orted. After awhile he crept up the ladder to his little attic
room, as Betsy had desired him, and was soon fast asleep.

He awoke at daybreak, not forgetting his duty to Farmer Ashton's sheep,
and when he got down-stairs he found his kind old friend waiting for him
with a crust of bread and a bit of cheese.

"You must not disappoint the farmer," she said; "I'll do all that's
wanted for your poor mother."

"I hadn't forgot the sheep," said Peter; "but, Betsy, may I see her? I
could not go without!"

Betsy led him into the room. His mother's face looked so calm and
peaceable, just like an angel, he thought; he almost fancied she was
asleep.

"Now go," said Betsy, after he had gazed at her for some moments. "The
red streaks are already in the sky."

Peter lingered for a moment, then recollecting his duty, hurried down
the hill to Mr Ashton's farm.

His mother's funeral took place a few days afterwards, he and Betsy and
two or three other friends being the mourners.

He found to his dismay that he could not return to live at the cottage.
He had had thoughts of taking up his abode there all by himself. During
Mrs Gray's illness debts had accumulated, and creditors claimed the
little property, which had to be sold, and when his mother's funeral
expenses had been paid, four or five pounds only remained as the young
orphan's inheritance.

Betsy took him to her cottage, where he shared the bed of one of her
grandchildren, and he continued as before to tend Farmer Ashton's sheep.

Often, as the motherless boy sat watching his flock on the sunny downs,
he cast his eyes towards the distant blue sea, and wondered what strange
lands might be beyond. The thought of his father would then come across
his mind. His imagination pictured him still living in those far away
unknown regions. What if he could find him and tell him the glorious
gospel news! He should be obeying his mother's most earnest wishes. He
knew but little of geography; he had read of Palestine and Egypt, and
other distant countries, but he had a very indefinite idea as to where
they were situated, and as to the rest of the globe, it was, although
not quite a blank, yet filled up by his own vivid imagination with
strange lands, in which wonders of all sorts existed.

Day after day, as he gazed in the same direction, his desire to visit
those wondrous regions increased, till he resolved to go on board a
ship, and sail forth over the ocean to visit