o wash over her decks, and cause much alarm to the
passengers.

While the vessel was in great danger, she might still have been saved if
it had not been for the mules. These beasts, becoming panic-stricken as
the waves swept over the deck, stampeded to one side of the vessel,
causing it to list over so much that the cargo shifted.

This is one of the most terrible accidents that can happen to a vessel.

The loading of a cargo is a very important thing, and is a business of
itself. The men who direct it must understand just how to distribute the
weight evenly in the hold, and how to pack the boxes and bales and
barrels so tightly together that they cannot move, because if a cargo
should shift it is liable to throw the ship out of her balance, and she
is in danger of overturning and sinking.

This is what happened to the _Triton_. The mules and the shifted cargo
together made such a heavy weight on one side that she keeled over, and
within fifteen minutes of the time she first struck the bank she sank,
carrying down with her one hundred and fifty of the passengers and crew.

The accident happened in the early dawn, when many of the people were
asleep in their berths, and though the captain had them roused, and
lowered the boats to try and take them off the sinking ship, the seas
ran so high that the small boats were swamped, and it was impossible to
save the unfortunate passengers.

The ship went down in one hundred and twenty fathoms of water, so it is
not likely that her valuable cargo of arms and money will ever be
recovered. The loss is a serious one to Spain at this moment, when she
needs every penny she has to help her out of her many difficulties.

* * * * *

There are disquieting rumors that the Carlists are smuggling large
quantities of arms into Spain from France, and it is thought that the
long-deferred rising will occur very shortly.

Eleven thousand rifles are said to have been purchased in Belgium by the
Carlist agents during the month of September.

* * * * *

There is a vague rumor that the Queen Regent and her new Prime Minister
have arrived at the conclusion that the only possible end to the Cuban
war will be to let the Cubans purchase the island.

There are a good many complications in the way of this action at
present, because the European financiers, about whom we have spoken to
you before, have advanced a great deal of money t