ing athwart the sward like a colt. It was not long, however,
before she began to graze, the voyage having been made on a somewhat
short allowance of both food and water. If there ever was a happy
animal, it was that cow! Her troubles were all over. Sea-sickness, dry
food, short allowances of water, narrow lodgings, and hard beds, were
all, doubtless, forgotten, as she roamed at pleasure over boundless
fields, on which the grass was perennial, seeming never to be longer or
shorter than was necessary to give a good bite; and among which
numberless rills of the purest waters were sparkling like crystal. The
great difficulty in possessing a dairy, in a warm climate, is the want
of pasture, the droughts usually being so long in the summer months. At
Vulcan's Peak, however, and indeed in all of that fine region, it rained
occasionally, throughout the year; more in winter than in summer, and
that was the sole distinction in the seasons, after allowing for a
trifling change in the temperature. These peculiarities appear to have
been owing to the direction of the prevalent winds, which not only
brought frequent showers, but which preserved a reasonable degree of
freshness in the atmosphere. _Within_ the crater, Mark had often found
the beat oppressive, even in the shade; but, _without_, scarcely ever,
provided his body was not directly exposed to the sun's rays. Nor was
the difference in the temperature between the Reef and the Peak, as
marked as might have been expected from the great elevation of the last.
This was owing to the circumstance that the sea air, and that usually in
swift motion, entered so intimately into the composition of the
atmosphere down on that low range of rocks, imparting its customary
freshness to everything it passed over.

Mark did not make the next trip to Rancocus. By this time Anne passed
half the day in the open air, and was so fast regaining her strength
that Heaton did not hesitate to leave her. The doctor had left many
things behind him that he much wished to see embarked in person, and he
volunteered to be the companion of Socrates, on this occasion, leaving
the bridegroom behind, with his bride. By this time Heaton himself was a
reasonably good sailor, and to him Mark confided the instructions as to
the course to be steered, and the distance to be run. All resulted
favourably, the Neshamony making the trip in very good time, bringing
into the cove, the fourth day after she had sailed, not only