Dump working and talking, I answered
flippantly to a remark of hers relative to Mr.
Loring's kindness to the children. "O yes,
he's kind enough, I dare say; but to me he
is the most objectionable of men. I suppose
I am very wrong, but I positively detest the
sight of him." The next moment I knew
that Mr. Loring had overlieard me; for the
figure which I had not until then recognised
as his, moved to a greater distance.

From that time Mr. Loring never changed
in his manner towards me. He was as attentive
and respectful as before, but more formal.
I was always uncomfortable in his presence,
and glad to escape from him.

O, at this juncture of time, how distinctly
I remember all the horrors which followed
so rapidly one another! No need to recall;
my heart trembles again at striving to write
of them.

The ship was on fire! how, I know not.
I never inquired by whose fault. Those to
blame are gone to their account at that Court
of Inquiry where misfortune will not be
visited upon us as crime. Death was face to
face with us, as we crowded on the deck,
eagerly straining our eyes into the darkness,
made more dark by the glare around us;
and scorched, almost blinded, by the heat
which momentarily increased. The boats
were being lowered; the passengers, mostly
in their night-dresses, were huddled together
as near the edge of the vessel as they could
get, helplessly entreating, or passively abandoned
to their fate. At length the first two
boats were out, and immediately crowded
with passengers. I saw Captain Conyngham
rush on deck. As he passed me, I seized his
arm frantically, and begged him to save me.
But the evening before he had seemed so
much to care for me. Alas! he never even
heard my voice; he never saw my face of
agony, or felt my touch. I credit him for
that. The instinct of self-preservation was
too strong; and yet I thought in such crises,
men were more self-possessed than women.
I saw him leap into the overcrowded boat, as
she shoved off from the ship's side; and I
was left vainly beseeching on the burning
deck. All the female passengers had been
cared for; I know not how it was, but I was
overlooked. I felt my fate closing in upon
me; yet, in the midst of all, the thought that
Captain Conyngham could be so utterly
selfish, and, could I acknowledge it, so
utterly unmanly, struck me bitterly. I felt
the heat gaining upon me, as the flames
extended to my side of the ship. One man
—he was a gentleman, I knew by all his
movements—had been actively assisting in
striving to subdue the flames, until they
gained the mastery over the men's
exertions, and at this moment broke out with
fresh vigour, as if exasperated at being
opposed. Then those remaining on board
moved to the spot where I stood. I felt
a strong arm thrown round me, and I
was lifted over the side of the ship. What
followed I do not know; a long space of
insensibility—a confused awaking when it
was broad daylight—and I was at sea in an
open boat, far away from the burning ship.
I closed my eyes again, for my brain was too
tired to take in any new idea. When again
I looked round, I saw at a glance who were
my companions: a chaplain, who had been
on his way to Sydney, the steward, four of the
men, and Mr. Loring. What had become of
the captain and all those others whom I had
last seen standing on the deck of the ship?
I did not know until afterwards, that he and
his companions had been crushed in a mass
by the falling of one of the burning masts,
and had found a funeral pyre on the vessel.
The chaplain asked me whether I felt cold;
and I glanced at my own figure as I answered
in the negative. I had on rising thrown on
a dressing-gown and a petticoat of flannel,
but my feet were bare of shoes and stockings;
but I was not cold, notwithstanding the
chill morning air, for some one had wrapped
a cloak round me, and my feet were covered
with a man's coat. I presently noticed that
Mr. Loring was sitting in his shirt and
trousers only. He did not speak to me,
which I thought strange; but my mind was
full of conjecture as to the fate of Captain
Conyngham, and I closed my eyes to hide
the tears which would force themselves from
under the lids, as I remembered his selfish
disregard of me in the hour of danger.

Thus days and nights succeeded one another
—how many I do not know. Alternations
of hope and fear; the cravings of hunger un-satisfied;
wild excitement; half madness;
gloomy despondency; horrid blasphemies;
impassioned prayers. I was surrounded by
gaunt, haggard faces; men rendered desperate
by famine and thirst, for the small keg
of water which the steward had had the
forethought to bring with us, was exhausted. It
could not have been many days—it was very
many hours—I was lying in a state of apathy
at the bottom of the boat, only conscious that
some one of my companions, less self-engrossed
than the rest, was chafing my
hands and feet alternately; when a cry arose
from all the boat's-crew, sufficient even to
rouse me from my lethargy. The gaunt,
wretched faces looked still more gaunt from
the agonised look of expectation which they
had assumed, as they stood, these men,
stretching forth their eager hands towards
the narrow strip of land which was in sight.
I heard a gentle voice whispering in my ear,
"Courage, we shall yet be saved," and warm
tears fell over my face. The next hour was
spent in strenuous endeavours to make
the land, which, like most such energetic
strivings, was successful.

We stood once more on firm ground, and
every member of the company sped like mad-men
along the coast in search of something
to eat. I wandered faintly, staggering in the