curved lines to their repose
upon the yellow sand; their surface occasionally rippled by the eddying
breeze as it swept along; his own little skiff safe at her moorings,
undulating with the swell; the sea-gulls, who but a few hours ago were
screaming with dismay as they buffeted against the fury of the gale, now
skimming on the waves, or balanced on the wing near to their
inaccessible retreats; the carolling of the smaller birds on every side
of him, produced a lightness of heart and quickened pulse, to which
Edward Forster had latterly been a stranger.

He soon arrived at the cottage, where the sound of his footsteps brought
out the fisherman and his wife, the latter bearing in her arms the
little object of his solicitude.

"See, Mr Forster," said Jane, holding out the infant, "it's quite well
and hearty, and does nothing but smile. What a lovely babe it is!"

Forster looked at the child, who smiled, as if in gratitude; but his
attention was called away by the Newfoundland dog, who fawned upon him,
and after having received his caresses, squatted down upon the sand,
which he beat with his tail as he looked wistfully in Forster's face.

Forster took the child from the arms of its new mother. "Thou hast had
a narrow escape, poor thing," said he, and his countenance assumed a
melancholy cast as the idea floated in his mind. "Who knows how many
more perils may await thee? Who can say whether thou art to be restored
to the arms of thy relatives, or be left an orphan to a sailor's care?
Whether it had not been better that the waves should have swallowed thee
in thy purity, than thou shouldest be exposed to a heartless world of
sorrow and of crime? But He who willed thee to be saved knows best for
us who are in darkness;" and Forster kissed its brow, and returned it to
the arms of Jane.

Having made a few arrangements with Robertson and his wife, in whose
care he resolved at present to leave the child, Forster bent his steps
towards the promontory, that he might ascertain if any part of the
vessel remained. Stretching over the summit of the cliff, he perceived
that several of the lower futtocks and timbers still hung together, and
showed themselves above water. Anxious to obtain some clue to her
identity, he prepared to descend by a winding and hazardous path which
he had before surmounted. In a quarter of an hour he had gained a
position close to the wreck; but, with the exception of the shattered
remnant which