to be
done with his misery. Then he told how, when he came to himself, he
found he was lying in a cottage, with a woman bending over him, and a
man sitting smoking by the fire, stirring some stuff in a pan. It seemed
that this man was a collector of birds' eggs, and, knowing about this
cave, he had come down, with the help of a great strong rope tied round
his waist, to gather eggs. Great was his surprise when he saw the body
of a man floating in the water; but he lost no time in seizing him by
the belt, and, with the help of his comrades up at the top, brought him
safely to land.

[Illustration: RESCUED.]

"You can understand how glad Polly was when, that same evening, Uncle
John took me with him to tell her of her father's safety. I kept
fancying all the way that when she heard the news she would dance and
shriek with joy, and clap her hands; but, instead of that, she just sat
quietly down on a stool by the fire. What a white face she had, and how
her lips trembled! Even Uncle John was struck by her appearance, and
must have been afraid the sudden news had been too much for her. 'Come,
come, Polly, this will never do,' he said kindly; 'you must set about
getting some clothes put up in a bundle, and come away back with me.
Father is very impatient to see his little Polly, I can tell you!'

"'Polly again! it's always Polly!" said her step-mother. 'I don't
believe he cares a pin about me and my children so long as these two are
all right.'

"Uncle John spoke to her very sensibly, as I thought, telling her that
her husband's children ought to be as dear to her as her own, for his
sake, and that a jealous disposition often led to much misery; but I
don't think it made much impression upon her: and I was very glad when
Polly appeared ready to start, with her clothes and some for her father
also, tied up in a little bundle.

"Some days after, uncle kindly took me to spend the day with Vea. I was
delighted to find that Patrick had been removed to Mrs. Berkley's, and
had stood the journey very well. He had been carried on a stretcher by
some of the fishermen; and they had borne him along so gently that
Patrick declared he had never felt the least motion, and thought he had
been lying on his bed all the time.

"'I should like to get some flowers so much,' said Vea, after I had
arrived. 'Patrick is so fond of flowers; but he likes the wild ones
best. He says the hot-house ones smell oppressively, but the wild ones
make