he most from heart-yearnings after home.

They had already lost one of their companions from the effects of
scurvy; and now, when six dreary years had nearly passed, another was
taken from among them. It chanced on the 15th of August 1749, while
they were lamenting their poor companion, that they descried a vessel.
Who can describe the tumults of their feelings, the fluttering of
their hearts? Their fate hung upon a chance. Oh, if she would come to
relieve them! oh, if they could pass once more those rude barriers of
ice, and cut through those interminable waves again! But she might
pass on, and leave them to a fate rendered still more miserable by the
fallacious gleam of hope. With trembling haste they ran hither and
thither, and almost flew to light the signal-fires of distress along
the hills, and now to the beach, to wave the rude flag, formed of a
reindeer's skin fastened to a pole. What agitating hopes and fears
were crowded into that space of time, as the vessel made her way
through the waters! The signals of distress were seen--were heeded!
She comes! she comes! and now she anchors near the shore. What a day
of joy and thankfulness! But the delight of the poor mariners may be
more easily conceived than described. Their bargain with the master of
the ship--a Russian vessel--was soon made: they were to work for him
on the voyage, and they agreed to pay eighty rubles on landing. He
took them on board with all their possessions, consisting of two
thousand pounds of the lard of the reindeer in the hides of those
animals, and of the white and blue foxes, and the skins of the ten
white bears that they had destroyed. They also took with them their
bow and arrows, and all the implements which they had manufactured.
These were deposited in a bone box, made with great ingenuity, with no
tool but their knife. We have in these men a very remarkable example
of the energy which can sustain in the most trying circumstances, and
the ingenious skill which can furnish expedients, even in a region so
destitute of resources. It may well teach us to trust in that good
Providence which is indeed a present help in trouble.

They reached Archangel on the 28th of September 1749. What happy
meetings may have been anticipated!--what calamities may have been
dreaded during that voyage!--How may it have fared with those who were
left? Will they all be there, to greet with a joyful welcome? What if
Alexis' wife, worn out by suspense and anxi