restrain the natural boisterousness of their language. La Force eyed the scene before him as, of old, Satan, in the garden of Eden, beheld the happy state of our first parents before their fall. The horrible mischief prepared for them was about to burst on their unconscious heads; these were their last moments of human enjoyment: their scenes of life, of hope, and love were speedily to close for ever!

La Force was jovial and apparently merry beyond his usual manner, and swallowed one cup of wine after another to the health and happiness of Madame De Tracy, her children, and her husband. In this elevation of spirits, he suddenly placed his hand on the arm of De Tracy, and said to him in an under-voice, "My best friend, before we part, I have matters of the greatest importance to communicate to you; gratitude for the services you have rendered me, require that I should no longer conceal from your information which nearly concerns the welfare and happiness of your family. I have for some time possessed papers of the utmost value, connected with your wife's property in this island; let me then, in some degree, discharge the debt of gratitude to you, by explaining and placing them in your hands; let us retire for a few moments to my cabin, where, unobserved and undisturbed, we may examine them follow me!" The curiosity of De Tracy was strongly excited by this singular address, and he suffered La Force to conduct him below: when they arrived at the cabin, La Force opened the iron door of a small secret closet, formed among the larger timbers of the vessel, and beckoned him with a mysterious air to enter it. De Tracy's surprise was great; but expecting La Force to follow him, he did enter, and at the same instant felt the door shut upon him with a sudden violence, and heard La Force turning its massive lock on him on the outside. The astonished De Tracy now heard the door of the outer cabin as quickly shut and locked, and the fiend, La Force, with loud laughter, bounding up the stairs upon deck; he remained a few moments, half-imagining the manoeuvre to be a jest; but he was now roused by the repeated shouts and peals of merriment among the crew, in which the voice of La Force could be distinguished. A feeling of dismay now began to force itself upon him, and a thousand little circumstances in the behaviour of La Force, unobserved before, flashed upon his mind at once. In the midst of this increasing alarm, the voice of Dugald was now heard in the loud tones of anger and reproach; the clashing of weapons succeeded, and the quick steps of the contending parties towards the cabin, and this way terminated by the sound of heavy blows and groans, as if of some one wounded in the conflict. The agitation and alarm of De Tracy rose to a dreadful pitch, when he was awakened to a full sense of his misery, by the sudden shriek after shriek of his beloved and lovely wife, and his daughters, uttered in all the piercing agony of anguish and despair! He was now totally undeceived; he entreated, he called, he prayed, he raved: in all the rage of enfuriated madness, he used his utmost force; and though armed by anger and despair with almost supernatural might, the door, which opened inwards, withstood his utmost efforts. The shrieks and moanings of his wife and children continued incessantly, varied only by the renewed efforts of despair, and the low wailings of exhausted nature. But why should we dwell minutely on a scene of such unutterable misery! What the unhappy man endured, and what were the sufferings of the woman he loved and adored, and the children he so dearly cherished, are fit only to be imagined, not surely to be spoken or written. But their wrongs were remembered, and their shrieks numbered by a POWER more potent and terrible than man, and a certain doom and deplorable death

was pronounced against the guilty perpetrators of this horrid crime, at the moment when, in the height of their wickedness, they fancied their joy at the full.

The cries of affliction died away; the evening passed, and morning came. The all-glorious sun rose upon the foul and hellish deeds of the night; and through a crevice, which admitted light, the unhappy De Tracy found that his prison was, in fact, the treasure-room of a pirate vessel, for such he was convinced were these fiends in human shape: at the same moment a hole opened above, and a small portion of bread, and an antique silver cup, filled with water, were lowered down. Amidst the acute misery of his situation, it was but a light addition, that De Tracy recognized the silver vessel to be part of the treasure, his own property, which he had shipped, and which, with other valuable articles of the same description, was securely packed in strong chests, and which it was now evident were rifled. He could now measure the extent of his calamity, and with as much fortitude as he could gather, prepared himself for a fate, which, amongst such miscreants, could not be deemed far distant.

The morning was not far advanced, when the sun dipped at once into a dark and tempestuous ocean of clouds; the wind began to whistle loudly through the rigging; and the prisoner could now clearly perceive that the weather was threatening, and was at a loss to account for the absence of the usual bustle which prevails among sailors on such occasions; he had not long wondered at these circumstances, when he felt a flurried motion of the ship, and heard the steersman call out, "Taken all a-back here;" a voice, which he knew to be La Force's, immediately answered in the broken and feeble accents of intoxication, "Put her before the wind, and let her go where she pleases." It now became evident, from the rushing of the water, that the velocity of the ship's progress was tremendously increased; and it was equally evident, that there was a general incapacity in the crew to manage her. The wind now blew very fresh, and the ship went through the water at the rate of ten miles an hour. The night looked dreary and turbulent: the sky was covered with large fleeces of broken clouds, and the stars flashed angrily through them, as they were wildly hurried along by the blast. The sea began to run high, and the masts showed, by their incessant creaking, that they carried more sail than they could well sustain.

Nothing could be heard above or below deck, but the dashing of the surges, and the moaning of the wind. All the people on board were to De Tracy the same as dead; and he seemed to be tost about in the vast expanse of waters, without a companion or fellow-sufferer. He knew not what might be his fate, or where he should be carried. The vessel, as it careered along the raging deep, uncontrolled by human hands, seemed under the guidance of a relentless demon, to whose caprices its ill-fated crew had been so mysteriously consigned by some superior power.

He was filled with dread lest the vessel should strike upon rocks, or run ashore, and often imagined that the clouds which bordered the horizon were the black cliffs of some desolate coast.-Horror-stricken at the dreadful occurrences of the preceding night, and bruised by being dashed against the walls of his prison by the violent pitching of the ship, De Tracy sank on the floor in despair, and nature received a short respite from agony in sleep.

When he awoke, after a few hours, he perceived by the crevice which admitted light to the cabin, that the morning was advanced, and the weather moderated: the ship rolled violently at intervals, but the noise of winds and

waves had altogether ceased. He rose hastily, and almost dreaded to look round lest he should find his worst anticipations too fatally realized. He was, however, soon roused to a clear sense of his situation, by the tumultuous noise and merriment of the infernal crew, at whose mercy he found he still remained. No bounds seemed now to be set to the joy of this assembly of demons; they crowded the deck, made a circle round several vessels of wine and baskets of provisions; they ate and drank, and continued their brutal intemperance for several hours; and before the day declined, a few only of the devoted wretches were capable of guiding or attending to the duties of the vessel: as the evening drew on, their incapacity became more evident, and their conduct towards each other more noisy and quarrelsome. The twilight passed in that sullen, heavy appearance of the clouds and sky, which in that climate, distinctly portend a storm. The sea heaved slow, and seemed, to the disturbed imagination of De Tracy, to groan and sigh under her burden of wickedness. The lightning quivered round the horizon, rendered masses of clouds visible in terrific forms; the deep tone of the distant thunder roared incessantly upon the ear, and the night became involved in pitchy darkness. De Tracy lay in speechless agony and utter despair; the noise and confusion on deck every moment increased; and, while musing on the probability of being dispatched by these villains, infuriated by drunkenness as they now were, to his astonishment he heard himself accosted by name, and in friendly language, by a voice which, passing through the narrow crevice of his prison, was not at first recognized; but the broad Scottish accent and the friendly tones of his faithful Dugald were at length distinguished; in the desolation of his grief it came to his relief like the voice of heaven. He started, listened, and it spoke again; it said in a clear and audible whisper, "My loved and injured master, put your trust in Him whose power can still the tempest, THE HOUR IS COME!" In a moment the lock was turned, and the door opened the same faithful voice said, "Take this sword, and follow me in silence; if you have courage to avenge the unutterable miseries and the death of your beautiful and wretched wife and daughters, come, for the hour is at hand, and by the help of the Almighty, who protects you, and will avenge your wrongs, I will support you." The unhappy husband, with feelings that may be imagined, not described, took the sword, and followed with a resolved step and in silence, as he was bid. They came on deck, where, by the gleam of a torch nailed against the mast, and the quick succession of lightning, which now flashed fierce and rapidly, Dugald silently pointed to a scene which the hope of sure and immediate revenge rendered inexpressibly sweet. The infamous La Force and ten sailors, though nearly overcome with wine, were seated on the deck: the remainder of the crew had been conveyed below in a state of complete intoxication and insensibility. The scene might be conceived to resemble the revelry of evil spirits in their infernal regions; some shouted, some sang, and they blasphemed the Being whose all-seeing eye even now rested on them in its anger; one loud din of cursing and carousal echoed far and wide: the mingled clamours which ascended from this scene of wickedness and debauchery partook of all the evil qualities of debased minds, and the most infamous pursuits, and cannot be described. Discord and confusion had their full share in the tumultuous conference between La Force and his diabolical confederates, who were vociferously debating on the share they were respectively to enjoy of the plunder and destruction of the miserable De Tracy and his family. Louder and louder grew the horrid clamour of blood; recrimi

nations followed, with boasting declarations of the part each had taken in the horrible transaction of the preceding night; the nature and extent of his injury was thus fully developed to the agonised De Tracy. The drunken ruffians soon came to blows among themselves; they drew their weapons generally; and ill-directed blows and ineffectual stabs were given and received in the flashing and unsteady light. "Now," said the faithful Dugald, laying his honest hand on that of his master, to restrain him till he received his admonition, "say not one word, for words slay not, but glide in among them like a spirit; thrust your blade; for anger strikes, but revenge stabs, I will secure the gangway, and fight with you." De Tracy heard and obeyed, and gliding in amongst them, thrust one of them through and through; a second, a third, and a fourth dropped from his sword, ere they saw who was among them; in the mean time Dugald's arm had been faithful, and three of the wretched miscreants had fallen beneath his trusty weapon. La Force, on the first recognition of De Tracy, and Dugald fighting by his side, leaped upon an arm chest, and discharged his pistols. De Tracy and Dugald, with one impulse, but still in deadly silence, sprang upon him, and in a few moments he also was stretched among the slain. Three yet remained unhurt; but dispirited by their loss, and terrified at the unexpected visitation, they were quickly lying with their infamous companions. De Tracy and Dugald now barricaded the gangway, and secured the cabin and the hatches; and after returning thanks to God for his merciful interposition, De Tracy, with a fainting and a heavy heart, inquired of his faithful servant for his wife and children! The honest and affectionate heart of Dugald melted as he gave the narrative. The convulsive sobs and groans of the wretched husband and father audibly told his agony and distress, and seemed to threaten the termination of his own existence. Of the brutal dishonour of his wife and daughters, he was already too well informed; but he had yet to be told their ultimate fate. His tortured brain had yet to learn, that his youngest daughter had not survived the horrible treatment she had received; that his eldest son had, in youthful indignation, lifted a weapon against La Force in his mother's defence, and had been literally hewn to pieces by the barbarian before her eyes! that his wife, with his youngest son and the infant, had been forced into a small canoe with the mulatto servant, and set adrift during the height of the gale; and that at the moment of their departure, his eldest daughter, in a state of exhaustion and insensibility, had been thrown into the sea to her raving mother, in mockery of her cries for her remaining child, and had there perished in her sight! The possibility of a slight and crazy boat outliving the hurricane of the preceding night was all the hope that remained to the unhappy De Tracy of the wretched remnant of his family, and slender as was that thread, Hope, the last anchor of the human heart, still supported him. He paced the deck with a hurried step and breaking heart, ejaculating prayers to the almighty Author of his being, for patient resignation to his will, and pious thankfulness for his own miraculous preservation.

As the dawn approached, the storm increased in violence; the gale roared through the rigging; and the sea, upturned by sudden and heavy gusts of wind, showed, as far as the eye could reach, the dark and tremendous furrows so fatal to the mariner; the storm raged with a violence which increased every moment; the thunder seemed to tear the heavens, and the lightning to contend for mastery; the wind blew from the land, and the heavy billows now rolled around the ship, nearly as high as her mast-head, and now flashed and swept over the deck; the vessel was hurried onwards

In

with a terrific rapidity; her seams admitted the water, and on every side symptoms manifested themselves of her speedy destruction; the only chance of safety lay in standing out to sea, by keeping the ship before the wind; and Dugald, with that view, determined to lash himself to the helm. this attempt, a sudden lurch of the vessel shifted the rudder violently, and he was laid prostrate and senseless on the deck, by a blow from the tiller, and De Tracy hastened to his assistance. At this moment a figure, that couched among the slain, and seemed one of their number, started on its feet before the astonished De Tracy, vigorous and unhurt; it was La Force, who had escaped his fate from the swords of De Tracy and Dugald, by a breast-plate of mail, which he wore beneath his clothes, as a measure of precaution against the treachery of his own crew; and who, to avoid a personal encounter with two determined men, had sunk, unhurt, among his companions at their first attack. Before De Tracy could recover himself from the surprise at his appearance, the miscreant had fired a pistol-shot, which, unhappily, took effect in his right shoulder, and before he could either grapple with his murderous opponent, or take any measures of farther defence, La Force had completed his monstrous career of evil, and the broken-hearted De Tracy was released from the earthly suffering which oppressed him. The unhappy man had received the dagger of La Force in his breast, and he was mercifully spared the pangs of recollection: his death was instantaneous.

Dugald, from the effects of his blow, was still insensible to all that passed; and La Force experienced no opposition to his measures. He instantly attached one or two cannon shot to the corpse of the unhappy man, and unrelentingly consigned it to the devouring deep. He proceeded to secure Dugald, before his recovery from his accident should render it difficult or impossible. He dragged him to the mast, to which, ere his senses had returned, he found himself bound hand-and-foot. The exulting fiend now seemed to have overcome all obstacle to the full completion of his crime, and wanted but the assistance of his fellows, who were still fastened below, totally incapable of any exertion.

Now, at the moment of his exultation in success, when every bar to his lawless career seemed effectually removed, and the object within his grasp, to obtain which, he had waded through the foulest crimes of our nature; now did the hand and power of God make itself manifest, and give the afflicted re-assurance in his mercy and his providence.

Through the thickness of the storm, Dugald now fancied he saw a small boat dancing on the tremendous waves at a short distance to leeward of the ship; now buried in the trough of the sea, and lost to his straining sight for some moments; now quivering between life and death on the raging summit of a billow, and again shooting down its roaring declivity, as if to destruction. The ship continued to gain on the frail bark, and, to the hopes and imagination of Dugald, it seemed to enjoy a special protection; for he could now perceive, that it contained the precious burden of his beloved mistress and her remaining children, and he could distinctly observe the mulatto throwing up her arms in signal to the ship.

The storm raged with increased violence; the hurricanes of wind howled through the air; the thunder and the lightning seemed to guilty consciences the immediate agents of punishment, to pronounce their doom as the heralds of God's righteous judgment.

Through the gleaming openings of the disturbed elements, there now appeared, about two miles on the starboard bow, a large ship, scudding before