"Ay, ay! that's right, parson. I know the
worth of gold," cried the dwarf, jerking out his
words with great rapidity, and laying his hand
upon the treasure. "No, no; not this trash,"
shaking the belt—"this is the nugget I mean,''
pointing unpleasantly, and with a grim smile,
at the doctor's left side. "I don't profess to
be of much account myself; but I can tell them
that is, as quick as most. That was a regular
sell of yours, though, parson. Warn't it,
now?"

With his ugly head on one side as he spoke,
and with first one eye and then the other leering
upon the amazed minister, his motions were as
rapid and as jerky as his speech. He spun about
on his crooked legs, and poked and patted with
his crooked fingers, first at the belt and then at
the owner, and brought his crooked arms into as
many unexpected positions as a mountebank:
which, indeed, he strongly resembled.

The Boston doctor involuntarily drew back
a step or two, though still holding out the belt.

"Ha ha! Afraid of me, eh?" cried the man,
with a scornful laugh, though a shadow, as of
pain, shot across his face. "Lookee here, now,
parson!" Seeing that the minister was at a
loss to comprehend his intentions, he
proceeded in the same eager and emphatic manner,
in his uncouth phraseology, seasoned with
coarse compliments, to assure the doctor that
he had observed him closely during their
acquaintance at the squire's, and that he had
come to the conclusion that "the parson's
life must be saved, anyhow." That for his part,
he was used to these "smash-ups," and could
take care of himself when the time came;
but the D.D. could not, and therefore he
was to lose no more time, but choose a horse,
strap himself upon its back, and trust himself to
be carried safe to land. "Keep your money,
parson," he added; " a few hundred dollars ain't
nothing to me. I'm a rich man, though I ain't
much to look at."

What with the number of persons who were
leaving the boat, and the quantity of cargo
which was being pitched overboard, the steamer
grew perceptibly lighter.The violence of the
current was also helping gradually to shift it
from the branches of the snag. While the
astonished minister was thanking his strange
well-wisher, and explaining that he had resolved
not to separate himself from the helpless young
persons relying on his protection, and while
the dwarf was urging upon the doctor any
number of horses, and further volunteering
his advice and assistance, the boat suddenly
righted. Some minutes elapsed before the crew
could ascertain the precise nature of her injuries;
but these, after a time, were found to be higher
up the ship's side than her present water-line,
and less serious than had been apprehended.
The business of collecting the swimmers,
recovering the sinking, readjusting the freight,
and making cautiously for the next stopping-place,
need not be here detailed, such descriptions
being as common as the accident.

When some degree of order and of
confidence was restored, Dr. B. looked round for
his singular friend, with the intention of
expressing a more thorough acknowledgment of
his generosity, and also with a feeling of
awakened interest in the singular character,
which, though boastfully reprobate, had
displayed such unexpected disinterestedness. But
it was some time before the doctor caught sight
of his friend, and even then he failed to attract
his attention. The man seemed to slink away,
as if with an uneasy sense of having done
something to be ashamed of; so the minister had to
seek out, even to waylay, his fellow-traveller.

"Ay, ay, parson!" said the dwarf, with a
mixture of hurt pride and bashfulness, when at
length the Bostonian succeeded in drawing him
into conversation; "now you'll never believe I
meant you should have them horses! But to
prove it, you shall come and choose one—
two, if you have a use for 'em. I ain't much
to brag on myself, and I don't, as a general
thing, put much faith in parsons; but when I
meets with a parson as is the right sort, I'd
like to serve him a good turn, and I don't
want to have him think I ain't capable of
doing such. I did reckon, on hearing you speak
a few words, though, parson, that time as I
went up to that ere shanty, and it was a sell of
your'n, parson. Warn't it, now?"

SIR ALAIN'S DOVE.

SIR ALAIN has a castle fair,
  There all his ancestors were born,
And there he drew his earliest breath
  Beside the blue Elorn.

Sir Alain there keeps feudal state,
  Fair horses, hawks, and hounds has he,
And he is great and he is good
  As ever a knight may be.

He has a broad and open brow,
  A piercing dark-lash'd eye of blue;
About his ruddy mouth his beard
  Grows thick of red-brown hue.

And thick about his comely face
  His wavy locks fall all adown,
Here burnish'd with a sunbright tinge,
  Here of a shady brown.

Six feet two does he stand erect,
  Great of girth is his spreading chest;
It had need to be, for a greater heart
  Can beat in no man's breast.

Further down, by the blue Elorn,
  'Neath the Château of La Forêt
(La Forêt, that in days of old,
  So do the legends say,

Was Tristram's castle  of Joyeuse Garde,
  Where with the beauteous Isulte he
Received the flower of Arthur's court,
  The glory of chevalrie)—

'Neath the Château of La Forêt,
  Spanning across a singing rill
That spills itself in the fair Elorn,
  Stands a quiet little mill.