which I have daily kept posted, and that will
explain more fully what I am unable to write now.

We are free from the ice at last, and are drifting we know not
whither! My strength is well-nigh gone. Not a man on board can move
a hand to touch a sail. Perhaps these will be the last words I
shall ever write.

I crave from you, my dear father, and from all whom I have wronged,
forgiveness for the sorrow, distress, and injury I have wrought.
Return the Bible, please, if it ever comes into your possession, to
Howard, and tell him how I thank God for its blessed teachings.

Land is in sight; we fancy it must be the Orkneys. A storm is
gathering. Nine men lie dead upon the deck. There appears to be
certain death for us all.

As Mr. Morton finished reading the letter, he paced the room to and
fro, while the hot tears fell freely down his face; and his heart was
full of thanksgiving and praise as he cried, "This, my son, was dead
and is alive again; he was lost and is found."

CHAPTER XII.

A FAREWELL.

It was a fortnight before Digby was well enough to leave his room, and
then he had to be carried in the strong arms of Howard and Martin. So
weak--so utterly weak was he--that the strong man had become as a
little babe, and Dr. Henderson sometimes feared that he would never
know health again.

But he was bright and cheerful and happy. The joy he experienced in
finding so many dear ones around him, the relief in having unburdened
his mind, and being assured of a full and complete forgiveness; the
feeling of gratitude for the glad changes which had come to his father
and mother, and for his own happy deliverance from death, made him
think and talk so cheerily, that Ethel's heart rejoiced as she found in
the long-lost one more than her old ideal Digby.

Howard and Martin had exceeded the time of their leave from business
duties, but, in the circumstances of the case, they had been allowed
longer furlough, and were now waiting for the time when Digby would be
well enough to travel, so that they might superintend his journey home.

And the last day of the Shetland visit came. It was with a feeling of
sadness that our friends went round on the afternoon of that day to
call upon the cottagers and leave their little presents and say
farewell.

Not the least memorable event of the visit, was the gathering of the
villagers in the large room of the cottage, where our frie