s rendered sure, when the
light, which soon appeared along the eastern margin of the narrow view,
was shed gradually over the whole horizon. Nothing was at first visible,
but one gloomy and vacant waste of water. But a cry of joy from Seadrift,
whose senses had long been practised in ocean sights, soon drew all eyes
in the direction opposite to that of the rising sun, and it was not long
before all on the low raft had a view of the snowy surfaces of a ship's
sails, as the glow of morning touched the canvas.

"It is the Frenchman!" said the free-trader. "He is charitably looking for
the wreck of his late enemy!"

"It may be so, for our fate can be no secret to him;" was the answer of
Ludlow. "Unhappily, we had run some distance from the anchorage, before
the flames broke out. Truly, those with whom we so lately struggled for
life, are bent on a duty of humanity."

"Ah, yonder is his crippled consort!--to leeward many a league. The gay
bird has been too sadly stripped of its plumage, to fly so near the wind!
This is man's fortune! He uses his power, at one moment, to destroy the
very means that become necessary to his safety, the next."

"And what think you of our hopes?" asked Alida, searching in the
countenance of Ludlow a clue to their fate. "Does the stranger move in a
direction favorable to our wishes?"

Neither Ludlow nor the Skimmer replied. Both regarded the frigate
intently, and then, as objects became more distinct, both answered, by a
common impulse, that the ship was steering directly towards them. The
declaration excited general hope, and even the negress was no longer
restrained by her situation from expressing her joy in vociferous
exclamations of delight.

A few minutes of active and ready exertion succeeded. A light boom was
unlashed from the raft, and raised on its end, supporting a little signal,
made of the handkerchiefs of the party, which fluttered in the light
breeze, at the elevation of some twenty feet above the surface of the
water. After this precaution was observed, they were obliged to await the
result in such patience as they could assume. Minute passed after minute,
and, at each moment, the form and proportions of the ship became more
distinct, until all the mariners of the party declared they could
distinguish men on her yards. A cannon would have readily sent its shot
from the ship to the raft, and yet no sign betrayed the consciousness of
those in the former of the proximity of the