nd alarm.

It was George Hawker! The Doctor knew him in a moment: but whether the
recognition was mutual, he never found out, for Hawker, stepping
rapidly from stone to stone, disappeared round the headland, and the
thunderstruck Doctor retraced his steps to the arch.

There were all the young people gathered, wondering and delighted. But
Alice came to meet him, and said,--

"Who was that with you just now?"

"A mermaid!" replied he.

"That, indeed!" said Alice. "And what did she say?"

"She said, 'Go home to your supper; you have seen quite enough; go home
in good time.'"

"Doctor, there is something wrong!" said Alice. "I see it in your face.
Can you trust me, and tell me what it is?"

"I can trust you so far as to tell you that you are right. I don't like
the look of things at all. I fear there are evil times coming for some
of our friends! Further than this I can say nothing. Say your prayers,
and trust God! Don't tell Sam anything about this: to-morrow I shall
speak to him. We won't spoil a pleasant holiday on mere suspicion."

They rejoined the others, and the Doctor said, "Come away home now; we
have seen enough. Some future time we will come here again: you might
see this fifty times, and never get tired of it."

After a good scramble they stood once more on the down above, and
turned to take a last look at the broad blue sea before they descended
inland; at the first glance seaward, Halbert exclaimed,--

"See there, Doctor! see there! A boat!"

"It's only a whale, I think," said George Barker.

There was a black speck far out at sea, but no whale; it was too steady
for that. All day the air had been calm; if anything, the breeze was
from the north, but now a strong wind was coming up from the
south-east, freshening every moment, and bringing with it a pent bank
of dark clouds; and, as they watched, the mysterious black speck was
topped with white, and soon they saw that it was indeed a boat driving
before the wind under a spritsail, which had just been set.

"That is very strange!" said George Barker. "Can it be a shipwrecked
party?"

"More likely a mob of escaped convicts from Van Diemen's Land," said
Jim. "If so, look out for squalls, you, George, and keep your guns
loaded."

"I don't think it can be that, Jim," said Sam. "What could bring them
so far north? They would have landed, more likely, somewhere in the
Straits, about the big lakes."

"They may have been driven off shore by these