The sun was just peeping above the horizon, the yacht moving swiftly
and steadily onward as Lucilla stepped from the companion-way upon the
deck, the next morning, having obtained permission the night before to
do so in case the quiet movements of the vessel made it certain she
would run no such risk as she had the previous day.
Her father was pacing the deck, and so near that he took her hand the
moment she appeared.
"My early bird, as usual! Good-morning, daughter mine," he said in
tender tones as he bent down and bestowed upon her the caress she never
failed to receive from him when first they met at the beginning of a
new day.
"Good-morning, dear, dear papa, yesterday's saver of my life," she
returned, in moved tones, putting her arms about his neck and pressing
her lips to his again and again. "Oh, father, surely I belong to you
more than ever now!"
"You are my very own, one of my chief treasures," he said, in response
to that. "God bless my darling and have her ever in His kind care and
keeping!" He clasped her hand tenderly in his as he spoke, and for a
while they paced the deck together.
"Oh, where are we, papa?" she asked, gazing from side to side in eager
curiosity. "This wide expanse of water cannot be the Welland Canal?"
"No, we passed through that in the night, and are now in Lake Ontario."
"Oh, I am glad we are so far on our journey," she said, "and the water
is so quiet that it seems a very suitable place in which to spend this
sweet Sabbath day."
"I think so, if only we try to spend it aright."
"I do intend to," she responded. "And we shall have our usual service
in the morning; we younger ones a Bible lesson with papa in the
afternoon, won't we?"
"I think so," he said. "I certainly expect to give my own children a
Bible lesson, and we will not shut out any who may choose to take a
part in it. That would be very selfish, would it not?"
"Yes, sir! yes, indeed! I think so, for you always make a Bible lesson
very interesting as well as instructive."
"I am glad my daughter finds it so," he said, smiling down upon her.
They moved silently back and forth for a few minutes, Lucilla
apparently in deep thought, her father watching with keen and loving
interest the changeful expression of her features.
"What is it, daughter? Of what are you thinking?" he asked at length.
"About the narrow escape of yesterday, papa," she answered, lifting to
his a face full of solemn awe. "I was asking myself, as I have many
times since my narrow escape of yesterday morning, Was I ready for
heaven? Would I have gone there if I had been drowned without time to
think and prepare to meet my Judge? Oh, father, can anyone be saved
without time to think and repent of every wrong thought and feeling,
and asking God's forgiveness for it? And how would it be possible to do
all that while struggling for your life?"
"Daughter," he said in tender tones, "are you not forgetting these
sweet words of Holy Writ: 'He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life?' Take notice, it is not shall have, but _hath_. It is
not only the sins already committed which God forgives for Jesus' sake
when He adopts us for His own, but those also which in His omniscience
He sees that we will be guilty of before the work of sanctification is
finished. If we are truly His, they are all forgiven in advance. He
says: 'I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave
them me is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.' In another place he says,
'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth
on Him that sent me _hath_ everlasting life and shall not come into
condemnation; but _is passed from death unto life_.' The one important
question is, are we really His? Have we accepted His offered salvation
and given ourselves entirely to Him? If that be so we have no cause
for anxiety or fear; for the Lord knoweth them that are His, and will
never suffer any real evil to befall them. Death will be but going home
to Him, and that with all the sin taken away and we made perfect in
holiness, no want of conformity to His holy will left in us."
"Yes, papa, but----"
"But what, daughter?"
"Oh, if I should be mistaken in thinking that I really belong to Him!
Papa, how can I know it?"
"Have you any doubt that you are mine?"
"No, indeed, papa, not the slightest."
"But how do you know it?"
"Because you have told me so again and again; and besides, I have only
to look in the glass to see that I have your features, that I resemble
you about as much in looks as a young girl can resemble a----"
"Middle-aged man," he added, finishing the sentence for her as she
paused with an earnest, loving look up into his face.
"And the Bible tells us," he continued, "that 'Whom He did foreknow He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.' If we
are really His, we will, in a greater or less degree, resemble Him and
will be changed into the same image from glory to glory."
"Do you see anything of His image in me, papa?" she asked anxiously,
humbly.
"I am glad, very glad to be able to say that I think I do, daughter,"
he replied joyously, tenderly. "For years past I have watched you very
closely, constantly praying God to bless my efforts to train you up in
the way you should go, and bring you to Him, and I am very happy to say
that for a long while now I have seen that you were striving earnestly
to overcome your faults and live as a true disciple of Christ. And had
you been snatched from me in that sudden way, while the loss of my
dear child would have been terrible to me, I should not have mourned
as those without hope; but should now be looking forward to a happy
meeting with you in that blessed land where sin and sorrow and death
are unknown."
"Thank you, dear papa, oh, thank you very much!" she said, with
emotion. "If I am a Christian it is because you have taken almost
infinite pains to make me such, to point me to Christ and lead the way;
the way that you made plainer to me than anyone else ever did."
"Give all the glory and praise to God, my darling," he responded, in
moved tones. "It has been my daily, earnest prayer, that He would give
me wisdom for the work of bringing my children to Him and bless my
efforts, and I think my petition has been granted. When you see a work
laid to your hands for which you feel incompetent, ask help from on
high, remembering and pleading His gracious promise--'If any of you
lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and
upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith,
nothing wavering.' Never forget that last clause. God knows the heart,
and it will be useless for us to plead with Him a promise which we do
not really believe."
"Yes, papa; surely that would be insulting to even a human creature.
Oh, pray for me, that I may have strong faith and never, never doubt
one word of God's promises, or threats either, and that I may be always
ready for whatever He sends. Oh, I can never thank Him enough for
giving me such a good, kind, praying, Christian father!"
"And I have great reason for gratitude for the dear children he has
bestowed upon me," her father responded, pressing the hand he held,
"and for the hope that we will spend a blessed eternity together in
that land where sin and sorrow are unknown."
"Yes, papa, what a delightful thought that is! and yet I cannot help
feeling glad to stay a little longer here in this world. Oh, this is
such a lovely morning and the view is as new to me as it is enchanting,
for, as you know, in going to Chicago we passed over this part of the
route in the night, so that I saw nothing of the scenery."
"Well, I think you may enjoy it to the full to-day," he returned, "and
that some time in the afternoon you will get a sight of the Thousand
Islands; though, by the way, counting all, big and little, there are
fifteen hundred or more."
"Then we won't stop at all of them?"
"Hardly," he answered with a smile. "They fill the river for
twenty-seven miles along its course. Most of them are mere rocky
islets, covered generally with stunted hemlocks and cedar trees down
to the water's edge. Some are square miles in extent and others only a
few yards."
"And how wide is the river where they are, papa?"
"It varies from two to nine miles in width. Canoes and small boats may
pass safely among all the islands, and there is a deep channel for
steamboats and large vessels which, having a rocky bottom, never varies
in depth or position."
"Do they belong to our country or to Canada, papa? I ought to know,
but, if I ever did, I have forgotten."
"The boundary line, which was determined in 1818, passes among them.
Grindstone, Carleton, and Wells are the names of the largest of those
belonging to the United States, and Grand and Howe of those belonging
to Canada."
"And there are a good many stories connected with them, are there not,
papa?"
"Yes; perhaps one of these days we will hunt them up; for I know that
my children--to say nothing of older people--are fond of stories."
"Especially when told by our father, who is sure to make them
interesting," she said, with an upward glance into his face that spoke
volumes of love and admiration.
"Ah, such, it seems, is the opinion of my partial eldest daughter, who
can see nothing in her father but what is good and admirable."
"A weakness equally shared by his wife," remarked a clear, sweet voice
in their rear.
They turned quickly at the sound, the captain exclaiming, as he let
go his daughter's hand, put an arm about Violet, bent down and kissed
her tenderly, "This is a most agreeable surprise, my dearest, for I
left you, at least, so I thought, fast asleep. I moved as quietly as I
could, not wishing to disturb your slumbers."
"As you always do move on such occasions, my best and dearest of
husbands," she responded, returning his caresses. "You made no noise,
but somehow I happened to wake just as you closed the door, and
thinking I would secure for myself the rare treat of an early walk with
my--better half, I left my berth promptly and began my toilet. So here
I am, to spoil Lu's private morning interview with the almost idolized
father she considers her peculiar property at this hour of the day."
"Ah!" he returned laughingly, "I put it the other way. She is my
property, yet hardly more so than my lovely young wife."
"Yes; you and I belong to each other, and Lu can say the same to you,"
laughed Violet. "Can't you, Lu?"
"So I think, Mamma Vi," returned Lucilla, "and though probably you are
nearer and dearer to him than I, you cannot say as I can, that you have
his blood in your veins and have belonged to him ever since you were
born."
"No," acknowledged Violet, "but I can say I belong to him of choice,
you only of necessity."
"Oh, that doesn't matter!" laughed Lucilla; "since if I had the
privilege of choosing, I should be all the same his very, very own.
That is, if he would have me," she added, with a look of ardent
affection up into her father's face, and laying her hand upon his
shoulder.
"There is no question about that, dear child," he said, putting his arm
round her waist again. "Since the day I first heard of your birth there
has not been one in which I have not thanked God for this good gift of
His to me," he concluded, with a fond caress.
"So you see you have no need to be jealous even of me, Lu," Violet
said, with pleased look and smile.
"No, I am not, Mamma Vi, not in the least; for I would far rather be
papa's daughter than his wife. But, I suppose, you would rather have
him to yourself for a while now, so I will go down----"
"No, no, Lu dear, stay here with us," interrupted Violet, while the
captain drew his daughter a little closer, saying, "Stay where you are.
Cannot I have and enjoy you both at once?"
"Oh, I'm glad enough to be allowed to stay, if you both want me,"
exclaimed Lucilla, with a pleased little laugh. "But I thought I had
had my turn and was afraid I'd be in the way now."
"When I find you in the way I shall not hesitate to give you an order
to go below," her father said, with a look of amusement.
Then, taking her hand in his and giving the other arm to Violet, he
resumed the interrupted promenade of the deck till they were joined by
the children and older members of the family party.
Then came the summons to the breakfast table. All were in excellent
spirits, greatly enjoying the pleasant change from yesterday's storm to
the lovely weather of to-day. Most of the day was spent upon the deck
holding the Sabbath services usual with them there, then in reading
and conversation suited to the sacred time, or in gazing out over
the waters, watching the passing vessels, and as they steamed from
the lake into the St. Lawrence River and pursued their way among the
islands there, gazing upon them with interest and curiosity.
"Are we going to stop at any of them, papa?" asked Grace.
"I think not," he replied. "We are in some haste to reach Montreal, as
we hope to find letters there from the home folks."
"Yes," said Grandma Elsie, "I am hoping to hear from my boys--Harold
and Herbert--that they have arrived safely at home; also for some news
from all the other dear ones in that vicinity."
"And we hope it will be all good news," added Captain Raymond cheerily.
"And we will send despatches and letters to some of them, that all may
be apprised of our safety thus far," added his wife.
"Yes, indeed," said Violet. "By the way, I wonder where our bride and
groom are by this time? I wish we might come across them and persuade
them to travel in the _Dolphin_ again. We would only have to crowd a
little as before, to make room for them."
"And none of us would object to that, I think," remarked Rose.
"I, for one, am decidedly of the opinion that it would pay," said
Lucilla. "Don't you think so, father?"
"Yes; I have always found their society enjoyable," Captain Raymond
replied to that. "And I hope they have found ours agreeable enough to
need but little urging to accept our invitation."
"Perhaps we may come upon them in Montreal," remarked Grace. "Papa, is
it not the largest city of Lower Canada?"
"Yes; the largest in British America."
"Where is it, papa?" asked little Elsie.
"On the left bank of this--the St. Lawrence River, 200 miles below Lake
Ontario; 160 above Quebec, which will be our next stopping place."
"Will we get there to-day, papa?" asked Elsie.
"No," he replied. "To-day is nearly gone, daughter. See, the sun is
setting, and you and Neddie will be going presently to your beds, to
have a good night's sleep, I hope, and be ready to enjoy to-morrow's
visit to Montreal."