A CALM NIGHT. 147 



warmer, ay, and that should have a wooden door!' but, like 

 another Rachel, she mourned, and refused to be comforted. 



" Two or three days removed her sorrow. I sent assistance, 

 and, progressing, like another Aladdin, the cabin rose, Phcenix- 

 like, from its ashes. It is now the envy of the passing travel- 

 ler ; and as the old couple close their wooden door at night, 

 they pray for the Masters long life, and bless God that ' a 

 pound of powder blew up at their fire-side/ 



" But see ! old John's signal flies at the flag- staff. In with 

 that endless spillet, Pattigo ! Pshaw ! red gurnets, codlings, 

 flat-fish, with skates and rays eternally. Now, out reefs on 

 with the big jib nay, my dear Colonel, I am commander. 

 Ease away the sheets. Ha I she stoops to it ! Hish ! she travels 

 Carry on, Pattigo the Colonel is aboard, ' Casarem vehis !' 

 She does scrape the sand a little ; but we are fairly over the 

 l ar John's dinner signal would make any man a hero." 



CHAPTER XXV. 



A calm night Sand-eel fishing Dangerous to the fair sex Cockles 

 Crabs Scallops Oysters Punt adrift My brother's shoes Seal sur- 

 prised Incident Gun burst Birmingham guns Percussion locks 

 London makers Barrel-making Gun-making Inferior guns Shoot- 

 ing accident. 



IT was nearly dark, but the night was calm and warm. I 

 stole from the heated room to indulge in a luxurious smoke 

 al fresco ; and seated upon the wall of the little pier, puffed 

 away in Turkish indolence. The swell upon the bar was par- 

 ticularly distinct, as, in successive falls, the wave burst upon 

 the sands, and ran hissing up the beach, till its volume of 

 water broke and subsided. The tide was almost out, and the 

 river which forms the channel of the estuary, would hardly 

 reach beyond the knee ; and I thought of the singular con- 

 trast that existed between the quiet stream, now scarcely a 

 stone's throw ovei, and the fierce and lowering water which 

 a westerly gale forces in, rushing every moment with in- 

 creased violence from the ocean, and threatening to burst 

 over bank and rock that opposed a barrier to its rage. My 



L 2 



