fore him, and, being presently made aware of this by
the heaviness which began to settle upon his heart, he closed the
trunks in great haste, and ran off.

The day passed quickly enough, even for Noll, and was only the first
of many happy ones spent by the shore and on the rocks. The boy had a
taste for treasuring curiosities, and in the wonderful wealth of weed
and shell which the sea was continually throwing upon the sand, his
love of collecting and preserving was gratified. Every return of the
tide was a great sweeping in of the wonders and beauties of the sea to
add to his stores. There was always something new and strange to
excite his delight and admiration. Then, too, there were long hours
spent in climbing the rocks, till all its cliffs and hollows began to
grow familiar to the boy. He climbed to Wind Cliff, and from its top
looked down on the Culm houses on the sand, and into the gulls' nests
far below in the crevices of the rock, and enjoyed their wild wheeling
and screaming about him as he stood there. From this high look-out he
often stood looking upon such sunsets as he had never seen before.
High up toward the zenith the sun shot its great banners of flame as
it dipped in the sea, and made the vast expanse glow and glitter. In
the east the sails flitted along the purple line of the horizon, and
down in the dusk shadow of the Rock he could see the grim stone house
and the blue thread of smoke from Hagar's kitchen chimney. Sometimes
he made use of Archie Phillips' gift, and caught fish off the rocks,
much to the advantage of the old housekeeper's dinner-table.

One week after another passed, and still there seemed plenty of
variety and amusement for every day. In one of his rambles, Noll came
upon a little cluster of graves, with the rudest of monuments to mark
them,--most of them were rough head-boards in which the sleeper's name
was cut or scratched,--and this sight of such poor, uncared-for
resting-places in the sand made him sad and thoughtful for more than
one day. What if he were to die and be buried there, too? he surmised.
The thought chilled him. True, he knew that heaven beyond was just as
bright and fair for all that the graves were so forlorn and dreary;
but the thought of lying far from all his friends, on bare and lonely
Culm Rock, oppressed him till new sights and adventures had somewhat
effaced the remembrance of the sight from his mind. Nearly one day was
spent in the pine woods, whose