ship, bearin' right down on her, and she wos just about run down when
one o' the men observed her from the bow.

"`Hard a-port!' roared the man.

"`Port it is,' cried the man at the wheel, an' round went the ship like
a duck, jist missin' the bit of wreck as she passed. A boat wos
lowered, and Mrs Ellice wos took aboard. Well, she found that the ship
wos bound for the Sandwich Islands, and as they didn't mean to touch at
any port in passin', Mrs Ellice had to go on with her. Misfortins
don't come single, howsiver. The ship was wrecked on a coral reef, and
the crew had to take to their boats, w'ich they did, an' got safe to
land, but the land they got to wos an out-o'-the-way island among the
Feejees, and a spot where ships never come, so they had to make up their
minds to stop there."

"I thought," said Amos Parr, "that the Feejees were cannibals, and that
whoever was wrecked or cast ashore on their coasts was killed and
roasted, and eat up at once."

"So ye're right," rejoined Buzzby; "but Providence sent the crew to one
o' the islands that had bin visited by a native Christian missionary
from one o' the other islands, and the people had gin up some o' their
worst practices, and wos thinkin' o' turnin' over a new leaf altogether.
So the crew wos spared, and took to livin' among the natives, quite
comfortable like. But they soon got tired and took to their boats agin,
and left. Mrs Ellice, however, determined to remain and help the
native Christians, till a ship should pass that way. For three years
nothin' but canoes hove in sight o' that lonesome island; then, at last
a brig came, and cast anchor offshore. It wos an Australian trader that
had been blown out o' her course on her way to England, so they took
poor Mrs Ellice aboard, and brought her home--and that's how it wos."

Buzzby's outline, although meagre, is so comprehensive that we do not
think it necessary to add a word. Soon after he had concluded, the
guests of the evening came in, and the conversation became general.

"Buzzby's jollification", as it was called in the village, was long
remembered as one of the most interesting events that had occurred for
many years. One of the chief amusements of the evening was the spinning
of long yarns about the incidents of the late voyage, by men who could
spin them well.

Their battles in the Polar Seas were all fought o'er again. The
wondering listeners were told how Esquimaux were chased and captu