lt sea;
Which of them should go sailing
On the wide salt sea;"

and, wildly flourishing her arms, she stalked away towards the cliffs,
up which she climbed, still making the same violent gestures, although
her voice could no longer be heard, till she disappeared in the
distance.

A number of people had collected along the beach, eagerly looking out
for any portion of the wreck or cargo which might be washed on shore,
but they looked in vain; the sands swallowed up the heavier articles,
while the rest were swept by the tide out to sea. Nothing reached the
shore by which the name or character of the vessel which had just gone
to pieces could be discovered.

Adam Halliburt, finding that there was no probability of the weather
mending sufficiently to enable the _Nancy_ to put to sea, returned home.

"Look you, lads," he observed, calling his sons to his side; "you heard
what that poor mad woman said. You see how she was all in the wrong
when she told us not to put off to the wreck, and warned us that we
should come to harm if we did. Now, to my mind, she is just a poor mad
creature; but if she does know anything which others don't, it's Satan
who teaches her, and he was a liar from the beginning, and therefore she
is more likely to be wrong than right; and when you hear her ravings,
don't you care for them, but go on and do your duty, and God will take
care of you; leave that to Him."

"Ay, ay, father," answered Jacob; "she would have had us leave the
little maiden to perish, if we had listened to her; I will never forget
that."

While the elder lads went on board the _Nancy_ to do one of the
numberless jobs which a sailor always finds to be done on board his
craft, Jacob and his father entered the cottage.

The little girl was seated on the dame's knee, prattling in broken
language, which her kind nurse in vain endeavoured to understand. She
welcomed the fisherman and his son with a smile of recognition.

"Glad to see you well and happy, my pretty maiden," said Adam, stooping
down to kiss her fair brow, his big heart yearning towards her as if she
were truly his child.

"Maidy May," she said, with an emphasis on the last word, as if wishing
to tell him her proper name.

"Yes, our `Maiden May' you are," he answered, misunderstanding her, and
from that day forward Adam called her Maiden May, the rest of the family
imitating him, and she without question adopting the name.

CHAPTER FIVE.

DAME HAL