t might have seen the
fresh bread taken out of the oven, and packed in the cart which waited
at the door to receive it; and it might have seen many people bustle in
and out of the shop, from the little child to buy a penny loaf, to the
gentleman's housekeeper to pay the week's bill; but it remained
undisturbed till the shutters were taken down on the following morning,
when a man came to buy a small loaf for his breakfast, and received the
Sixpence in change. Appearances were far more against it this time than
they had been before. John Barker had an unshaved beard, a scowling eye,
and a red face; his dress consisted of a blue woollen shirt, coarse blue
trousers grimed in mud, and a low-crowned black hat; on his shoulder he
carried a spade and pickaxe. As he walked along he was joined by others
of an equally unprepossessing appearance, and found many more already
assembled at the scene of their labours--the new harbour.

The sun was not yet risen, and a mist hung over the sea, through which
the signal-post at Castle Cornet, and the masts of the vessels in the
roads, were the only objects visible; but there was a faint red streak
in the sky, which grew brighter and brighter every moment, till the
sunrise gun fired; and then the mist changed into a golden veil, which
floated insensibly away, leaving every geranium-leaf outside the windows
white with hoar-frost, just to tantalise the townsfolk more distant
islands became just visible, mingling the blue of the sea and the violet
of the sky so mysteriously in their delicate colouring, that they were
scarcely distinguishable from either. And then the carts began to roll
along the quay, and work commenced on board the ships in the harbour,
and the sailors' cry as they hoisted the sails, mingled with the
rattling of chains and the creaking of the cranes outside the stores. At
about nine o'clock up ran the ball at the signal-post, which announced
the approach of the mail-boat, and as she steamed behind the Castle, and
anchored in the roads, there were hasty embraces and shakes of the hand
on the pier, and the passengers were rowed out to embark. A few minutes,
and the tinkling of a bell was heard from the shore; another--one more;
her wheels were turning, she was off for Southampton, and the passengers
from Jersey were landing at the quay.

All this, and much more, might John Barker have seen, and probably he
did see it, but found nothing beautiful or exciting in it. He did not