fted up their voices to God in prayer, with
a heartiness which might be sought for in vain within the lofty walls of
many a proud building. Such is the spiritual worship in which God the
Spirit alone has pleasure. The party on that wave-tossed raft rose from
their knees greatly refreshed in spirit, and sat down to enjoy their
morning meal with hearts grateful that they had food sufficient to
sustain life. Soon after, the sun rose, as it were with a spring out of
his ocean bed, and shed his light across the expanse of waters on the
sails of the approaching ships, which seemed to have drawn suddenly
near, so clear and defined did their forms become. Harry watched with
even greater eagerness than before one of the ships, which he declared
was, he believed, that to which he belonged. David was rather inclined
to laugh at the notion, as he considered that it was impossible Harry
should be able to know his own ship at so great a distance off. There
seemed to be no doubt that both were frigates--of that the old man
expressed himself sure; that they were not both English he thought very
likely. As to the other point, it was, if correct, a guess of Harry's.
They continued to draw nearer and nearer to each other, and as they
approached the raft at the same time, the breeze which filled their
sails reached her.

"Shall we hoist our sails, and stand for the shore as before?" asked
David.

"We should miss the chance of being picked up if we did so," answered
Harry. "Besides, I should not like to run away without knowing after
all whether the ships would fight, and who was the conqueror."

"Not much chance of our getting out of sight before they begin, for they
are already not far off gun-shot of each other," observed the old man,
who again raised himself to look out, but sunk down once more to his
seat in the centre of the raft.

The two boys, however, stood up, holding on by the mast, in spite of the
increasing rocking of the raft, watching eagerly the movements of the
two frigates--for frigates there was no doubt they both were.

"Up go the colours!" exclaimed Harry, with a shout. "Hurrah! There's
the glorious old flag of England, and the other is French--there's no
doubt about it. Then there'll be a fight. Hurrah! I wish I was aboard
the old ship; I'm sure it's her. Couldn't we manage it even now? Pull
the raft up to her. I wish that she would see us and pick us up. Oh
dear! how provoking! I'd give anything