n than would be excited by a tale of
imaginary suffering; and the still greater number whose story has never
been recorded? We have already been conducted many steps on this
fearful path, and no laws of nature will be stayed, no ordinary rules of
God's dealing violated, on our behalf. No inevitable necessity requires
the complexion of our future, to correspond and harmonise with that of
our past lives. This feeling, which seems to assure me that such things
cannot happen to us, is but one of the cheats and illusions of a
shrinking and self-pitying spirit. All the memories that cluster about
a happy childhood, all the sweet associations of home and kindred,
afford no guarantee against the new and bitter experiences which seem
about to open up upon us."

Such were the thoughts that began to disquiet my own mind. As to my
companions, Morton seemed less anxious and excited than any of the
others. During the evening he speculated in a cool matter-of-fact
manner, upon our chances of reaching an island, or meeting a ship,
before being reduced to the last extremity. He spoke of the number of
traders that frequent the islands, for tortoise-shell, mother-of-pearl,
sandal-wood, beche de mer, etcetera; the whalers that come in pursuit of
the cachelot, or sperm-whale; the vessels that resort there for fruit,
or supplies of wood and water; the vast number of islands scattered
through these seas; from all which he finally concluded, that the
chances were largely in our favour. If, however, we should fail of
immediate relief in this shape, he thought it probable that we should
have opportunities of catching fish, or sea-birds, and so prolonging
life for many days. He talked the whole matter over in such a calm,
sober, unexcited manner, furnishing facts and reasons for every opinion,
that I felt some confidence in his conclusions.

Browne, though quite composed and self-possessed, had, from the moment
when he discovered that we were out of sight of land, taken the most
serious view of our situation. He seemed to have made up his mind for
the worst, and was abstracted, and indisposed to converse. I knew that
the anxiety which Arthur evinced, was not mainly on his own account. It
did not withdraw his attention from what was passing, or diminish his
interest in it. Far from being gloomy or abstracted, he was active and
watchful, and spoke with heartiness and cheerfulness. His mental
disquietude only appeared, in a certain so