race
of mortals? Is it not a noble ambition?"

"A dangerous one--most dangerous."

"And therefore most noble. They seem as if they would speak to me: look
at you bright star--it beckons to me."

For some time, Amine's eyes were raised aloft; she spoke not, and Philip
remained at her side. She walked to the gangway of the vessel, and
looked down upon the placid wave, pierced by the moonbeams far below the
surface.

"And does your imagination, Amine, conjure up a race of beings gifted to
live beneath that deep blue wave, who sport amidst the coral rocks, and
braid their hair with pearls?" said Philip, smiling.

"I know not, but it appears to me that it would be sweet to live there.
You may call to mind your dream, Philip; I was then, according to your
description, one of those same beings."

"You were," replied Philip, thoughtfully.

"And yet I feel as if water would reject me, even if the vessel were to
sink. In what manner this mortal frame of mine may be resolved into its
elements, I know not; but this I do feel, that it never will become the
sport of, or be tossed by, the mocking waves. But come in, Philip,
dearest; it is late, and the decks are wet with dew."

When the day dawned, the look-out man at the masthead reported that he
perceived something floating on the still surface of the water, on the
beam of the vessel. Krantz went up with his glass to examine, and made
it out to be a small boat, probably cut adrift from some vessel. As
there was no appearance of wind, Philip permitted a boat to be sent to
examine it and after a long pull, the seamen returned on board, towing
the small boat astern.

"There is a body of a man in it, sir," said the second mate to Krantz,
as he gained the gangway; "but whether he is quite dead or not, I cannot
tell."

Krantz reported this to Philip, who was, at that time sitting at
breakfast with Amine, in the cabin, and then proceeded to the gangway,
to where the body of the man had been already handed up by the seamen.
The surgeon, who had been summoned, declared that life was not yet
extinct, and was ordering him to be taken below, for recovery, when, to
their astonishment, the man turned as he lay, sat up, and ultimately
rose upon his feet and staggered to a gun, when, after a time, he
appeared to be fully recovered. In reply to questions put to him, he
said that he was in a vessel which had been upset in a squall, that he
had time to cut away the small boat ast