but it was no time
yet to think of departing, as Mr. Willis wished to have Jack some days
longer under his care; we therefore arranged that I and my two sons
should become his guests, as his hut was but a short distance off. We
had many things to hear; but, as my wife was yet too weak to relate her
adventures, we resolved first to have the history of Madame Hirtel.
Night coming on, the missionary lighted a gourd lamp, and, after a
light collation of bread-fruit, Madame Hirtel began her story.

* * * * *

CHAPTER LIV.

"My life," she began, "passed without any remarkable events, till the
misfortune occurred which brought me to this island. I was married, when
very young, to Mr. Hirtel, a merchant at Hamburg, an excellent man,
whose loss I have deeply felt. I was very happy in this union, arranged
by my parents, and sanctioned by reason. We had three children, a son
and two daughters, in the first three years of our marriage; and M.
Hirtel, seeing his family increase so rapidly, wished to increase his
income. An advantageous establishment was offered him in the Canary
Islands; he accepted it, and prevailed on me to settle there, with my
family, for some years. My parents were dead, I had no tie to detain me
in Europe. I was going to see new regions, those fortunate isles I had
heard so much of, and I set out joyfully with my husband and children,
little foreseeing the misfortunes before me.

"Our voyage was favourable; the children, like myself, were delighted
with the novelties of it. I was then twenty-three years old; Sophia,
seven; Matilda, six; and Alfred, our pretty, gentle boy, not yet five.
Poor child! he was the darling and the plaything of all the crew."

She wept bitterly for a few moments, and then resumed her narration.

"He was as fair as your own Francis, and greatly resembled him. We
proceeded first to Bourdeaux, where my husband had a correspondent, with
whom he had large dealings; by his means my husband was enabled to raise
large sums for his new undertaking. We carried with us, in fact, nearly
his whole fortune. We re-embarked under the most favourable
auspices--the weather delightful, and the wind fair; but we very soon
had a change; we were met by a terrible storm and hurricane, such as the
sailors had never witnessed. For a week our ship was tossed about by
contrary winds, driven into unknown seas, lost all its rigging, and was
at last so broken, that the wa