he would not lose a single minute. Thereafter
the conversation became general, and at last the merchant left the place
much shaken in his previous opinion of Irish character, and deeply
impressed with the sagacity of Rooney Machowl.

The result of this visit was that Baldwin was engaged to dive for the
cargo of the _Seagull_, and found himself, a few days later, busy at
work on the Welsh coast with a staff of men under him, among whom were
our friends Rooney Machowl and surly David Maxwell. The latter had at
first declined to have anything to do with the job, but, on
consideration of the wages, he changed his mind.

CHAPTER FIVE.

TREATS OF PLOTS AND PLANS, ENGINEERING AND OTHERWISE.

The spot where the wreck of the _Seagull_ lay was a peaceful sequestered
cove or bay on the coast of Anglesea. The general aspect of the
neighbouring land was bleak. There were no trees, and few bushes.
Indeed, the spire of a solitary little church on an adjoining hill was
the most prominent object in the scene. The parsonage belonging to it
was concealed by a rise in the ground, and the very small hamlet
connected with it was hid like a rabbit in the clefts of some rugged
cliffs. The little church was one of those temples which are meant to
meet the wants of a rural district, and which cause a feeling of
surprise in the minds of town visitors as to where the congregation can
come from that fills them.

But, bleak though the country was, the immediate shore was interesting
and romantic in its form. In one place perpendicular cliffs, cut up by
ragged gorges, descended sheer down into deep water, and meeting the
constant roll of the Irish Channel, even in calm weather, fringed
themselves with lace-work of foam, as if in cool defiance of the ocean.
In another place a mass of boulders and shattered rocks stretched out
into the sea as if still resistant though for the time subdued.
Elsewhere a half-moon of yellow sand received the ripples with a kiss,
suggestive of utter conquest and the end of strife.

As we have said, the spot was peaceful, for, at the time to which we
refer, ocean and air were still, but ah! Those who have not dwelt near
the great deep and beheld its fury when roused can form but a faint
conception of the scene that occurred there on the night in which the
_Seagull_ went down!

Mr Hazlit thought of the place as something like the region of a "bad
debt,"--where a portion of his wealth had been wrecked. So