at towards an opening in the
reef, which was of coral, and surrounded the island. The afflicted
daughter gazed in silent grief at the box, and did not speak a word till
the boat entered a little inlet, which Noddy had chosen as a
landing-place.

He stepped on shore, and secured the boat to a bush which grew on the
bank. Mollie followed him in silence, and selected a place for the
grave. It was at the foot of a cocoa palm. The spot was as beautiful as
the heart could desire for such a holy purpose; and Noddy commenced his
work. The soil was light and loose, and after much severe labor, he made
a grave about three feet deep. It would be impossible for him to lower
the box into the grave; and, from one end, he dug out an inclined plane,
down which he could roll the corpse to its final resting-place.

It required all his skill, strength, and ingenuity to disembark the box;
but this was finally accomplished, with such assistance as the weeping
daughter could render. The rude coffin was then moved on rollers to the
foot of the tree, and deposited in the grave. Mollie opened the book to
the funeral prayer, and handed it to her companion. Severe as the labor
he had performed had been, he regarded this as far more trying. He could
not refuse, when he saw the poor girl, weeping as though her heart would
break, kneel down at the head of the grave. Fortunately he had read this
prayer many times since it had been used at the obsequies of Mr. Watts,
and it was familiar to him. Awed and impressed by the solemn task
imposed upon him, he read the prayer in trembling, husky tones. But he
was more earnest and sincere than many who read the same service in
Christian lands. It touched his own heart, and again the good Father
seemed to be very near to him.

The reading was finished, and the loving girl, not content with what had
been done, gathered wild flowers, rich and luxuriant in that sunny
clime, and showered them, as a tribute of affection, on the rough
coffin. Noddy filled up the trench first, and then, amid the sobs of the
poor child, covered all that remained of her father. With what art he
possessed he arranged the green sods, as he had seen them in the
graveyard at Whitestone. Mollie covered the spot with flowers, and then
seemed loath to leave the grave.

From the beginning, Noddy had trembled lest she should ask to look once
more on the face of the departed. He had been horrified at the sight
himself, and he knew that the di