l given them some chance
of overtaking the craft.

It was just as the sailor had given over calling out, and relapsed into
sullen silence, that Snowball was seen returning towards him. It was an
additional argument for despair this abandonment of the chase on the
part of the Coromantee. When such a swimmer had given it up, Ben knew
it was hopeless.

In a moment after they met face to face. The glance exchanged between
them was mutually understood without a word spoken by either. Each
tacitly read in the eyes of the other the dread destiny that awaited
them,--near, and soon to be fulfilled,--drowning!

Snowball was the first to break the terrible silence.

"You nigh done up, Massa Ben,--you muss be! Gib me de lilly gal. You
Lally! you lay hold on ma shoulder, and let Massa Brace ress a bit."

"No,--no!" protested the sailor, in a despairing tone. "It bean't no
use. I can carry her a bit longer. 'Tain't much longer as any o' us
'll be--"

"Sh! Massa Brace," interrupted the negro, speaking in a suppressed
whisper, and looking significantly towards the child. "Hope dar 's no
danger yet," he added, in a voice intended for the ear of Lalee. "We
oberhaul de _Catamaran_ by 'm by. De wind change, and bring dat craff
down on us. 'Peak in de French, Massa Ben," he continued, at the same
time adroitly adopting a _patois_ of that language. "De _pauvre jeune
fille_ don't understan' de French lingo. I know it am all ober wi' boaf
you an' me, and de gal, too but doan let her know it to de lass minute.
It be no use to do dat,--only make her feel wuss."

"_Eh bien_! all right!" muttered Ben, indiscriminately mingling his
French and English phrases. "_Pauvre enfant_! She shan't know nothin'
from me o' what be afore her. Lord a marcy on all o' us! I don't see
the raft any more! Whar be it? Can you see it, Snowball?"

"Gorramity, no!" replied the black, raising himself up in the water to
get a better view. "Gone out o' de sight altogedder! We nebba see dat
_Catamaran_ any more,--no, nebba!"

The additional accent of despair with which these words were uttered was
scarce perceptible. Had there been a hope, it would have been shattered
by the disappearance of the raft,--whose white sail was now no longer
visible against the blue background of the horizon. But all hope had
previously been abandoned; and this new phase of the drama produced but
slight change in the minds of its chief actors. Death was alread