50 The Catskill Fazries.

head, as you would raise the lid of a tea-pot, and wove dream-
pictures in the sleeper’s brain. Then the sprite, after stocking
thought with bright-colored ideas enough to last through the
next day, just closed the lid of the boy’s head, and marched
off about other business. By this means the cabin-boy grew
happy, and whistled as he worked.

“The ship sailed on, miles and miles, into warm latitudes,
where the soft breeze grew fragrant with the breath of flowers,
and the sea gleamed rosy and green at night like sparkling
showers of diamonds. Land could be seen in the distance,
looming like a faint cloud on the horizon.

“«What a beautiful world! said the sprite, climbing the
rigging to admire the clear sky and tranquil water. ‘That
is the shore over yonder, and soon we shall see strange roofs
and towers, the narrow streets built to shade the people from
a hot sun. The rats told me, and they know.’

“ The sprite was not as near the curious towns as he thought,
for soon he noticed a cloud rising rapidly, and spreading dark
masses over the whole heavens. The sprite scampered down
from the rigging as the tempest came rushing along, heaping
up the waves into mountains, and washing over the deck. The
surly mate was hurled from the bulwark far out into the heav-
ing waters, and no one heard his death-cry, while the ship
plunged and swayed helplessly from side to side.

“The sprite was terrified; he cowered down in the hold,
and the rats nestled close to him, for they had lost their fine
spirits, too. Suddenly a grinding crash announced that the
vessel had struck on a reef, and was at the mercy of the

breakers.