Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/46

Rh ruin is as certain as it is fearful. Hell gapes for you, and if you turn not, you are lost!

The captain's uneasiness was excessive. He could not sit still. His handkerchief was constantly in his hands or at his eyes. In the evening, a tract headed, “The door was shut," which was given to him, seemed to affect him deeply.

The following Saturday we were called together by one of our number to read a note, put into his hands by the steward. It was from the captain, and ran as follows:—

“:—In the early part of the voyage, you asked my permission to go into the forecastle and talk with the seamen. Permission was then refused you. It is to be hoped that three-fourths of the voyage is past; and as it is never too late to do good, you now have my free permission, for yourself and the other servants of God in your company, to visit the seamen in the forecastle, to warn them to flee from the wrath of God, and to seek their souls' salvation through the intercession of the Lord Jesus. As the men are in the habit of sleeping on deck in the night, I think the watch off duty could spare an hour in the morning to be in-