t last, like a man's heel, and
their backs and arms ached from constant work.

Ailie kept in good health, but she, too, began to grow weak from want of
proper nourishment. She slept better than the men, for the comfortable
sleeping-box that Glynn had constructed for her sheltered her from the
heat, wet, and cold, to which the former were constantly exposed. She
amused herself, when not listening to stories or asleep, by playing with
her favourite, and she spent a good deal of time in reading her Bible--
sometimes to herself, at other times, in a low tone, to her father as he
sat at the helm. And many a time did she see a meaning in passages
which, in happier times, had passed meaningless before her eyes, and
often did she find sweet comfort in words that she had read with
comparative indifference in former days.

It is in the time of trial, trouble, and sorrow that the Bible proves to
be a friend indeed. Happy the Christian who, when dark clouds overwhelm
his soul, has a memory well stored with the comforting passages of the
Word of God.

But Ailie had another occupation which filled up much of her leisure,
and proved to be a source of deep and engrossing interest at the time.
This was the keeping of a journal of the voyage. On the last trip made
to the wreck of the _Red Eric_, just before the great storm that
completed the destruction of that ship, the captain had brought away in
his pocket a couple of note-books. One of these he kept to himself to
jot down the chief incidents of the intended voyage; the other he gave
to Ailie, along with a blacklead pencil. Being fond of trying to write,
she amused herself for hours together in jotting down her thoughts about
the various incidents of the voyage, great and small; and being a very
good drawer for her age, she executed many fanciful and elaborate
sketches, among which were innumerable portraits of Jacko and several
caricatures of the men. This journal, as it advanced, became a source
of much interest and amusement to every one in the boat; and when, in an
hour of the utmost peril, it, along with many other things, was lost,
the men, after the danger was past, felt the loss severely.

Thus they spent their time--now pleasantly, now sadly--sometimes
becoming cheerful and hopeful, at other times sinking almost into a
state of despair as their little stock of food and water dwindled down,
while the _Maid of the Isle_ still held on her apparently endless course
ov