e of
broken plank between them on the table, and by means of a rope wound
round legs and table, effectually restrained the unruly members.

She then returned to her place on the soaking truckle-bed, and, leaning
her wet shoulders against the wall, endeavoured to think what was to be
done when the return of day should enable her to act. To act was easy
to Liz, but thought was difficult. In attempting it she fell sound
asleep. Her shape helped her; she did not require to lie down. Her
head merely dropped on one of her fat shoulders. The rotundity of her
frame rendered a collapse impossible. Thus she slept and snored until
daylight shone through the parchment windows--until Daddy awoke her with
a gasping cough.

"Hough! Hi! Liz, there's sumthin' wrang wi' my legs!"

"Hoots! haud yer gab!" cried his polite daughter, leaping from her damp
couch into the water, with no other evidence of feeling than a sharp
"Hech!" as the cold element laved her limbs. "There's naethin' wrang
wi' yer legs, only I've tied them to the table to keep them frae
tum'lin' aff."

"Mine boy, have he comin' back?" asked Mrs Winklemann, who was awakened
by the conversation.

"Na; he's no come back yet, but he'll be here afore lang, nae doot. Be
quiet noo, like guid bairns. I canna let yer legs doon yet, for the
floor's dreedfu' wat. There!" she added, casting loose the ropes and
arranging the limbs more comfortably; "jist let them lie where they are,
and I'll gie ye yer brekfists in a meenit."

She was as good as her word. In a few minutes the submissive pair were
busy with bread and cheese, which, with a little cold water, was the
only breakfast poor Liz had to give them.

While the morning meal was being dispensed the anxious little woman
thrust a bite or two into her own mouth, and ate as she moved about.
Then she told the old people she was "gauin' up the lum to look aboot
her." Without more ado she dipped into the fireplace and disappeared up
the chimney.

Her surprise on reaching this point of vantage was very great. The
cottage was no longer driven over the bosom of a wide sea, but floated
quietly in a calm basin surrounded by trees. During the night it had
been carried far down in the direction of Lake Winnipeg, and had got
entangled in one of the clumps of wood with which some parts of that
region were studded. The hut had been so completely thrust into the
copse that it was quite encompassed by foliage, and nothing of