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in-çès'sant-ly, unceasingly, con- pēal, loud sound.

tinually.

seŭll, an oar.

PREPARATORY NOTES.

(1) ducks and drakes: skipping flat stones or shells on the surface of water. (16) hug the island: keep close to the island.

PART II.

1. The wind had freshened by this, and we found it comfortable to put on the jackets which had been thrown aside in the heat of the day. We strolled along the beach, and gathered large quantities of the fairy-woven Iceland moss, which, at certain seasons, is washed to these shores; then we played at ducks and drakes; and then, the sun being sufficiently low, we went in bathing.

2. Before our bath was ended, a slight change had come over the sky and sea: fleecy white clouds scudded here and there, and a muffled moan from the breakers caught our ears from time to time. While we were dressing, a few hurried drops of rain came lisping down; and we adjourned to the tent to await the passing of the squall.

3. "We're all right anyhow," said Phil Adams. "It won't be much of a blow; and we'll be as snug as a bug in a rug, here in the tent, particularly if we have that lemonade which some of you fellows were going to make."

4. By an oversight, the lemons had been left in the boat. Binny Wallace volunteered to go for them.

"Put an extra stone on the painter, Binny," said Adams, calling after him: "it would be awkward to have the Dolphin give us the slip, and return to port minus her passengers."

"That it would," answered Binny, scrambling down the rocks.

5. Binny Wallace had been absent five or six minutes, when we heard him calling our several names in tones that indicated distress or surprise, we could not tell which. Our first thought was, "The boat has broken adrift!"

6. We sprang to our feet, and hastened down to the beach. On turning the bluff which hid the mooringplace from view, we found the conjecture correct. Not only was the Dolphin afloat, but poor little Binny Wallace was standing in the bow with his arms stretched helplessly towards us, - drifting out to sea!

7. "Head the boat in shore!" shouted Phil Adams. Wallace ran to the tiller; but the slight cockle-shell merely swung round, and drifted broadside on. O, if we had but left a single scull in the Dolphin!

8. "Can you swim it?" cried Adams desperately;

using his hand as a speaking-trumpet, for the distance between the boat and the island widened momently.

9. Binny Wallace looked down at the sea, which was covered with white caps, and made a despairing gesture. He knew, and we knew, that the stoutest swimmer could not live forty seconds in those angry

waters.

10. A wild, insane light came into Phil Adams's eyes, as he stood knee-deep in the boiling surf; and for an instant I think he meditated plunging into the ocean after the receding boat.

11. The sky darkened, and an ugly look stole rapidly over the broken surface of the sea. Binny Wallace half rose from his seat in the stern, and waved his hand to us in token of farewell. In spite of the distance, increasing every instant, we could see his face plainly. The anxious expression it wore at first had passed. It was pale and meek now; and I love to think there was a kind of halo about it, like that which the painters place around the forehead of a saint. So he drifted away.

12. The sky grew darker and darker. The figure of Binny Wallace was no longer visible, for the boat itself had dwindled to a mere dot on the black water. Finally it went out like a spark, and we saw it no more. Then we gazed at each other, and dared not speak.

13. Absorbed in following the course of the boat, we had scarcely noticed the huddled inky clouds that

sagged down all around us. From these threatening masses, seamed at intervals with pale lightning, there now burst a heavy peal of thunder that shook the ground under our feet.

14. It was impossible to keep our footing on the beach any longer. We crawled up the sands on our hands and knees, and, pausing in the lee of the granite ledge to gain breath, returned to the camp. We fell to crying, the three of us, and cried I know not how long. The wind rose higher and higher, cutting long slits in the tent, through which the rain poured incessantly. To complete the sum of our miseries, the night was at hand. It came down suddenly, at last, like a curtain, shutting in Sandpeep Island from all the world.

15. What an endless night it was! I have known months that did not seem so long. Fred Langdon was the first to discover a filmy, luminous streak in the sky, the first glimmering of sunrise. "Look, it is nearly daybreak!" While we were following the direction of his finger, a sound of distant oars fell on our ears. Running down to the water's edge, we hailed the boats with all our might. The call was heard; for the oars rested a moment in the rowlocks, and then It was two boats from

pulled in towards the island. the town.

16. Our story was soon told. The sea was still running too high for any small boat to venture out: so it was arranged that one boat should take us back to town; leaving the other with a picked crew, to hug the

island until daybreak, and then set forth in search of the Dolphin.

17. The excitement over, I was in a forlorn state. Towards evening a high fever set in; and it was many days before my grandfather deemed it prudent to tell me that the Dolphin had been found, floating keel upwards, four miles south-east of Mackerel Reef.

18. Poor little Binny Wallace! How strange it seemed, when I went to school again, to see that empty seat in the fifth row! One day a folded sheet slipped from my algebra: it was the last note he ever wrote Poor little Binny Wallace! Always the same to me! The rest of us have grown up into hard, worldly men; but you are for ever young. Always a little boy, always poor little Binny Wallace!

me.

LANGUAGE STUDY.

I. Write the analysis of: correct (regere); direction (regere); distance (stare); distant (stare); instant (stare); state (stare); visible (videre); expression (premere).

What word (1) means grown brisk or strong? Explain "drops of rain came lisping down" (2). What word (4) means said he was willing?

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Supply other words for those in Italics: we found the conjecture correct" (6); "I think he meditated plunging into the ocean after the receding boat" (10); Absorbed in following the course of the boat, we had scarcely noticed the huddled inky clouds that sagged down all around us" (13); "To complete the sum of our miseries, the night was at hand” (14).

II. In paragraph 11 are two simple sentences, one complex sentence, and three compound sentences: select those of each type.

III. Which is the most pathetic paragraph in this piece? Notice how many short exclamative sentences it contains.

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