progress, and now the sea carried them out again towards the
mouth of the bay; but the lad still swam on with undaunted courage
towards the eager arms which were stretched out to assist him in
landing. At length he succeeded in getting near enough to allow Janet
to grasp her charge, and once having her in her arms, she bore her away
up the beach to a warm nook under the rocks, while the lad, his task
accomplished, made good his footing, and then, without waiting to
receive the congratulations of the girls, and the thanks which Janet
would have poured out, hurried off towards his home to change his wet
clothing.

Margaret, who had fainted, quickly returned to consciousness; and from
the remarks she made while Janet was putting on her dry clothing, she
seemed scarcely aware of what had occurred, nor till the other girls,
who had speedily dressed, gathered round her, did she understand the
danger in which she had been placed.

"Who is he? Can ony o' ye tell me the brave laddie's name? that I may
thank him and love him for saving my bairn," asked Janet. Some of the
girls gave one name, some another.

"Na, na, he is neither o' them," exclaimed one of the elder girls. "He
is young Alec Galbraith, whose father and mother live in the big house
over the links there. He gangs to the school, and my brothers ken him
weel."

Taking her bairn in her arms, Janet hastened homewards. The boys had
already started for school, ignorant of the danger to which their sister
had been exposed. Janet placed her on the bed, and now, for the first
time, giving way to her feelings, burst into tears. "I'll ne'er again
trust you to that treacherous sea, my own sweet bairn," she exclaimed,
bending over her. "If it had taken you away, I could na have lived to
come home and see the poor boys breaking their hearts, and they would
have had no one left to care for them. But our God is kind and
merciful, and we maun lift up our hearts to Him in praise and
thanksgiving."

"I will try to do so, dear Janet, though I feel that I cannot be
grateful enough to Him," said Margaret, in a faint voice, and
comprehending perhaps now far more than before, from the unusual
agitation of her nurse, the fearful peril through which she had been
preserved. "And, Janet," she added, in a whisper, "I should like to
thank, with my whole heart, the brave boy who swam out to me and brought
me safely on shore. I remember seeing him running along the rocks and
com