of the sun, the corrosion of the waves, and the melting kisses of the
rain, and thus fashioned into fantastic mockeries of fane, monument,
tower, and spire, even by daylight were strangely wonderful, but under
the mystic night and the weird light of the stars, seemed like icy
statues, in whose chill bosoms were incarnated the genii of desolation
and death.

"Ay! thus we move, helpless, lost, and beyond the aid of man, convoyed
by a fleet of fantasies into a sailless sea, and to an unknown fate.
Well I know that by to-morrow, myriads of eyes will watch for signs of
our presence from Canseau to Gaspe, and on both shores of St. Jean; but
they will look in vain. A week hence they will hear of our disappearance
in Baltimore, and Paulie will know her own heart at last. I may not
regret this if I escape with life, for well I know we are like to come
back as men from the dead."

"Why do you speak of death, La Salle?" said a voice in good and even
polished French; and La Salle, turning, found that Regnar stood beside
him. An air of education which he had never noticed before seemed to
pervade this youth, who spoke English almost execrably, and had shown
little more than a passable knowledge of the coast of Labrador, and a
keen insight into all the varied craft of hunter and fisherman.

"I was only thinking," said La Salle, evasively, speaking in the same
language. "But how is it that you, who know French and German, speak
English so badly?"

"You will know some time, but not to-night; although I may tell you
this--that I shall receive from you the greatest good that man will ever
confer, or at least the realization of some long-cherished desire. God
grant that it may end my long search for him, although my life end with
it."

"Of whom do you speak?" asked La Salle, impressed with his manner.

"Regnar don't care talk now. Nights getting cold; so come in and look at
sick boy. Ha, ha, ha! You've been tinman, tailor, cook, navigator, and
now you're doctor. Come on!" And La Salle almost doubted his own sanity
as he followed the old Regnie of his Labrador voyage down the side of
the mound, where a moment ago an unsuspected, hidden fire had revealed
itself.

Just as they were about to enter the little outer enclosure, La Salle
laid his hand on the arm of his companion. "Regnie, don't for your life
let the others know that I have doubt of our safety; and keep up poor
Waring's spirits if you can."

Cheerfully and firmly the an