during the whole period, perfectly unapprised of the disasters of the intervening time.  Buried in the recesses of their births, they had heard the roaring of the winds, and the incessant washing of the waters; but these usual accompaniments of a storm had served to conceal the crashing of masts, and the hoarse cries of the mariners.  For the moments of terrible suspense while the Bristol trader lay on her side, the better informed governess had, indeed, some fearful glimmerings of the truth; but, conscious of her uselessness and unwilling to alarm her less instructed companion she had sufficient self-command to be mute.  The subsequent silence, and comparative calm, induced her to believe that she had been mistaken in her apprehensions; and, long ere morning dawned, both she and Gertrude had sunk into sweet and refreshing slumbers.  They had risen and mounted to the deck together, and were still in the first burst of their wonder at the desolation which met their gaze, when the long-meditated attack on Wilder was made.

“What means this awful change?” demanded Mrs Wyllys, with a lip that quivered, and a cheek which, notwithstanding the extraordinary power she possessed over her feelings, was blanched to the colour of death.

The eye of Wilder was glowing, and his brow dark as those heavens from which they had just so happily escaped, as he answered, menacing his assailants with an arm,—­

“It means mutiny, Madam; rascally, cowardly mutiny!”

“Could mutiny strip a vessel of her masts, and leave her a helpless log upon the sea?”

“Hark ye, Madam!” roughly interrupted the mate ’to you I will speak freely; for it is well known who you are, and that you came on board the ‘Caroline’ a paying passenger.  This night have I seen the heavens and the ocean behave as I have never seen them behave before.  Ships have been running afore the wind, light and buoyant as corks, with all their spars stepped and steady, when other ships have been shaved of every mast as close as the razor sweeps the chin.  Cruisers have been fallen in with, sailing without living hands to work them; and, all together, no man here has ever before passed a middle watch like the one gone by.”

“And what has this to do with the violence I have just witnessed?  Is the vessel fated to endure every evil!—­Can you explain this, Mr Wilder?”

“You cannot say, at least, you had no warning of danger,” returned Wilder, smiling bitterly.

“Ay, the devil is obliged to be honest on compulsion,” resumed the mate.  “Each of his imps sails with his orders; and, thank Heaven! however he may be minded to overlook the same, he has neither courage nor power to do it.  Otherwise, a peaceful voyage would be such a rarity, in these unsettled times, that few men would be found hardy enough to venture on the water for a livelihood.—­A warning!  Ay, we will own you gave us open and frequent warning.  It was a notice, that the consignee should not have