ith the coming in of the tide;
and I see no prospect of its clearing up. As the night comes on, do ye
see, and if we do not fall in with the _Soho_, we shall have to haul up
the anchor, and run before the gale; and, with all my knowledge of the
coast, we may be driven ashore, and the boat swamped in the surf."

Flora sighed, and wished herself safe at home, in her dear, snug, little
parlour; the baby asleep in the cradle, and Lyndsay reading aloud to her
as she worked, or playing on his flute.

The rain again burst down in torrents,--the thunder roared over their
heads,--and the black, lurid sky, looked as if it contained a second
deluge. Flora shivered with cold and exhaustion, and bent more closely
over the child, to protect her as much as possible, by the exposure of
her own person, from the drenching rain and spray.

"Ah! this is sad work for women and children!" said the honest tar,
drawing a large tarpaulin over the mother and child. Blinded and
drenched by the pelting of the pitiless shower, Flora crouched down in
the bottom of the boat, in patient endurance of what might befal. The
wind blew piercingly cold; and the spray of the huge billows which burst
continually over them, enveloped the small craft in a feathery cloud,
effectually concealing from her weary passengers the black waste of
raging waters which roared around and beneath them.

The poor infant was starving with hunger, and all Flora's efforts to
keep it quiet proved unavailing. The gentlemen were as sick and helpless
as the baby, and nothing could well increase their wretchedness. They
had now been ten hours at sea; and, not expecting the least detention
from the non-arrival of the steamer, nothing in the way of refreshment
had formed any part of their luggage. Those who had escaped the horrors
of sea-sickness, of which Flora was one, were suffering from thirst,
while the keen air had sharpened their appetites to a ravenous degree.

In spite of their forlorn situation, Flora could not help being amused
by the gay, careless manner, in which the crew of the boat contended
with these difficulties.

"Well, I'll be blowed if I arn't hungry!" cried Craigie, as he stood up
in the boat, with his arms folded, and his nor'wester pulled over his
eyes, to ward off the drenching rain. "Nothin' would come amiss to me
now, in the way of prog. I could digest a bit of the shark that
swallowed Jonah, or pick a rib of the old prophet himself, without
making a wr