mingled with the sound as he skimmed along the gloomy water, and my
heart grew heavier. There is something--I know not what--terribly in
unison with our saddest thoughts, in the dull plash of the sea at night:
the loudest thunders of the storm, when white-crested waves rise
high and break in ten thousand eddies on the dark rocks, are not so
suggestive of melancholy as the sighing moan of the midnight tide.
Long-buried griefs, long-forgotten sorrows, rise up as we listen; and
we feel as though that wailing cry were the funeral chant over cherished
hopes and treasured aspirations.

From my dark musings I was roused suddenly by Darby's voice, asking of
the men who sat at the opposite side how the wind was.

"Westing by south," replied one; "as fair as need be, if there was
enough of it. But who knows, we may have a capful yet, when the sun gets
up."

"We 'll not have long to wait for that," cried the other; "see there!"

I lifted my eyes as he spoke, and beheld the pink stain of coming day
rising above the top of a large mountain.

"That's Howth," said Darby, seizing with eagerness the proof of my
returning senses.

"Come, press on as fast as you can," said one of the men; "we must catch
the ebb, or we'll never do it."

"Where does she lie?" said Darby, in a low whisper.

"Under the cliffs, in Bolskaton Bay," said the last speaker, whom I now
perceived by his dress and language to be a sailor.

My curiosity was now excited to the utmost to know whither we were
bound; and with an effort I articulated the one word, "Where?"

Darby's eyes brightened as I spoke; he pressed my hand firmly within
his, but made no reply. Attributing his silence to caution, I pressed
him no further; and indeed, already my former indifference came back on
me, and I felt listless as before.

"Turn off there to the right," cried the sailor to the driver. And
suddenly we left the highroad, and entered a narrow byway, which seemed
to lead along the side of the mountain close to the water's edge. Before
we had proceeded far in this direction, a long, low whistle was heard
from a distance.

"Stop there, stop!" said the sailor, as he knelt upon the car, and
replied to the signal. "Ay, all right; there they are," said he, as,
pointing to a little creek between the rocks below us, we saw a small
rowboat with six men lying on their oars.

"Can't he walk?" said the sailor, in a half whisper, as he stood beside
the car. "Well, let 's lose no