'So, so! Jessie Oglethorpe; I think I have you at last!'

Jessie gave one look at the intruder-one look; it was enough! She recognised her cousin, his face livid with passion, and his eyes red with rage and his dreadful vigil. He sprang forward to seize her; but she swiftly wheeled round, and, in an agony of alarm and confusion, fled along the cliff.

He shouted after her-Stop! Jessie Oglethorpe ; I want a word with you.'

But she continued her flight, shrieking for help, and never even turning her face to see if he pursued her.

'I must silence the jade,' he said, 'at whatever cost. Fortunately, she has not taken the road to the village, and I can soon run her down. This has been a bad night's work, Dick; how will it end? Curses on the fool! She drives me to it.'

He followed her with a rapid foot; and as he ran, drawing a long knife from his pocket, opened out the blade. Faster and faster sped the unfortunate Jessie; faster and faster in her track rushed her now relentless cousin. It was an unequal course. Jessie was exhausted by the fatigue, the alarm, the novel and terrible incidents of the past night, and she felt that her strength was failing her. Casting one swift glance behind her, she caught sight of her pursuer's wrathful countenance, and of the open knife which he brandished in his hand. She strove to quicken her speed, and over the wet turf she flew as if suddenly gifted with wings. To what place she was hastening, or where she would find succour, she never paused to consider; she only knew that Dark Dick was gaining upon her, and she felt that, if overtaken, she would meet with no mercy.

Faster, and yet faster, went pursuer and pursued. But at length Jessie's limbs trembled beneath her; her breath came and went in short, hurried gasps; a dreadful sickness seemed to paralyze her energies; strange sounds were in her ears, strange sights flashed and floated

before her eyes; and now she could plainly catch the sounds of Dick Marsland's strong but hurried tread. He was drawing nearer. She heard his voice, his oaths, his threats. What is it rises in her path? Is it a bush, or a tree? No; it is surely a human form. Another effort -another; she no longer hears the tramp, tramp, tramp of her pursuer. Suddenly all sensation fails her, and she falls forward.

A strong arm catches her, and a calm voice exclaims'All right, my dear! I am Lieutenant Trevelyan of the Preventive Service, and a friend! And you, if I mistake not, are Jessie Oglethorpe, the lighthouse-keeper's daughter. But, whew! the poor lass has fainted!'

The lieutenant blew shrilly on a whistle that he wore suspended to his neck, and almost immediately two of his subordinates issued from a low white line of houses near at hand, and hastened towards the spot.

(To be continued.)

'STREAMS IN THE DESERT.'

AN ADDRESS

BY A SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER,

HERE are several deserts in this world, and they have all one distinguishing feature-the absence of water. Travellers, therefore, in journeying across these barren solitudes, often encounter the greatest hardships, and not unfrequently death itself, from the absence of this

necessity of life. Every living thing, whether in the animal or the vegetable world, requires a constant supply of water to sustain existence; and where this essential element of life is not found in sufficient quantities, it follows, as a necessary consequence, that death and desolation must take possession of the scene.

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give you some idea of what a desert is, I will quote the language of a distinguished traveller who journeyed across the great African Desert. 'That Desert,' he says, 'is a country entirely without water; not a tree is to be seen in it, not a rock that can afford a shelter or a shade. The atmosphere is clear, and without a cloud; the sun seems to burn as it darts its beams upon the head of the traveller; the ground is almost white; it has a heat like burning glass, and the slight breezes that pass over it scorch like a flame. No animal is to be seen; no sound is heard; and the traveller who is obliged to cross this dreary wilderness, is surrounded by the silence of death.'

Such is a description of the Desert; and a more cheerless and sterile solitude cannot well be conceived. Nothing can be better fitted to convey to us an idea of the value of water, an element upon which our very existence depends; and whether we view it in the dewdrop or the mighty ocean, it ought ever to remind us of the wisdom and benevolence of our Creator, who 'holds the waters of the earth in the hollow of His hand,' and commands the elements of nature to fulfil the pleasures of His will. While it would require no stretch of fancy to conceive the pleasure which the fatigued and thirsty traveller would feel on coming to a cool, clear stream, flowing through such a place, the art of the painter would fail to give us a conception of the beauty and fertility which such a current dispenses in its course.

The land of Egypt is a notable instance of a whole country being made fertile by a stream flowing through the Desert. That ancient country has been spoken of by its inhabitants, from the earliest ages, as the gift of the Nile. 'It presents itself to the eye of the traveller as an immense valley, extending nearly six hundred miles in length, and hemmed in on either side by a range of hills, and a vast expanse of desert. It owes its existence entirely to the Nile, which flows through it from south to north, conveying annually to the inhabitants the main source of their agricultural

wealth, salubrity to the climate, and beauty to the landscape.' The passage of the Nile through Egypt thus gives it, in the spring season, the appearance of a beautiful and fertile garden; and when harvest-time comes, the crops are usually both excellent and abundant. The Nile annually overflows its banks, and enriches the surrounding country by the valuable deposits of mud which it leaves upon the soil. When the waters do not rise to their average level, the crops are less abundant; and ‘where they are partially withheld, the desert gradually resumes its dominion, covering the finest fields with barren sand.'

The Egyptian looks forward to the rising of the Nile with the greatest pleasure, because, while it gives increased fertility to the soil, it dispenses health to the people. 'He finds his chief solace in his beloved river, and prefers its water to the most costly beverage; and, when languishing under disease, he looks forward to the approaching inundation as the season of renovated health and vigour.'

Ever since the time of Abraham, Egypt has been spoken of as a fertile country. When that patriarch first entered the Promised Land, and found a famine prevailing there, he went down to sojourn into Egypt, and found it a land of plenty, both for man and beast. In the time of Joseph, during the seven years of plenty, its storehouses were filled to overflowing; so that the people of all countries came to it to buy corn. In the time of Moses, it was spoken of as a land of riches and learning; and at the present day, the products of its soil are scattered in profusion over half the world. You thus see that a stream flowing through the desert, converts the wilderness into a garden, gives life and fertility for silence and desolation, and dispenses health and vigour in its course.

But there is a fertilizer that passes through the wilderness of this world of incalculably greater value. It is the healthful stream of thought and feeling, which comes to us in all its purity from the Eternal Fountainhead of truth and holiness, and deposits its riches before us on the

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pages of the Bible. That stream began to flow when the Almighty whispered words of pardon and peace into the ears of our first parents after the fall; and it has ever since continued its course, giving life, and peace, and comfort to the people of God. It flowed through the heart of Abraham, when he believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. It flowed through the heart of Joseph, when, as the solitary occupant of a pit, he was left to perish by the cruelty of his brethren,giving him the assurance that, though apparently alone, he was not forsaken. In all the leading events of his life, whether assailed by temptation in the house of Potiphar, as the inmate of a prison, or as the ruler of a country, it gave a grace and dignity to his character, which makes it serve as a proper model for the youth of every age, and points him out as the most distinguished man of his time. It flowed through the heart of Moses, when, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, because he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. And the teaching of Christ and His apostles, by showing that salvation is not for one people, but for every people, has sent a current of thought and feeling throughout the world, that will yet fill the earth with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. The inspired volume of divine truth is designed to place that knowledge within the reach of all. It is more to be desired than the finest gold; for it alone can make us wise unto salvation.

Early seek, then, my young friends, to make yourselves acquainted with the word of God, and do not neglect to repair frequently to a throne of grace to ask the guidance of His Spirit; and you will find that the heart can never become barren that is watered from such a source. By thus using the divinely appointed means to fertilize your own hearts, and by cordially co-operating

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