Two friends, Hope and Cross, had gone down from Granville to Carolles. Their main object was, to note the various modes of fishing adopted by the villagers and to pick up any information they could on their favourite subject natural history. Cross had lived some years in Normandy, and was getting familiar with the ways of the people. Hope had recently arrived in that part of the country from Paris, the orgies of the last revolution having driven him in terror from the French capital. Carolles is a fishing village standing a little back from the coast. When the tide is down a vast plain of wet shining sand stretches before the eye, broken at irregular intervals with queer-looking rocks. On the day in question the strand was covered by hundreds of men, women, and children. In the far west was seen the rocks of Chausey; and in front was another promontory, on which stood the town of Granvillethe spire of the church, the barracks, and the houses in the old town forming a broken sky-line while the masts of the ships in the harbour could be distinctly seen cutting against the houses in the lower part of the town. The sea was dotted with the white sails of many of the three masted luggers which the fishermen of Granville use for trawling.

The two friends wandered about, watching the fish-wives digging for bait in the wet sand, and the men and girls catching spider crabs, cuttles, prawus, and limpets. Among other strange customs that attracted their attention was that of hunting for eels with dogs! The eels burrow in the sand, and leave in their track certain little mounds, by aid of which, as the naturalists saw, the trained dog of one fish-wife could at once detect their presence.

'Go and seek, good dog Trumpette,' said the old lady. The dog started off, hunting in all directions. In a quarter of a minute he stopped at one of the little lumps, and began

to scratch and whine like a terrier at a rat-hole. See! he has one,' said the woman, as she ran toward the dog and brandished her pick axe. When she reached the place, she looked which way the hole ran, and then began tearing up the sand. After eight or ten strokes out tumbled a fine conger-eel. The dog and his mistress made a dash at it; the biped got it; the woman flung it with great force on the hard sand, and then quietly put it in her basket. Within five minutes of entering the creek the dog found and the mistress dug up and basketted, three of those eels.

After this curious episode, Hope, more interested than his friend, wished to examine the sand in which the eels were found, and discovered that it had been honey - combed by some insect, and the tubes seemed to be composed of some glutinous substance. After renewed search they found the tubes were the work of worm-like creatures, of a_pale yellowish brown hue; and Hope suggested that the eels burrowed in search of the insects, and that the queer-looking rocks were made by these creatures. This led to a careful examination of the rocks. lump was broken off, and like the sand, was found to be swarming with the same insects. Both remained for some time absorded in examining the form of the rock and the creatures within it. Hope was in the act of breaking off some small bits to carry home with him, when Cross suddenly gave a loud shout, calling out! Lord have mercy on us! I forgot the tide, and here it comes!'

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Hope turned toward the sea and saw the stream of water running at a rapid pace, and covering the sandy creek where the eels had been found. Not aware of the danger, he said quietly,-'Faith, so it does; I suppose we had better be off.' 'If we

Life in Normandy. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas.

can, said Cross; by crossing the rock we may yet be in time.' He looked rather pale as he spoke, and Hope seeing his alarm hastened to follow him. For the moment Cross ceased speaking. He scrambled up the rocks, and began walking as rapidly as he could across them toward the nearest shore. But the pace was necessarily slow. The ground was rough and slippery with the dank sea-weed. Crevices that half an hour before were a source of amusement, now served still further to retard their progress. At last they reached the highest point they could see before them. Thank God, said Cross, the sand is not yet covered, but we must run for it.' They hastened on, and in three minutes more they were at the edge of the sand, but they now saw that the sand was in stripes and the water in sheets. They had proceeded thus for about two hundred yards when they saw the little girl from whom Hope had bought some crabs, that day, very dearly, as Cross thought, for the fisher-girls, like the rest of the Normans, ask generally three times as much as the thing is worth, and as they mean to take, and Hope had really given her what she asked. She now came hastily toward them, and was calling out something which they could not catch, for the girl was out of breath. When she came quite close up to them they caught the words. The wave! the wave! it is coming; turn, turn, and run, or we are lost!' They did turn and they saw far out to sea a large wave rolling towards the shore. They at once retraced their steps to the rock they had just left. The little girl passed them and led the way. The wave still rolled toward them-the sand was getting covered, and their knees were now buried in the rising tide.

Quick! quick!' said the girl; 'there is the passage to cross, and if the second wave comes, we shall be too late.' She ran on for a hundred yards till she came to a crack in the rock, six or seven feet wide, along which the water was rushing like a

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mill sluice. We are lost,' said the girl; 'I cannot cross; it will carry me away.' 'Is it deep?' said Cross. 'Not very,' she said; 'but it is too strong.' Cross lifted the girl in his armshe was a strong big man and plunged into the stream, which was up to his waist. With a few strides he was across, and set the girl down. He then held on by the rock, and stretched out his hand to Hope, who was following like an experienced wader, taking very short steps, and with his legs well stretched out, to prevent being swept away by the force of the water. Hope grasped the hand thus held out to him, and in another second the two friends were standing beside the girl.

That is tremendous,' said Hope; if I had not seen it, I never could have believed it.'

'It is indeed,' said Cross, and in winter, or in blowing weather, the tide wave comes in with far greater force than this we have just seen.'

'Come on, come on,' cried the girl. Holy Virgin! we are nearly lost!'

The little girl again led the way to the high point of the lighter-colored rock which had attracted the attention of Hope in the morning. When they had reached it, she said, 'We are safe now;' and pulling from her breast a string of beads with a crucifix, she began to tell the beads. The two friends looked on in silence. Perhaps they too were returning thanks to heaven, although they held no beads in their hands.

After a few minutes thus spent, the girl looked up and smiled at Cross. Thank you,' she said, 'for lifting me over. I could not have crossed myself; and she continued, the second wave has come, and it is all water now.'

The friends looked. All around them was the wide sea. They were on an island which each moment became less; and this island was three quarters of a mile from the shore.

'I am afraid, Sir, you will be cold,' said the little girl. 'We are quite

'Cold or hot,' said Cross, we may be thankful we are here. But what made you forget the tide, for you must know the coast so well?' 'I did not forget it,' she said, 'but feared you would be drowned, as you were strangers, and I thought I should be in time to tell you, but I was too late, and the wave came.' And did you risk your life to save us?' said Hope, the tear starting in his eyes.

I thought at any rate I should get here,' she replied. 'As you are strangers you would not know that it is always dry here, and on the strand you would be lost; so I came to help you, for the gentleman was kind, and gave me a good price for my crabs; so I hoped I should be in time to warn you; but I was very nearly too late.'

Hope took the little girl in his arms and kissed her. Never say a word against a Granvillaise again as long as you live, he said in English to Cross, for this child shows that they are brave and generous. If they drive a hard bargain, you see they are grateful, instead of laughing at their customers, and for this little creature's sake I shall love and respect them even if they do bully their husbands;' then speaking in French to the girl, he continued, 'We owe you our lives, you brave little creature; and so I thank you in the meantime, and hope to do more hereafter. But how came you to know we were here?'

'I took your crabs to the inn, and the burgeois gave me some bread for the rest I had in my basket. As I came back I met Angela on the hill. She was tired, and she asked me to carry some of her oysters; and while I was dividing them between her basket and mine I saw you below. I knew it must be you, for only strangers would stay so long here at spring tides. I ran away at once, and forgot that I had

my mother was on the grass. I remembered the oysters when I had run a good way. They are heavy, and I wished I had left them, for I could not run so fast with them on my back.'

She is a brave little thing,' said Cross, and shews she has presence of mind to see, and promptitude to act. She shall have all the money in my pocket.'

And in mine too,' said Hope, 'but it is not much, and we must do something more for her. I wonder what she would most like in all the world.'

'Ask her,' said Cross. Hope did So. To have a dress,' she said, to wear when I go to mass, just like the one Angela's sister had on last Sunday, with a beautiful silver crucifix like hers.'

'You shall have it,' said both friends together. Hope wished she had asked something else than dress, and Cross replied, Though she is a little heroine, still she is French, and therefore a slave to finery; and yet, poor thing, she is lightly enough clad just now to make her covet something to wear. She must be cold. Are you ? Yes, she replied; I am a little, for I am hungry.' 'And I have left my sandwich box in the carriage,' said Hope. 'Have you your flask?' said Cross. Hope felt, and to his joy found that it was in his pocket. Cross brought out half a dozen Jersey biscuits from his breast pocket; and counting Angela's oysters, asked the little girl if she had her knife.

'Yes Sir,' she said, and held up a coarse square-headed clasp knife covered with rust; as well it might be, for it was hanging to her side by a string, and had been trailing for many a day in the sea.

By the aid of the oysters and the biscuits and the flask, ten minutes were passed pleasantly enough, when Cross noted that the tide was still rising, and inch by inch narrowing their territory. If the tide rises much more,' said he, 'we shall have to swim for it yet."

Though he spoke in English the girl understood by his eye that he was speaking of the tide, and added: "There is no fear; even if the water reaches us; it has no force now, and the points of the rocks are always dry.

Cold comfort,' said Hope, looking at the small sharp-pointed rocks that rose about a couple of feet above where they were standing, and were just high enough to afford shelter from the wind, which they now felt to be cold enough. Their island, however, was still about twenty yards across; the tide was rising more slowly, but it was rising. The food and brandy had warmed the men, but the little girl had refused the brandy and now looked very cold. She was trying to give another turn to the ragged black silk handkerchief which she wore round her neck. The two francs which Hope had given her for the crabs, and which had excited her gratitude and saved their lives, were tied in one corner; but through the worn silk the money was plainly visible.

Hope gave the girl a silk pocket handkerchief to put round her neck, but she seemed afraid lest it should be spoiled. 'No it will not,' said Cross; the gentleman gives it you, so you will take care of it.' Then speaking in English, he said to Hope, As the corner of their handkerchief is always their purse, we may as well club what money we have to furnish the one you have given her; the idea of her riches will do more to warm her than dry clothes and a fire.'

The friends clubbed together, and the amount proved to be forty francs, which they tied in the corner of the handkerchief. The girl watched the proceeding, and when Hope passed it round her neck, she blushed with delight, and kissed both their hands, and repeated several times-How beautiful! how generous! how kind you are to give me so much!' And after looking at her treasures for a while she said, 'How jealous Angela will be, and how happy my mother!'

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'We must not let Angela be jealous,' said Cross; for she is to tell us where her sister got her smart dress. This gentleman and I have promised that you shall have one like it; so you must bring Angela to see us to-morrow, that we may give her a handkerchief also in payment for the oysters, and then she will help us to get the dress we have promised.'

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'O happy day! happy day!' she said, clapping her hands: Angela will be so pleased.'

'If we get ashore'-said Hope; for a wave at that moment rolled past, and the water began to run along the little platform upon which they were sitting. They all rose at once, and mounting on to the rocky points, clung to each other. Another wave came. It appeared only like a ripple, but when they looked down the water was a foot deep where they had been previously sitting. There was silence for a while. Another wave came. The water was within six inches of their feet.

'It is a terrible high tide,' said the girl; but if we hold together, we shall not be washed away.' 'That is true,' said Cross; as we are wet already, we need not much care.'

Hope's face was toward the shore. There are a great many people clustering on the point,' he said. 'It is always a comfort to know that our fellow-beings are taking an interest in us, and I suppose those people are watching us.'

The little girl turned to look. A faint sound of a cheer was heard, and they could see the people on shore waving their hats and handkerchiefs. They think the tide has turned,' she said, and they are shouting to cheer us.'

She was right. The tide had turned. Another wave came and wet their feet; but when it had passed, the water had fallen, and in five minutes more the platform was again dry!

Grâce à Dieu!' said the girl, descending to their old station. I was frightened; were not you?'

The light now began to wane. Their eyes were turned to the shore, for all their hopes were fixed in that direction. Five minutes after they had reached the platform, they saw the large group of people disperse from the high point where they had been collected. A few now only remained on this elevated station; the rest were collected in small groups, each group being at some little distance from the other. The fishergirl explained that these were the several places of the dealers in fish. While the Englishmen were discussing the possibility of turning the immense shoals of fish on the coast of Scotland into a source of profit to the people along the shore, Cross said

See, there is one of your friends, a spider-crab. He has come out of the tide, and is now employed in scraping our oyster shells." This led to a discussion on the ways of spider-crabs in general, and to their carnivorous tastes.

The cold was increasing, and Cross proposed a run to warm themselves. But Hope could scarcely crawl from benumbed limbs. The little girl, whose name they now learnt was Matilde, assured them that there would be no safety in attempting to leave their island until the back wave had come, that the back wave had not come yet, and till then the island must be their home. The darkness now settled upon the waters-and the shore became invisible. They could see the line of the high promontory against the western sky, and presently lights were moving about on the shore. See! there are lanterns,' said the little girl; they are coming to guide us.' The three lights they saw coming down the hill stopped at the shore.

The party, again under the guidance of Matilde, now advance toward the shore. The creek over which Cross had carried Matilde was still full of swift running water, but shallower and more easily fordable. They crossed, still wading up to their knees. The rough rocks beneath the water caused many

stumbles, but at length they perceived that the lights were advancing to them. They stepped on, the water plashing at every stride, but getting increasingly shallow. Another stride, and they stand on the dry ground beside the party with lanterns, which consisted of an old woman, a tall handsome girl, and a young man; several other young men and girls were following. The old woman, the mother of Matilde, as soon as the party from the island came within range of the light, ran forward and embraced her tenderly, and then put down her lantern, cried bitterly, and ended by scolding her like a pickpocket.

The French friends at the inn who had been waiting for dinner several hours, had to wait still longer while Hope had a hot foot-bath, which the landlady extemporised out of a large brass pot. Matilde and her relatives shared in the dinner by universal consent.

The next morning the English naturalists tasted the luxury of giving pleasure. The small garden that lay next to the house where Matilde's mother lived was for sale, and to be had for fifty francs-six pounds, English. The two friends at once determined to purchase it for their brave little companion on the rock. The business was done with a rapidity unknown in England. By a little after ten the next morning everything was ready. The garden purchased, the dress bought, and the handkerchief.

The old woman and the two girls arrived. Cross made a short laudatory speech in honour of their little friends bravery and presence of mind.

At first she did not understand what was done. She only knew that she had been praised, and had received some bits of paper. She therefore smiled and blushed. But when it was explained to her that she was a landed proprietor—that the garden she had hitherto assisted to till was now her own, and that her mother must now pay rent to her and no one else-then indeed