turning to kiss and
kiss again, and once more did the soft voice put the question,--"Do you
love me?"

"Better than goose," replied Jack.

"I don't know who goose may be," replied the fairy form, as she tossed
about Jack's waving locks; "you must love only me; promise me that
before I am relieved."

"What, have you got the first watch, as well as me?" replied Jack.

"I am on duty just now, but I shall not be so long. We southerly winds
are never kept long in one place; some of my sisters will probably be
sent here soon."

"I don't understand what you talk about," replied Jack. "Suppose you
tell me who you are, and what you are, and I'll do all I can to keep
awake; I don't know how it is, but I've felt more inclined to go to
sleep since you have been fanning me about, than I did before."

"Then I will remain by your side while you listen to me. I am, as I
told you, a wind--"

"That's puzzling," said Jack, interrupting her.

"My name is `South West and by West three-quarters West.'"

"Yes, and a very long name it is. If you wish me to remember you, you
should have had a shorter one."

This ruffled the wind a little, and she blew rather sharp into the
corner of Jack's eye,--however, she proceeded,--

"You are a sailor, and of course you know all the winds on the compass
by name."

"I wish I did; but I don't," replied Littlebrain, "I can recollect you,
and not one other."

Again the wind trembled with delight on his lips, and she
proceeded:--"You know that there are thirty-two points on the compass,
and these points are divided into quarters; so that there are, in fact,
128 different winds."

"There are more than I could ever remember; I know that," said Jack.

"Well, we are in all 128. All the winds which have northerly in them,
are coarse and ugly; all the southern winds are pretty."

"You don't say so?" replied our hero.

"We are summoned to blow, as required, but the hardest duty generally
falls to the northerly winds, as it should do, for they are the
strongest; although we southerly winds can--blow hard enough when we
choose. Our characters are somewhat different. The most unhappy in
disposition, and I may say, the most malevolent, are the north and
easterly winds; the North West winds are powerful, but not unkind; the
South East winds vary, but, at all events, we of the South West are
considered the mildest and most beneficent. Do you understand me?"

"Not altogether. You're going rig