A VOYAGE IN THE NORTH SEAS. 245 



of her birth, and to speak its language. Many years passed away 

 thus, when at length she was suddenly summoned to attend her uncle, 

 with secret orders to prepare for leaving the Continent. The old mer- 

 chant had become suspected by the French government of conveying 

 intelligence to the English court, and he had received notice that the 

 almost omniscient Fouche had his eye upon him. His engagements 

 in the contraband trade had given rise to these reports ; for although 

 the old miser would have almost sold his soul for gold, yet he still 

 possessed too much Jacobite enthusiasm to be of service in any way to 

 the Hanoverian usurper. He had always retained a strong partiality 

 for his native land, and would have long before returned to it with 

 his niece, had not his love of gold kept him fixed in his old habits and 

 residence. This intention had caused him to invest the bulk of his 

 fortune in property in England, and he had now but to dispose of his 

 personal effects, and fly from pursuit. The Albatross, one of the 

 vessels with which he was connected, was fortunately ready for sea at 

 this critical juncture in his affairs ; and he easily procured a passage 

 for himself and niece from the captain, a young man of respectable 

 family and cultivated mind, who had been driven by a course of dis- 

 sipation from the protection and countenance of his friends, and had 

 in despair engaged in the hazardous occupation of a smuggler. The 

 luxurious appointments in the cabin of the sloop were the work of his 

 taste, and the paintings had been the work of his pencil. They had 

 nearly reached their destination a small port on the north-west 

 coast of Scotland when they were espied and chased by an English 

 revenue cutter. As it would have been dangerous to keep the coast, 

 which was lined with cruisers, the captain of the Albatross stood fairly 

 out to sea, hoping, by the till now unparallelled speed of his vessel, 

 soon to escape all pursuit. The revenue cutter, however, which held 

 him in chase proved to be as fast as the Albatross ; and as the latter 

 vessel was kept before the wind, that being her favourite position for 

 swiftness, they had got further into the open sea before they escaped 

 from the cutter than either the boisterous nature of the weather, or the 

 low state of their provisions, rendered at all desirable. The wind 

 continued to rise until it blew a perfect hurricane from the south-east, 

 and the crew of the Albatross 



" Aware that flight in such a sea 

 Alone could rescue them," 



were compelled to drive before the tempest, with just as much canvas 

 set as was sufficient to keep their craft awake upon the waters ; 

 until on the third day, a tremendous sea striking her, snapped off the 

 rudder below its trunk, and sweeping with resistless force along the 

 decks, bore away upon its bosom the captain and two of their best 

 hands, who had been stationed at the wheel. Before they had time 

 to ascertain the extent of their calamity, another sea following in the 

 wake of its predecessor, completely buried the little vessel, and when 

 it emerged quivering as in a mortal convulsion, the remainder of the 

 seamen saw with horror that their mast was gone by the board, its 

 ruins encumbering the deck ; the bulwarks were broken down and 

 carried off; the companion, binnacle- wheel, and boats were all swept 



