arr, awaited them. In a few
hours it would convey them all to Granton. Nell looked at the clear
water which flowed up to her feet, as the waves broke gently on the
beach, reflecting the starlight. "Is this a lake?" said she.

"No," replied Harry, "it is a great river flowing towards the sea, and
soon opening so widely as to resemble a gulf. Taste a little of the
water in the hollow of your hand, Nell, and you will perceive that it is
not sweet like the waters of Lake Malcolm."

The maiden bent towards the stream, and, raising a little water to her
lips, "This is quite salt," said she.

"Yes, the tide is full; the sea water flows up the river as far as
this," answered Harry.

"Oh, Harry! Harry!" exclaimed the maiden, "what can that red glow on the
horizon be? Is it a forest on fire?"

"No, it is the rising moon, Nell."

"To be sure, that's the moon," cried Jack Ryan, "a fine big silver
plate, which the spirits of air hand round and round the sky to collect
the stars in, like money."

"Why, Jack," said the engineer, laughing, "I had no idea you could
strike out such bold comparisons!"

"Well, but, Mr. Starr, it is a just comparison. Don't you see the stars
disappear as the moon passes on? so I suppose they drop into it."

"What you mean to say, Jack, is that the superior brilliancy of the moon
eclipses that of stars of the sixth magnitude, therefore they vanish as
she approaches."

"How beautiful all this is!" repeated Nell again and again, with her
whole soul in her eyes. "But I thought the moon was round?"

"So she is, when 'full,'" said James Starr; "that means when she is just
opposite to the sun. But to-night the moon is in the last quarter, shorn
of her just proportions, and friend Jack's grand silver plate looks more
like a barber's basin."

"Oh, Mr. Starr, what a base comparison!" he exclaimed, "I was just going
to begin a sonnet to the moon, but your barber's basin has destroyed all
chance of an inspiration."

Gradually the moon ascended the heavens. Before her light the lingering
clouds fled away, while stars still sparkled in the west, beyond
the influence of her radiance. Nell gazed in silence on the glorious
spectacle. The soft silvery light was pleasant to her eyes, and her
little trembling hand expressed to Harry, who clasped it, how deeply she
was affected by the scene.

"Let us embark now," said James Starr. "We have to get to the top of
Arthur's Seat before sunrise."

The boat was moo