They knelt by the
bedside, the missionary praying fervently and long.

All had faced death together more than once; but here it was gradually
approaching before their eyes, slowly but surely, and on that account
the more terrible. The captain had left, his presence being urgently
required on deck, and the low, earnest tones of the missionary sounded
impressively in the cabin of the dismantled brig. By the bedside the
newly-married couple kneeled. In Isabel's bosom a deep and unswerving
affection had long since taken root; she had read, and read truly, too,
the heart of her lover; had seen, from the first, his affection for her,
and had understood the plain blunt straightforward language in which the
expression of it had been couched. For her own future she entertained
no doubt, now that the storm was dying away, and land in sight.

"See, Enrico, he revives," she murmured.

"It is the effect of the stimulant," replied her husband.

A violent spasm seemed to shake the dying noble's whole frame from head
to foot. Extending his hands, he laid them on the heads of the two
kneeling beside him; his eyes were lifted to Heaven, his lips moved, and
he made an effort to speak. It was useless, for no sound issued from
the white contracted lips. Again the convulsion fit passed over his
frame, the head fell back on the pillow, and the arms dropped heavily.
The rush of the water, and the heavy clank of the chain pumps, mixed
with the sobs of the orphan and the low earnest prayer of the missionary
alone broke the silence of the death chamber.

On deck the men were still working hard, and the clear water poured from
the brig's scuppers, but there was no cheerfulness shown; they worked,
it is true, but sullenly, mechanically, and without hope. The line of
coast was visible from the forecastle, but the wind had fallen, and
though now and then a puff would fill the foresail, yet the brig hardly
had headway, rolling heavily, and seeming to right herself slowly.
Everything betokened calm, the sun pouring upon the brig's water-sodden
decks, and the jagged stumps of her masts. The land was in sight, but
there was no disguising the facts that her boats were smashed to pieces,
and she herself was, despite the efforts of her crew, sinking under
their feet.

"I see no other way," said Captain Weber, who now stood talking to his
first officer on the quarter-deck. "We must have started a plank; mark
how clear and green the water flo