the village of clovelly, which looks out from the steep cliff's side on bideford bay, has surely a character peculiar to itself. rising abruptly from an antique pier, its lichen-covered cottages are piled up on an incline so sharp that the traveller has to climb its oblique, pebble-paved street, and is constrained to wonder how human habitations were perched on so precipitous an acclivity, and how the villagers contrive to descend day after day without bodily detriment, or to ascend with fish-filled maunds without perilling their existence. besides the dwellings which line the slanting thoroughfare, a number of cottages are scattered on the right and left, embosomed in foliage which salutes the waving ocean; and so completely is the cliff graced with fine old trees and with tangled underwood, through which a grey rock here and there protrudes, that the village looks right cosy, despite its perpendicular build, and adds no little to the picturesque appearance of the charming coast.

the only inn of those days, which swung its sign in the main street of that unique fishing hamlet, was the crown and anchor, in which pickard and the 'prentice were quartered for the night. the captain and mr. mogford repaired to the outskirts of the village, where a relative of the former resided, a worthy bachelor, who made them welcome to his home and to such devonshire fare as his larder afforded. everything was done that evening which cousin william could do to make the seamen 'snug and comfortable.'

it's like a dream, cap'n,' said mogford; 'ain't it?'

'a dream with a plaguey nightmare into the bargain,' responded stauncy; 'but the ship isn't launched, and the skipper isn't born, who can stand anything that comes.'

'misfortunes will happen,' said the relative, with a sedate smile, 'and we must all be thankful it's no worse. we shall hear of many a wreck after such a night, and the list of widows and orphans will be greatly increased, i'm thinking.'

'well, william,' said the captain, 'the mate knows, and i know, that every effort was made to weather the storm and keep her afloat. but it was to be.'

'there!' hastily interrupted the cousin. 'you're at your old doctrine again, james, which is really no creed at all, but only an easy, excusing way of getting over a difficulty, and sometimes of justifying a crime.'

'i don't know anything about that, william,' replied the captain; 'all i know is, that what is to be, will be.'

'what is to be: you mean by that, what has been determined by the divine will. this is true as regards divine permission, but not as regards responsibility and the rights and wrongs of what happens; because a great deal comes to pass through the wickedness of men, who act from the impulses of their own bad hearts.'

the captain winced, and, feeling exceedingly uncomfortable at the turn his relative's logic had taken, he replied, 'i cannot argue with you, cousin, particularly as you are a pious man. all i want to say is, that everything was done that mortal could do to survive the gale. but it was to be.'

'everything,' said the mate; 'nothing but good handling would have kept her from foundering, or from running ashore between bude and 'arty. no better seamanship could be.'

'thank you, mogford,' replied stauncy; 'we shall have to give an account of ourselves, i suppose, and you'll bear witness for me, i'm sure.'

'i should think so,' answered the mate; 'and perhaps your good cousin here will appear to prove that it wasn't to be.'

'it would require data,' responded the relative, 'with which i am unacquainted, and which have no existence, i am sure, to prove it in this case. but such a thing might be proved.'

and thus the evening was spent pleasantly, as it seemed: their worthy host declared it was spent profitably. they were known to become more eloquent! as it advanced; and the mate was afterwards heard to say that the debating theologian delivered them a final lecture before they separated for the night, in which, as far as he could understand it, he endeavoured to make good the point that to excuse all things by a divine decree was to adopt a miserably one-sided and fallacious view, and at the termination of which he besought his cousin to throw overboard the foolish dogma, 'what is to be, will be.'

by sunrise the next morning the little party was on its way to northam and appledore. the captain first reported himself to his wife, who was no less surprised than rejoiced to see him, and then walked on to bear tidings to the merchant.

that gentleman was sitting in the parlour already described, and, when the captain was announced, rose up to meet him, with a cunning smile that would have startled most men.

'well, stauncy,' he said, 'what news?'

'all right, sir; she's in as snug a berth as you could wish, with plenty of water at low tide to cover her respectably. a prettier burying couldn't be; but we had a terrible time of it, and i scarcely thought we should have made lundy again. one of our hands was washed overboard, and six, i fear, have been cast away in the jolly-boat.'

'dear me!' exclaimed the merchant; 'and so she went down comfortably. well—pax vobiscum—i believe that's the latin; and now let us drink each other's health. there's a good round sum on the ship and cargo together.'

'i don't feel very comfortable, though,' said stauncy; 'that sneaking 'prentice, who is crafty and malicious, was down in the hold from the time we reached bude bay, and i think he wants gagging.'

'take no notice of him whatever,' replied mr. phillipson. 'the bark of such a young cur as that is not worth thinking about.'

'i thought,' said the captain, 'that i would just keep him, in tow, like, and promised to give him a guinea if he deserved it.'

'you're a simpleton—a downright simpleton!' answered the merchant angrily. 'he's wide-awake enough to read the meaning of that; and if he isn't his father is. guessing that you fear something, he'll be ready to suspect much. you've the mate and the cook on your side, and if you don't put down that young fellow he'll be too much for you. begin to give, and you'll always be in his power, depend upon it. in a case like this, either you must let the truth right out, or you must deny the truth right out. to go in the middle is to make yourself suspected, and halter yourself with your own hands. you must make short work with him, stauncy. the promise of a good rope's end for going below without leave would serve him right, and serve you most.'

the captain saw the force of these remarks; but, had he consulted his wife before acting on them, he might have doubted their applicability in jim's case. she would have suggested, in her wisdom, that the prentice's notion of wealth extended no further than the promised guinea, and that it would be more than unwise to provoke bad feeling by violating an engagement which had filled the boy's mind with such bright hopes. acting, however, in accordance with the merchant's wishes, the captain treated the 'prentice in a way that his honest nature revolted against, and, like many another who has begun to do evil, condemned himself whilst carrying it out.

with a smiling face, which might have caused the merchant himself to relent, and a shyness of manner which betokened a sense of unworthiness, jim ortop presented himself the next day at the captain's door, and quietly said that he came about the guinea.

'i told you,' the captain remarked, assuming a ruffled manner, 'that you should have it if you behaved yourself; but now i come to think it over, it would be paying you for neglecting your duty. you know what you deserve, jim, and be thankful to carry a whole skin. you shall have a guinea when you've earned it.'

so stunned was the boy by this reception that he stood speechless, and when stauncy bid him begone, the shock was too much for him, and he burst into tears.