He rose to his feet, and stood swaying to and fro. His mother opened a
door in the wall, and taking the lamp lighted him up the steep wooden
staircase to the room he knew so well. Then he took her in his arms in a
feeble hug, and kissing her on the forehead sat down wearily on the bed.

The old woman returned to her kitchen, and falling upon her knees
remained for some time in a state of grateful, pious ecstasy. When she
arose she thought of those other women, and, snatching a shawl from its
peg behind the door, ran up the deserted street with her tidings.

In a very short time the town was astir. Like a breath of hope the
whisper flew from house to house. Doors closed for the night were thrown
open, and wondering children questioned their weeping mothers. Blurred
images of husbands and fathers long since given over for dead stood out
clear and distinct, smiling with bright faces upon their dear ones.

At the cottage door two or three people had already collected, and
others were coming up the street in an unwonted bustle.

They found their way barred by an old woman,--a resolute old woman, her
face still working with the great joy which had come into her old life,
but who refused them admittance until her son had slept. Their thirst
for news was uncontrollable, but with a swelling in her throat she
realised that her share in _Tetby's Pride_ was safe.

Women who had waited, and got patient at last after years of waiting,
could not endure these additional few hours. Despair was endurable, but
suspense! "Ah, God! Was their man alive? What did he look like? Had he
aged much?"

"He was so fatigued he could scarce speak," said she. She had questioned
him, but he was unable to reply. Give him but till the dawn, and they
should know all.

So they waited, for to go home and sleep was impossible. Occasionally
they moved a little way up the street, but never very far, and gathering
in small knots excitedly discussed the great event It came to
be understood that the rest of the crew had been cast away on an
uninhabited island, it could be nothing else, and would doubtlessly soon
be with them; all except one or two perhaps, who were old men when the
ship sailed, and had probably died in the meantime. One said this in the
hearing of an old woman whose husband, if alive, would be in extreme old
age, but she smiled peacefully, albeit her lip trembled, and said she
only expected to hear of him, that was all.

The suspense bec