ing life upon such birds as she could catch, till at last the child sickened and died, and she followed him to that dim land that lies beyond Kerguelen and the world. She prayed that the child might die first. It was awful to think that perhaps it might be the other way about: she might die first, and the child might be left to starve beside her. The morrow would be Christmas Day. Last Christmas Day she had spent with her dead sister at Birmingham. She remembered that they went to church in the morning, and after dinner she had finished correcting the last revises of "Jemima's Vow." Well, it seemed likely that long before another Christmas came she would have gone to join little Jeannie. And then, being a good and religious girl, Augusta rose to her knees and prayed to Heaven with all her heart and soul to rescue them from their terrible position, or, if she was doomed to perish, at least to save the child.

And so the long cold night wore away in thought and vigil, till at last, some two hours before the dawn, she fell asleep. When she opened her eyes again it was broad daylight, and little Dick, who had been awake some time beside her, was sitting up playing with the shell which Bill and Johnnie had used to drink rum out of. She rose and put the child's things a little to rights, and then, as it was not raining, told him to run outside while she went through

from the effects of the tattooing, when Dick came running in without going through the formality of knocking.

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"O Auntie! Auntie!" he sang out in high glee,

'here's a big ship coming sailing along. Is it Mummie and Daddie coming to fetch Dick?"

Augusta sank back, faint with the sudden revulsion of feeling. If there was a ship, they were savedsnatched from the very jaws of death. But perhaps it was the child's fancy. She threw on the body of her dress; and, her long yellow hair—which, in default of better means, she had been trying to comb out with a bit of wood-streaming behind her, took the child by the hand, and flew as fast as she could go down the little rocky promontory off which Bill and Johnnie had met their end. Before she had run half-way down it, she saw that the child's tale was true-for there was a large vessel sailing right up the fjord from the open sea. She was not two hundred yards from where they were, and her canvas was being rapidly furled preparatory to the dropping of the anchor.

Thanking Providence for the sight as she never thanked anything before, Augusta sped on till she came to the extreme point of the promontory, and stood there waving Dick's little cap towards the vessel, which moved slowly and majestically on, till presently, across the clear water, came the splash of the anchor, followed

by the sound of the fierce rattle of the chain through the hawse-pipes. Then there came another sound— the glad sound of human voices cheering. She had been seen.

Five minutes passed, and she saw a boat lowered and manned. The oars were got out, and presently it was backing water within ten paces of her.

"Go round there," she called, pointing to the little bay, "and I will meet you."

By the time that she had come to the spot the boat was already beached, and a tall, thin, kindly-faced man was addressing her in an unmistakable Yankee accent: "Cast away, Miss?" he said interrogatively.

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Yes," gasped Augusta; "we are the survivors of the Kangaroo, which sank in collision with a whaler about a week ago."

"Ah!" said the captain, "with a whaler? Then I guess that's where my consort has gone to. She's been missing about a week, and I put in here to see if I could get upon her tracks also to fill up with water. Wall, she was well insured, anyway; and when last we spoke her, she had made a very poor catch. But perhaps, Miss, you will, at your convenience, favour me with a few particulars?"

Accordingly, Augusta sketched the history of their terrible adventure in as few words as possible; and the tale was one that made even the phlegmatic

M

Yankee captain stare. Then she took him, followed by the crew, to the hut where Meeson lay dead, and to the other hut, where she and Dick had slept upon the previous night.

"Wall, Miss," said the captain, whose name was Thomas, "I guess that you and the youngster will be about ready to vacate these apartments; so, if you please, I will send you off to the ship, the Harpoonthat's her name-of Norfolk, in the United States. You will find her well flavoured with oil, for we are about full to the hatches; but, perhaps, under the circumstances, you will not mind that. Anyway, my Missus, who is aboard-having come the cruise for her health-and who is an English woman like you, will do all she can to make you comfortable. And I will tell you what it is, Miss: if I was in any way pious, I should just thank the Almighty that I happened to see that there bit of a flag with my spy-glass as I was sailing along the coast at sun-up this morning, for I had no intention of putting in at this creek, but at one twenty miles along. And now, Miss, if you'll go aboard, some of us will stop and just tuck up the dead gentleman as well as we can."

Augusta thanked him from her heart, and, going into the hut, fetched her hat and the roll of sovereigns which had been Mr. Meeson's, but which he had told her to take, leaving the blankets to be brought by the men.