of a nature, in his opinion, to shake a
resolution stronger than this young girl was like to oppose to it? That
would be like Christian's coming to his weapon called All-prayer, he said
to himself, with a smile that his early readings of Bunyan should have
furnished him an image for so different an occasion. The question was
one he could not settle till the time came,--he must leave it to the
instinct of the moment.

The next morning found him early waking after a night of feverish dreams.
He dressed himself with more than usual care, and walked down to the
wharf where the Swordfish was moored. The ship had left the wharf, and
was lying out in the stream: A small boat had just reached her, and a
slender youth, as he appeared at that distance, climbed, not
over-adroitly, up the vessel's side.

Murray Bradshaw called to a boatman near by and ordered the man to row
him over as fast as he could to the vessel lying in the stream. He had no
sooner reached the deck of the Swordfish than he asked for the young
person who had just been put on board.

"He is in the cabin, sir, just gone down with the captain," was the
reply.

His heart beat, in spite of his cool temperament, as he went down the
steps leading to the cabin. The young person was talking earnestly with
the captain, and, on his turning round, Mr. William Murray Bradshaw had
the pleasure of recognizing his young friend, Mr. Cyprian Eveleth.

CHAPTER VIII.

DOWN THE RIVER.

Look at the flower of a morning-glory the evening before the dawn which
is to see it unfold. The delicate petals are twisted into a spiral,
which at the appointed hour, when the sunlight touches the hidden springs
of its life, will uncoil itself and let the day into the chamber of its
virgin heart. But the spiral must unwind by its own law, and the hand
that shall try to hasten the process will only spoil the blossom which
would have expanded in symmetrical beauty under the rosy fingers of
morning.

We may take a hint from Nature's handling of the flower in dealing with
young souls, and especially with the souls of young girls, which, from
their organization and conditions, require more careful treatment than
those of their tougher-fibred brothers. Many parents reproach themselves
for not having enforced their own convictions on their children in the
face of every inborn antagonism they encountered. Let them not be too
severe in their self-condemnation. A want of judgment in