boatswain.

"Have you then more faith than the apostle?"

"I have, thanks be to Jehovah, the true faith," cried the boatswain,
raising his eyes and hands to heaven.

"Then _walk on shore_," said the captain of the forecastle, looking him
steadfastly in the face.

Stimulated by the request, which appeared to put his courage as a man,
and his faith as a Christian, to the test, and, at the moment, fanatic
even to insanity, the boatswain rose, and casting off the ropes which he
had wound round his body, was about to comply with Robinson's request.

A few moments more, and the raging sea would have received him, had not
our hero, in conjunction with the captain of the forecastle, held him
down with all his power. "We doubt not your faith, Mr Hardsett," said
Seymour, "but the time of miracles is past. It would be self-murder.
He who raised the storm, will, in his own good time, save us, if he
thinks fit."

Price, who had listened to the conversation, and had watched the motions
of the boatswain, who was casting off the lashings which had secured
him, had, unperceived, done the same, and now jumped upon his legs, and
collared the astonished boatswain, roaring out--

"Zounds, show me what thou'lt do!
Woul't weep? woul't fight? woul't fast? woul't tear thyself?"

"Why, he's mad!" exclaimed the terrified boatswain, who was not far off
the point himself.

"Mad!" resumed Price.

"Not a soul
But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd
Some tricks of desperation.

"The king's son, Ferdinand,
With hair upstarting (then like reeds, not hair),
Was the first man that leaped; cried, Hell is empty,
And all the devils are here!"

As the maniac finished the last words, before they could be aware of his
intention, he made a spring from the deck over the bulwark, and
disappeared under the wave. The boatswain, who had been diverted from
his fanatical attempt by the unexpected attack of Price, more than by
the remonstrances of his companions, resumed his position, folding his
arms, and casting his eyes to heaven. The captain of the forecastle was
silent, and so was our hero--the thoughts of the two were upon the same
subject--eternity.

Eternity--the only theme that confuses, humbles, and alarms the proud
intellect of man. What is it? The human mind can grasp any defined
space, any defined time, however vast; but this is beyond time, and too
great for the limited conception of man. It had no beginning and