of
open meadow stretching as far as the eye could reach in the uncertain
light. A faint yellow tinge was beginning to stain the eastern horizon.
Her boat was floating quietly along, for she had at last taken in her
oars, and she was now almost tired out with toil and excitement. She
rested her head upon her hands, and felt her eyelids closing in spite of
herself. And now there stole upon her ear a low, gentle, distant murmur,
so soft that it seemed almost to mingle with the sound of her own
breathing, but so steady, so uniform, that it soothed her to sleep, as
if it were the old cradle-song the ocean used to sing to her, or the
lullaby of her fair young mother.

So she glided along, slowly, slowly, down the course of the winding
river, and the flushing dawn kindled around her as she slumbered, and
the low, gentle murmur grew louder and louder, but still she slept,
dreaming of the murmuring ocean.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VIII. MYRTLE HAZARD'S STATEMENT.

"A Vision seen by me, Myrtle Hazard, aged fifteen, on the night of June
15, 1859. Written out at the request of a friend from my recollections.

"The place where I saw these sights is called, as I have been told
since, Witches' Hollow. I had never been there before, and did not know
that it was called so, or anything about it.

"The first strange thing that I noticed was on coming near a kind of
hill or mound that rose out of the low meadows. I saw a burning cross
lying on the slope of that mound. It burned with a pale greenish light,
and did not waste, though I watched it for a long time, as the boat I
was in moved slowly with the current and I had stopped rowing.

"I know that my eyes were open, and I was awake while I was looking
at this cross. I think my eyes were open when I saw these other
appearances, but I felt just as if I were dreaming while awake.

"I heard a faint rustling sound, and on looking up I saw many figures
moving around me, and I seemed to see myself among them as if I were
outside of myself.

"The figures did not walk, but slid or glided with an even movement, as
if without any effort. They made many gestures, and seemed to speak,
but I cannot tell whether I heard what they said, or knew its meaning in
some other way.

"I knew the faces of some of these figures. They were the same I have
seen in portraits, as long as I can remember, at the old house where
I was brought up, called The Poplars. I saw my father and my mother as
they look