k at last discovered that his guest had fallen into a profound
slumber, he brought his amazing narrative to an abrupt close, and,
wrapping himself in a reindeer-skin, resigned himself to that repose
which was so much needed to fit him for the combat of the approaching
day.

It was a brilliant sunny morning when Red Rooney awoke from a startling
dream, in which he had been wrestling with monstrous creatures in the
depths of ocean as well as in the bowels of the earth.

The wizard was still locked in apparently dreamless slumber. Unwilling
to disturb him, the seaman glided quietly out, and clambered to the top
of a cliff, whence a magnificent sea-view was revealed to his wondering
gaze.

There are times when the atmosphere of this earth seems to be rarefied
and freshened with celestial zephyrs, which not only half intoxicate the
spirit, but intensify the powers of hearing and vision, so that gentle
sounds which are very far off come floating to us, and mingle softly
with those that are near at hand, while objects are seen at such immense
distances that one feels as if the world itself had suddenly grown
larger. To these influences were added on this occasion a sea which
absolutely glittered with the icy gems that decked her calm and waveless
bosom. It was not only that millions of white and glittering peaks,
with facets and edges gleaming like diamonds, rose into the blue sky,
but here and there open lanes of water, and elsewhere lakes and little
ponds upon the melting ice caught the full orb of the rising sun, and
sent its reflection into the man's eyes with dazzling refulgence, while
the ripple or rush of ice-born water-falls and the plaintive cries of
wild-fowl gave variety and animation to the scene. In a mind less
religiously disposed than that of our seaman, the sights and sounds
would have irresistibly aroused grateful thoughts to our Creator. On
Rooney the effect was almost overpowering, yet, strange to say, it drew
no word of thanksgiving from his lips. Clasping his hands and shutting
his eyes, he muttered with bowed head the words, "God, be merciful to me
a sinner!"

Perhaps the recognition of the Father's great goodness and
condescension, coupled with his own absolute unworthiness, and the
impulse which called those words forth, was nearly the highest act of
worship which the sailor could have offered.

Far below, under the sheltering cliff, the huts of the Eskimo village
could be seen like little b