ul Nettuno!" he said. "What are all these to
me, without thee! Thou alone lovedst me--thou alone hast passed with me
through fair and foul--through good and evil, without change, or wish for
another master! When the pretended friend has been false, thou hast
remained faithful! When others were sycophants thou wert never a
flatterer!"

Struck with this singular exhibition of sorrow, the good Augustine, who,
until now, like all the others, had been looking to his own safety, or
employed in restoring the exhausted, took advantage of the favorable
change in the weather, and advanced with the language of consolation.

"Thou hast saved all our lives, bold mariner," he said; "and there are
those in the bark who will know how to reward thy courage and skill,
Forget, then, thy dog, and indulge in a grateful heart to Maria and the
saints, that they have been our friends and thine in this exceeding
jeopardy."

"Father, I have eaten with the animal--slept with the animal--fought,
swum, and made merry with him, and I could now drown with him! What are
thy nobles and their gold to me, without my dog? The gallant brute will
die the death of despair, swimming about in search of the bark in the
midst of the darkness, until even one of his high breed and courage must
suffer his heart to burst."

"Christians have been called into the dread presence, unconfessed and
unshrived, to-night; and we should bethink us of their souls, rather than
indulge in this grief in behalf of one that, however faithful, ends but an
unreasoning and irresponsible existence."

All this was thrown away upon Maso, who crossed himself habitually at the
allusion to the drowned, but who did not the less bewail the loss of his
dog, whom he seemed to love, like the affection that David bore for
Jonathan, with a love surpassing that of women. Perceiving that his
counsel was useless, the good Augustine turned away, to knee and offer up
his own orisons of gratitude, and to bethink him of the dead.

"Nettuno! _povera, carissima bestia!_" continued Maso, "whither art thou
swimming, in this infernal quarrel between the air and water? Would I were
with thee, dog! No mortal shall ever share the love I bore thee, _povero
Nettuno!_--I will never take another to my heart, like thee!"

The outbreaking of Maso's grief was sudden, and it was brief in its
duration. In this respect it might be likened to the hurricane that had
just passed. Excessive violence, in both cases, app