388 THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



young men of the hamlet were out in parties of two 

 and three, inquiring for the missing man. But he 

 was nowhere to be found. The storekeeper said that 

 James had left for home early in the evening, and no 

 one had seen him since. The searchers called at every 

 house on the way, and within a radius of some miles ; 

 but Gertson could not be traced, and at last the men 

 were obliged to come to the sad conclusion, that he 

 must have been lost in the snow. They carried 

 lanterns and shouted as they walked, but the man they 

 sought made no response, and at last Yaspard ventured 

 to tell his companions (Breeta's brothers) what Breeta 

 had said about seeing a wraith. 



" His Finis been seen ! why did ye no tell us sooner ? 

 What use in us to seek for a dead man ? Dead, he 

 can wait till morning." By that speech you will per- 

 ceive that the young men entertained very little 

 affection for their brother-in-law, and that they be- 

 lieved in the apparition which Breeta averred she had 

 beheld. 



" I don't know how I can face her," said Yaspard. 

 " How can I go back with no tidings of him ? I 

 promised Breeta I would bring news of her poor 

 husband." 



"Ye think she will be overwhelmed with grief, 

 do ye ? " said one of the brothers with a grim smile ; 

 and the other added, " Perhaps she would have had a 

 much sorer heart if it had been yourself, and you had 

 been lying drowned and dead upon the shore ! I have 

 not forgot — though you, Yaspard, seem to have no re- 



