m the way to Shiny Wall: but they did
not know. Then he tried to find out how she moved, and at last he saw
her screw, and was so delighted with it that he played under her quarter
all day, till he nearly had his nose knocked off by the fans, and
thought it time to move. Then he watched the sailors upon deck, and the
ladies, with their bonnets and parasols: but none of them could see him,
because their eyes were not opened,--as, indeed, most people's eyes are
not.

At last there came out into the quarter-gallery a very pretty lady, in
deep black widow's weeds, and in her arms a baby. She leaned over the
quarter-gallery, and looked back and back toward England far away; and
as she looked she sang:

I.

"_Soft soft wind, from out the sweet south sliding,
Waft thy silver cloud-webs athwart the summer sea;
Thin thin threads of mist on dewy fingers twining
Weave a veil of dappled gauze to shade my babe and me._

II.

"_Deep deep Love, within thine own abyss abiding,
Pour Thyself abroad, O Lord, on earth and air and sea;
Worn weary hearts within Thy holy temple hiding,
Shield from sorrow, sin, and shame my helpless babe and me._"

Her voice was so soft and low, and the music of the air so sweet, that
Tom could have listened to it all day. But as she held the baby over the
gallery rail, to show it the dolphins leaping and the water gurgling in
the ship's wake, lo! and behold, the baby saw Tom.

He was quite sure of that; for when their eyes met, the baby smiled and
held out his hands; and Tom smiled and held out his hands too; and the
baby kicked and leaped, as if it wanted to jump overboard to him.

"What do you see, my darling?" said the lady; and her eyes followed the
baby's till she too caught sight of Tom, swimming about among the
foam-beads below.

She gave a little shriek and start; and then she said, quite quietly,
"Babies in the sea? Well, perhaps it is the happiest place for them";
and waved her hand to Tom, and cried, "Wait a little, darling, only a
little: and perhaps we shall go with you and be at rest."

And at that an old nurse, all in black, came out and talked to her, and
drew her in. And Tom turned away northward, sad and wondering; and
watched the great steamer slide away into the dusk, and the lights on
board peep out one by one, and die out again, and the long bar of smoke
fade away into the evening mi