es in the
bulrushes."

"Ah! there goes a gull, flying over my right shoulder, headed seaward;
the sailor's omen of good luck; perhaps father may change his mind,
after all."

"Harry, I want you to promise me you will say nothing about going to sea
before mother; will you promise?"

"I never could refuse you anything, little pussy, but you do not say
anything about yourself; would you not like to get rid of such a
graceless fellow?"

The child's sympathies had been so wrapped up in her mother's grief,
that it had not occurred to her mind how much she should miss her dear
father; and as she thought of Harry, who had always played so gently
with her, and came every night, after her mother had heard her prayers,
and told such beautiful stories, about the good little fairies, until
she fell asleep, and dreamed they had all come to be her sisters; and
was awakened in the morning by the tramping of so many little feet, (in
near proximity to those brown curls, which seemed to have been awake
long before their mistress), and saw fourteen blue eyes looking at her,
besides two roguish black ones, behind the curtain, which she did not
see, and would wonder if it might not have been the kittens, after all,
that had whispered in her ear. As she thought of all his kindness to
her, she was silent; and as the negro drew the mantle more closely about
her, he wondered if the little drop which fell upon his hand was of dew.

Preparations for the sailing of the Tantalizer were rapidly going on.
She was a stout-built ship of three hundred tons burthen, the pride of
her owners; and why should she not have been? for many a rich cargo had
she brought to them, thousands and thousands of dollars had she added to
their possessions; many a hurricane had she outrode, and as she sat so
proudly on the water, she looked as if she might outlive many more.
Captain Grosvenor had sailed master of her upon six successive voyages,
making a "telling" voyage each time, until, his fortune becoming
sufficiently ample, he had thought to spend the rest of his days on
shore; but, after a respite of seven years, he had become so restless,
and so longed to try his fortune upon the water again, that, receiving a
flattering offer from those in whose employ he had formerly sailed, he
consented, as he said, "for the last time," to make a voyage in his
favorite Tantalizer. Mrs. Grosvenor had earnestly hoped that her husband
would follow the sea no more, knowing that