NEWS FOR MARSTON! In a few minutes, consciousness had restored order on board the _Susquehanna_, but the excitement was as great as ever.

They had escaped by a hairsbreadth the terrible fate of being both burned and drowned without a moment's warning, without a single soul being left alive to tell the fatal tale; but on this neither officer nor man appeared to bestow the slightest thought.

They were wholly engrossed with the terrible catastrophe that had befallen the famous adventurers.

What was the loss of the _Susquehanna_ and all it contained, in comparison to the loss experienced by the world at large in the terrible tragic _denouement_ just witnessed?
The worst had now come to the worst.

At last the long agony was over forever.