themselves secure after having escaped the dangers of the storm. In
the centre of the bay there was a small island which they called
_Shark's Island_, to commemorate the capture of one of those monsters
of the deep. Safely Bay, had, a second time, acquired a legitimate
title to its name, for in it Providence had brought the _Nelson_
safely to anchor.

By unwearying perseverance, indefatigable industry, and an untiring
reliance on the goodness of God, Becker and his family had surrounded
themselves with abundance. There was only one thing left for them to
desire, and that was the means of communicating with their kindred;
and now this one wish of their hearts was gratified by the unexpected
appearance of the _Nelson_ on their shore. The fifteen years of exile
they had so patiently endured was at once forgotten. Every bosom was
filled with boundless joy; so true it is, that man only requires a ray
of sunshine to change his most poignant griefs into smiles and
gladness.

The first impressions of their deliverance awakened in the minds of
the young people a flood of projects. The mute whisperings that
murmured within them had divulged to their understandings that they
were created for a wider sphere than that in which they had hitherto
been confined. Europe and its wonders--society, with its endearing
interchanges of affection--that vast panorama of the arts and of
civilization, of the trivial and the sublime, of the beautiful and
terrible, that is called the world--came vividly into their thoughts.
They felt as a man would feel when dazzled all at once by a spectacle,
the splendor of which the eyes and the mind can only withstand by
degrees. They had spelt life in the horn-book of true and simple
nature--they were now about to read it fluently in the gilded volume