st as the sun was going down, they came in sight of it; and
before the twilight had passed they "hove to" along side of it. The
vast flock of sea birds perched upon the floating mass, and that rose
into the air as the ship approached them, proclaimed the absence of
human beings. The great raft was not there, nor were there any
indications that it had revisited the carcass. On the contrary, that
curious structure, the crane, which the Catamarans had erected on the
summit of the floating mass, was still standing just as they had left
it; only that the flakes of shark's flesh were scorched to the hue and
texture of a cinder, and the fire that had burnt them was no longer
blazing beneath.

The fate of the slaver's castaway crew did not long remain a mystery.
Three days after, when the carcass of the _cachalot_ had been "flensed"
and tried out, and the whaler had once more proceeded upon her cruise,
she chanced upon a spot where the sea was strewn with a variety of
objects, among which were two or three spars of a ship, and several
empty water-casks. In these objects there was no difficulty in
recognising the wreck of the _Pandora's_ raft, which was drifting at no
great distance from the place where they had been cutting up the
_cachalot_.

The conclusion was easily arrived at. The gale, which had been
successfully weathered by the carefully constructed _Catamaran_, had
proved too violent for the larger embarkation, loosely lashed together,
and negligently navigated as it was. As a consequence it had gone to
pieces; while the wretches who had occupied it, not having the strength
to cling either to cask or spar, had indubitably gone to the bottom. As
little William afterwards related--

"So perished the slaver's crew. Not one of them,--either those in the
gig or on the raft, ever again saw the shore. They perished upon the
face of the wide ocean--miserably perished, without hand to help or eye
to weep over them!"

In truth did it seem as if their destruction had been an act of the
Omnipotent Himself, to avenge the sable-skinned victims of their
atrocious cruelty!

Were it our province to write the after history of the Catamarans, we
could promise ourselves a pleasant task, perhaps pleasanter than
recording the cruise of that illustrious craft.

We have space only to epitomise. The day after setting foot upon the
deck of the whale-ship, Snowball was appointed _chef de caboose_, in
which distinguished office h