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come upon deck, and let me speak with you there." They now went up the gangway stairs together, and continued in deep conversation for some time.

Angerstoff gradually became more agitated as the day advanced. He watched upon deck almost without intermission, and seemed irresolute what to do, sometimes sitting down composedly, and at other times hurrying backwards and forwards, with clenched hands and bloodless cheeks. The wind blew pretty fresh from the shore, and there was a heavy swell; and I supposed, from the anxious looks with which he contemplated the sky, that he hoped the threatening aspect of the weather would prevent the government boat from putting out to sea. He kept his glass constantly in his hand,

and surveyed the ocean through it in all directions.

At length he suddenly dashed the instrument away, and exclaimed, "God help us! they are coming now!" Marietta, on hearing this, ran wildly towards him, and put her hands in his, but he pushed her to one side, and began to pace the deck, apparently in deep thought. After a little time, he started, and cried, "I have it now!-It's the only plan-I'll manage the business-yes, yes-I'll cut the cables, and off we'll go-that's settled!"-He then seized an axe, and first divided the hawser at the bows, and afterwards the one attached to the stern.

The vessel immediately began to drift away, and having no sails or helm to steady her, rolled with such violence, that I was dashed from side to side several times. She often swung over so much, that I thought she would not regain the upright position, and Angerstoff all the while unconsciously strengthened this belief, by exelaiming, "She will capsize, shift the ballast, or we must go to the bottom!" In the midst of this, I kept my station upon deck, intently watching the boat, which was still several miles distant. I waited in fearful expectation, thinking that every new wave against which we were impelled would burst upon our vessel, and overwhelm us, while our pursuers were too far off to afford any assistThe idea of perishing when on the point of being saved, was inexpressibly agonizing.

ance.

As the day advanced, the hopes I had entertained of the boat making up with us gradually diminished. The wind blew violently, and we drifted along at a rapid rate, and the weather grew so hazy that our pursuers soon became quite undistinguishable. Marietta and Angerstoff appeared to be stupified with terror. They stood motionless, holding firmly by the bulwarks of the vessel; and though the waves frequently broke over the deck, and rushed down the gangway, they did not offer to shut the companion door, which would have remained open, had not I closed it. The

tempest, gloom, and danger, that thickened around us, neither elicited from them any expressions of mutual regard, nor seemed to produce the slightest sympathetic emotion in their bosoms. They gazed sternly at each other and at me, and every time the vessel rolled, clung with convulsive eagerness to whatever lay within their reach.

About sunset our attention was attracted by a dreadful roaring, which evidently did not proceed from the waves around us; but the atmosphere being very hazy, we were unable to ascertain the cause of it, for a long time. At length we distinguished a range of high cliffs, against which the sea beat with terrible fury. Whenever the surge broke upon them, large jets of foam started up to a great height, and flashed angrily over their black and rugged surfaces, while the wind moaned and whistled with fearful caprice among the projecting points of rock. A dense mist covered the upper part of the cliffs, and prevented us from seeing if there were any houses upon their summits, though this point appeared of little importance, for we drifted towards the shore so fast that immediate death seemed inevitable.

We soon felt our vessel bound twice against the sand, and, in a little time after, a heavy sea carried her up the beach, where she remained imbedded and hard a-ground. During the ebb of the waves there was not more than two feet of water round her bows. I immediately perceived this, and watching a favourable opportunity, swung myself down to the beach, by means of part of the cable that projected through the hawse-hole. I began to run towards the cliffs, the moment my feet touched the ground, and Angerstoff attempted to follow me, that he might prevent my escape, but, while in the act of descending from the vessel, the sea flowed in with such violence, that he was obliged to spring on board again to save himself from being overwhelmed by its waters.

I hurried on and began to climb up the rocks, which were very steep and slippery; but I soon grew breathless from fatigue, and found it necessary to stop. It was now almost dark, and when I looked around, I neither saw any thing distinctly, nor could form the least idea how far I had still to ascend before I reached the top of the cliffs. I knew not which way to turn my steps, and remained irresolute, till the barking of a dog faintly struck my ear. I joyfully followed the sound, and, after an hour of perilous exertion, discovered a light at some distance, which I soon found to proceed from the window of a small hut.

After I had knocked repeatedly, the door was opened by an old man, with a lamp in his hand. He started back on seeing me, for my dress was wet and disordered, my face and hands had been

wounded while scrambling among the rocks, and fatigue and terror had given me a wan and agitated look. I entered the house, the inmates of which were a woman and a boy, and having seated my.. self near the fire, related to my host all that had occurred on board the floating beacon, and then requested him to accompany me down to the beach, that we might search for Angerstoff and Marietta. "No, no," cried he, "that is impossible. Hear how the storm rages! Worlds would not induce me to have any communication with murderers. It would be impious to attempt it on such a night as this. The Almighty is surely punishing them now! Come here, and look out."

I followed him to the door, but the moment he opened it, the wind extinguished the lamp. Total darkness prevailed without, and a chaos of rushing, bursting, and moaning sounds swelled upon the ear with irregular loudness. The blast swept round the hut in violent eddyings, and we felt the chilly spray of the sea driving upon our faces at intervals. I shuddered, and the old man closed the door, and then resumed his seat near the fire.

My entertainer made a bed for me upon the floor, but the noise of the tempest, and the anxiety I felt about the fate of Angerstoff and Marietta, kept me awake the greater part of the night. Soon after dawn, my host accompanied me down to the beach. We found the wreck of the floating beacon, but were unable to discover any traces of the guilty pair whom I had left on board of it.

HEBREW MELODY.

Jeremiah x. 17.

FROM the Hall of our fathers in anguish we fled,
Nor again will its marble re-echo our tread,
For the breath of the syroc has blasted our name,
And the frown of Jehovah has crushed us in shame.

His robe was the whirlwind, His voice was the thunder,

And earth, at His footstep, was riven asunder;

The mantle of midnight had shrouded the sky,
But we knew where He stood by the flash of His eye.

Oh, Judah! how long must thy weary ones weep,
Far, far from the land where their forefathers sleep?
How long ere the glory that brightened the mountain,
Will welcome the exile to Siloa's fountain?

MRS BROOKES.*

* An American poetess, who generally assumes the name of " Norna."

A SONG OF THE CUCKOO.

WHEN Spring with her girdle of roses comes forth,
Like a fair blushing bride from the clime of the north,
How man's heart bounds with gladness his gay bosom through,
At her charms, and the song of her merry cuckoo ;

Cuckoo, and cuckoo, and cuckoo !

We have gazed on bright forms, such as angels above

Might leave heaven, and come down on this dull earth to love;
But no face is like Nature's to man's longing view,
When she laughs out in Spring with her joyous cuckoo ;
Cuckoo, and cuckoo, and cuckoo!

We have felt--who has not ?-as we clasp'd the fair hand,
How the pulse bounds to bliss at the dear one's command;
But are those warm pulsations more thrilling or new
Than sweet Spring when she dances, and warbles cuckoo ?
Cuckoo, and cuckoo, and cuckoo !

Though we've look'd in their eyes, until feeling arose,
And the white of the cheek took the red of the rose,

Who would say that those eyes were of tenderer blue

Than Spring's heaven when she comes with her merry cuckoo ?
Cuckoo, and cuckoo, and cuckoo!

Who could swear-I would not-that their voices are clear
As Nature's sweet speech at the spring of the year?
This we know, if far softer, their tongues are less true
Than hers is when she speaks by her herald cuckoo ;
Cuckoo, and cuckoo, and cuckoo.

We have drank of the wine cup-who has not ?-in mirth,
And believed nothing like it is found upon earth,
But that draught would be bitter and dark, if ye knew
The rich cup which she sends by her Hebe cuckoo ;

Cuckoo, and cuckoo, and cuckoo !

We have read the rare books of the wise ones of old,

And perchance touch'd their wand that turns all things to gold; But their tomes and their spells are as old things to new

When fair Nature's are shown by her envoy cuckoo ;

Cuckoo, and cuckoo, and cuckoo !

Woman's love's not like hers ;-rosy wine makes us gay,

But like beauty, it leads the pure bosom astray;

Fly them both-tear your volumes-your spells break in two, And woo Nature, and sing with her shouting cuckoo

[Edin Lit. Jour.]

Cuckoo, and cuckoo, and cuckoo !

THE CONTRAST.

SOME years ago I made a rambling tour through the interior of Perthshire, my native county. Among other places endeared by early associations that I visited, was a wild valley little known to strangers, called Glassy-howe Glen. It was the scene of many a boyish excursion, when holidays were days of fun as well as of danger; and every nook and secluded corner of the banks, every pool and cascade of the stream, every tree and bush were as familiar as the Georgics of Virgil-probably more so. Glassy-howe lies at a considerable distance from the village of M-, far removed from any public thoroughfare; and, indeed, the only human habitation at which, in those days, a traveller could rest, was a solitary shepherd's cottage which stood near the head of the glen, at the foot of a gently swelling eminence, that gradually rises and is lost amid the thousand undulations that ripple at the bottom of an enormous highland Alp. The glen itself is rather of a bare and monotonous aspect; and this dull, unvaried appearance is but little relieved by the scanty stream that brawls and hurries onwards to the small beautiful lake into which, after a course of nearly two miles, it discharges itself. Here and there, indeed, may be seen a stunted tree of larger proportions than the more modern shrubs, that gaily flourish by the banks of the rivulet, or affect majesty on some precipitous steep on the sides of the glen; and occasionally the stream assumes a bolder and more adventurous character, as it leaps from the rock that impedes, and threatens to stop its flow. But the principal feature of the huge and winding hollow is lonely and dreary seclusion; it wears an expression that never fails to inspire one with an inexplicable melancholy; and from which we turn away to other and fairer scenes, as if an oppressive load had been removed from the heart.

The cottage which has been mentioned as the only proof of man's presence in this desolate region, though now a roofless ruin, with the eastern gable alone entire, was tenanted in my youthful years by Matthew Lyel, and his family. Matthew was a shepherd; a plain good-natured man, whose only care was to tend his flocks, and to watch over the interests and happiness of a rising family, and, during the summer months, this moorland cottage was the place of his constant residence. Many a time and oft have I wandered over hill and dale with him, listening with a patient ear to his homely stories, or greedily devouring his wild legends of ghosts and fairies-for of these he possessed good store; and as often, and

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