"Lord Jesus, be my constant Guide,
Then when the word is given,
Bid death's dark stream its waves divide,
And land me safe in heaven."
"You see, young gentlemen," resumed George, when we had given him back the little book, "things which seem hard to bear—ay, and are hard to bear now—are but little things after all, and will be as nothing in that day when all wrong words and tempers will seem great things, far greater than we sometimes think."
Aleck and I had listened with full hearts to Groves's touching account of his son's death, and it was in a subdued quiet manner that we rose up from our meal and settled ourselves again in the boat. There was evidently an inward struggle going on in my cousin's mind, and I almost feared that he was going to ask my pardon, which I should have disliked, knowing myself to be so much the most in the wrong. It was quite a relief to find that in this I was mistaken; he only remained, as before, very silent; and I, too, was silent, and found myself, with eyes fixed on the water, thinking of George's son, and of the opened Book, and wondering concerning the things written therein, and whether all that had happened this day would be found there; whilst old George's words seemed to repeat themselves over in my mind, and I kept saying to myself, "The loss of the ship will be a very little thing then, whilst all wrong words and tempers will seem greater than we think."
We had not resumed our search very long, when Aleck declared that he saw something white in the distance which he thought was the little vessel. We all eagerly turned our eyes in the direction indicated, and although no one felt very sure that we had at last discovered the object of our search, there was sufficient uncertainty to make us eager in pursuit. We had to tack frequently, but at last reached the little white thing which inspired our hopes, and, alas! discovered that it was only a whitened branch of a tree washed out from shore, on which the wet leaves glistened and shone in the afternoon sun. It was a fresh disappointment to us all, and the time our chase had occupied prevented the possibility of any further research. Even as it was, we were quite late in reaching the Cove, and found that my father had been on the watch for us with his telescope, and had been greatly perplexed by the erratic character of our movements.
Of course he was instantly told the tragical history of our day. Aleck, whose sorrow had been renewed by our fruitless search, did not hesitate to lay emphasis upon the fact that I had been left alone at the Cove; and I was quite startled by the quick abrupt manner in which my father turned round to me and said,—
"Willie, did you meddle with the ship or the rope whilst Aleck was away?"
But, thankful that the inquiry took this form, I was able to answer unhesitatingly,—
"No, papa, I did not touch the boat once, or the rope either, this morning, and it's very, very wrong of Aleck to say that I did."
Whilst Aleck, the dark angry look flashing once again from his eyes, exclaimed,—
"I know he hated my having the yacht; I'm sure he wanted me to lose it."