348 TEAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPOET. 



in my ears, and I remember only the hollow fluctua- 

 tions of the sea with which I seemed to be blended, ' 

 and a sinking down and down an unfathomable 

 depth, which I thought was Death, and into the 

 kingdom of the eternal Future. 



I awoke from insensibility and oblivion with a 

 hideous racking pain in my head and loins, and in 

 a place of utter darkness. I heard a voice say, 

 " Praise the Lord." My agony was dreadful, and 

 I cried aloud. Wan, glimmering, melancholy lights 

 kept moving to and fro. I heard dismal whisper- 

 ings, and now and then a pale silent ghost glided by. 

 A hideous din was overhead, and around me the 

 fierce dashing of the waves. Was I in the land of 

 spirits ? But why strive to recount the mortal pain 

 of my recovery, the soul-humbling gratitude that took 

 possession of my being 1 I was lying in the cabin of 

 a ship, and kindly tended by a humane and skilful 

 man. I had been picked up apparently dead and 

 cold. The hand of God was there. 



