them wif me. Now I's
lonesome for them," she whimpered, "and I won't go to no Happy Land
wifout my fings. There!" declared the mutinous little maid, with an
emphatic waggle of her sunny head, such as she had seen Perry finish up
with when argument waxed warm between her and Molly the cook.

And just as Captain Dene had smiled sympathetically over a similar
speech of his small daughter's, so did the dwarf bend an understanding
gaze upon the winsome, wilful face, with its dewy eyes and quivering
lips. At the same time there came back to his memory a verse of a hymn
or poem, Bambo did not know which, that his mother had been very fond of
and often repeated:--

"Fair Anwoth by the Solway,
To me thou still art dear;
E'en from the verge of heaven
I drop for thee a tear.
Oh, if one soul from Anwoth
Meet me at God's right hand,
My heaven will be two heavens
In Immanuel's land."

"Should we try to go to the Happy Land some other time, do you think,
Mr. Bambo?" asked Darby anxiously, half frightened and wholly distressed
by the feeling of satisfaction which filled him at the prospect of going
back to the security of Firgrove. It seemed to him as if a return
implied an easy entrance at the wide gate upon the broad and pleasant
way, and turning their backs on the strait and narrow path, which had
proved so tortuous and stony for their tender, stumbling feet.

For an instant the dwarf hesitated, hardly knowing how to answer the
boy's question. Then he spoke.

"If I was you, I wouldn't set out again in search of the Happy Land;
because them that turns their backs upon the duties which lie close to
their hand, and their faces away from the place where God has put them,
never find a happy land, neither in this life nor in the next," said the
little man solemnly. "It mostly comes to folks, often when they little
expect; leastways it did to me," he added softly.

"I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean," said Darby, with a
puzzled pucker between his brows. "How could the Happy Land come to one?
Can you tell me that, please?"

"Well, if you're looking for a country on this side of time such as the
hymn describes, and I think that's the notion that's taken hold of your
wise wee head," said the dwarf, laying a gentle hand on the lad's dark
hair, "you'll never find it; for there's no such place as that in this
world--where the sun's always shining, and night never falls; where
folks ar