44 THE ADVENTURES ^ 



been in the great depths of the ocean ; his 

 organization would not allow it ; it would be 

 as impossible for Mm to exist there as it would 

 be for man to breathe in the more exalted heights 

 of ether. Consequently, his favourite haunts 

 are all coastwise; and if he ever crosses the 

 ocean at all, it must be within a certain depth, 

 and probably in great haste. But whether he 

 has been a trip to Norway, a short visit to the 

 Mediterranean, or a more daring excursion to 

 America, he is now returning to the Dee ; not 

 direct from the vast expanses of the Atlantic, 

 nor even from the midway course of the Irish 

 Sea, but rolling over the more shallow banks of 

 the neighbouring coast ; either disporting him- 

 self along the Flintshire shore, taking a look at 

 the bathers at Khyl, just startled by a railway 

 train rushing over his head, as he is dosing at 

 the mouth of the Foryd ; or else, keeping close 

 to the opposite coast, he has looked into every 

 bay and inlet in Lancashire ; and is able to tell 

 Ptolemy, that he left out of his boasted map, the 

 mouth of one great river that flows between the 

 Dee and the Eibble ! 



Pray let us pay him but ordinary politeness ; 

 let us meet him at the threshold; welcome him 

 at the Point of Ayr ; bow him up the estuary, 

 and see him safe over the causeway. 



