k of Caple Water;
and, by keeping to its windings--which they had often traced at the risk
of being drowned--they had at last weathered the old cham'er, the byre,
and peat-stack, and were now, thank God! within "bigget wa's."

But where, alas! was Willie Wilson? Him, in consequence of their
deviations, they had missed; and over him, thus exposed, the tempest was
still renewing at intervals its hurricane gusts. There was one scream
heard, such as would have penetrated the heart of a tiger, and all was
still. There she lay, the beauteous, but now marble bride; her head
reposing on her mother's lap, her lips pale as the snowdrop, her eyes
fixed and soulless, her cheek without a tint, and her mouth half-open
and breathless. Long, long was the withdrawment--again and again was the
dram-glass applied to the mouth, to catch the first expiration of
returning breath--ere the frame began to quiver, the hands to move, the
lips and cheeks to colour, and the eyes to indicate the approaching
return to reason and perception.

"I have killed him! I have killed him!" were the first frantic accents.
"I have murdered, murdered my dear Willie! It was me that sent
him--forced him--compelled him out--out into the drift--the cold, cold
drift. Away!" added the maniac--"away! I'll go after him--I'll perish
with him--where he lies, there will I lie, and there will I be buried.
What! is there none of ye that will make an effort to save a
perishing--a choking--oh, my God! a suffocating man?"

Hereupon she again sank backwards, and was prevented from falling by the
arms of a father.

"O my child!" said parental love and affection--"O my dear wean!--oh, be
patient!--God is guid--He has preserved _us_ all--He will not desert
_him_ in the hour of his need--He neither slumbers nor sleeps--His hand
is not shortened that He cannot save--and what He can, He will--He never
deserted any that trusted in Him. O my child! my bairn!--my
first-born!--be patient--be patient. There--there--there is a scratch at
the door-back--it is Rover."

And to be sure Rover it was--but Rover in despair. His faithful
companion and friend only entered the house to solicit immediate aid--he
ran round and round, looking up into the face of every one with an
expression of the most imploring anxiety. The poor frantic girl sprung
from her father's embrace, and clung to the neck of the well-known
cur--she absolutely kissed him--(oh, to what will not love, omnipotent,
virtuous lo