But hark! a step that spurned the stair, Glad hands that clapped for joy, And upward still, and yet more near, A young voice shouting full and clear-- "Ring, father!" cried the boy. He sprang aloft; with both his hands He grasped the iron tongue; The strength of ten was in them then. He swung it once--again--again, And suddenly there rang From every steeple round about Such answering triumph-note, It seemed that all the world must hear, And cheer on cheer, afar and near, Went up from every throat. Was never such a glorious peal! As when a cloud somewhere Has burst around o'er all the ground, So little rills of mellow sound Went trickling here and there. And still the people shouted loud; No soul had room for fears; Even she whose son at Lexington The patriot-martyr's crown had won Smiled through her falling tears. The ringer's hand has turned to dust, His hoary head lies low, But still the Independence Bell Is left to tell who rang so well A hundred years ago. [Begun in No. 80 of HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE, May 10.] THE CRUISE OF THE "GHOST." BY W. L. ALDEN, AUTHOR OF "THE MORAL PIRATES," ETC. CHAPTER IX. The Great South Bay, the eastern half of which is often called Moriches Bay, is separated from Quantuck Bay by a neck of land less than a mile wide. Through this neck a narrow channel was cut many years ago, and the ebb and flow of the tides have scoured it out, until it is now ten or twelve feet deep in many places. The _Ghost_, after passing Sunday at anchor, sailed gayly up the channel on Monday morning, until she was unexpectedly stopped by a bridge, and her crew found themselves again compelled to take the mast out. She was brought close to the side of the bridge, and made fast, for the tide was running rapidly, and the boys went ashore to devise means for unstepping the mast. "It's going to be hard work," said Charley, "but I think we can do it. We can take the throat halyards and use them for a tackle, and we ought to be able to hoist that mast out." "Let's try the plan we tried at the Coney Island bridge," said Joe. "We had two colored men to help us then," said Charley, "but they're not here." "Somebody will be here before long. Look at the road. There's a great deal of travel on it, and if we wait a while we'll be sure to have some help." "But we don't want to ask people to help us," urged Charley. "We ought to be able to get along without help." "If people want to help us, why shouldn't we let them?" said Harry. "Let's get everything ready for hoisting the mast out, and then if anybody comes along and offers to help us, it would be ridiculous for us to say no."