' worth of fish within our seine, they took
+it into their heads to make a dash together at one point, and, capsizing
+it, leaped clear over the top, and the greater number of them got free.
+And only two seasons ago, just as we thought we had got a fine haul, and
+the seine was securely moored, a ground swell set in from the westward,
+where a heavy gale was blowing, and the net was rolled over and over
+till every fish had escaped, and the net was worth little or nothing.
+So I say we have reason to be thankful when we get a successful catch
+like that we have had to-day."
+
+It was not, however, the only successful catch which Michael and his
+companions made that season.  Still, as his boat and net were but small,
+his share was less than that of the rest of the company, and, after all,
+his share was not more than sufficient for his expenses.
+
+A considerable number of the company were now employed in curing or
+bulking the late catch of pilchards.  This was carried on in a circular
+court called a cellar.  The fish which had been piled up within it were
+now laid out on raised slabs which ran round the court.  First a layer
+of salt was spread, then a layer of pilchards, and so on, layers of
+pilchards and salt alternating, till a vast mound was raised.  Here they
+remained for about a month or more.  Below the slabs were gutters, which
+conveyed the brine and oil which oozed out of the mass into a large pit
+in the centre of the court.  From three to four hundredweight of salt
+was used for each hogshead.
+
+After they had remained in bulk for sufficient time the pilchards were
+cleansed from the salt and closely packed in hogsheads, each of which
+contains about 2,400 fish, and weighs about 476 pounds.  The pressure to
+which they are subjected forces the oil out through the open joints of
+the cask.
+
+The pilchards are now familiarly called "fair maids," from _fermade_, a
+corruption of _fumado_ (the Spanish word for _smoked_), as originally
+they were cured by smoking, a method, however, which has long been
+abandoned.
+
+No portion of the prize is lost; the oil and blood is sold to the
+curriers, the skimmings of the water in which the fish are washed before
+packing is purchased by the soap-boilers, and the broken and refuse fish
+are sold for manure.  The oil when clarified forms an important item in
+the profit.
+
+The pilchards, however, are not always to be entrapped near the shore.
+At most times they keep out at sea, where the hardy fishermen make use
+of the drift-net.
+
+Two sorts of boats are employed for this purpose; one is of about thirty
+tons burden, the other much smaller.  They use a number of nets called
+_a set_, about twenty in all, joined together.  Each net is about 170
+feet long, and 40 deep.  United lengthways they form a wall
+three-quarters of a mile long, the lower part kept down by leads, the
+upper floated on the surface by corks.  Sometimes they are even much
+longer.
+
+Within the meshes of this net the fish, as they swim rapidly forward,
+entangle themselves.  They easily get their heads through, but cannot
+withdraw them, as they are held by the gills, which open in the water
+like the barbs of an arrow.  Their bodies also being larger than the
+meshes, they thus remain hanging, unable to extricate themselves.
+
+The driving-boat is made fast to one end of the wall, where she hangs on
+till the time for hauling the net arrives.
+
+The fishermen prefer a thick foggy night and a loppy sea, as under those
+circumstances the pilchards do not perceive the net in their way.  At
+times, however, when the water is phosphorescent, the creatures which
+form the luminous appearance cover the meshes so that the whole net
+becomes lighted up.
+
+This is called "briming," and the pilchards, thus perceiving the trap in
+their way, turn aside and escape its meshes.
+
+As briming rarely occurs during twilight, and the ocean is at that time
+dark enough to hide the wall of twine, the fishermen generally shoot
+their nets soon after sunset and just before dawn, when the fine weather
+makes it probable that they will be lighted up by the dreaded briming at
+the other hours of the night.
+
+The operation of hauling in nearly a mile of net, with its meshes full
+of fish, is an arduous task, especially during a dark night, when the
+boat is tossed about by a heavy sea, and at no time indeed can it be an
+easy one.  The hardy fishermen pursue this species of fishing during the
+greater part of the year, for small schools of pilchards arrive in the
+Channel as early as the month of May, and remain far into the winter,
+till the water becomes too cool for their constitutions, when they
+return eastwards to seek a warmer climate in the depths of the Atlantic,
+or swim off to some unknown region, where they may deposit their spawn
+or obtain the food on which they exist.  Little, however, is known of
+the causes which guide their movements, and the Cornish fishermen remain
+satisfied by knowing the fact that the beautiful little fish which
+enables them to support themselves and their families are sent annually
+by their benignant Creator to visit their coasts, and seldom trouble
+themselves to make any further inquiries on the subject.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+Two more years passed away--Nelly had become a pretty young woman,
+modest and good as she was attractive in her personal appearance.  She
+had admirers in plenty besides Eban Cowan, who continued, as in his
+younger days, to pay her all the attention in his power, and openly
+declared to his companions his purpose of making her his wife.
+
+By this means he kept some at a distance who were afraid to encounter
+him as a rival, for they well knew his fierce and determined
+disposition, of which he had on several occasions given evidence.  Every
+one knew that he and his father were leagued with the most desperate
+gang of smugglers on the coast, and two or three times when acting as
+leader of a party he had had fierce encounters with the coast-guard, and
+on each occasion by his judgment and courage had succeeded in carrying
+off the goods which had been landed to a place of safety He frequently
+also had made trips in a smuggling lugger, of which his father was part
+owner, to the coast of France.  He was looked upon as a hardy and expert
+seaman, as well as a good fisherman.  Had he, indeed, kept to the latter
+calling, with the boats he owned he would have become an independent, if
+not a wealthy man.  But ill-gotten gains go fast, and in his smuggling
+enterprises, though he was often successful, yet he lost in the end more
+than he gained.
+
+Nelly, though flattered by the attention paid her, showed no preference
+for any of her admirers.  She had a good-natured word or a joke for all
+of them, but always managed to make them hold their tongues when they
+appeared to be growing serious.  How she might have acted without the
+sage Dame Lanreath to advise her, or had she not felt that she could not
+consent to desert her and Michael, it is impossible to say.
+
+Michael had become a fine and active young man.  As a sailor he was not
+inferior to Eban.  He had been able to support Nelly and her grandmother
+in comfort, and to save money besides.  He had invested his profits in a
+share of Uncle Reuben's large fishing-boat, and was thus able to employ
+himself in the deep-sea seine fishing for the greater part of the year,
+as well as that of the inshore fishing which he had hitherto pursued.
+His only regret was that it compelled him to be absent from home more
+frequently and for longer periods, but then he had always the advantage
+of returning to spend every Sunday with Nelly.
+
+Those Sundays were indeed very happy ones; he did not spend them in idle
+sloth, but he and Nelly, accompanied by her grandmother, set off early
+to worship together, never allowing either wind or rain to hinder them,
+although they had several miles to go.  On their return they spent the
+remainder of the day in reading God's Word, or one of the few cherished
+books they possessed.  They had received some time back two or three
+which were especially favoured, sent by Mrs and Miss Tremayne, with a
+kind message inquiring after Michael and Dame Lanreath, and hoping that
+the "Dove" had answered Michael's expectations and proved a good and
+useful sea-boat.  Nelly undertook to write a reply.
+
+"That she has, tell them," said Michael.  "I often think, when I am at
+work on board her, of their kindness, and what I should have done had
+they and Mr Tremayne not given her to me."
+
+After this, however, they received no further news of their friends, and
+though Nelly wrote to inquire, her letter was returned by the
+post-office, stating that they had left the place.
+
+Refreshed by his Sunday rest, Michael went with renewed strength to his
+weekly toil.
+
+Uncle Reuben's boat was called the "Sea-Gull."  Michael was now
+constantly on board her, as he had from his prudence and skill been
+chosen as mate.  When Reuben himself did not go out in her, he had the
+command.
+
+The merry month of May had begun, the "Sea-Gull" was away with her
+drift-nets.  Reuben hoped to be among the first to send fish to the
+Helston market.  Dame Lanreath and Nelly, as well as several other
+female members of Reuben's family, or related to his crew, were ready to
+set off with their creels as soon as the boat returned.
+
+Nelly had gone as far as Uncle Reuben's house to watch for the
+"Sea-Gull."  She had not long to wait before she caught sight of the
+little vessel skimming over the waters before a light nor'-westerly
+breeze.  It was the morning of the eighth of May, when the annual
+festival of the Flurry was to be held at Helston.
+
+Although Nelly did not wish to take part in the sports carried on there,
+still she had no objection to see what was going forward, and perhaps
+Michael, contrary to his custom, would be willing to accompany her and
+her granny.
+
+"He so seldom takes a holiday; but for this once he may be tempted to go
+and see the fun," she thought.
+
+The "Sea-Gull" drew near, and Nelly knew her appearance too well to have
+any doubt about her, even when she was a long way off.
+
+She now hurried home to tell Dame Lanreath, that they might be ready at
+the landing-place to receive their portion of the vessel's cargo.
+
+The vessel was soon moored alongside the quay, when the creels were
+quickly filled with fish.
+
+"If you will come with us to Helston, Michael, I will wait for you.
+Granny will go on ahead and we can soon overtake her.  Though you have
+lived so near you have never seen a Flurry dance, and on this bright
+morning there will sure to be a good gathering."
+
+"I care little for seeing fine folks dressed up in gay flowers and white
+dresses, and dancing and jigging, especially as neither you nor I can
+take a part in the fun," answered Michael.  "I should like the walk well
+enough with you, Nelly, but a number of congers and dog-fish got foul of
+our nets and made some ugly holes in them, which will take us all day to
+mend; it is a wonder they did not do more mischief.  So, as I always put
+business before pleasure, you see, Nelly, I must not go, however much I
+might wish it."
+
+Nelly thought that David and others might mend the nets; but Michael
+said that he and all hands were required to do the work, and that if he
+did not stop and set a good example the others might be idle, and when
+he got back in the evening it might not be done.  So Nelly, very
+unwillingly, was obliged to give up her scheme of inducing Michael to
+take a holiday, and accompanied her granny as usual.
+
+Having left Michael's breakfast ready on the table, they set off.  The
+dame trudged along, staff in hand; her step was as firm as it had been
+ten years before, though her body was slightly bent.  Nelly walked by
+her side, as she had done year after year, but she now bore her burden
+with greater ease; and with her upright figure, and her cheeks blooming
+with health, the two together presented a perfect picture of a fish-wife
+and fish-girl.
+
+Dame Lanreath had promised, after they had sold the contents of their
+creels, to wait some little time to see the Flurry dance and the gay
+people who would throng the town.  Nelly looked forward to the scene
+with pleasure, her only regret being that Michael had been unable to
+accompany her.
+
+They had gone some distance when they heard a rapid step behind them,
+and Eban Cowan came up to Nelly's side.
+
+"I have been walking hard to overtake you, Nelly," he said, "for I found
+that you had gone on.  I suppose you intend to stay and see the gay
+doings at Helston, and will not object to an escort back in the
+evening?"
+
+"Granny proposes stopping for the Flurry dance, but we shall come away
+long before it is dark, and as we know the road as well as most people,
+we can find it by ourselves," answered Nelly, coldly.
+
+"You will miss half the fun, then," said Eban.  "You must get your
+granny to stop, or, if she will not, she cannot mind your remaining with
+my sister and cousin, and I can see you and them home."
+
+"I cannot let my granny walk home by herself," answered Nelly; "and so,
+Eban, I beg that you will not say anything more about the matter."
+
+Eban saw that it would not do just then to press the subject, and he
+hoped that perhaps Nelly would lose sight of her grandmother in the
+crowd, and that she would then be too glad to come back under his
+charge.  He had made up his mind to have a talk with her, and bring
+matters to an issue; he did not suppose that she and Michael could care
+much for each other, or he thought that they would have married long
+ago, and so believed that he had a better chance than any one else of
+winning Nelly Trefusis.
+
+He walked on, trying to make himself agreeable now saying a few words to
+the dame, who generally gave him curt answers, and now addressing Nelly.
+As he had plenty to say for himself, she could not help being amused,
+and his conversation served to beguile the way over the somewhat dreary
+country they had to pass till the neighbourhood of Helston was reached.
+
+He accompanied them in the ferry-boat which took them across to the town
+on the other side of the shallow estuary or lake on which it is built.
+
+As they had now to go from house to house to sell their fish, he had to
+leave them, believing, however, that he should have no difficulty in
+finding them again when their creels were empty.
+
+The town was at that time quiet enough, for all the shops were closed,
+and most of the young men and maidens, as well as large parties of
+children, had gone into the surrounding woods to cut boughs and gather
+wild flowers.
+
+The housewives, however, were eager to purchase their fresh-caught
+pilchards, to make into huge pasties, which, with clotted cream, forms
+the favourite Cornish dish.
+
+They had already disposed of a considerable portion of their freight,
+when they saw a large party approaching along the principal
+thoroughfare.  It consisted of a number of young people, boys and girls,
+their heads decked with wreaths of flowers, and holding in their hands
+green boughs, which they waved to and fro as they advanced, singing--
+
+  "Once more the merry month of May
+  Has come, and driven old winter away;
+  And so as now green boughs we bring,
+  We merrily dance and merrily sing.
+  No more we dread the frost and snow,
+  No more the winter breezes blow;
+  But summer suns and azure skies
+  Warm our hearts and please our eyes.
+  And so we dance and so we sing,
+  And here our woodland trophies bring;
+  Hurra, hurra, hurra, hurra!
+  What can with our Flurry dance compare?"
+
+Thus the merry party went dancing and singing through the town, every
+one running out from their houses to greet and applaud them.
+
+A large number of carriages and vehicles of all sorts now appeared,
+conveying the inhabitants of the surrounding district, who came in
+summer attire, decked with spring flowers, preceded by a band of music.
+
+They all assembled before the Town Hall, when the Flurry dance
+commenced.  Rows of ladies and gentlemen formed opposite each other,
+then, moving forward, they set to each other in couples, and proceeded
+thus, dancing and singing, down the streets.  Garden-gates stood open,
+and many of the doors of the larger houses.  Through them the dancers
+entered, continuing their evolutions up and down the gravel walks and
+through the halls, all ranks and classes mingling together.  All seemed
+in good humour; in spite of the exercise they were taking, none appeared
+fatigued or willing to stop.
+
+The Flurry tune which was played is a peculiar one, evidently of great
+antiquity, and probably the custom had its origin as far back as the
+feast of Flora, when pagan rites were performed in the country, or,
+perhaps, it originally was instituted to celebrate a victory over the
+Saxons; or it may be a remnant of some old Celtic observance.
+
+Few of those who took part in it cared much about its origin.  The young
+people enjoyed the amusement of dancing and singing, and their elders
+their holiday and relaxation from business.
+
+Dame Lanreath and Nelly had disposed of all their fish before the Flurry
+dance began; they thus had ample time to watch what was going forward,
+Nelly kept close to her grandmother, although she met several of her
+acquaintances, who stopped to have a talk, and she might easily, had she
+not been on the watch, have lost her in the crowd.
+
+In the evening the grander people were to have a ball at the Town Hall;
+but as the dame and Nelly took no interest in watching the ladies in
+their gay dresses stepping from their carriages, they, having seen
+enough of the Flurry dance to satisfy their curiosity, set out in
+company with several of their friends on their walk homeward.
+
+They were just leaving the town, when Eban Cowan overtook Nelly, who was
+in company with another girl a short distance behind Dame Lanreath.
+
+"Nelly," said Eban, "I was in a great fright lest I should miss you.
+You are going away without seeing half the fun of the day; the people
+are only just getting into the spirit of the dance.  I wanted you to
+take off that creel and have a turn with me.  Among all the fine ladies
+there is not one can compare with you for beauty in my eyes, and many a
+lad there would have been jealous of me, in spite of the white dresses
+and bright flowers of the girls."
+
+Nelly laughed, thinking that Eban was joking.  Her companion, who
+believed the common report, that Eban Cowan was an admirer of Nelly
+Trefusis, and that she encouraged him, dropped behind and joined another
+party, and Eban and Nelly were left alone.
+
+He at once changed his tone, which showed that he was deeply in earnest.
+
+"Nelly," he said, "I have sought you for long years, and however others
+may admire you, they cannot care for you as I do--my love surpasses
+theirs a hundredfold.  I can give you a comfortable home, and make you
+equal to any of the fine ladies we have been watching to-day.  You need
+no longer carry that creel on your back, and slave as you have been
+doing, if you will become my wife.  I tell you that I love you more than
+life itself, and ask you, will you marry me?"
+
+Nelly would willingly have stopped Eban from talking on, but had
+hitherto been unable to get in a word.
+
+"I have known you, Eban Cowan, since I way a girl, but I have never for
+one moment encouraged you to suppose that I would become your wife, and
+I now say positively that I cannot and will not.  I thank you for all
+you have said to me, though I would rather you had left it unsaid; and I
+would wish to be friendly, as we have always been," she answered,
+firmly.
+
+"Is that the only answer you can give me?" exclaimed Eban.
+
+"I can give no other," replied Nelly.
+
+"Do you never intend to marry, then?" asked Eban.
+
+"I am not compelled to tell you my intentions," said Nelly.
+
+"Do you love any one else? because I shall then know how to act,"
+exclaimed Eban.
+
+Nelly thought for a moment.  "I will tell him; it will be the kindest
+thing to do, as he will then understand that I can never marry him, and
+wisely seek another wife."
+
+"Yes, Eban Cowan, I do love another," she said, in a low voice.  "I love
+Michael Penguyne, and can be no other man's wife than his.  You have
+long called him your friend; let him be your friend still, but give up
+all thoughts of me."
+
+"I now know how to act," muttered Eban, gloomily.  "I had no idea that
+you cared for him; and if you choose to become a poor fisherman's wife,
+you must follow your own course; only, do not suppose that I can cease
+to love you."
+
+"I cannot listen to what you say," exclaimed Nelly, walking on rapidly,
+and feeling very indignant at Eban's last remark.
+
+He did not attempt to follow her, and she soon overtook Dame Lanreath
+and the friends who were accompanying her.  When she looked round, Eban
+had disappeared.  She felt greatly relieved at having got rid of him,
+and she hoped that, notwithstanding what he had said, he would abandon
+all hopes of becoming her husband.
+
+Eban went home by another path, muttering fiercely that he would not be
+balked, and that Michael should pay dearly for coming between him and
+the girl he loved.
+
+People little know, when they give way to their unbridled passions, into
+what crimes they may be led.
+
+Day after day Eban Cowan pondered over his rejection by Nelly, and chose
+to consider himself especially ill-treated.
+
+"She should have let me know years ago that she intended to marry that
+fellow.  How can she think of preferring him, a poor, hard-working lad,
+to me?" he exclaimed; and dreadful thoughts came into his mind.  He made
+no attempt to drive them from him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+The autumn was drawing on.  The pilchard harvest had not been as
+successful as the fishermen desired, and they kept their boats at sea in
+the hopes of obtaining a share of the schools of fish which still
+hovered off their coasts.  The drift-nets now could only be used with
+any prospect of success, and Michael was as active and energetic as
+ever.  He had, indeed, greater reason for working hard, as Nelly had
+promised to become his wife in the ensuing spring.  He wished to make
+every preparation in his power that she might begin her married life
+with as much comfort as a fisherman's wife could hope to do.
+
+"Only we must look after granny too, and try to save her the long
+trudges she has had to make; and repay her, though that would be a hard
+matter, for all the care she took of us when we were young," he observed
+to Nelly, as they were talking over their future prospects.
+
+Nelly heartily agreed with him; but when Dame Lanreath heard of their
+intentions, she laughed at the notion of giving up her daily walks to
+market.
+
+"More reason for Nelly to stay at home to look after the house.  Wait a
+bit till my limbs grow stiffer than they are as yet, and till she has
+got a little damsel of her own to trot alongside her as she used to trot
+alongside me," she answered.
+
+"But, granny, I have been thinking of getting little Mary Lanaherne,
+Uncle Reuben's granddaughter, to go to market with me while you stay at
+home; she is quite ready to agree to my plan," said Nelly.
+
+"Ah, I see you want to become a fine lady now you are going to marry,
+and have an attendant of your own," said the dame, laughing.  "Bide a
+bit till you have need of help, and let my old limbs wag on while they
+have life in them."
+
+"That will be for many years to come, I hope, granny," said Michael;
+"and to my eyes you don't seem to have become a day older since I first
+remember you, and that's longer than I can remember anything else; for I
+mind you holding me in your arms when father came home one day and gave
+me a fish to play with."
+
+"That was a good bit ago, Michael, to be sure, and I should not like to
+have to lift you up now, lad, strong as my arms still are," answered the
+old dame, looking approvingly at the fine manly young fisherman as he
+stood before her.  Nelly, too, gave him a glance of tender affection,
+and all three laughed merrily.  Their hearts were light, for though
+theirs was a life of toil they willingly undertook their daily tasks,
+and were thankful for the blessings bestowed on them.
+
+"It is time for me to be off," said Michael; "Uncle Reuben stays on
+shore this evening, so I am to act captain.  We shall be back, I hope,
+soon after ten, as he always wishes us to be home early on Saturday
+night, and as the weather looks pretty thick, and there is a nice lop of
+a sea on, we may expect to get a good haul."
+
+Michael kissed Nelly's clear brow, and bestowed his usual "buss," as he
+called it, on granny's withered cheek; then shouldering his oilskin
+coat, he took his way towards the landing-place at the mouth of the
+harbour.
+
+David and the rest of his crew were sitting about on the rocks with
+their short pipes in their mouths in readiness to go on board.  Uncle
+Reuben had come down to see them off, and seemed half inclined to
+accompany them.
+
+"If it were not for these aches in my back and sides, and that I
+promised my dame to stay on shore this evening, I would go with you,
+lads.  But keep your weather eyes open.  I cannot say I quite like the
+look of the weather.  It may turn out fine, but it is very thick away to
+the southward."
+
+"It will be fine enough for what we want, Uncle Reuben, and the
+`Sea-Gull' does not mind a bit of a swell and a stiffish breeze, and we
+shall be back again almost before there is time to send a second hand to
+the bellows," answered Michael.
+
+"God go with you, lads," said the old fisherman as the lads sprang on
+board.  "If the weather gets worse, haul your nets and make the best of
+your way back.  We will keep the light burning on the point, so that you
+will not miss your road into harbour at all events."
+
+The "Sea-Gull" was shoved off, the oars got out, and, with her attendant
+drift-boat towing ahead, her hardy crew soon swept her out of the
+harbour.  Her tanned sails were then hoisted, and, close-hauled, she
+stood away to beat up to her intended fishing-grounds some distance to
+the southward, off the Gull Rock.
+
+The old fisherman stood watching her for some time, more than once
+saying to himself, "I wish that I had gone, the trip would not have hurt
+me; but Michael is a careful lad, and, even if the weather does come on
+bad, he will not risk staying out longer than is prudent."
+
+Bad, indeed, there shortly appeared every probability of the weather
+becoming.  Dark green seas came rolling in crested with foam, and
+breaking with increasing loudness of sound on the rocky shore; the wind
+whistled and howled louder and louder.
+
+Uncle Reuben buttoned up his coat to the chin as he gazed seaward.  At
+last his daughter came to call him in to tea.
+
+"Mother says you will be making yourself worse, father, standing out in
+the cold and damp."
+
+He obeyed the summons; still he could not help every now and then
+getting up and going to the door to see what the weather was like; each
+time he came back with a less favourable report.
+
+As it grew dark, in spite of his dame's expostulations he again went out
+and proceeded to the point, where he was also joined by three or four
+men, who had come either to attend to the beacon which was kept burning
+on dark nights, or to look out for the fishing-boats which they expected
+would at once return in consequence of the bad weather which had now in
+earnest set in.
+
+As soon as Michael had left his home, a young girl, the child of a
+neighbour who lived further up the harbour in the direction of the mill,
+came running to the cottage, saying that her mother was taken ill, and
+that as her father and brothers were away fishing, there was no one to
+stay with her while she went to call for the doctor.
+
+Nelly at once offered to go and stay with the poor woman, and to do her
+best.
+
+"No, I will go," said Dame Lanreath; "maybe I shall be able to tell what
+is best to be done as well as the doctor himself.  Do you run on, Nancy,
+and I will come and look after your mother."
+
+As the dame was not to be contradicted, Nelly continued the work in
+which she was engaged, and her grandmother set off with active steps
+towards her neighbour's cottage.
+
+Nelly had not been long alone when she heard a hasty footstep
+approaching.  The door opened, and Eban Cowan stood before her.  A dark
+frown was on his brow, his eyes she thought had a wild and fierce
+expression she had never before seen them wear.  Her heart sank within
+her, and she in vain tried to speak in her usually friendly tone.
+
+"Good evening, Eban; what brings you here at this hour?" she said, on
+seeing him stand gazing at her without uttering a word.
+
+"Nelly, I have come to ask you a question, and as you answer it you will
+make me more happy than I have been for many a long day, or you will
+send me away a miserable wretch, and you will never, it may be, see me
+again."
+
+"I shall be sorry not to see you again, Eban, for we have been friends
+from our earliest days, and I hoped that we should always remain so,"
+answered Nelly, mustering all the courage she possessed to speak calmly.
+
+"That is what drives me to desperation," he exclaimed.  "Nelly, is it
+true that you are going to marry Michael Penguyne?"
+
+"I hope so, if it is God's will, as you ask me to tell you," said Nelly,
+firmly.  "I fancied that you were his friend, as you always were mine.
+And, Eban, I pray that you may not feel any ill-will towards either of
+us, because we love each other, and are sure we shall be happy
+together."
+
+"Is that the only answer you have to give me?" exclaimed Eban, hoarsely.
+
+"I can say nothing more nor less," said Nelly, gently.  "I am very sorry
+that my answer should make you unhappy, but you insisted on having it,
+and I can say nothing more."
+
+Eban gazed at her for a moment, and appeared to be about to utter a
+threat, but he restrained himself, and turning hastily round rushed out
+of the cottage.
+
+She was thankful that he had gone, yet a feeling of undefined fear of
+what he might do in his present angry mood stole over her.  She was well
+aware of his fierce and daring character, and she had heard from her
+granny of desperate deeds done by men whose addresses had been rejected
+by girls whom they professed to love.
+
+She earnestly wished that the dame would soon come back, that she might
+tell her what had occurred and consult what was best to be done.
+
+Had Nelly known what was passing in the dark mind of Eban Cowan she
+would indeed have had cause for alarm.
+
+Instead of going homewards he proceeded down towards the mouth of the
+harbour.  On turning the point he scanned the spot where the
+fishing-vessels lay at anchor, and observed that the "Sea-Gull," among
+others, was away.
+
+"She will be back early to-night," he muttered, "and Michael will pass
+this way homeward by himself, but his home he shall never reach, if I
+have my will.  I am not going to let him come between me and the girl I
+have all my life intended to marry; he has no right to her: she is too
+good for a poor hard-working fisherman like him, and he will make her
+drudge all the best days of her life.  If he were out of the way she
+would soon come round and look on me as she used to do."
+
+Much more to the same effect he thought, working himself up to do,
+without compunction, the fearful act he meditated.
+
+The pathway between the quay at the mouth of the harbour, where the
+fishing-vessels landed their cargoes, and Michael's house, at one place
+between the cliffs and the water, became so narrow that two people could
+with difficulty pass each other.  Close to this spot, however, there
+existed a hollow in the rock, in which a person standing was completely
+concealed, especially on a dark night, when it might be passed by
+without discovering that any one was within.
+
+Eban Cowan stood for some time watching the distant horizon, and as the
+evening drew on he observed through the gloom two or three fishing-boats
+running under close-reefed sails for the harbour's mouth.
+
+"One of those is the `Sea-Gull'; I must not be seen in the
+neighbourhood, or I may be suspected," he muttered, taking his way
+towards the lurking-place from which he intended to rush out and commit
+the crime he meditated.
+
+Satan, ever ready to encourage those who yield to his instigations,
+persuaded him that he could do the deed without being discovered, and
+again and again he thought of the happiness he should enjoy with the
+pretty Nelly as his wife, as if the soul guilty of the blood of a
+fellow-creature could ever enjoy happiness!
+
+There he stood listening amid the roar of the fast-rising gale for the
+step of his victim.  Suddenly he thought--
+
+"But suppose she hates me, I shall have done a deed and gained nothing.
+She may suspect that I did it.  Why did I madly go and see her this
+evening?  I had not intended to enter the cottage.  Had the dame not
+gone away I should not have thought of it.  Still, neither she nor any
+one else can swear that I am guilty.  No eye will see me.  The path is
+slippery: it will be supposed that he fell into the water."  Then at
+that moment a voice seemed to whisper to him the words Michael had
+uttered long before, "God sees and hears and knows everything we do or
+say or think."  It seemed to be that of Michael, "The darkness is no
+darkness to Him; the day and night to Him are both alike."
+
+"Oh, He sees me now; He knows what I am thinking of."
+
+The strong, daring smuggler trembled.
+
+"I cannot do it; miserable I may be, but I should be more miserable
+still if I had it ever present to my mind that I had killed in cold
+blood another man who never wished to offend me."
+
+He rushed from his concealment and threw the weapon he had hitherto
+clutched in his hand far away into the water.
+
+He was hurrying homewards, when he heard shouts coming up from the
+harbour's mouth.  He caught the sounds; they were cries, for hands to
+man a boat.
+
+Constitutionally brave, he was ready at that moment for any desperate
+service.  He wanted something to drive away the fearful thoughts which
+agitated his mind; he dreaded being left to himself; he must be actively
+engaged or he should go mad, if he was not mad already.
+
+He hurried to the quay, alongside which a boat, kept ready for
+emergencies, was tossing up and down; she was not a life-boat, but still
+one well fitted to encounter heavy seas, and was used to go off to
+vessels which had got embayed or ran a risk of being driven on shore.
+
+"I am ready to go off, if you want another hand," he exclaimed.
+
+"You will do, and welcome.  Our number is now made up," answered Uncle
+Reuben, who was seated in the stern of the boat.
+
+Eban leaped in.
+
+"Whereabouts is the vessel in danger?" he asked.  "I could not make her
+out."
+
+"She is my craft, the `Sea-Gull,'" said Uncle Reuben.  "The `Favourite,'
+which has just come in, saw her driving, with her mast gone, towards the
+Gull Rock, and if she strikes it there is no chance for her or the poor
+fellows on board.  Lord be merciful to them! we must do our best to try
+and save them, for no craft under sail will dare to stand near them, for
+fear of sharing their fate."
+
+Eban knew that Michael had gone away in the "Sea-Gull."  Should he risk
+his life to try and save that of his rival?  He felt inclined to spring
+on shore again.  The next instant Uncle Reuben gave the order to get out
+the oars.
+
+Once actively engaged Eban no longer wished to quit the boat, but the
+wild thought rose in his mind that Michael might be lost, and then, his
+rival removed, that Nelly would become his.
+
+In his selfishness he did not consider the grief she whom he professed
+to love would suffer; he, at all events, would not have inflicted it.
+He had not committed the crime he meditated, and yet might gain the
+object of his wishes.
+
+Nelly had been anxiously waiting the return of Dame Lanreath; she was
+greatly agitated by Eban's visit--unable to overcome the fear that he
+might do something desperate, but what that might be she could not tell.
+
+She frequently went to the door to see if her granny was coming.
+
+The night drew on, the fury of the storm increased.  She thought of
+Michael on the raging ocean engaged in hauling in his nets.  The
+"Sea-Gull" would surely not remain out long in such weather; the
+fishing-vessels ought to be back by this time.  She longed to run down
+to the harbour's mouth to ascertain if they had returned; then her
+granny might come in, and, finding her gone, not know what had become of
+her.  The thought, too, that she might meet Eban in his angry mood
+restrained her.
+
+"Oh, what is going to happen?" she exclaimed, feeling more anxiety and
+alarm than she had ever before experienced.  "O my dear, dear Michael,
+why don't you come back to me?  O merciful God, protect him!"  She fell
+on her knees, hiding her face in her hands, and prayed for the safety of
+him who was on the foaming waters.
+
+She thought she heard her granny coming.  She rose from the ground and,
+going to the door, looked out.  No one was there; she heard the roaring
+of the breakers on the rocky coast, and the fierce wind howling up the
+wild glen, making the surface of the harbour bubble and hiss and foam,
+and sending the spray, mingled with the cold night wind, high up, even
+to where she stood.
+
+"I must go and learn why he does not come," she exclaimed.  "Oh, how I
+wish granny would come back! she may suffer harm coming along the rough
+path this bleak night in the dark."
+
+Poor Nelly felt in truth forlorn; but hers was a brave heart, which a
+fisherman's wife needs must have, or she could not endure the agitating
+suspense to which she must day after day throughout her life he exposed,
+when the tempest howls and the wild waves roar.  She went in and put on
+her hood and cloak.  In vain she strove to restrain her agitation.
+Again she went to the door.  She thought she saw through the thick gloom
+a figure approaching.
+
+"Is that you, dear granny?" she cried out.
+
+"Ay, Nelly, though I have had a hard battle with the wind," answered
+Dame Lanreath, in her usually cheery voice.  "But my journey is ended,
+and it was well I went to poor Polly Penduck when I did, for she was in
+a bad way; the doctor, however, has been with her, and she is all right
+now."
+
+Nelly had run forward to lead her grandmother into the house, and she
+spoke the latter words on her way.
+
+"Why, my child, what is the matter with you?" exclaimed the dame, as she
+saw her pale and agitated countenance.
+
+Before Nelly could answer, footsteps were heard outside.  She hurried
+back to the door.
+
+"Oh! can it be Michael coming?" exclaimed Nelly.  "Michael, Michael, are
+you there?"
+
+"No, we be Paul and Joseph Penduck," answered two young voices.  "We are
+on our way home to mother."
+
+"Your mother is well and sleeping, but do not make a noise, lads, when
+you go in," exclaimed Dame Lanreath, who had followed Nelly to the door.
+"Why are you in such a hurry?"
+
+"We needs be to get out of the storm, dame," answered one of the boys.
+"Father told us to make haste home; but he has gone off in the `Rescue'
+with Uncle Reuben Lanaherne to look after the `Sea-Gull,' which they say
+has lost her mast, and was seen driving on the Gull Rock; there is
+little hope of any of the poor lads escaping aboard her."
+
+"What is that you say," shrieked poor Nelly; "the `Sea-Gull' driving on
+shore?"
+
+"I forgot, Mistress Nelly, that Michael Penguyne was aboard her,"
+answered the thoughtless boy.  "I would not have said it to frighten you
+so, but it may be father and the others will find them if they are not
+all drowned before they get there."
+
+"O granny, I was afraid something dreadful was happening," exclaimed
+Nelly, gasping for breath.  "I must go down to the harbour's mouth.  I
+do not mind the wind and rain; don't stop me, granny," for Dame Lanreath
+had taken Nelly's arm, thinking she was about to fall, she trembled so
+violently.  "Let me go, granny, that I may hold him in my arms, and warm
+him, and breathe into his mouth when he is brought on shore.  Oh, I
+shall die if I stay at home, and he out struggling maybe for life in the
+cold foaming seas."
+
+"But the lads may be mistaken, dear Nelly," urged Dame Lanreath; "it may
+not be the `Sea-Gull' that has met with the damage, and if she has
+Michael and the rest, who are stout lads and know how to handle her,
+they may manage to keep her off the rocks, and get in safe
+notwithstanding."
+
+Nelly, however, was not to be reasoned with.  She knew the way to the
+harbour's mouth in the darkest night as well as by daylight; the rain
+and wind were nothing to her, and if Michael had got safe on shore her
+anxiety would the sooner be set at rest, and she should be ready to
+welcome him.
+
+The dame, finding that she could not persuade Nelly to remain at home,
+insisted on accompanying her, for though she had tried to make her
+believe that Michael would return in safety, she herself could not help
+entertaining the fear that he had shared the fate of the many she had
+known in her time who had lost their lives on the treacherous ocean.
+
+Nelly was not selfish, and though she felt that she must go forth, she
+was anxious that her granny should not again face the cruel storm.  The
+dame, however, was determined to go, for she felt scarcely less anxiety
+than Nelly.
+
+"Well, Nelly," she said at length, "if you won't let me go with you, I
+will just go by myself, and you must stay at home till I come back and
+tell you that Michael has got on shore all safe."
+
+Nelly yielded.  She and the dame set off.
+
+They had a fierce battle to fight with the storm, which blew directly in
+their faces.  They worked their way onwards, holding their cloaks tight
+round them.
+
+They at last reached the rocky point where, by the light of the beacon,
+they saw a group of men and women and boys and girls collected, with
+their gaze turned seaward, waiting anxiously for the appearance of the
+boat which had gone out over the dark and troubled ocean in search of
+their missing friends.
+
+The dame and Nelly anxiously inquired what had happened.  The answer
+made their hearts sink: the "Sea-Gull" had last been seen driving
+towards the rocks in an almost helpless condition; she might drop an
+anchor, but there was little expectation that it would hold.  The only
+hope was that she might be reached before she was finally dashed to
+pieces, and those on board her had perished.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+The "Rescue" gallantly made her way amid the dark foam-crested seas,
+which rolled in from the westward, each appearing heavier than its
+predecessor.
+
+Uncle Reuben kept gazing out ahead in anxious search of his little
+vessel, now encouraging his crew with the hopes that they would soon
+reach the spot which she must have reached, feeling his own heart,
+however, sink within him as he sought in vain to find her across the
+wildly tossing waters.  The men needed no encouragement: they knew as
+well as he did that every moment was precious, and yet that after all
+they might arrive too late.  Eban pulled as hard as the rest; he would
+do his utmost to save the crew of the "Sea-Gull," yet he darkly hoped
+that their efforts might be vain.
+
+On they pulled; often Reuben had to turn the boat's head to breast a
+threatening sea which, caught on the broadside, might have hurled her
+over.  Now again he urged his crew to redoubled efforts during a
+temporary lull.
+
+For some time he had been silent, keeping his eye on a dark spot ahead.
+It must be the "Sea-Gull."  She was already fearfully near the rocks.
+The water there was too deep to allow her anchor to hold long, if
+holding it was at all.  Another fierce wave came rolling towards them.
+Eager as Uncle Reuben was to make his way onward, he was compelled to
+put the boat's head towards it, and to give all his attention to avoid
+being buried beneath the foaming billows.  The boat rose safely to its
+summit.  A glance seaward told him that now was the time once more to
+make way to the south.  He looked eagerly for his little vessel; the
+same sea had struck her.  He caught but one glimpse of her hull as she
+was dashed helplessly against the rocks.  Still some of those on board
+might escape.  Every effort must be made to save them.  Though Reuben
+told his crew what had happened, none hesitated to pull on.
+
+The boat approached the rock, her crew shouted to encourage those who
+might be clinging to it.
+
+The "Sea-Gull" had struck on the northernmost point, within which the
+sea, though surging and boiling, was comparatively quiet; and Reuben was
+thus enabled to get nearer to the rock than he could have ventured to do
+on the outside, where it broke with a fury which would quickly have
+overwhelmed the boat.
+
+Two men were distinguished through the gloom clinging to the rock, at
+the foot of which fragments of the hapless "Sea-Gull" were tossing up
+and down in the foaming waves.  Another sea such as that which wrecked
+their vessel might at any moment wash the men from their hold.  A rope
+was hove to them, they fastened it round their waists and were dragged
+on board.  They proved to be Reuben's two sons.
+
+The father's heart was relieved, but he thought of his brave young
+captain.
+
+"Where is Michael, where are the rest?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Gone, gone, father, I fear!" was the answer.
+
+"No, no!  I see two more clinging to a spar!" shouted one of the men.
+"The sea is carrying it away, but the next will hurl it back on the
+rocks, and Heaven protect them, for the life will be knocked out of
+their bodies."
+
+To approach the spot in the boat, however, was impossible without the
+certainty of her being dashed to pieces.
+
+"Here, hand the bight of the rope to me," shouted Eban, starting up; "I
+am the best swimmer among you--if any one can save them I can."
+
+As he uttered the words he sprang overboard, and with powerful strokes
+made his way towards the drowning men, while the rest, pulling hard,
+kept the boat off the rocks, to which she was perilously near.
+
+"Here, here, take him, he is almost gone," said one of the men in the
+water, as Eban approached them.  "I can hold on longer."
+
+Eban, grasping the man round the waist and shouting to those in the
+boat, was hauled up to her stern with his burden.  Reuben, assisted by
+the man pulling the stroke oar, lifted the rescued man into the boat,
+and Eban once more dashed off to try and save the other.
+
+"Who is it? who is it?" asked the crew, with one voice, for the darkness
+prevented them from distinguishing his countenance.
+
+No one replied.  Reuben hoped it might be Michael--but all his attention
+was required for the management of the boat, and the rescued man,
+exhausted, if not severely injured, was unable to reply himself.
+
+Eban was gallantly striking out towards the man who still clung to the
+spar, but he had miscalculated his strength--he made less rapid way than
+at first.  A cry reached him, "Help, mate! help!"  He redoubled his
+efforts; but before he could reach the spot he saw a hand raised up, and
+as he grasped the spar he found that it was deserted.  The brave fellow,
+whoever he was, had sacrificed his own life to save that of his drowning
+companion.
+
+Eban, feeling that his own strength was going, shouted to those in the
+boat to haul him on board, and he was himself well-nigh exhausted when
+lifted over the side.  One of Reuben's sons took his oar.
+
+All further search for their missing friends proved in vain, and though
+thankful that some had been saved, with sad hearts they commenced their
+perilous return to the harbour.
+
+Reuben's younger son, Simon Lanaherne, had gone aft and sat down by the
+side of the rescued man.
+
+"He is coming to, I believe."
+
+"Which of the poor lads is he, Simon?" asked his father.
+
+Simon felt the man's face and dress, bending his head down to try and
+scan his features.
+
+"I cannot quite make out; but I am nearly sure it is Michael Penguyne,"
+answered Simon.
+
+"I am main glad if it be he, for poor Nelly's sake," said Reuben.  "Pull
+up your starboard oars, lads, here comes a sea," he shouted, and a
+tremendous wave came curling up from the westward.
+
+The attention of every one was engaged in encountering the threatened
+danger.
+
+"Michael Penguyne! have I saved him?" muttered Eban Cowan, with a deep
+groan.  "He was destined to live through all dangers, then, and Nelly is
+lost to me.  Fool that I was to risk my life when I might have lot him
+drown.  No one could have said that I was guilty of his death."
+
+Human ear did not listen to the words he uttered, and a voice came to
+him, "You would have been guilty of his death if you could have saved
+him and would not."
+
+He had recovered sufficiently to sit up, and, as he gazed at the angry
+sea around, his experienced eye told him that even now he and all with
+him might be engulfed beneath it ere they could reach the shore.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Nelly and her grandmother stood with the group of anxious watchers near
+the beacon-fire, straining their eyes in a vain endeavour to pierce the
+gloom which hung over the ocean.  They could hear the sea's savage roar
+as it lashed the rocks at their feet and sent the spray flying over
+them; but they could only see the white crests of the waves as they rose
+and fell, and every instant it seemed to their loving hearts that these
+fierce waves came in with greater force than heretofore.
+
+Could the "Rescue," stout and well-formed as she was, live amid that
+fierce tumult of waters?  Might not those who had bravely gone forth to
+save their fellow-creatures, too probably perish with them?
+
+Still, notwithstanding their fears, they listened hoping to hear the cry
+which those in the boat would raise as they drew near the shore, should
+success have attended their efforts.  Again and again they asked each
+other, if the boat would not now be returning?  Oh! how long the time
+seemed since they went away!  A short half-hour had often sufficed to go
+to the Gull Rock and back.  An hour or more had elapsed since the
+"Rescue" left the harbour, and no sign of her could be discerned.
+
+"We must take into account the heavy seas she will have to meet; they
+will keep her busy for a goodish time with her bows towards them,"
+observed an old fisherman.  "Uncle Reuben knows what he is about, and if
+there is a man can steer the `Rescue' on a night like this he can.  A
+worse sea, in which a boat might live, I never saw.  There is little
+likelihood of its getting better either, by the look of the sky."
+
+The last remark was not encouraging; still, while a possibility remained
+of the return of the boat, none among the anxious group would, in spite
+of the rain and spray and fierce wind, leave the point.
+
+At length a sharp-eyed youngster darted forward to the extreme end of
+the rock, at the risk of being washed off by the next breaker which
+dashed against it.
+
+"I see her!  I see her!" he shouted.
+
+There was a rush forward.  Dame Lanreath held her granddaughter back.
+
+"You cannot bring them in sooner, Nelly," she said, "and, my child,
+prepare your heart for what God may have ordered.  Seek for strength,
+Nelly, to be able to say, `Thy will be done!'"
+
+"I am trying," groaned Nelly; "but O granny, why do you say that?"
+
+"It is better to be prepared for bad tidings before they come," answered
+the dame; "but it maybe that God has willed that Michael should be
+saved, and so let us be ready with a grateful heart to welcome him; but
+whichever way it is, remember that it is for the best."
+
+The dame herself, notwithstanding what she said, felt her own heart
+depressed.
+
+A simultaneous shout arose from the men and boys who had gone to the end
+of the point.
+
+"The boat! the boat!  It is her, no doubt about it," they cried out, and
+then most of them hurried away to the landing-place to welcome their
+friends and assist them on shore.
+
+The dame and Nelly followed them.  Some still remained at the point,
+knowing that there was yet another danger to be passed at the very
+entrance of the harbour, for a cross sea breaking at its mouth might
+hurl the boat, in spite of the efforts of the rowers, against the rocks,
+and those who had toiled so long, worn out with fatigue, would require
+assistance, for, unaided, their lives might be lost.
+
+As the boat drew near her crew raised a shout in return to the greeting,
+of their friends.  Perfect silence followed as the "Rescue" neared the
+dangerous point.  In an instant it was passed, though a sea breaking
+over her deluged the crew.
+
+"Are they all saved?" shouted several voices.
+
+"Some, but not all; but our boys are here: tell my dame," shouted Reuben
+as the boat glided by.
+
+Nelly heard the answer.  With trembling knees she stood on the
+landing-place supported by Dame Lanreath, while the light of several
+lanterns fell on the boat and the figures of those in her as she came
+alongside.
+
+Eager hands were ready to help the well-nigh exhausted crew on shore.
+Nelly tried to distinguish the countenances of the men--the light
+falling on her pale face as she stooped over.
+
+"He is here, Nelly; Michael is safe," cried Uncle Reuben, and Simon,
+with two or three others, speedily assisted Michael on shore.
+
+Nelly, regardless of those around, threw her arms round his neck, and
+kissed his lips and cheeks, while the dame with others helped him to
+move away from the quay.
+
+"I shall soon be strong again, Nelly," he whispered.  "God be praised
+for His mercies to us.  My sorest thought was, as I felt myself in the
+breakers, that you and granny would be left without me to help you."
+
+At the moment that Nelly's arms were about her betrothed, a man in the
+boat, refusing the aid of others, sprang on shore.  As he passed, Dame
+Lanreath caught a glimpse of the haggard features of Eban Cowan.  He
+rushed on without stopping to receive the greetings of any of those
+gathered on the quay, and was quickly lost to sight as he made his way
+up the glen.
+
+"Eban seems in a strange mood," observed Simon.  "He might have stopped
+till Michael and all of us had thanked him for his brave act; he seems
+as if he was sorry he had done it, or was wishing that he was with the
+other poor fellows who are lying out there among the rocks."
+
+Michael was too weak to walk.  Uncle Reuben invited him to come to his
+cottage; but he wished to return home, and there was no lack of willing
+arms to carry him.
+
+"Where is David Treloar?" he asked.  "If it had not been for him I
+should have been washed off the spar, but he held me on till I was
+hauled on board."
+
+"David! poor fellow! he is among those who are gone," was the answer.
+"If it was he who was on the spar with you, he would not, it seems, quit
+it till he thought you were safe; and meantime his strength must have
+gone before help could reach him."
+
+"Then he lost his life to save mine," said Michael, deeply grieved.
+"And how was I saved?"
+
+"By that brave fellow, Eban Cowan, who jumped overboard, and brought you
+on board," answered Uncle Reuben.
+
+"Where is he, that I may shake him by the hand, and thank him?" inquired
+Michael; but Eban was not to be found.
+
+Michael hoped the next morning to be able to go to the mill and thank
+Eban.
+
+Nelly wondered at what she heard, recollecting Eban's visit to her a few
+hours before; but she said nothing.  Indeed, by that time, with a sail,
+a litter had been rigged, on which his friends carried Michael to his
+cottage, Dame Lanreath and Nelly following them.
+
+The rest of the population of the village hastened to their homes,
+several with hearts grieving for those who had been lost.  They did not,
+however, find any lack of friends to comfort them--for all could
+sympathise where all knew that the like misfortune might some day happen
+to themselves.  Uncle Reuben, too, had ample cause for grief.  The
+little vessel on which he depended for the subsistence of his family had
+gone to pieces, and it would be a hard matter to obtain another.  And
+honest David and the other lads in whom he was interested were gone; but
+his young boys were saved, and he felt thankful for the mercies granted
+him.
+
+Michael, carefully watched over by Nelly, and doctored by the dame, soon
+recovered his strength.  As soon as he was strong enough, he told Nelly
+that he must go and tell Eban how thankful he was to him for saving his
+life.
+
+Nelly, on this, gave him an account of what had occurred on that
+eventful evening of the wreck.  He was greatly astonished.
+
+"But he is a brave fellow, Nelly; and though I cannot say what I should
+have been ready to do to him had I known it before, yet he saved my
+life, and risked his to do so, and I must not forget that.  I must
+forget all else, and go and thank him heartily."
+
+"Go, Michael," said Nelly, "and tell him that I bless him from my heart,
+and wish him every happiness; but do not ask him to come here.  It is
+better for his sake he should not be seeing me and fancying that I can
+ever care for him."
+
+Michael promised to behave discreetly in the matter, and set off.
+
+The heavy gale was still blowing.  He wondered as he went along how the
+path was so much steeper and rougher than it used to be, not aware how
+greatly his strength had decreased.
+
+On reaching the mill he saw old Cowan standing at the door.  He inquired
+for Eban.
+
+"Where is he?  That's more than I can tell you, lad," he answered.  "He
+went away the other evening and has not since come back.  I do not
+inquire after his movements, and so I suppose it is all right."
+
+Michael then told the old man of the service his son had rendered him.
+
+"Glad he saved thy life, lad; he is a brave fellow, no doubt of that;
+but it is strange that he should not have come in to have his clothes
+dried and get some rest."
+
+None of the household could give any further account of Eban.
+
+Michael, again expressing such thanks as his heart prompted, returned
+home.
+
+Several days passed and rumours came that Eban had been seen on the way
+to Falmouth: and his father, who had become anxious about him, setting
+off, discovered that he had gone on board a large ship which had put in
+there to seek shelter from the gale.  He had left no message, and no
+letter was received by any of his family to say why he had gone, or what
+were his intentions for the future.
+
+During the winter two or three seizures of smuggled goods were made;
+they belonged to the band of which Eban was supposed to have been the
+leader: and old Cowan, whose venture it was known they were, became
+gradually downcast and desponding.  His fishing-boats were unsuccessful;
+he offered one for sale, which Uncle Reuben and Michael purchased
+between them; another was lost; and, his mill being burned down, he died
+soon afterwards broken-hearted, leaving his family in utter destitution.
+
+In the spring Michael and Nelly married.  The wedding, if not a very gay
+one, was the merriest which had occurred in the village for many a day,
+nor were any of the usual customs in that part of Cornwall omitted.
+
+Dame Lanreath declared that she felt younger than she had been for the
+last ten years, or twenty for that matter, and Uncle Reuben had
+recovered from his rheumatism with the warm spring weather.  The
+pilchard harvest in that year was unusually early and abundant, and
+Michael was able to increase the size of his house and improve its
+appearance, while he gave his young wife many comforts, which he
+declared no one so well deserved.  No one disputed the point; indeed,
+all agreed that a finer and happier young couple was not to be found
+along the Cornish coast.
+
+They were grateful to God for the happiness they enjoyed, and while they
+prayed that it might be prolonged, and that their lives might be spared,
+they did not forget that He Who had the power to give had the right to
+take away.  But, trusting to His mercy and loving-kindness, they hoped
+that He would think fit to protect them during their lives on earth,
+while they could with confidence look forward to that glorious future
+where there will be no more sorrow and no more parting.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Michael Penguyne, by William H. G. Kingston
+
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