ng about
his temples; and that Miss Trevor was bending over him with streaming
eyes that gazed down upon him wild with anxiety and grief.

"Why, what is this? what is the matter? and why am I lying here idle
when I ought to be on deck looking after the ship?" he murmured,
attempting at the same time to rise.

But the imprisoning arms held him firmly down; the streaming eyes met
his in an intensity of gaze that seemed to devour him; and the tender
voice gain cried with indescribable fervour--

"Thank God; oh, thank God for this great mercy! You _are_ alive! And
you will continue to live. Yes, you _must_ live; promise me that you
will. Here; drink this, quickly." And she held to his lips a tumbler
containing a liquid that, pungent to the taste, at once revived him.

"Thanks; a thousand thanks!" murmured Leslie, gratefully. "I feel
better now. Please let me get up; I must go on deck at once."

"No; no, you must not; indeed you must not; there is no need," answered
Miss Trevor; and Leslie thought he detected a tone of sadness mingled
with relief in the accents of her voice.

"No need?" ejaculated Leslie; "but indeed there _is_ need--" and then he
paused abruptly; for it had suddenly dawned upon him that the brig had a
distinct list to port, and that she was _motionless_; not with the
buoyant motionlessness of a ship afloat in a calm, but with the absolute
absence of all movement characteristic of a ship in dry dock, or
_stranded_!

"Good heavens! what has happened?" he ejaculated. "Tell me, please, at
once!" and he again attempted to rise.

But again his self-constituted nurse restrained him.

"Oh, please, _please_, do not move," she entreated. "You _must_ obey
me, now; or you will _never_ get better. I will tell you everything;
but indeed you must not attempt to rise; for, as I said just now, there
is no need. The ship is quite safe; I am sure that nothing further can
happen to her, at least not for some time to come; and long ere that
time arrives you will, please God, be well again, and in a fit state to
do whatever seems best to you."

"Nevertheless," answered Leslie, "I should like to see the carpenter, if
you will have the goodness to call him to me. I perceive that the brig
is ashore--though _where_, I have not the remotest notion; and he will
be able to tell me, far more clearly than you can, exactly what has
happened."

The girl leaned over Leslie, and looked down at him with eyes full of