e them to
at the close of the month, he thought he would write and have the letter
forwarded. Had he any family reasons to be anxious about it? None that
he knew of; he was curious to see what had been waiting for him for many
years, and that was all. So he answered the rector's questions, with
his tawny face turned away over the low bulwark of the yacht, and his
fishing-line dragging in his supple brown hands.

Favored by wind and weather, the little vessel had done wonders on her
trial trip. Before the period fixed for the duration of the cruise had
half expired, the yacht was as high up on the Welsh coast as Holyhead;
and Allan, eager for adventure in unknown regions, had declared boldly
for an extension of the voyage northward to the Isle of Man. Having
ascertained from reliable authority that the weather really promised
well for a cruise in that quarter, and that, in the event of any
unforeseen necessity for return, the railway was accessible by the
steamer from Douglas to Liverpool, Mr. Brock agreed to his pupil's
proposal. By that night's post he wrote to Allan's lawyers and to his
own rectory, indicating Douglas in the Isle of Man as the next
address to which letters might be forwarded. At the post-office he met
Midwinter, who had just dropped a letter into the box. Remembering what
he had said on board the yacht, Mr. Brock concluded that they had both
taken the same precaution, and had ordered their correspondence to be
forwarded to the same place.

Late the next day they set sail for the Isle of Man.

For a few hours all went well; but sunset brought with it the signs of
a coming change. With the darkness the wind rose to a gale, and the
question whether Allan and his journeymen had or had not built a stout
sea-boat was seriously tested for the first time. All that night, after
trying vainly to bear up for Holyhead, the little vessel kept the sea,
and stood her trial bravely. The next morning the Isle of Man was in
view, and the yacht was safe at Castletown. A survey by daylight of hull
and rigging showed that all the damage done might be set right again
in a week's time. The cruising party had accordingly remained at
Castletown, Allan being occupied in superintending the repairs, Mr.
Brock in exploring the neighborhood, and Midwinter in making daily
pilgrimages on foot to Douglas and back to inquire for letters.

The first of the cruising party who received a letter was Allan. "More
worries from those eve