fiery mass settled like a red-hot
coal into the waves, and disappeared for ever. The sky grew instantly
dark, a dense shroud of black smoke lingered over the grave of the ship,
and instead of the crackle of burning timbers and the flutter of flames,
there spread the ineffable stillness of death.

"As the last gleam flickered out, Mr. Wallen, the mate of the
_Caroline_, with great quickness of thought set the spot by a star.
Then, in spite of the danger in the darkness of floating wreck, he
resolved to wait quietly till daylight, and ordered his men to shout
repeatedly to cheer any who might be still floating on stray spars. For
a long time no one answered; at last a feeble cry came, and the
_Caroline's_ sailors returned it loudly and gladly. What joy that faint
cry must have brought to those friendly ears! With what joy must the
boatmen's shout have been received!

[Illustration: WHEN DAY BROKE THE MAST WAS VISIBLE.]

"When the day broke the mast was visible, and four motionless men could
be seen among its cordage and top-work. They seemed dead, but as the
boat neared, two of them feebly raised their heads and stretched out
their arms. When taken into the boat, they were found to be faint and
almost dead from the cold and wet, and the many hours they had been
half under water. The other two were stone dead. One had bound himself
firmly to the spar, and lay as if asleep, with his arms around it, and
his head upon it, as if it had been a pillow. The other stood half
upright between the cheeks of the mast, his face fixed in the direction
of the boat, his arms still extended. They were both left on the spar.
One of the Indiaman's empty boats was also found drifting a short
distance off. The wind beginning to freshen and a gale coming on, it was
all the jolly-boat could do to rejoin the _Caroline_. There could be no
doubt that when the _Caroline_ hove-to and luffed under the lee of the
_Kent_, it must have passed men drifting to leeward on detached spars.
They of course all perished in the rising storm.

"A piece of plate was presented to Captain Cook, of the _Cambria_, by
the officers and passengers of the _Kent_, and the Duke of York publicly
thanked him for his humane zeal and promptitude. The Secretary of War
(Lord Palmerston) authorized a sum of five hundred pounds to be given to
the captain and crew of the _Cambria_, and the agents of the ship were
also paid two hundred and eighty-seven pounds for provisions, two
h