s. The old lady who
had been their friend so long became impressed with the idea of their
reaching great heights, and was quite frank in stating that she was
proud to see the speedy advancement of two boys that had been reared
within sight of her home. She indicated to some of her closest friends
that she had no misgiving now about giving her granddaughters in
marriage to the young sailors, and this interesting confession was made
known to them by some unknown agent. They arrived in England within a
month of each other, and were quietly married. The venerable lady
settled a considerable sum on her granddaughters, and no lack of
instructions were omitted as to its purpose. The sailors said it was
very good of the old girl to do this for her young relatives, but they
each reminded their wives that they did not marry them for money. After
a brief holiday the brothers rejoined their respective ships, and
sailed, one from Liverpool to Australia, and the other from London to
Calcutta, and little did they expect when they parted that it would be
nearly two decades before they were to meet again.
Many years after, two vessels were racing down the China seas, one of
them a new barque heavily sparred and very crank, and the other a
large, full-rigged ship. Both were rushed through the sea at great
speed. The full-rigger, with Norman Burnside in command, drew ahead of
the barque and lost sight of her in the darkness. Between ten and
eleven at night the second officer was on the poop chatting with the
captain; the sky was cloudless, not a speck to be seen, and the wind
strong and steady; every stitch of canvas was set, when all of a sudden
the captain ceased conversing with the officer, told him that a white
squall was close upon them, and to call all hands to shorten sail. They
had only got a portion of it in when the squall struck her, and
everything had to be let fly. During the few minutes it lasted it was
terrific; many of the sails were torn to shreds, the masts were heavily
strained, and the vessel herself was well-nigh doomed. Nothing was seen
or heard of the barque after that night, but the fears of those aboard
the full-rigger were great lest trouble should have come to her. When
they arrived in London an account was sent to them of the loss of their
companion in the China Seas. The paragraph stated that the vessel was
struck by a white squall, thrown on her beam ends and literally
capsized; the captain was Norman's brot
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