'But I tell you it is, sir. Just out yonder on the lee bow, sir; my night-glass never told me a fib yet.' 'Well, mate, if you like to keep away a bit and maybe save a life, as you suggest, you may do so; only, don't let her get stove on top of some floating wreckage.' 'The wind is nearly down, skipper, though the seas are a bit high.' 'Hard a-port!' 'Hard it is, sir!' 'Easy, steady as you go!' A short, sturdy sailor was this mate, a bearded man with a kindly eye, who had roughed it far away in the Greenland Ocean even from his boyhood, and the bark he was now on board of was the _Nor'lan' Star_ of Hull, on a voyage now to Archangel for timber. Few vessels dared so dangerous a voyage at this season; but those brave fellows who did managed to make a very good thing of it. There was a big lump of a boy standing by his side in the starlight. 'Take a look through that glass, Ben, my lad. [Illustration: Presently the black hull of the bark was looming within fifty yards over her. LASS. PAGE 129. ] Focus her to your own tune, and squint ahead. See anything?' 'Ay, that do I, mate. Summat dark but dippin', dippin' ahind the seas like.' 'I thought your young sight was better than mine. See anything else?' 'It is a small boat, sir, and she is moored to leeward of something floating. And oh, sir, I can see a figure for'ard. Now, now I see a hand raised!' Lotty's hand might have been raised in a dream, yet was she fast enough asleep. 'Ben, hustle aft with all your might and fetch me a Roman candle.' There was a bright dazzling light all around the little boat, and Lotty awoke with a start, very much bewildered to see stars, bright crimson, blue, and green, falling all about her in the sea. But she had sense enough to know it was a rocket of some kind, and quickly pulled herself together. A noise of voices shouting came down the wind, and she flashed her light over and over again to show the sailors of that huge, dark ship that someone was alive in the boat. Presently the black hull of the bark was looming within fifty yards over her, and she could see her masts waving back and fore among the glittering stars. She did not forget to thank God for the deliverance that was close at hand. She, too, had been praying until, childlike, she had fallen asleep in the middle of 'Our Father, who art.' The rough sailors carried her tenderly on deck and aft, and even the _Jenny Wren_ was hoisted. Then sails were filled, and northwards once more sailed the _Nor'lan' Star_. The skipper had his wife on board, and she hardly knew how kind to be to poor Lotty, who was soon sound asleep on the saloon sofa, all her cares forgotten for the time being. * * * * * The time in camp went wearily by--oh, so wearily!--day after day, a whole week, and there was no word or sign of Lotty.