-fields, and even whole forests, are whirled
aloft and scattered to fragments in an instant; or, if upon the deep,
the whole ocean is wrought into maddened and foaming fury; and woe to
the vessel, no matter for its strength or magnitude, that is brought
within the vortex of the tempest.

Such was the fact in regard to the hurricane of which I am speaking.
Some of the light craft then upon the gulf, escaped and came into the
harbor of New-York. They reported that never within the memory of man,
had that sea been the scene of so fearful a tempest. It commenced with
a tremendous crash from the heavens, and the gulf was almost instantly
lashed into a foam of contending currents. At the instant of its
commencement, apparently in the very focus of its fury, one of them saw
a dark object, resembling a ship of war, rise upon the ridge of a
towering wave, and then sink with a heavy roll into the trough of the
sea, whence she rose no more. It was a fearful night, that which
followed; the seas rushing and doubling onward, curling and foaming and
breaking with awful majesty. But the United States ship HORNET was
never heard of more. Her gallant officers and daring crew--full of high
health and hope but an hour before--were all--all, in that dread
moment--without one instant to bid adieu or breathe a prayer--hurried
to their doom!

But to return from this digression. Mr. and Mrs. Wheelwright's articles
were all redeemed, and their house comfortably warmed and supplied for
the winter, as I have already intimated. And in addition to such
present relief as was rendered imperatively necessary by his wounded
hand, the funds contributed for his benefit enabled me to lay in, for
his use and behoof, ample materials for sixty bedsteads--a stock in
trade rendering him a rich man, compared with what had been his
temporal condition for a long while before. His spirits in a good
measure revived at even _such_ a change in his circumstances--and his
wife poured forth an overwhelming torrent of Irish blessings, with
thanks to "his honor," and "his worship," without number.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE END OF THIS EVENTFUL HISTORY.

O matrimony! thou art like
To Jeremiah's figs;--
The good were very good;--the bad--
Too sour to give the pigs.--_Old Saw._

"Slender, I broke your head--what matter have you against
me?"--_Shakspeare._

One of the most amusing, and, indeed, one of the best pictures of Sir
Joshua Reynolds, is