ing for the
last time. I had not been in the water a quarter of a minute before the
boat came up to us, and dragged us on board. The soldier was exhausted
and speechless. I, of course, was only very wet. The boat rowed to the
landing-place at my request, and we were both put on shore. The knapsack
which was fixed on the soldier's back, and his regimentals, indicated
that he belonged to the regiment just embarked; and I stated my opinion
that, as soon as he was a little recovered, he had better be taken on
board. As the boat which picked us up was one of the men-of-war boats,
the officer who had been embarking the troops, and had been sent on
shore again to know if there were any yet left behind, consented. In a
few minutes the soldier recovered, and was able to sit up and speak, and
I only waited to ascertain the state of the poor young woman whom I had
left on the wharf. In a few minutes she was led to us by the warder, and
the scene between her and her husband was most affecting. When she had
become a little composed, she turned round to me, where I stood dripping
wet, and, intermingled with lamentation for the child, showering down
emphatic blessings on my head, inquired my name. "Give it to me!" she
cried; "give it to me on paper, in writing, that I may wear it next my
heart, read and kiss it every day of my life, and never forget to pray
for you, and to bless you!"

"I'll tell it you. My name--"

"Nay, write it down for me--write it down. Sure you'll not refuse me.
All the saints bless you, dear young man, for saving a poor woman from
despair!"

The officer commanding the boat handed me a pencil and a card; I wrote
my name and gave it to the poor woman; she took my hand as I gave it,
kissed the card repeatedly, and put it into her bosom. The officer,
impatient to shove off, ordered her husband into the boat--she followed,
clinging to him, wet as he was--the boat shoved off, and I hastened up
to the inn to dry my clothes. I could not help observing, at the time,
how the fear of a greater evil will absorb all consideration for a
minor. Satisfied that her husband had not perished, she had hardly once
appeared to remember that she had lost her child.

I had only brought one suit of clothes with me: they were in very good
condition when I arrived, but salt water plays the devil with a uniform.
I laid in bed until they were dry; but when I put them on again, not
being before too large for me, for I grew very fast, th