country fellow. It was home was now before him,--home, that no humility
can rob of its hold upon the heart; home, that appeals to the poorest of
us by the selfsame sympathies the richest and greatest feel! Yes, yonder
was Carrig-a-Rede, and there were the Skerries, so near and yet so far
off. How slowly the great mass seemed to move, though it was about an
hoar ago she seemed to cleave the water like a fish! How unfair to stop
her course at Larne to land those two or three passengers, and what
tiresome leave-takings they indulge in; and the luggage, too, they 'll
never get it together! So thought Tony, his impatience mastering both
reason and generosity.

"I 'll have to take the horses on to Derry, Master Tony," said Waters,
in an insinuating tone of voice, for he knew well what able assistance
the other could lend him in any difficulty of the landing. "Sir Arthur
thought that if the weather was fine we might be able to get them out on
a raft and tow them into shore, but it's too rough for that."

"Far too rough," said Tony, his eyes straining to catch the well-known
landmarks of the coast.

"And with blood-horses too, in top condition, there's more danger."

"Far more."

"So, I hope, your honor will tell the master that I did n't ask the
captain to stop, for I saw it was no use."

"None whatever. I 'll tell him,--that is, if I see him," muttered Tony,
below his breath.

"Maybe, if there was too much sea 'on' for your honor to land--"

"What?" interrupted Tony, eying him sternly.

"I was saying, sir, that if your honor was forced to come on to Derry--"

"How should I be forced?"

"By the heavy surf, no less," said Waters, peevishly, for he foresaw
failure to his negotiation.

"The tide will be on the flood till eleven, and if they can't lower a
boat, I 'll swim it, that's all. As to going on to Derry with you, Tom,"
added he, laughing, "I'd not do it if you were to give me your four
thoroughbreds for it."

"Well, the wind 's freshening, anyhow," grumbled Waters, not very sorry,
perhaps, at the turn the weather was taking.

"It will be the rougher for you as you sail up the Lough," said Tony, as
he lighted his cigar.

Waters pondered a good deal over what he could not but regard as a great
change in character. This young man, so gay, so easy, so careless, so
ready to do anything or do nothing,--how earnest he had grown, and how
resolute, and how stern too! Was this a sign that the world was going
wel