rnestly seek for His guidance; and our prayers, as well as yours, will
be heard at the throne of grace."

Day after day went by, the boat making but slow progress, for it was an
almost perfect calm; and, though the oars were got out, and kept going,
the men either could not, or would not, make much exertion in rowing.
Mr Hart, and Harry and Bass, and old Tom, took their turns at the oars,
and endeavoured to encourage the men. Still no land appeared in sight.
The men grumbled, and declared that they would rather have a gale than
this long continuance of calm.

"Let us rather be thankful, my friends, for the fine weather; and,
though our voyage is prolonged, we may still hope to reach a haven of
safety," observed Mr Hart.

The gale the men were wishing for came, however, with more fury than
they desired. Once more the boat was tossing on the foaming waves, when
the sea, breaking over her, washed away a portion of their provisions,
and compelled them to be constantly bailing to keep her afloat. She was
driven, too, far out of her course, and often it seemed as if she could
not live amid the raging seas which rose up around her. Old Tom,
however, sat at the helm, calm and undismayed, steering with his
accustomed skill. All knew well that their lives depended, under
Providence, on him.

Still the tempest was increasing. In spite of the admirable way old Tom
managed the boat, another sea broke on board, washing out of her more of
the provisions, and almost carrying away one of the men as he lay asleep
in the bows. He was caught by the man next to him, and hauled in, and
all hands had instantly to set to work to bail out the water.

"It looks to me as if this hurricane was never going to cease!" cried
the chief grumbler of the party. "We might as well have stopped and
fought the savages, and if they had killed us there would have been an
end of it."

"My friend, God will cause the hurricane to cease when He thinks fit,"
said Mr Hart, solemnly. "Be thankful rather that you are yet alive,
and that the day of grace still lasts. You had not then accepted
Christ, and heaven would never have been your home. Have you done so
now? God is still willing to receive you; and He shows it by having
preserved you hitherto from the perils by which we have been
surrounded."

"You are right, sir," answered the man, at length touched; "I am an
ungrateful fellow, God be merciful to me a sinner! I will never
complain again."