t express how thankful I am to find you again!"

"I am sure he is," said Alice, jumping up and kissing Walter.

"I am certain of it too, my lad," said the mate. "We don't blame you;
and can only be thankful that, through God's mercy, your senses were so
wonderfully restored."

"Yes, Massa Walter, we bless Heaven dat de shark not eat us, and dat we
find you; and now all go well."

Both the mate and Nub felt too much fatigued just then to speak more; so
having secured the chest and cask, they threw themselves down to rest,
as they could not attempt to row against the breeze then blowing, with
their strength exhausted as it was.

Alice was scarcely less weary than they were, not so much from exertion
as from alarm and anxiety. Her clothes soon dried in the hot sun, and
then she too lay down. Walter, who was now apparently quite recovered,
sat by her side, watching her till she dropped off to sleep. The wind
did not much affect the raft, but it was all the time slowly drifting
further and further from the shore. The little girl's slumbers were
disturbed by the terrible scenes she had gone through, and now and then
she cried out, "Oh, save him! oh, save him! Where is Walter? where is
Walter?"

Walter, on hearing his name pronounced, took her hand. "Here I am, all
safe," he said in a soothing tone. "I am very, very sorry that I caused
you so much alarm; but it's all right now. We shall soon reach the
land, I hope; and then we will build a boat, and go in search of our
father and the rest."

Alice, who was still scarcely awake, did not understand what he said.
Suddenly she started up. "O Walter, where are we?" she exclaimed,
looking wildly about her. "I thought you had gone away again, and were
never coming back. You will never leave me, will you?"

"I should be miserable without you," he answered. "No, I never will
leave you, if I can help it, till we find our father--though Mr
Shobbrok and Nub take the best care of you they possibly can: had it not
been for them, we should both have been lost."

"Don't think that it's we who take care of you, my children," said the
mate, who had been awakened by their voices. "There is One above who
alone has the power to do so. We are only the instruments in His
hands."

"But we do what we can, though," said Nub, sitting up; "and now I tink
the wind begin to fall, and we get out de oars."

"We had better take some food first," said the mate. "The young people
m