XIV.

'Twas morn; and Neuha, who by dawn of day Swam smoothly forth to catch the rising ray, And watch if aught approached the amphibious lair Where lay her lover, saw a sail in air: It flapped, it filled, and to the growing gale Bent its broad arch: her breath began to fail With fluttering fear, her heart beat thick and high, While yet a doubt sprung where its course might lie. 380 But no! it came not; fast and far away The shadow lessened as it cleared the bay. She gazed, and flung the sea-foam from her eyes, To watch as for a rainbow in the skies. On the horizon verged the distant deck, Diminished, dwindled to a very speck-- Then vanished. All was Ocean, all was Joy! Down plunged she through the cave to rouse her boy; Told all she had seen, and all she hoped, and all That happy love could augur or recall; 390 Sprung forth again, with Torquil following free His bounding Nereid over the broad sea; Swam round the rock, to where a shallow cleft Hid the canoe that Neuha there had left Drifting along the tide, without an oar, That eve the strangers chased them from the shore; But when these vanished, she pursued her prow, Regained, and urged to where they found it now: Nor ever did more love and joy embark, Than now were wafted in that slender ark. 400