THE ALBATROSS. 221 



Her courage was magnificent. She seemed to 

 have no anxiety for herself. All her fears were 

 for the poor sailors on deck. She urged that I 

 must be there " to save them from being washed 

 overboard." 



One of the children, tired and restless from lack 

 of sleep, piped up, " Papa, why doesn' t God make 

 the wind stop blowing ? " 



Once, when the wind was raging its worst, the 

 second mate came up to me and said, " Cap'n, I 

 must go below — I've taken a terrible tumble and 

 almost broken my back ! " 



I knew the man was lying; but as he was 

 too frightened to be of any use on deck, and as 

 he might possibly be some company for my wife, 

 I sent him below. 



There the fellow dropped on his knees upon the 

 cabin floor and began to pray for his " dear wife 

 at home!" That was too much for Mrs. Robbins, 

 and she giggled outright. 



" Mr. Simpkins," she cried, " it seems to me 

 you'd show more sense to pray for the folks in 

 peril for their lives aboard this wreck, instead of 

 praying for a dear lady seven thousand miles 

 away on dry land ! " After that the officer 

 prayed in silence or not at all. 



Ever since the hurricane began, and it had now 

 been raging for forty-eight hours, I had fed my 



