Shining Ferry

oots in their hands, whispering, lifting their faces as if listening for

n the house had old-fashioned latches) and peeped in. The candles on the long table had burned themselves out, and the shuttered room lay in darkness save for one long glint of

the story, waiting to catch them. She hurried Clem along to the kitchen-passage, which opened out of the hall at right angles to the front door and close beside it. The front door ha

ertainly the bolts were drawn, and the key had not been turned in the lock. Very cautiously she tri

ey were free now, at large in the dewy morning with the world at their feet. The bright

ns smell as did these, lifting their heads from their morning bath? Yet field challenged garden wi

found a seat for Clem, helped him to l

time?" Cle

can't be four o'clock yet, or we should he

gering from flower to flower, blundering among their dew-filled cups. She drew down a lily-stem gently, and guided her

ste

e village. It was Tom Trevarthen, and th

I'm good as my word, you see; though be sure I ne

em. "I believe she keep

lar hour, I just do it," Myra announce

s one raft finished, and the other ought to be ready in

hear them

he collection like as if he meant to sing right through it. He hadn't got to 'music in the sinner's ears' before the old woman pushed her face overside by the starboard cathead, nightcap and all-in that time she must ha' nipped out of her berth, up the companion, and along the length of the

d been towed up overnight from her first anchorage to a berth under Hall gardens, and a hatch opened in her bows, through which the long balks of timber were thrust by the stevedores at work in the hold and received by a gang outside, who floated them off to be laid raftwise and lashed to

ir clothes dry; and there they sat happily, the boy listening and Myra explaining, until Mrs. Purchase, having slept her sleep and dre

nah,"-this was the housekeeper at Ha

and, thank God! that one lesson had been enough. Ships came and went under the windows of Hall, but in the children's eyes they and their crews belonged to an unknown world. Things real to them were the farm and farm stock, harvests and harvest-homes, the waggoners' teams, byres, orchards, garden, and cool dairy. Ships' captains arrived out of fairyl

. Purchase, holding the teapot aloft. She walked forward and looke

ly Daddo; "then lev' us make a sta

am, I tak

comes amiss, but for choice o' sea

, and after a couple of bars five or

me now, fo

ent in sel

heart, in bl

d by my ins

ou never hen

if thy nam

w of the barque and half-a-score longshoremen belonging to the port-heard without thought of deriding. Though themselves unconverted-for life in a town, especially in a seaport to

is Love! thou

whisper in

er Langman!" cried Billy, as a stevedore within the hold b

breaks, the

ersal Lov

me thy b

and thy nam

was helping Clem up the ladder. Mrs. Purchase greeted them with a kiss apiece, and

her anxiety to herself. She foresaw with a pang the end of their voyaging, and watched him narrowly, having made a compact with herself to interfere before he imperilled the Virtuou

hment in a pound o' cream than in an ox. Now that may seem marvellous in your eyes?" He paused with a wavering, absent

lean teacups on the swing-table. "Children don't want a pass

n note what astonishing things folks used to eat in the Bible. There's locusts, and wild honey, and unleavened bread-I made out

atechism on the cabin fittings, their positions and uses. The boy, who had been on board

lamp,

d his fingers on it, gently as

oes it

gimb

hat may gi

side the ring is a bar, holding the lamp so that it tips to and fro crossways to the ring.

to be sure-and your gran'fathe

roudly; "and when the new teacher comes he's

did you teach'n hi

fingers. If you go up you can see for yourself-the whole lot from A to Ampassy! He never

and sat regarding Clem with something like lively interest. He had, in fact, opened his mouth t

she bustled up the ladder to summon her crew to swab decks. The old man, left alone with the c

h?" stammered My

ore, I done it: only I changed the word to lady, as more becoming to one of her haveage. Proverbs thirty-one, fourteen-tur

If she sends down here, couldn't you hide us-just for a little while? The-the fact is, we've set our hearts on going with the rafts. There's no danger in this weather, and Tom T

small Dutch corner-cupboard, inlaid with parrots and tu

the text I wa

, un

ead to the sound of rushing water on deck. "Your aunt

ced. "Keep your seats, my dears; the Lord knows there's no room to kneel, and He makes allowance." She set a small packed

Oh, Aunt

he first time; but young Tom Trevarthen didn' seem to reckon so. There, get your pr

mouth, and out to the open sea that twinkled for leagues under the faint northerly breeze, dazzling Myra's eyes. Tom Trevarthen grinned as he tugged at

e Lord! 'Tis

nd voices in

he first verse and scratching his head. "'Tidn' one of my first fav'rites-nothing in it about the Blood o' the Lamb-an' I

r he seemed to be addressing her. "And isn't

s. Long after I was a man grown, the very sound of 'He comes, He comes! the Judge severe,' or 'Terrible thought, shall I alone,' us

y appearan

upon earth

gay pageants

dead body

n't, Mr. Daddo! And I call it wicked to stand arguing when

med "Praise ye the Lord." At the fi

creature's sk

y man, or wa

g wit, the

mean delig

are lovely

s children

hope, he kno

d loves His

bout children when I started to sing! And 'twas of you, missy, a

rst into prayer. "Suffer little children, O dear Jesus! suffer little children. Ha

de now and again as the water rose between them under his weight and overflowed his shoes. To Myra, unaccustomed to be prayed for aloud and by name, the w

eyes turned southward to the horizon as if indeed he saw. With his blind gaze fastened there he seemed to wait patiently until Billy

t, then rising shrill and clear and strong, and reaching out as though to challenge the waters twinkling between raft and

For the moment he did not feel the touch; he was far away. He had forgotten her-alas!-with his blindness. She belonged to his weakness, not to his

d his gaze timidly, as though he could see her. She was searching his eyes for tears. But there was no trace of tears in the

n the two rafts moved across the bay, towing each its boat

ashore unlashed and conveyed inland to the mines, stood Jim Tregay waiting with their grandfath

d to the children. "Jump into the boat there and