m on high as to the
best means for recovering our father. Gilbert was for setting out
forthwith, taking Batten as his companion, and getting on board the
first ship sailing for America; but even had our mother agreed to
Gilbert's proposal, it was impracticable, as the old sailor was becoming
worse and worse. We sent for the apothecary, and did all we could to
restore his waning strength; but all was in vain, and before the next
day was over he had breathed his last.

"We were now much troubled, for the means on which we had depended for
discovering our father had thus been lost. We had no one with whom to
consult; we talked and talked, but could come to no conclusion. `We
will pray to God for guidance,' said our mother, `we will now, my
children, go to rest; and to-morrow morning we will meet, with the hope
that light will be afforded us to direct our course.'

"Her first words the following morning when she entered the parlour
were: `Praise be to God--he has not left me any longer in doubt what to
do--I have bethought me of Captain Amyas Layton, who resides not far
from Plymouth. He and your father have often been shipmates, and he is
among the oldest of his friends, and will give you sound advice on the
subject. I would wish you to set out forthwith for Plymouth, and to
place the whole matter before him. Tell him that I will expend all my
means towards fitting out a ship to send to Virginia with trustworthy
persons to search for your father. It may be, though, for the love
Captain Layton bore him, that he will afford further means if necessary
for the purpose.'"

"That will I right gladly," exclaimed the captain, starting up, and
taking three or four paces between the chairs in which the young
brothers were sitting--first looking at one and then at the other; "you
two are Audleys--I recognise your father's features in both your
countenances. There are few men whose memory I hold in greater love or
esteem, and I will not say that to recover him I would hazard half my
fortune, for the whole of it I would gladly give to bring him back, and
old as I am, will sail forth myself in command of a ship to Virginia
should a younger man of sufficient experience be wanting. You, young
sir, I perceive by your dress and looks, have not been to sea; or you
would be the proper person to sail in search of the missing one."

"No, sir," answered Vaughan, "but I have been for some time a student at
Cambridge, where I have di