come the property of
the discoverer; and he would never know how his daughter perished on a
rock, and how his grandson was swallowed up by the waters of the great
deep.

And then I thought of that glorious England I had so long hoped to see,
and my heart sunk within me as I gazed out upon the boundless prospect.
There was not a voice to murmur consolation, not a hand to offer me
assistance. Was I never to see those white cliffs which had been so
often described to me, that I could call them to mind as clearly as if
they stood in all their pride and beauty before my eyes?

How often had I dreamed of approaching the hallowed shores of England--
how often had I heard the cheerful voices of her people welcoming the
Little Savage to his natural home--how often had I been embraced by my
aged grandfather, and received into the happy circle of his friends,
with the respect and affection due to his heir. I had dreamed happy
dreams, and seen blissful visions; and the result was starvation in an
open boat on the illimitable ocean.

Mrs Reichardt still slept, and I would not wake her. As long as she
was insensible to the dangers of her position, she must exist in
comparative happiness; to disturb her was to bring her back to a sense
of danger and misery, and the recollection that my folly had brought her
to this hopeless state.

I noticed that a small cloud was making its appearance in the horizon,
and almost at the same instant I observed it, I felt a breeze that was
just sufficient to flap the sail against the mast. In a few minutes the
cloud had greatly increased, and the wind filled the sail. I fancied it
blew in a direction contrary to the current; but in the belief that it
did so, I soon got the boat round, and to my great joy she was presently
scudding before the wind at a rate that was sensibly increasing.

But the cloud presently began to envelop the heavens, and a thick
darkness spread itself like a veil in every direction. The wind blew
very fresh, and strained the mast to which the sail had been fixed; and
now I began to entertain a new fear: some sudden gust might take the
sail and capsize us, or tear it from its fastenings. I would gladly
have taken in the sail, but I considered it as rather a hazardous
experiment. Mrs Reichardt lay in a position that prevented my getting
at it without disturbing her, or running the risk of tipping the boat
over, when it would be sure to fill immediately, and sink with us