u were saved. I
thought we should both be dashed in pieces on the rocks."
"I should have been, if you had not been so strong and brave, Leopold.
You might have left me, and saved yourself, without much trouble."
"Left you!" exclaimed Leopold, gazing into her beautiful face. "I would
rather have been ground up into inch pieces on the rocks, than do that,
Miss Hamilton!"
Rosabel believed him, and the tears flowed down her cheeks, as she
brushed away from her eyes the auburn locks, soaked with salt water, and
gazed into his earnest, manly face.
Before the storm had subsided, the Orion, bearing the agonized parents,
was floundering in the billows off High Rock, with only a close-reefed
foresail set. Leopold and Rosabel both made signals, to assure the
father and mother of their safety. An hour later, when the waters were
comparatively still, there was a joyous scene in the cabin of the Orion.
Hot tears dropped from the eyes of father and mother, and convulsive
embraces were exchanged. Leopold's right hand was nearly twisted off by
the overjoyed parents and friends of her who had been saved from the
Coming Wave.
The yacht sailed into the river again, and on the passage, Leopold,
assisted by Rosabel, related all the particulars of the loss of the
Rosabel, and of their narrow escape from the rocks and the billows on
the beach under High Rock.
If Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton had before regarded Leopold, in any sense, as a
servant, or even a boatman, they no longer considered him as anything
but a social equal, a noble and dear friend, who had risked his life to
save their beloved daughter. If they were grateful and devoted to him,
not less so was Rosabel herself.
The party stayed a fortnight at the Sea Cliff House, and enjoyed
themselves even more than during the preceding season. Every pleasant
day a party went out in the Orion, and, having no boat of his own now,
Leopold was glad to go with them. On the day after the storm, the mate
of the yacht had left Rockhaven for New York, and the late skipper of
the Rosabel was requested to perform his duty on board, which he did to
the entire satisfaction of Captain Bounce. After the mate had been
absent a week, the mate _pro tem._ of the Orion, as the yacht was
running out of the river, discovered a small sloop, headed for the
light. Her hull and her sails were intensely white. She was a beautiful
craft, and appeared to be entirely new. She was evidently a yacht, and
Leopold
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