n
boat. We thanked him with grateful hearts. Still the boat did not
come. There was some consultation on board; we could not tell what. A
breeze from the westward again sprung up. It was a fair wind for the
stranger.

"`What's he about now?' exclaimed several voices, trembling with
agitation.

"He put up his helm and filled his headsails.

"`He'll go about directly, and heave-to on the other tack,' said Mr
Carr.

"Still the stranger stood on.

"`Where can he be going to?' again exclaimed several of us.

"On, on he stood, steadily, with all sail set! Oh, how bitter were the
words which followed him! Could that heartless stranger have heard
them, would he have ventured to brave the fate to which he had left so
many of his fellow-creatures? How completely had he forgotten that
golden rule, `Do unto others as you would wish others to do unto you!'
What will be his thoughts some day when he is suffering from all the
miseries to which we were exposed, when he remembers the wreck he
deserted on the wild ocean! Hour after hour we watched him anxiously,
scarcely believing, till his topsails dipped beneath the horizon, that
so heartless a wretch existed in the creation."

"Ay, it's another proof of the depth of man's vileness, and wickedness,
and contempt of the laws of a God of mercy," observed Peter Poplar. "I
have known many such instances almost as bad; so I am not surprised."

"When we found that we really were deserted, the spirits of all of us
and the minds of some gave way. Several of the crew broke into the
spirit-room, which they could now reach, and, broaching a cask of
liquor, endeavoured to forget their miseries by getting drunk. The mate
and I, and most of the passengers, abstained from the temptation. Those
who indulged in it were the first to pay the penalty by a miserable
death.

"Still discipline had been maintained. Mr Carr called on me to
accompany him round the ship in search of anything which might serve as
food to stay the cravings of hunger. We discovered a few pounds of
candles, some bits of old leather, leather shoes, a rug, a couple of
hides; but our greatest prize was about a gallon of lamp-oil, and some
oil intended to mix with paint. These we brought into the cabin, to be
kept in safety. While we were there, Mr Carr's eyes fell on old
Trojan, the captain's favourite Newfoundland dog, as he lay almost dying
under his master's cot. The captain very naturally had not brough