CH. X.] Beyond the Storms of Life. 1 79 



who was crouched in the bows, was support- 

 ing in his arms the slight form of a fair 

 young girl, with long, soft, tangled hair 

 falling around her and forming a frame to 

 the most beautiful saint-like face my eyes 

 had ever seen. Her lips were parted in a 

 smile, and her eyes looked down on a small 

 boy about two years old, who was bound in 

 her arms by a red scarf. At first I thought 

 she was fainting or falling asleep, but the 

 next moment — merciful Heavens ! — I saw 

 that the back of her sweet young head was 

 battered in and bleeding, and that she was 

 already beyond the storms of life and the 

 cruel raging of the destroying elements. 



" Hard horny hands of rough women 

 tenderly and deftly unwound the scarf from 

 off the child ; and Jack's wife, Mary, pressing 

 him to her bosom, hastened with him to her 

 cottage, while the fair dead form was carried 

 to a fisherman's house close by, and a few 



N 2 



