under the roof of the Blue Boar, wealth was
fast accumulating there.

The friendly connexion with the miller
continued. On the occasion of his visits
there, Raven received him coldly, but sometimes
half-sorrowfully, as if he longed for old
times to come over again. After a violent
storm one night, which upset many an old
pollard willow, and covered the marsh wall,
on the lee side of the broad, with foam from
the waves that dashed against it, there
came next morning a request from the miller
to Rudd, that he would have the kindness to
inspect (as he had been accustomed to do in
former days) the damage that he feared the
sails had sustained. Rudd sent word that he
would be there at noon. One of Bammant's
intimates was present when this message was
delivered and answered.

The day after the storm the wind was lulled,
there was hardly a breath stirring, the weather
was calm and fine. At mid-day, all work had
come to a momentary cessation, and every thing
was almost as still as at midnight. The mill
had been stopped in the usual position,
namely that called " top-sail," with one pair
of sails standing perpendicularly, the others
stretching horizontally. The pair that were
upright were, those that required his
attention.

He first employed himself about the lower
sail, which he reached from the gallery that
ran round the outside of the mill about half
way up. It looked a bold and hazardous
performance, but was not really more, if so
much so, than the feats of climbing which
sailors daily practise among the rigging of a
ship. Having done what was required there,
he climbed up that sail, to inspect what was
wrong in the upper and fellow one. As he
was mounting, he felt a light breeze play
upon his cheek, and slightly move his hair.
"The wind is rising," thought he to himself;
"if I can put this to rights as easily as the
other, they may go to work again in the
afternoon."

Although intent upon his task, he still was
conscious that the noontide calm was soon to
be followed by a steady breeze from the sea,
which he could perceive looking more and
more darkly blue in the distance. As he was
giving his last touch to the apparatus, he
heard some light and rather stealthy-sounding
footsteps approach from behind the mill and
enter the building, and then a noise, as if half-
a-dozen stout sticks had been thrown together
upon the floor.

"Halloo! " shouted Robert. " Who's that?
There's nobody in the mill, if you want
anything there. But I've just done: wait a
minute, and I'll be down to you directly."

The sail was all right, and he was com-
mencing his descent, when he felt a slight
tremor run through the whole frame-work of
the machinery, and communicate itself to the
sail to which he was clinging. "The wind is
rising," said he; and I'm glad of it, for the
work is behind-hand." In one instant
another thought flashed before him. "Am I
giddy?—or good God! the mill is off and I
shall be dashed to pieces!"

The mill was off; the sail up which he had
climbed was descending slowly; it would
rise again with increased velocity, to descend
once more ever faster and faster. He felt all
this, and foresaw the necessary consequence:
his fate on earth was sealed, unless he could
make the stranger within the mill know
what danger he was in, and stop the machinery
—if, indeed, he happened to know
how!

"Help, man! Help!—  Stop the mill!—
Hoy! man; I 'm on the sail—  hoy! " he
shouted, with a voice of resolute and unfal-
tering energy. " Hoy!—  For God's sake stop
the mill!"

But no answer was returned by word or
deed; the motion of the sail increased, not
rapidly, but so steadily, that Robert could
hope only for a few minutes' respite.

"Hoy! man—  stop the mill! " he again
shouted, with an effort which he felt must
be final.

This time he was heard; but not by the
party that he expected. A well-known head
and shoulders peered above the garden-
hedge of the mill-house; it was John Raven,
who instantly saw the perilous situation of
his former friend.

"Hold on, Bob," he almost screamed,
"hand over hand, and I'll stop the mill.
Hand over hand," he repeated, halting for
one instant, to describe by signs, if the words
should not reach Rudd's ear, the action of a
sailor in climbing sideways, by taking a hand-
hold constantly to the left, or to the right, of
the former one, according as the direction of
his intended passage may require. Robert
both heard, and saw, and understood; and
his ready comprehension saved his life. As
he was standing when the mill set off, he was
upright, in the usual position, like a man
upon a ladder; but, when the sail brought
him with his head downwards, his standing-
place would be so no longer; clinging with
his feet, instead of standing on them, could
alone prevent his falling from the sail, even
if he were not thrown off by the increasing
centrifugal force. But, by performing the
"hand over hand " evolution, in a direction
the reverse of that in which the sails were
turning, he managed still to keep his head
uppermost and his feet downwards, and to
retain his place longer than he otherwise
could.

"Hold on, Bob, hand over hand," still
gasped Raven, as he hastened with a rapidity
that seemed almost supernatural in a wooden-
legged man, to stop the machinery. Other
people—women as well as men—  belonging to
the mill, were now aware of Rudd's fearful
flight in mid-air. Jane was amongst them.
They all saw that Raven had run to the rescue;
and they stood still, staring with that