ceal her heightened color.

But much of her reserve vanished when they had set sail; and when the
small cutter was beginning to make way through the light and plashing
waves Wenna's face brightened. She no longer let her two companions
talk exclusively to each other. She began to show a great curiosity
about the little yacht; she grew anxious to have the lines flung out;
no words of hers could express her admiration for the beauty of the
afternoon and of the scene around her.

"Now, are you glad you came out?" he said to her.

"Yes," she answered shyly. "And you'll take my advice another time?"

"Do _you_ ever take any one's advice?" she said, venturing to look up.

"Yes, certainly," he answered, "when it agrees with my own
inclination. Who ever does any more than that?"

They had now got a good bit away from land.

"Skipper," said Trelyon to Mr. Grainger's man, "we'll put her about
now and let her drift. Here is a cigar for you: you can take it up to
the bow and smoke it, and keep a good lookout for the sea-serpent."

By this arrangement they obtained, as they sat and idly talked, an
excellent view of all the land around the bay, and of the pale, clear
sunset shining in the western skies. They lay almost motionless in the
lapping water: the light breeze scarcely stirred the loose canvas.
From time to time they could hear a sound of calling or laughing from
the distant fishing-boats; and that only seemed to increase the
silence around them.

It was an evening that invited to repose and reverie: there were not
even the usual fiery colors of the sunset to arouse and fix attention
by their rapidly-changing and glowing hues. The town itself, lying
darkly all around the sweep of the bay, was dusky and distant:
elsewhere all the world seemed to be flooded with the silver light
coming over from behind the western hills. The sky was of the palest
blue; the long mackerel clouds that stretched across were of the
faintest yellow and lightest gray; and into that shining gray rose the
black stems of the trees that were just over the outline of these low
heights. St. Michael's-Mount had its summit touched by the pale glow:
the rest of the giant rock and the far stretches of sea around it were
gray with mist. But close by the boat there was a sharper light on the
lapping waves and on the tall spars, while it was warm enough to
heighten the color on Wenna's face as she sat and looked silently at
the great and open world aroun