lly human in the soft,
liquid eyes of the animal, that John felt his heart touched
unaccountably.

Forgetting the line, which he was just about to draw in, he sat staring
at the seal with a fixed intensity, as if he were looking in the
familiar eyes of some one with whom he had a world of memories to
interchange.

And, meanwhile, the seal swam straight up to him, till it was so close
to the boat that he could touch it with his hand.

John leaned over and looked straight at the animal: fixing his eyes
hungrily on the eyes of the seal.

"Why dedn'ee ha' me christened, faather?" asked the little seal,
piteously.

"My God! are'ee Silas?" cried John, trembling violently.

"Iss, I'm Silas," said the little seal.

John stared aghast at the smooth brown head and the innocent eyes that
watched him so pathetically.

"Why, I thought thee wert drownded, Silas!" he ejaculated.

"I caan't go to rest 'tell I'm christened," said the seal.

"How can us do it now?" asked the father, anxiously.

"Ef anywan who's christened wed change sauls weth me," said the seal,
"then I cud go to rest right away."

"Thee shall ha' _my_ saul, Silas," said the father, tenderly.

"Wil'ee put thy mouth to mine an' braythe it into me, faather?"

"Iss, me dear, that I will!" said the father. "Rest thee shust have ef I
can give it to'ee, Silas. Put thy haands or paws around me neck, wil'ee,
soas?"

And John leaned over the side of the boat till his face touched that of
the piteous little seal.

At that moment the boat--which for the last few minutes had been allowed
to drift at the mercy of the tide, owing to John's pre-occupation--was
caught among the irregular currents near a skerry, and John was
suddenly jerked, or tilted, overboard, plunging into the waters with a
sullen splash.

When he rose to the surface, with a deadly chill in him--the chill of
his drear and imminent doom, even more than the grueing chill of the
water--his first thought, even in that perilous moment, was of dear
little Silas and the promise he had given to him, or, at least, the
promise he had given to the seal.

The quaint little creature was, however, nowhere visible; and John, with
a sudden influx of strength--an alarmed awakening and resurgence of his
will--made up his mind to save his life if it were possible, and quietly
leave the settlement of the other affair to God.

But grey old Fate was stronger than he was. And the waves were here her
obedient serv