d sunshine, and threw back her hood to feel the freshness of
the sea air, all eyes followed her movements, except those of a forlorn
individual, who, muffled in his cloak and apparently sea-sick, lay upon
one of the benches. The captain presently joined her, and the gentlemen
saw that she was bright and perfectly self-possessed in conversation:
some of them immediately resolved to achieve an acquaintance. The dull,
passive existence of the beginning of every voyage, seemed to be now at
an end. It was time for the little society of the vessel to awake, stir
itself, and organize a life of its own, for the few remaining days.

That night, as Mrs. Lawrie was sleeping in her berth, she suddenly awoke
with a singular feeling of dread and suspense. She listened silently,
but for some time distinguished none other than the small sounds of
night on shipboard--the indistinct orders, the dragging of ropes,
the creaking of timbers, the dull, regular jar of the engine, and the
shuffling noise of feet overhead. But, ere long, she seemed to catch
faint, distant sounds, that seemed like cries; then came hurry and
confusion on deck; then voices in the cabin, one of which said: "they
never can get it under, at this rate!"

She rose, dressed herself hastily, and made her way through pale and
excited stewards, and the bewildered passengers who were beginning
to rush from their staterooms, to the deck. In the wild tumult which
prevailed, she might have been thrown down and trampled under foot, had
not a strong arm seized her around the waist, and borne her towards the
stern, where there were but few persons.

"Wait here!" said a voice, and her protector plunged into the crowd.

She saw, instantly, the terrible fate which had fallen upon the vessel.
The bow was shrouded in whirls of smoke, through which dull red flashes
began to show themselves; and all the length and breadth of the deck was
filled with a screaming, struggling, fighting mass of desperate human
beings. She saw the captain, officers, and a few of the crew working
in vain against the disorder: she saw the boats filled before they were
lowered, and heard the shrieks as they were capsized; she saw spars and
planks and benches cast overboard, and maddened men plunging after them;
and then, like the sudden opening of the mouth of Hell, the relentless,
triumphant fire burst through the forward deck and shot up to the
foreyard.

She was leaning against the mizen shrouds, between