hat feeling of sympathy for
those misfortunes, which may perhaps but the next hour befall ourselves.
The boat returned, and the officer informed Newton that the vessel was
from the Island of Bourbon, bound to Hamburgh;--that she had been
dismasted and severely injured in a gale off the Cape of Good Hope; and
that when her mast went over the side, one half of her crew, who were up
at the time on the fore-yard had been cast overboard and drowned: that
from the want of men and material, they had been unable to rig an
effective jury-mast, and had in consequence been so long on their
passage, that their provisions and water were nearly expended. The
officer concluded by stating, that there were a French lady and two
gentlemen, with their attendants, who had taken their passage home in
the vessel. Newton immediately went down the side, and pulled on board
of the vessel to ascertain what assistance could be afforded. When he
arrived on board, he was met by the Flemish captain, who commenced a
statement of his misfortunes and his difficulties, when the French lady,
who, unobserved by Newton, had come up the companion-ladder, screamed
out as she ran into his arms--

"Ah! mon Dieu!--c'est Monsieur Nu-tong!"

Newton looked at the lady, who had burst into tears, as her face laid
upon his shoulder, and immediately recognised his former kind and
affectionate friend, Madame de Fontanges: close to him, with his hand
extended, was her generous husband. The meeting was joyful, and Newton
was delighted that circumstances had enabled him to render assistance to
those who had been so kind to him in his former distress.

"Oh! Monsieur Nu-tong, nous avons tant soufferts! Ah! mon Dieu!--point
de l'eau--rien a manger," cried Madame de Fontanges; then smiling
through her tears, "mais ce rencontre est charmant;--n'est ce pas mon
ami?" continued the lady, appealing to her husband.

"You do not remember Monsieur le Marquis?" said Monsieur de Fontanges to
Newton, Newton turned his head, and recognised the governor of
Guadaloupe, who had expressed such sympathy at his shipwreck, and had
sent him away in the cartel instead of detaining him as a prisoner.

The vessel was indeed in a deplorable condition, and had she not
received the timely assistance now afforded, would in all probability
have soon been a scene of horror and of suffering. They had not more
than three days' water remaining on board, and provisions barely
sufficing for three