And what were the words, my Mary,

That

say ?'

did hear them
you
'I'll tell you all, my mother-
But let me have my way!

And some they played with the water,
And rolled it down the hill;

"And this," they said, "shall speedily turn The poor old miller's mill;

"For there has been no water
Ever since the first of May;
And a busy man shall the miller be
By the dawning of the day!

"Oh, the miller how he will laugh,
When he sees the mill-dam rise!
The jolly old miller, how he will laugh,
Till the tears fill both his eyes!"

And some they seized the little winds,
That sounded over the hill;

And each put a horn into his mouth,

And blew so sharp and shrill.

"And there," said they, "the Away from every horn;

merry winds

And those shall clear the mildew dank
From the blind old widow's corn."

go,

And some they brought the brown lintseed, And flung it down from the Low

"And this," said they, "by the sunrise, In the weaver's croft shall grow!"

And then upspoke a brownie,

With a long beard on his chin "I have spun up all the tow," said he, "And want some more to spin.

""I've spun a piece of hempen cloth,
And I want to spin another-
A little sheet for Mary's bed,

6

And an apron for her mother!"

And with that I could not help but laugh,
And I laughed out loud and free;
And then on the top of the Caldon-Low
There was no one left but me.

But, as I came from the hill-top,
I heard, afar below,

How busy the jolly miller was,

And how merry the wheel did go!

'And I peeped into the widow's field,
And, sure enough, was seen

The yellow ears of the mildewed corn
All standing stiff and green.

And down by the weaver's croft I stole,
To see if the flax were high,

But I saw the weaver at his gate
With the good news in his eye!

Now this is all I heard, mother,
And all that I did see;

So, prithee, make my bed, mother,
For I'm tired as I can be.'

Mary Howitt.

I was surprised, one morning early, with seeing no less than five canoes all on shore together, on my side of the island, and the people who belonged to them all landed, and out of my sight. Seeing so many, and knowing that they always came four, or six, or sometimes more, in a boat, I could not tell what to think of it, or how to take my measuresto attack twenty or thirty men single-handed; so I lay still in my castle, perplexed and discomforted. However, I put myself into the same posture for an attack that I had formerly provided, and was just ready for action, if anything had presented.

I waited a good while, listening to hear if they made any noise; but at length, being very impatient, I set my guns at the foot of my ladder, and clambered up to the top of the hill, by my two stages, as usual; standing so, however, that my head did not appear above the hill, so that they

Here I observed, by the

could not perceive me. help of my perspective glass, that the savages were no less than thirty in number; that they had a fire kindled; and that they had meat dressed. How they had cooked it I knew not, nor what it was; but they were all dancing, in I know not how many barbarous gestures and figures, their own way, round the fire.

While I was thus looking on them, I perceived two miserable wretches dragged from the boats, where, it seems, they had been laid by, and were now brought out for the slaughter. I perceived one of them immediately fall, being knocked down, I suppose, with a club, or wooden sword (for that was their way); while the other victim was left standing by himself, till they should be ready for him. At that very moment this poor wretch, seeing himself a little at liberty, and unbound, nature inspired him with hopes of life, and he started away from them, and ran with incredible swiftness along the sands, directly towards me- I mean, towards that part of the coast where my habitation was.

I was dreadfully frightened, I must say, when I saw him run my way, and especially when, as I thought, I saw him pursued by the whole body. However, I kept my station, and my spirits began to recover when I found that there were not above three men that followed him; and still more was I encouraged when I found that he outstripped them in running; so that, if he could but hold on for half an hour, I saw easily he would fairly get away from them all.

There was, between them and my castle, the creek which I mentioned often in the first part of my story, where I landed my cargoes out of the ship. This, I saw plainly, he must necessarily swim over, or the poor wretch would be taken there. But

when he came thither he made nothing of it, though the tide was then up, but, plunging in, swam through in thirty strokes or thereabouts, landed, and ran on with exceeding strength and swiftness.

When the three pursuers came to the creek, I found that two of them could swim, but the third could not, and that, standing on the other side, he looked at the others, but went no farther, and soon after went softly back again; which, as it happened, was very well for him in the end. I observed that

the two who swam were yet more than twice as long in swimming over the creek, as the fellow had been that fled from them.

It came now very strongly upon my thoughts, and indeed irresistibly, that now was the time to get me a servant, and perhaps a companion or assistant, and that I was called plainly by Providence to save this poor creature's life. I immediately ran down the ladder with all possible expedition, fetched my two guns, for they were both at the foot of it, as I observed above, and getting up again with the same haste, to the top of the hill, I crossed towards the sea, and having a very short cut, and all down hill, placed myself in the way between the pursuers and the pursued.

I then hallooed to him that fled, who, looking back, was at first, perhaps, as much frightened at me as at them; but I beckoned with my hand to him to come back. In the meantime, I slowly advanced towards the two that followed; then rushing at once upon the foremost, I knocked him down. with the stock of my gun. I was loth to fire, because I would not have the rest hear; though, at that distance, it would not have been easily heard; and being out of sight of the smoke too, they would not have easily known what to make of it.

De Foe.