thing as peace in Europe.

R. DAVEY.

A PRINCESS OF THULE.

BY WILLIAM BLACK, AUTHOR OF "THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF A PHAETON."

CHAPTER XXII.

"LIKE HADRIANUS AND AUGUSTUS."

The island of Borva lay warm and green and bright under a blue sky;
there were no white curls of foam on Loch Roag, but only the long
Atlantic swell coming in to fall on the white beach; away over there
in the south the fine grays and purples of the giant Suainabhal shone
in the sunlight amid the clear air; and the beautiful sea-pyots flew
about the rocks, their screaming being the only sound audible in the
stillness. The King of Borva was down by the shore, seated on a stool,
and engaged in the idyllic operation of painting a boat which had been
hauled up on the sand. It was the Maighdean-mhara. He would let no
one else on the island touch Sheila's boat. Duncan, it is true, was
permitted to keep her masts and sails and seats sound and white, but
as for the decorative painting of the small craft--including a little
bit of amateur gilding--that was the exclusive right of Mr. Mackenzie
himself. For of course, the old man said; to himself, Sheila was
coming back to Borva one these days, and she would be proud to find
her own boat bright and sound. If she and her husband should resolve
to spend half the year in Stornoway, would not the small craft be of
use to her there? and sure he was that a prettier little vessel never
entered Stornoway Bay. Mr. Mackenzie was at this moment engaged in
putting a thin line of green round the white bulwarks that might have
been distinguished across Loch Roag, so keen and pure was the color.

A much heavier boat, broad-beamed, red-hulled and brown-sailed, was
slowly coming round the point at this moment. Mr. Mackenzie raised
his eyes from his work, and knew that Duncan was coming back from
Callernish. Some few minutes thereafter the boat was run in to her
moorings, and Duncan came along the beach with a parcel in his hand.
"Here wass your letters, sir," he said. "And there iss one of them
will be from Miss Sheila, if I wass make no mistake."

He remained there. Duncan generally knew pretty well when a letter
from Sheila was among the documents he had to deliver, and on such
an occasion he invariably lingered about to hear the news, which was
immediately spread abroad throughout the island. The old King of Borva
was not a garrulous man, but he was glad that the people about him
should know that his Sh