gence, the governor despatched a servant to that officer's
quarters, who soon returned with the intelligence that he had not been
there since the morning of the preceding day. Further inquiry among his
brother officers informed him that he had left their company the evening
before about ten o'clock: that he had been drinking freely, rather more
freely than usual; and that they had not seen him since.

Having commanded the attendance of two or three officers and as many
soldiers, the commandante proceeded to the spot, guided by his first
informant, and was convinced, as soon as he saw the crushed and
mutilated mass, that it was no other than his unhappy officer. Having
given orders for transporting the body to town, he returned to his
family, who, although aware, from his abstracted and pensive manner,
that something had happened to discompose him, forbore to ask any
questions--a line of conduct which, by the way, we would most earnestly
recommend to all wives and daughters. Isabella's mind was too much
occupied with her own thoughts to notice the silence and melancholy of
her uncle; she ate nothing, but her aunt and cousins attributed her want
of appetite to the fright of the preceding evening; as her eyes met
their kind and anxious looks, and she thought of her determination to
quit them forever, she could not restrain her tears; but rising hastily
from the table, she took shelter from observation and questioning in her
own chamber.

CHAPTER XVII.

---- I did compound
A certain stuff, which, being ta'en, would cease
The present powers of life; but in short time,
All offices of nature should again
Do their due functions.

CYMBELINE.

Shortly after the sea-breeze had set in--that is, between eleven and
twelve o'clock--a sail was discovered in the western horizon, standing
in for the land; which sail the commander of the Albatross, in a short
time, made out, with the help of his glass, to be the guarda-costa, to
his no small vexation and disappointment. She stood in, however; but
instead of anchoring as usual, in what may be called the outer harbor,
she ran close in to the landing-place, furled her sails, and then, to
Captain Williams's great relief, sent down her fore-yard, stripped it of
the sail and rigging, and launched it overboard. Two boats, full of men,
were soon seen towing it ashore, the spar having been "sprung" in one of
those sudden