us. The infection
was universal, and even the three "mounseers," the surviving crew of the
Bonne Esperance, could not resist an occasional sly pull at the liquor.
These men, though they had only just escaped sudden death, seemed not to
be cast down; but with their characteristic agility, one minute assisted
to roll the casks into carts, and then ran off perhaps to whisper a
compliment to some pretty girl, shrugging up their shoulders at the
unceremonious repulse they met with from _mademoiselle_.

But this scene was not to last long: for the tide had been imperceptibly
making way and closing. I had always observed that after coming to a
certain place, its velocity was greatly accelerated, and it was with
feelings of alarm that I saw the danger which the almost unconscious
people incurred. From regard to our own safety we had to retreat rapidly
towards the shingles, carrying as many of the helpless as time would admit
out of danger, in which we were aided by many of the sailors from Torwich,
who had assisted in rescuing a portion of the cargo. The peasantry, at
last aware of the hazard they ran, took to their heels also; but from the
state they were in, many were forgotten or left behind. The roar of waters
came rapidly onward, and amid the foaming eddy created by its advance, the
stifled death-cry, mingled with the harsh and piercing shrieks of some of
the half drowning victims--one moment awakened to the consciousness of
their situation, and the next hurried to eternity--burst on the ear; and
such was the advance of the spring-flood, that a few minutes after the
rush of people had reached the shingles, the curling breakers rolled the
bodies of several of the sufferers almost to their feet. The most lively
interest was now excited towards a small rock, which jutted out of the
sand a little distance from the wreck. The two poor children of a
fisherman's widow in the village, were playing in a cavity of this rock,
when the tide surrounded them. Their voices were drowned by the roaring of
the waters, and their fate would have been unknown, had not the wild
appearance and frantic screams of the mother--come in search of her
children--attracted notice. When they were discovered, only a ledge of the
rock was discernible; and the little sufferers were seen imploring for
help amidst the spray with which the waves, fanned by a stiff breeze from
windward, covered them. Several brave fellows swam off towards the rock,
but before th