bodies were being hurled and rolled among rocks and stones on the beach, this slight thing had been caught up on the crest of a surge and flung beyond the rocks and boulders margining the sea, into the protected waters of the inner bay, where it would float in comparative safety till, on the subsidence of the tide, it stranded on the shore.

Roderick took it up and undid the swathings, that it might freely use its limbs. At once the infant ceased its wailing; it stretched its little arms, and, looking into his face, it smiled. Who that is human, not to say humane, could resist the appeal?--the flattery of being approved by a pure fresh soul, all untarnished by the world's guile, and so lately come from heaven!

"The baby smiled, and twined its fingers in his
whisker-ends." Page 19.

Roderick was enthralled at once. 'You poor wee darling,' he said, 'we cannot leave you here alone, waiting till other help finds you; you must come with me!'

The baby smiled again, and twined its fingers in his whisker ends. Roderick wrapped it again in its shawls, remounted the pony, and proceeded on his way.

He could not but look back regretfully at the poor dead mother, whom he seemed to be separating from her child; but there was nothing he could do for her without assistance, and that he must go miles to seek, and he knew it would arrive equally soon without his intervention.

He passed a good deal more wreckage as he went, but nothing that had life, nor any more bodies of the drowned. Leaving the shore, he came in time to Effick Bridge. It had withstood the spate, and though badly shaken, was still available for crossing the stream. The waters had subsided over the flooded meadows, and after crossing these he began to ascend the hill. It was a tedious task; the soil was washed away in places, and in others stones had rolled from above, among which he had to pick his way carefully, lest a jolt should disturb his fragile burden.

The morning coach for Inverlyon reached the brow of the hill, coming down, while he was still wending upwards. It stopped there, and its passengers were required to alight, and make their way downward on foot, while the driver, with all precaution, guided his team and the empty vehicle over the encumbered track. The passengers included a parishioner or two of the minister's, who by and by encountered him on their descent, and greeted him effusively. His response, however, was absent and constrained, he was wholly disinclined to stand still in the middle of the tedious ascent, or engage in the desultory gossip so dear to his rustic friends. In truth, he was worn out. His tempestuous journey over-night, the early start without breakfast, the sad spectacle of death which he had beheld, and doubts how best to do his duty to his helpless charge, had thrown him into a melancholy and preoccupied mood, and deprived him of all power to enter into indifferent chat. He made no attempt, therefore, to rein up the 'pownie,' and that canny beast went tranquilly forward, picking his steps as seemed best among the sods and heather tufts by the side of the road.

'What's come ower the minister? He wad scarce gie us the time o' day as he gaed by, an' he glowered at a body like the far awa end o' Willie Cant's fiddle. An' what brings him awa down here at this time o' day? An' ridin' on that godless chield, Patey Soutar's pownie! I'm sair misdoubtin' but he's been after nae gude!'

'Hoot, awa! Peter Malloch, ye maunna judge sae hard. I'm jalousin' he's been awa a' nicht, an' aiblins he's meditatin' on his next discoorse. Gin he'd gotten as far as the twalthly, or even the seventhly, ye see, he wadna be for brecken aff, to haver wi' a curran fules, ower a' the clashes o' the country side.'

'Speak for yersel, Tammas! An' dinna ye be for judgin' the office-bearers o' the Lord's Kirk by yer ain silly sel'. I'm thinkin gin he'd kenned a' 'at I cud hae telt him, he'd hae frisket up his legs, an' drawn bridle fast enough. The Sustentation Fund's prosperin' bye a' expectation, an' I wad hae telled him a' about it. But noo he can juist bide till the next Deacons' Coort, whan I'll read my report. Set him up wi' his high looks! Is't no me 'ats gatherin' the siller that's to pay him wi?'

'Hoot! Peter, man, I'm thinkin' he was that carried like in's mind, he didna ken even wha it was gaed by! But I'm sayin', Peter, what was yon the minister was carryin' afore him on the saidle, 'at he took sae muckle tent on? It was sma' an' muckle happit up, an' he ne'er took his e'en aff it. Gin it hadna been him I'd hae said it was a bairn, an' he was blate ower 't.'

The subject of the discussion went on his way, unwitting of the offence he had given. 'Tammas' was scarcely wrong in surmising that he did not know who passed. Had he been questioned at the moment he would no doubt have answered correctly, but as there was no one to do so, the impression on his consciousness glanced off, causing, indeed, the mechanical salutation at the moment, but powerless to influence his thought.

Upward toils the pony, picking his steps from one soft sod to the next; the rider sunk in a brown study lets the bridle hang loosely on his neck, and the baby, rocked by the springy undulations of his gait, sleeps again, unconscious and content. The summit is gained in time, the road grows easier, and the pace mends, till a shout in front startles their drowsy senses.

'Hallo! Roddie!--halt! You're not going to pass an old friend like that!'

Roderick, wakening with a start, catches the bridle of the good-natured beast, which has already come to a stand. A middle-aged gentleman is descending a heathery knoll overhanging the road, and carries a salmon rod on his shoulder, and a boy follows with his basket, apparently well filled, and from which there peers a companionable-looking bottle neck.

'Good morning! Captain Drysdale.'

'Good morning, Roddie! Glad to see you after so long.'

'Going to try a last cast at the salmon before the fishing closes? You have every prospect of good sport. The water looked splendid at the bridge as I came over. The spate has fallen, but the water is still brown, and dotted with foam-spots. You will have a fine day's sport.'

'I hope so, lad! And I only wish you were coming with me! Od! Roddie, do you ever think of the jolly days we used to have, when young Kenneth was at home, lad! The fishing! and the days after the grouse! we expect Kenneth home to-day for three months' leave,--in fact he should have come last night. I wish you were to be with us too, old man!'

'Thanks, Captain John; but that can scarcely be. A minister should have other things to think about,--at least the Presbytery would say so, and I do not think the General would relish the crack of a dissenter's gun on any moor of his.'

'Hang the dissenters! and that weary Free Kirk that has set the people by the ears. I never could understand how they contrived to inveigle a sensible fellow like you--gentle born and bred, and your father's son, in among a crew of canting demagogues.'

'Please don't! Captain Drysdale. Nothing but a conviction that it was right could have led me to take the step, and give up so much of what I valued most. Having that conviction, I am sure even you must approve my acting up to it. My choice has cost me much, but I counted, the cost before I made it. So, as regards the church, we had better "let that flea stick to the wa'" as my beadle says. We might argue till we vexed each other, but neither would be converted to the other's views.'

'Well, Roddie! And