or race which have,
for so long a period, been procured from the sultry Afric coast, to
toil, but reap not for themselves; the child which lay at the breast of
the female was of European blood, now, indeed, deadly pale, as it
attempted in vain to draw sustenance from its exhausted nurse, down
whose sable cheeks the tears coursed, as she occasionally pressed the
infant to her breast, and turned it round to leeward to screen it from
the spray which dashed over them at each returning swell. Indifferent
to all else, save her little charge, she spoke not, although she
shuddered with the cold as the water washed her knees each time that the
hull was careened into the wave. Cold and terror had produced a change
in her complexion, which now wore a yellow, or sort of copper hue.

The male, who was her companion, sat opposite to her upon the iron range
which once had been the receptacle of light and heat, but was now but a
weary seat to a drenched and worn-out wretch. He, too, had not spoken
for many hours; with the muscles of his face relaxed, his thick lips
pouting far in advance of his collapsed cheeks, his high cheekbones
prominent as budding horns, his eyes displaying little but their whites,
he appeared to be an object of greater misery than the female, whose
thoughts were directed to the infant and not unto herself. Yet his
feelings were still acute, although his faculties appeared to be
deadened by excess of suffering.

"Eh, me!" cried the negro woman faintly, after a long silence, her head
falling back with extreme exhaustion. Her companion made no reply, but,
roused at the sound of her voice, bent forward, slided open the door a
little, and looked out to windward. The heavy spray dashed into his
glassy eyes, and obscured his vision; he groaned, and fell back into his
former position. "What you tink, Coco?" inquired the negress, covering
up more carefully the child, as she bent her head down upon it. A look
of despair, and a shudder from cold and hunger, were the only reply.

It was then about eight o'clock in the morning, and the swell of the
ocean was fast subsiding. At noon the warmth of the sun was
communicated to them through the planks of the _caboose_, while its rays
poured a small stream of vivid light through the chinks of the closed
panels. The negro appeared gradually to revive; at last he rose, and
with some difficulty contrived again to slide open the door. The sea
had gradually decreased its vi