PART FIRST.

Setting Sail.

"THERE is a history in all men's lives,

Figuring the nature of the times deceased,
The which observed, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim of the main chance of things
As not yet come to life; which in their seeds
And weak beginnings lie entreasured.

Such things become the brood and hatch of time."
SHAKSPEARE, King Henry IV.

AGAINST WIND AND TIDE.

CHAPTER THE FIRST.

THE TWIN BROTHERS.

"I REMEMBER the gleams and glooms that dart
Across the schoolboy's brain;
The song and the silence in the heart,
That in part are prophecies, and in part
Are longings wild and vain.

And the voice of that fitful song
Sings on and is never still:

A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts."

I.

LONGFELLOW.

"CYRUS HAWTHORNE ! "

Cyrus did not respond to his name; he was not in his place.

"Robert, where is your brother?"

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Robert made no answer, but he looked red and uneasy. 'Playing truant again, I suppose," said the schoolmaster, and went on calling over the roll.

He had played truant himself when he was a boy, and remembered the sweetness of stolen delights,also, he remembered the penalty,—also, he was in the habit of exacting it in full from the present generation of delinquents who transgressed his rules. He therefore straightened his cane and laid it handy across his desk, while Robert noted the familiar, ominous preparations and shuddered. It was a parody on Justice whetting her sword. Cyrus was a favourite with the master, but favour did not blunt the edge of the