12 OVER THE SEA.

 

ancient ti-tree, which had floated down from the bank of a creek, and gathering to itself
soil and refuse, had put forth quite a bushy crop of shoots from its half-withered stem,
The twisted mossy roots made a sort of arm-chair beneath the foliage, and hither Janie
had often brought Dick, and had sat with him for long hours, eluding her stepmother’s
angry search. Here the gulls and pelicans perched, and to-night one white bird with
outstretched wings hovered over the greenery and seemed to Janie like the ‘spirit of her
dream inviting her to seek shelter here,

With Dick still in her arms the little girl crouched in the hollow of the stump, and |
leaned back so that the branches closed round them both, hiding them completely, and
leaving visible to them only the stars overhead. The night was very warm, and the
Southern Cross shone clear, though there were dark clouds low on the horizon. Dick
slept peacefully, and the gulls crouched on the furthest bough. By and by Janie slept
too. She slept so soundly that she had no sense of rising wind or of heaving waters. —
When she awoke the sky was lightening. The rosy dawn seemed near, and the land far
away. Janie gave a little bewildered cry which awakened Dick. The two children
started up, and pushing aside the branches looked out from their retreat.

5,

   

Be

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There was nothing round them but water. The floating islet had drifted away in the
storm, and they were far out on the great lake. No fear now of Polly’s pursuit. She would
never guess where they had gone. The little waves splashed up against the log, and a flock of
sea gulls circled overhead. But for the gulls they were alone on what seemed the wide sea.

There are no tides nor currents on this shallow inland sea, and while the wind blew
from the slopes beneath which Joe Galvin’s hut was built, the tree islet floated straight for
the opposite shore. But as the day got on the wind ceased, and the old stump lay like
some shipwrecked hull scarcely making any perceptible movement in the water. At first
the children were pleased with the novelty of the scene and the situation. Dick liked to
watch the birds which still hovered about, and the tiny shell fish that clung to the rotting
stump, and the shoals of fish which could be seen distinctly through the clear water. They
ate their meal of Janie’s bread, and the afternoon waned, and Dick began to get hungry
again, and cried himself into a troubled sleep. Janie’s heart sank, and she wished that the
wind would rise and send the stump to hore again. But the wind did not rise, and the

child began to realize that unless rescue came they must perish of thirst and hunger upon
this motionless sea.