Come, put up the chart, for I hate to look at melancholy prospects; and, steward, see what you can find in the way of comfort." Some bread and cheese, with the remains of yesterday's boiled pork, were put on the table, with a bottle of rum, procured at the time they "spliced the mainbrace;" but we were all too anxious to eat much, and one by one returned on deck to see how the weather was, and if the wind at all favoured us.

On deck the superior officers were in conversation with the captain, who had expressed the same fear that O'Brien had in our berth.

The men, who knew what they had to expect--for this sort of intelligence is soon communicated through a ship--were assembled in knots, looking very grave, but at the same time not wanting in confidence.

They knew that they could trust to the captain, as far as skill or courage could avail them, and sailors are too sanguine to despair, even at the last moment.

As for myself, I felt such admiration for the captain, after what I had witnessed that morning, that, whenever the idea came over me, that in all probability I should be lost in a few hours, I could not help acknowledging how much more serious it was that such a man should be lost to his country.