other and her child in
the boat. Lyndsay, Mr. Hawke, his son, Adam Mansel, and lastly Hannah,
followed. Three cheers arose from the sailors on the beach. The gallant
boat dashed through the surf, and was soon bounding over the giant
billows.

Mr. Hawke and friend Adam had never been on the sea before, but they
determined not to bid adieu to the emigrants until they saw them safe on
board the steamer.

"I will never take a last look of the dear home in which I have passed
so many happy hours," said Flora, resolutely turning her back to the
shore. "I cannot yet realize the thought that I am never to see it
again."

CHAPTER XIV.

AN OPEN BOAT AT SEA.

Flora's spirits rose in proportion to the novelty and danger of her
situation. All useless regrets and repinings were banished from her
breast the moment she embarked upon that stormy ocean. The parting,
which, when far off, had weighed so heavily on her heart, was over; the
present was full of excitement and interest; the time for action had
arrived; and the consciousness that they were actually on their way to a
distant clime, braced her mind to bear with becoming fortitude this
great epoch of her life.

The gale lulled for a few minutes, and Flora looked up to the leaden
sky, in the hope of catching one bright gleam from the sun. He seemed to
have abdicated his throne that day, and refused to cast even a glimpse
upon the dark, storm-tossed waters, or cheer with his presence the
departure of the emigrants.

The gentlemen made an effort to be lively. The conversation turned on
the conduct of women under trying circumstances--the courage and
constancy they had shown in situations of great peril--animating the
men to fresh exertions by their patient endurance of suffering and
privation. Mr. Hawke said, "That all travellers had agreed in their
observations upon the conduct of females to strangers; and that, when
travelling, they had never had occasion to complain of the women."

At this speech, Lyndsay, who began to feel all the horrible nausea of
sea-sickness, raised his head from between his hands, and replied with a
smile, "That it was the very reverse with women, for, when they
travelled, they had most reason to complain of the men."

The effects of the stormy weather soon became very apparent among the
passengers in the pilot-boat--sickness laid its leaden grasp upon all
the fresh-water sailors. Even Lyndsay, a hardy Islander, and used to
boats and boa