d his companions jumping out, hauled the boat up on the
beach. Leaving the boy in charge of her, he and Jacob then carried the
man they had rescued, and who was still insensible, towards Mad Sal's
hut, which could just be distinguished on the side of the ravine by the
glare of light coming through the chinks in the window and door.

Adam knocked loudly.

"Who comes to disturb me now?" exclaimed the old woman from within. "Is
my solitude constantly to be broken in upon by strangers?"

"We bring you a well-nigh drowned man, who will die if you refuse him
your aid, good dame," said Adam. "In mercy do not keep us outside."

The door was opened.

"What! another victim murdered by the cruel salt sea," exclaimed old
Sal, as she saw the burden Adam and Jacob carried.

"We must have off his wet clothes, and warm his hands and feet, or he
soon will be dead," said Adam, as they carried the man into the room.

The sight seemed to calm instead of agitating the old woman, for she set
about attending to the man in a more sensible way than might have been
expected. While Adam and Jacob took off the man's wet clothes, she
brought a blanket that they might wrap it round his body. She then,
kneeling down, assisted them in chafing his hands and feet. A deep
groan showed that their efforts were successful, and the man soon opened
his eyes, and gazed wildly at them. The old woman threw some sticks on
the fire, which blazing up now for the first time, revealed his features
more clearly than before.

"Why, father, he is Miles Gaffin," exclaimed Jacob.

"I knew that," answered Adam, "when we hauled him into the boat."

"Miles Gaffin," cried Mad Sal, "the bloodthirsty and wretched man shall
not live out half his days; yet, as the sea refused to keep him, we must
not be more cruel."

Gaffin made no answer, but continued to glare wildly at the faces bent
over him. He occasionally groaned and muttered a few unintelligible
words.

"He seems to have lost his senses," whispered Adam to Jacob.

Such, indeed, was evidently the case. Several times he tried to sit up,
but he had received some severe injuries, and each movement made him
shriek with pain.

What now to do was the question. Adam was unwilling to leave him alone
with the poor mad woman, yet he was naturally anxious to return home.
The sound of the wind, which howled and whistled up the glen, warned him
that he could scarcely hope to continue his voyage.

Telling old