t first his hope
was sustained by the discovery that the sounds were louder, and
therefore nearer; but scarcely had he assured himself of this, when he
perceived that they were growing fainter again, as though the schooner
had approached him, and then sailed away. This discovery only
stimulated him to more frantic exertions. He yelled more and more
loudly, and was compelled, at last, to cease from pure exhaustion. But
even then he did not cease till long after the last notes of the
departing fog horn had faintly sounded in his ears.

It was a disappointment bitter indeed, since it came after a reviving
hope. What made it all the worse was a fixed idea which he had, that
the schooner was no other than the Antelope. He felt confident that
she had come at once after him, and was now traversing the waters in
search of him, and sounding the horn so as to send it to his ears and
get his response. And his response had been given with this result!
This was the end of his hopes. He could bear it no longer. The stout
heart and the resolute obstinacy which had so long struggled against
fate now gave way utterly. He buried his face in his hands, and burst
into a passion of tears.

He wept for a long time, and roused himself, at last, with difficulty,
to a dull despair. What was the use of hoping, or thinking, or
listening? Hope was useless. It was better to let himself go wherever
the waters might take him. He reached out his hand and drew the sail
forward, and then settling himself down in the stern of the boat, he
again shut his eyes and tried to sleep. But sleep, which a short time
before had been so easy, was now difficult. His ears took in once more
the different sounds of the sea, and soon became aware of a deeper,
drearer sound than any which had hitherto come to him. It was the
hoarse roar of a great surf, far more formidable than the one which he
had heard before. The tumult and the din grew rapidly louder, and at
length became so terrific that he sat upright, and strained his eyes in
the direction from which it came. Peering thus through the darkness,
he saw the glow of phosphorescent waves wrought out of the strife of
many waters; and they threw towards him, amid the darkness, a baleful
gleam which fascinated his eyes. A feeling came to him now that all
was over. He felt, as though he were being sucked into some vortex,
where Death lay in wait for him. He trembled. A prayer started to his
lips, and