DOMESTIC POULTBT. 



eoveriTig his feet, then bathing him knee-deep, and then advan- 

 cing beyond his waist, he was horror-stmok at finding that, 

 instead of receding, it still crept upwards, and reached hia 

 shoulders ; the spray burst over his head ; upon another 

 minute's rise or faU of tide his life depended ; but still, though 

 he gave himself up for lost, he firmly grasped his gun-barrel 

 The mainland was too far distant to admit of his shouts being 

 heard, and it was equally vain to hope that any looker-ont 

 could descry such a speck upon the waves as the head of a 

 human being. In this awfal moment of suspense, on looking 

 downwards he thought he saw the wppermost button of his 

 waistcoat hegi/n/tving to ouppea/r ! Intensely he watched it, but 

 for some time without any well-founded assurance that he was 

 right. A.t length, however, hopes increased to certainty — he 

 saw button after button rising slowly into view — an infalli- 

 ble sign that the height of the tide was over, and that it was 

 now upon the ebb. Though chilled ^th cold, and almost 

 fainting, this welcome prospect raised his spirits, and acting 

 like a cordial, enabled him to endure the remaining hours of 

 his fearful imprisonment." 



There is, however, another adventure related by the same 

 authority, in which the party concerned were placed in the 

 same terrible position, but all, unhappily, perished. 



" Off' the north-west point of the hundred of Wirral, in 

 Cheshire, extends a wide tract of sand, forming a dangerous 

 shoal, called Holyebank, which has proved the grave of many 

 a shipwrecked mariner. To this bank, always dry at low 

 water, the fishermen of the neighbourhood are in the frequent 

 habit of going to collect mussels. One evening, a party having 

 ventured as usual, before separating, agreed upon a particular 

 point where they were to meet again when the tide began to 

 come in. Dusk came on, and those who first returned to the 

 boat rowed to the point of rendezvous, there to await the arri- 

 val of their comrades ; but hour after hour passed, and some 

 were yet missing. The boat-keepers began to fear the worst ; 

 the auspntees had either lost then way on the wide desert of 

 sand, aEd were now wandering about hopelessly in darkness, 

 or they had perished in one of the many quicksands which 

 abounded on the shoal. Still they hung upon the anchor, and 

 waited till, at its appointed hour, the tide had covered the 

 whole bank, and not a doubt could remain as to the fate of 

 their friends. They then returned to reveal the sad tidings to 

 their relatives on shore, and at early dawn repaired once more 



