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her station in the rear, and pulled ahead till she came in a line with the other two boats,1 but took care not to go so far as to be lost in the fog; the boat which was now furthest astern then rowed ahead, as the first had done; and so on, doubling along, one after the other.2 This tardy method of proceeding answered only for a time; for at length they found themselves completely at a loss which way to steer. Precisely at this moment of greatest need, an old quarter-master (Samuel Shanks by name)3 recollected that at the end of his watch-chain there hung a small compass-seal. This precious discovery being announced. to the other boats by a joyous shout from the pinnace, and the compass being speedily handed into the gig, to the captain, it was placed on the top of the chronometer, so nobly saved by the clerk. As this instrument worked on jimbles, the little needle remained upon it sufficiently steady for steering the boats within a few points.7 The course now secured insured their hitting the land, from which they had been steering quite wide.

Before reaching the shore, they fell in with an old fisherman who piloted them to a bight called Portuguese Cove, where they all landed in safety, at the distance of twenty miles from the town of Halifax. The fishermen lighted great fires, to warm their shivering guests, most of whom being very lightly clad, and all, of course, dripping wet,9 were in a very sorry predicament; many of them, also, were miserably cramped by close packing 10 in the boats. Some of the men, especially of those who entered the boats 11 last, having been obliged to swim for their 1 L'embarcation en serre-file boussole. Dictionaries have it quitta son poste à l'arrière-garde, 'gimbals.' et vint se placer en tête.

2 'the boat which,' &c.; puis ce fut le tour du nouveau serre-file d'en faire autant, puis le tour du troisième ; ainsi de suite, l'un après l'autre.

3 un vieux quartier-maître (or, un vieil officier marinier) nommé S.Scachet en compas.

5

ayant été passé rapidement de main en main au capitaine.

6 marchait sur des balanciers de

7

pour gouverner les embarcations dans quelques quarts de vents.

8 Cen fut assez pour gagner la côte, dont les naufragés ne faisaient que (page 184, note 7) s'éloigner de plus en plus (lit., more and more').

9 trempés d'eau.

......

10 were miserably '&c. ; étaient cruellement courbaturés, tani ils avaient été serrés.

11 Turn, 'who had left the ship :

lives,1 had thrown off everything but their trousers; so that the only respectably-dressed person 2 out of the whole party was Old Shanks, the owner of the watch and compassseal,-a steady hard-a-weather sailor, who throughout took the whole affair as deliberately as if shipwreck had been an every-day occurrence. He did not even take off his hat, except, indeed, to give his good5 ship a cheer as she went to the bottom.

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Their subsequent measures were soon decided upon. The captain carried the three boats round to the harbour,6 taking with him the men who had suffered most from fatigue, and those who were worst off for clothes.7 The officers then set out with the rest, to march across the country to Halifax, in three divisions, keeping together with as much regularity as if they had been proceeding upon some previously-arranged piece of service.9 Very few of the party could boast of shoes,10 an inconvenience which was felt more severely than it would otherwise have been, from their having to trudge over a country but partially cleared of wood.11 Notwithstanding all this, there was not a single straggler; and the whole ship's company, officer, man, and boy, 12 assembled in the evening at Halifax, in as exact order as if their ship had met with no accident.

I have been more particular in describing this shipwreck, from its appearing to offer several uncommon and some useful details, well worthy, I think, of the notice of practical men, in every profession.

in this manner, the idea will be more exactly expressed, considering what follows immediately.

de se sauver à la nage.

2 le seul homme proprement vêtu. 3 le vieux; this case is similar to that of page 117, note 13.

4 vieux (p. 27, n. 8) marin endurci aux mauvais temps. 5 cher. 6 partit pour Halifax avec les trois embarcations.

7 les plus mal vêtus.

8 to march across,' &c.; simply, par la voie de terre.

9 que s'il se fût agi d'une expédition prévue.

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It is rather an unusual combination of disasters for a ship to be so totally wrecked, as to be actually obliterated from the face of the waters, in the course of a quarter of an hour, in fine weather, in the day-time, on well-known rocks, and close to a light-house; but without the loss of a single man, or the smallest accident to any person on board.1

In the next place, it is highly important to observe, that the lives of the crew, in all probability, would not, and perhaps could not, have been saved, had the discipline. been, in the smallest degree, less exactly maintained. Had any impatience been manifested by the people to rush into the boats, or had the captain not possessed sufficient authority to reduce the numbers which had crowded into the pinnace, when she was still resting on the booms, at least half of the crew must have lost their lives.3

It was chiefly, therefore, if not entirely, to the personal influence which Captain Hickey possessed over the minds of all on board, that their safety was owing. Their habitual confidence in his fortitude, talents, and professional knowledge, had, from long experience, become so great, that every man in the ship, in this extremity of danger, instinctively turned to him for assistance; and seeing him so cheerfully and so completely master of himself, they relinquished to his well-known and often-tried sagacity the formidable task of extricating them from the impending peril. It is at such moments as these, indeed, that the grand distinction between man and man is developed, and the full ascendancy of a powerful and well-regulated mind makes itself felt. The slightest hesitation on the captain's part, the smallest want of decision, or any uncertainty as to what was the very best thing to be done, if betrayed by a word or look of his, would have shot, like an electric spark, through the whole ship's company-a tumultuous rush would have been made to the boats-and two out of the three, if not all, must have been swamped, and every man in them drowned.

1 Turn, for any of those who are on board.'

2

the number of those who.' 3 eût péri.

Captain Hickey and his crew had been serving together in the same ship for many years before, in the course of which period they had acquired so thorough an acquaintance with one another, that this great trial, instead of loosening the discipline, only augmented its compactness,1 and thus enabled the commander to bring all his knowledge, and all the resources of his vigorous understanding, to bear at once, with such admirable effect, upon2 the difficulties by which he was surrounded.

There are some men who actually derive more credit from their deportment under the severest losses, than others can manage to earn by brilliant success; and it may certainly be said that Captain Hickey is one of these; for, although he had the great misfortune to lose his ship, he must ever enjoy the noble satisfaction of knowing, that his skill and firmness, rendered effective by the discipline he had been so many years in perfecting, enabled him to save the lives of more than a hundred persons, who, but for3 him, in all human probability, must have perished with their hapless chief.-(Capt. BASIL HALL, Fragments of Travels and Voyages.)

A HIGHLAND REVENGE.4

MESSENGERS were despatched in great haste, to concentrate the MacGregor's forces,5 with a view to the proposed attack on the Lowlanders; and the dejection and despair, at first visible on each countenance, gave place to the hope of rescuing their leader, and to the thirst of vengeance. It was under the burning influence of the latter passion that the wife of MacGregor commanded that the hostage exchanged for his safety should be brought into

1 ne fit que (page 184, note 7) resserrer les liens de la discipline au lieu de les relâcher.

2 et le commandant, obéi au premier signal, eut toutes ses ressources naturelles à sa disposition pour lutter contre.

3 but for,' sans.

4 Une vengeance dans les hautes terres (or, les Highlands) de l'Ecosse. 5 les forces des Mac-Gregors. 6 Use faire. 7 'the.'

her presence. I believe her sons had kept this unfortunate wretch out of her sight,1 for fear of the consequences;2 but if it was so, their humane3 precaution only postponed his fate. They dragged forward at her summons a wretch already half dead with terror, in whose agonized 5 features I recognised, to my horror and astonishment, my old acquaintance Morris.

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He fell prostrate before the female Chief" with an effort to clasp her knees, from which she drew back, as if his touch had been pollution, so that all he could do in token of the extremity of his humiliation, was to kiss the hem of her plaid. I never heard entreaties for life poured forth with such agony of spirit.9 The ecstasy of fear was such 10 that instead of paralysing his tongue, as 11 on ordinary occasions, it even rendered him eloquent; and, with cheeks pale as ashes,12 hands compressed 13 in agony, eyes that seemed to be taking their last look of all mortal objects, he protested, with the deepest14 oaths, his total ignorance of any design on the person of Rob Roy, whom he swore he loved and honoured as his own soul.15 In the inconsistency of his terror,16 he said he was but the agent of others, and he muttered the name of Rashleigh. prayed but for life-for life he would give all he had in the 17 world: it was but life he asked—life, if it were to be 18 prolonged under tortures and privations: he asked only breath, though it should be drawn in 19 the damps of

the lowest caverns of their hills.

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3 quoi qu'il en soit, cette.

4 See page 184, note 7.

5 pâles et défigurés; and see page 134, note 13

with as much... as.'

7 'He threw himself at the feet of the chief's wife;' see page 145, note 8.

8 les pans (lit., 'the skirts') de son plaid (manteau écossais).

9 avec autant de désespoir. 10Fear acted on his mind with

such strength;' see page 26, 11 comme cela arrive.

note 2.

He

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