Page:Melancholy consequences of two sea storms.pdf/14

(14) with me, whatever might be my ultimate fate and beckoned him to come near me; but he only answered by shaking his head, in a feeble, desponding manner-staring at the same time wildly about him: even his spirit was subdued; and despair, perceived, had begun to take possession of his mind.

"Being a little more at ease in my new station than I had been before, I had more time to deliberate, and more power to judge. I recollected, that according to the course of time, the day was f gone, and the night quickly approaching; I reflected, that for any enterprize whatever day was much preferable to night; and above all I considered, that the vessel could not hold long toge-her-therefore thought, that the best mode I could adopt would be, to take to the water with the first buoyant thing I could see; and, as the wind and water both seemed to run to the shore, to take any chance in that wa of reaching it. In pursuance of this resolution, tore off my shirt, having before that thrown of the other parts of my dress-I looked at my sleeve buttons, in which was set the hair of my departed children--and, by an involuntary act of the imagination, asked myself the question, "Shall I be happy enough to meet them where I am now about to go?-Shall those dear last remains, too, become prey to the devouring deep?"-In that instant, reason, suspended by the horrors of the scene, gave way to instinct, and I rolled my shirt up, and very carefully thrust it into a hole between decks, with the wild hopes that the sleeve buttons might yet escape untouched. Watching my opportunity, saw a log of wood floating near the vessel, and waving my hand to Mr. Hall as a last adieu, jumped after it. Here, again, I was doomed to aggravated hardships-I had scarcely touched the log when a great sea snatched it from my hold: still