under frequent and sore privations and temptations, but all
the party were often much comforted and filled with hope at times when
they were by their sufferings well-nigh driven to despair.

"I'm sorry to leave Fairyland, papa," said Ailie sadly, as the men
shoved the _Maid of the Isle_ into deep water and pulled out to sea.

"So am I, dear," replied the captain sitting down beside his daughter in
the stern-sheets of the boat, and taking the tiller; "I had no idea I
could have come to like such a barren bit of sand so well."

There was a long pause after this remark. Every eye in the boat was
turned with a sad expression on the bright-yellow sandbank as they rowed
away, and the men dipped their oars lightly into the calm waters, as if
they were loth to leave their late home.

Any spot of earth that has been for some time the theatre of
heart-stirring events, such as rouse men's strong emotions, and on which
happy and hopeful as well as wretched days have been spent, will so
entwine itself with the affections of men that they will cling to it and
love it, more or less powerfully, no matter how barren may be the spot
or how dreary its general aspect. The sandbank had been the cause, no
doubt, of the wreck of the _Red Eric_, but it had also been the means,
under God, of saving the crew and affording them shelter during many
succeeding weeks--weeks of deep anxiety, but also of healthful, hopeful,
energetic toil, in which, if there were many things to create annoyance
or fear, there had also been not a few things to cause thankfulness,
delight, and amusement.

Unknown to themselves, these rough sailors and the tender child had
become attached to the spot, and it was only now that they were about to
leave it for ever that they became aware of the fact. The circumscribed
and limited range on which their thoughts and vision had been bent for
the last few weeks, had rendered each individual as familiar with every
inch of the bank as if he had dwelt there for years.

Ailie gazed at the low rocks that overhung the crystal pool in
Fairyland, until the blinding tears filled her eyes, and she felt all
the deep regret that is experienced by the little child when it is
forcibly torn from an old and favourite toy--regret that is not in the
least degree mitigated by the fact that the said toy is but a sorry
affair, a doll, perchance, with a smashed head, eyes thrust out, and
nose flattened on its face or rubbed away altogether--i