ope to a mass of rock. The sailors
hauled it tight and fixed the other end in the ship; and then, one by
one, they slowly crept along the rope and reached the shore in safety.
Here they all fell on their knees and thanked God for their deliverance.

But now they found that the land was not inhabited, and they walked
along that dreary coast for several days, almost starved to death with
hunger and cold, for they had only a few biscuits among them, and their
clothes were never dry. Little Davy was the best walker among them, and
helped to keep up their spirits greatly by his cheerful conversation as
they toiled along. At last they arrived at a little village, where the
people were exceedingly kind to them; gave them food and dry clothes,
and, after they became stronger, sent them to the great city of Quebec.
Here they were kindly treated, and finding a ship bound for England,
they all returned home.

You may imagine the delight of the poor captain when he arrived and
found his wife safe and sound. She and all the people on the raft had
been picked up by a homeward-bound vessel the day after they lost sight
of their ship, and were brought safe back to England. And you may fancy
the joy of little Davy's parents when their son opened the cottage door
one day and rushed into his mother's arms.

Davy never went to sea again, but continued for many years after to help
his poor father to fish. And the _Fair Nancy_--that beautiful ship,
which Davy had watched so long, which he had seen launched, and which
had sailed so gallantly from her native shores, with her snowy sails
glancing in the sun like the white wings of a seagull--alas! alas! she
lay a total wreck now, on the rocky shores of a foreign land.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of a Ship, by R.M. Ballantyne

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