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angry sea, were causes of anxiety too powerful to be defeated by sleep; but what the body could not do, the mind did; and though I could not escape from the terrible present by means of sleep, I could by the power of imagination. I could see the Borneo, her anxious passengers counting the hours till our return might become possible; I could again enjoy the smooth sea and sunny sky which we had left behind us; far off I could see busy England, its railway trains running, its business speeding, its quiet homes-and one home above allamong the lakes, and woods, and streams, and mountains, where fond hearts thought of one that was absent, but little thought of him as being tossed up and down amid storm and darkness, in a jolly-boat on the China seas.

Morning-the terror of the guilty, the friend of the innocent, the comforter of the unhappy-morning came at last. Our first look was for land, but none was visible. On leaving the ship, it had been determined to make in the first instance for the nearest land, about one hundred and twenty miles distant, to a place called Maican, and there endeavour to obtain assistance from the natives. If we failed, as it was most likely we should, it would cost us about fifty extra miles as taken out of our direct course, to Singapore; but if we succeeded, the Borneo would be relieved in two days instead of having to wait seven or eight. At about ten o'clock on the fourth of June we sighted the low inhospitable coast, and at half-past eleven fell in with two or three junks, containing probably the greater part of the local population. My task now commenced, and I soon found that negotiation was hopeless. The men seemed perfectly indifferent to all offers of money; they asked with a suspicious interest after the exact position of the ship, but, with a few protestations of helplessness, absolutely refused all assistance. It was with a heavy heart that I heard Mr. Barlow exclaim in a cheerful tone, as if the result was nothing more than he expected

'Well, then, we must make the best of our way to Singapore.'

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True, I had not expected success, but after all, failure is not the less painful because it has been anticipated. We stood out to sea under more favourable auspices than those under which we had quitted the ship the previous day. The weather was fine, even the heat of the sun was to my mind preferable to the gloom of the storm-cloud; there was breeze enough to send our little craft gaily through the water, but the violence of the wind had subsided, and the sea had gone and was still going down. By five in the evening we had lost the land, when, to our surprise and no great satisfaction, we saw one of the junks with which we had had an interview in the morning, coming up after us, going two feet to our one. She soon overhauled us, and I resumed my post of interpreter.

My first impression was that her crew had relented and were about to offer to accept my highest terms and go to the wreck, but one junk would have been of little use, nor indeed had the owners of this one junk the slightest intention of going. All the rogues wanted was money, which they asked for without preface or scruple of any kind. The character of our neighbours was becoming so suspicious that I advised the officers and men to look to their arms, which they instantly did. The other party saw the movement, and broke forth into protestations : they were not pirates, only poor men come to beg money. I offered them double what I had in the morning offered, if they would go with efficient assistance to the Borneo; they still asked for money; this I refused to give, and begged them to go about their business. The poor men, however, followed in our wake with unpleasant tenacity.

At this time the wind was nearly due south, so that we, in steering a south-westerly course, just had our sails full, and struggled against leeway by keeping an oar going on the starboard side.

At six the junk suddenly left us, like a discomfited beggarman, and, running northwards, was, by seven o'clock only indistinctly visible. The remaining daylight, however, enabled us to detect three junks instead of one. It was now evident

that our sturdy beggars were nothing less than pirates; that they had intended to engage us singlehanded, but their hearts failing them at the last, had dropped astern to wait for, or by signals which we could not observe, to summon assistance; and that having joined forces, they would soon be after us again in numbers which we could not resist.

Our commanding officer's decision was instantly formed. We tacked, so as to bring the boat's head in a south-easterly direction, exactly the opposite to that in which our proper course lay; and after an hour's sail, during which time the darkness had quite concealed the junks from our view, were obliged by the rising moon to haul down our sails, that we might not be seen by the pirates, and continue to toil at the oars. At eleven o'clock we got in the oars, made sail, and resumed our course. The manœuvre had completely succeeded, the junks had lost the scent, and we and the poor men saw no more of each other.

But as one anxiety was relieved, another took its place. On the following Sunday morning the ap pearance of the weather had again become unfavourable; the sun rose angrily; the sea got up without apparent cause, the wind seeming to come later: all through the day we had occasional squalls and showers of rain. Night fell; we had made a poor day's work, and the sea was rising so fast as to threaten momentarily to swamp the boat. It was at this crisis-at this renewal of danger when it was thought to have gone by-this fresh tax on resources and energies already much exhausted, that I, feeling, I confess, my own spirits much depressed, and beginning to despair of ever getting safe to land, admired the noble manner in which the four sailors, officers and men, exhibited the traditional calmness, courage, and fertility of invention of brave seamen. I do not think that I ever heard the chances of safety discussed. The idea of being lost could not have been absent from the mind of any of those men, but it was never once alluded to; and yet there was nothing forced or unnatural in such silence; it was evident that the pro

minent idea in each man's mind was to make Singapore: the leading question, not- Shall we be saved or lost?' but- What is the best thing to do next?' To this last question, under the circumstances which had now arrived, the answer did appear to a landsman quite hopeless. To run before such a sea as was now foaming round us was out of the question; almost equally so was it to lie-to against it. I can scarcely hope to give a correct technical description of the manoeuvre which was adopted, but I will try and make the unprofessional reader understand it; the professional man will be able to correct faults by his own knowledge. In the first place all the blankets were collected, hauled as taut as possible, and nailed down over the boat. Under this extempore deck three of us were ordered to lie down, while of the others, one steered and one baled. The boat was put head to wind, and a floating anchor thrown out, composed of a grating which had been brought away from the ship and such other heavy articles as could be spared. In this way we rode out the gale. For my part I was so wearied, and found the protection of the blanket penthouse so comfortable, that, with the exception of my two hours' turn at baling, I slept almost the wholenight. Next day the sea was more moderate, and we were able to make some little progress: but it was now two days since we had seen the sun, and our reckoning was becoming obscure.

On Tuesday, June 7th, the sea was again smooth, the sky clear, and the wind fair. But, as one fear left us, another still took its place. The provisioning of our boat had been carelessly performed: the supply of water especially being very deficient. For two days we had been on short allowance; on this day we were reduced to about two wine-glasses of water and a very limited quantity of biscuit; even at this rate we could not subsist more than two days longer. Still our commandant uttered no evil foreboding, but talked only about getting the sun at noon, and finding whereabouts we were. Never shall I forget the anxiety with which we all waited for the result of the officer's calculation.

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Never shall I forget that old quartermaster's face turned up to catch what he well knew must be a sentence of life or death: so full of eagerness, and yet of strength and resignation. Never shall I forget the reaction of delight when we heard that we were only eighty miles from Singapore. The old quartermaster did not indeed say much, but, in his quiet muttering- eighty miles, well, then, we shall do'was expressed a volume full of heartfelt relief and confidence. All the old feeling of security came back; it was no longer a question of-'Shall we get back to Singapore?' but'When shall we get there?' I began mentally reckoning the miles and the hours, as I had been accustomed to do on board the steamer.

It was a quiet night, but we were all greatly troubled by the increasing pain of thirst. When day dawned fand was in sight, which, on observation, proved us to be still thirtyfive miles from our destination. The weather, however, continued fair, and we made slow but steady progress; the danger of our expedition was, comparatively speaking, over; perhaps it was the absence of the danger which had so long excited us, that made the hours of this last day drag so heavily and wearily along. It was two o'clock when our gallant little craft entered the harbour of Singapore. She attracted no attention, and we landed as unobserved as any five individuals might have done after a pleasuretrip some fine afternoon in the Southampton Water. Our chief officer cannot but have felt proud at having accomplished his exploit; having brought such a vessel into port after such a cruise. But, whatever he may have felt, his first words and acts referred not to the perils of the past, but the duties of the present. He went straight away, taking us with him, to the agent of his company, in order to fulfil his errand and procure aid for the Borneo. He was not however so punctilious as to insist upon making his report before relieving the urgent distress of himself and his companions. The first word he said to the agent, who received us with wondering hospitality, was'Water.' The agent was a sensible

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man; he at once saw, to a certain extent, the nature of the case, and deferring allquestions or expressions of surprise, hastened to serve out weak grog all round. Revived by the timely medicine, Mr. Barlow explained in a few words whatever it was necessary for the agent to know with regard to the position of the steamer and our own six days' voyage. The Levant steamer, which was lying in the harbour, received orders to prepare for sea immediately; at midnight she was ready, and we having been thoroughly refitted, both with food and raiment, by the sympathising agent, embarked on board of her, leaving only the third officer to accompany the Africa, a steamer which was expected in next day, and which was, immediately on her arrival, to be despatched to assist in saving the Borneo.

But

Even my recent experience of how suddenly safety may be changed into danger, could not prevent my entertaining once more a feeling of perfect security on finding myself on board a powerful roomy steamer, and looking down on those dark waves, to which, in our little nutshell of a jolly-boat, I had been almost obliged to look up. though our own personal deliverance seemed accomplished, our anxiety as to our fellow-passengers increased as we drew nearer the scene of the wreck. During our own six days of peril, the position of those on board the wrecked ship had haunted my imagination as one of enviable security; but now that I began to reflect, it seemed as if their situation must have been almost more terrible than ours. They were actually wrecked; they could do nothing: every violent wave, every fresh breeze threatened them with destruction; at any moment the iron plates might give way, and then they would be certainly lost. Or if the ship did hold out for days, or even weeks, might not a still more terrible fate await them? They were out of the course of ships; no vessel would voluntarily come so near a well known reef as to be able to see them. The ship was indeed well stored, and from the first day all hands had prudently been placed on a strict allowance, but the stores could not last for ever; when they

were consumed, if the ship was still above water, what was to be done? All their hopes seemed concentrated on one small object, our poor little jolly-boat, tossing up and down in the rough sea, hardly saved from destruction by its blanket-deck and floating anchor-apparatus. It was at three o'clock in the afternoon of the 20th of June, just eight days after the wreck, that the smoke of our approaching steamer was observed from the masthead of the Borneo. I will not attempt to record a scene which I did not witness, but from what one can conceive, and from what I heard, it must have been not a little affecting, when this welcome news circulated like lightning round the decks of the ship. But though it was natural that those who had so long been lying under sentence of death should hold a reprieve as equivalent to deliverance, it was obvious to any seaman, indeed to any dispassionate observer, that this deliverance was still no such easy matter. The first duty of the captain of the Levant was clearly to keep his own ship out of danger. With this object he stood off for the night, to the no small disappointment and unreasonable indignation of the passengers on board the wreck. The next day the weather was unfortunately less favourable; the Levant had to lie a considerable distance to leeward of the reef, so that the process of transporting the passengers and crew from one ship to another by means of boats, was long, and not altogether free from danger. In the course of the afternoon the Africa joined us, her boats were immediately lowered, and by sunset we had the satisfaction of knowing that not a soul remained on board the Borneo.

to sea.

The rescue was accomplished just in time. That night it came on again to blow, and both the Levant and the Africa were forced to put For three days we endured the worst violence of the monsoon, and when at last the weather moderated, and we returned to the reef, the Borneo was gone. The good iron ship, with her engines, cargo, and passengers' luggage, was lying at the bottom of the sea.

The Levant and Africa had neither coals nor provisions enough to carry

us to our proper destination, Hong Kong; once more, therefore, we laid our course for Singapore, and reached it on the third day.

It might be supposed that the one universal feeling of the passengers on placing foot once more on terra firma, would have been that of delight and gratitude. But no! as the gloom of shipwreck wore off each countenance, it was succeeded by the peevish frown of an English traveller, disappointed of reaching the end of his journey and deprived of his luggage. To hear the complaints of our old merchant at having missed a fortnight's mail, or of our little lawyer at not having received full consideration for his passage-money, or of our dandy captain at having lost his portmanteau, and being obliged to wear for a few days an old coat and a dirty shirt, it would have been thought impossible that these men, so impatient under the minor miseries of life, should have so lately been delivered from imminent peril; or that these grumblers about comparative trifles should have been able to look death in the face for eight anxious days and nights with magnanimous silence and manly fortitude.

However, I believe they all got to Hong Kong sooner or later, somehow or another, though I daresay the good-natured agent's hair had turned grey before he got quit of the last of them.

For myself, I have done with the East, and am again, I hope for the last time, a passenger on board the homeward mail. I am too old a stager to care to go upstairs with the others to look at Algiers, which we are just now passing; and have preferred to take advantage of these quiet days in the Mediterranean to recal the only romantic adventure of my life. Should the evening of my days be, by Heaven's blessing, prosperous and calm, the recollection of those six days in a jolly-boat may serve as wholesome salt, keeping the spirit of adventure and energy from absolute decay. And, as I have myself no title to credit in the affair, having been a mere passenger, saved by the skill of others, I may be permitted to express my admiration of the noble conduct of those four brave seamen,

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my companions. I have heard it lamented that the true spirit of nautical enterprise is dead; that the skill and courage which enabled sailors of Raleigh's day to cross the Atlantic in vessels of twenty-four tons' burden, has been crushed by advancing civilization, by large ships, and especially by steam.

Now, certainly, seamen do not cross the Atlantic in ships of twenty tons; as certainly, so long as they can build ships of 200 or 2000 tons, they never will. But when occasion compels they can still do

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their duty in little craft as well as big; and when any laudator temporis acti (and I think there never was a greater number of this sort of gentry abroad than just at present) begins talking his fudge about the inferiority of modern sailors to those of the Elizabethan age, I pay him as little outward attention as is decent, and mentally recal my six days' voyage in the Victorian age, and those four men who were my companions in the jolly-boat of the Borneo.

W. D. A.

IN the midst of our Peace rejoicings

another ominous war-cloud has arisen on the horizon, and though we trust now disappearing, is still regarded with anxiety. War is always a calamity, but a war between this country and the United States would be disastrous indeed. Connected by ties of blood, by commercial interests of the greatest magnitude, and by political sympathies, the two nations are the last between which any breach of friendly relations should take place.

What then are the causes from which this apprehension of a fatal quarrel has arisen? We will endeavour to ascertain them; for when the cause of disagreement is rightly understood, the quarrel itself, at least between candid disputants, is half accommodated.

Certain charges of a grave character are brought against us by our transatlantic brethren. We have violated public law; we have transgressed their municipal law; we have shown a disposition to extend our dominion in a quarter where the ascendancy of either Power would be incompatible with the freedom of commerce.

One of these points, and that perhaps the most dangerous, may be regarded as settled. As a nation, we are acquitted of any deliberate purpose of disregarding the laws of the United States; and our Minister has expiated the offence, which it is alleged attached to him personally, by having his credentials cancelled. Such an act is indeed generally considered as affecting,

not the representative, but the Government by which he is accredited. The Government of the United States, however, have carefully and emphatically discriminated in this instance between the individual and the ambassador; and unless we are prepared to affirm that these characters cannot be separated, the mere fact of dismissing Mr. Crampton is clearly no ground for war. When the question is at all arguable, the Americans must be the best judges of what constitutes a breach of their municipal law. There is hardly a difference of opinion as to the propriety of the course taken by our Government in abstaining from retaliation on the dismissal of Mr. Crampton. To retort upon

Mr. Dallas would have been to reject the distinction taken by the Government of the United States, and to maintain that our credentials covered any amount of personal misconduct. By the more wise and moderate course that we have taken, we admit what is in accordance with public law, as well as courtesy and good sense, that an obnoxious minister may be removed without giving mortal offence to the Government which has not thought fit upon application to withdraw him. As regards the two nations this particular question is settled. With the merits of the case, as regards Mr. Crampton, we have at present therefore nothing to do. His personal vindication has, we are informed, been made out to the satisfaction of his Government, and will be established before his country.