299 



was at breakfast in the steerage : the boatswain 

 had been cutting some beef with a large case-knife, 

 which he had afterwards put down upon the chest 

 on which they were sitting: a sudden heel of 

 the ship threw them all to the other side of the 

 cabin : the knife fell with its haft against the lad- 

 der ; and poor Edward falling against it, at least 

 three inches of the blade were forced into his 

 right side. The wound was dressed without the 

 loss of a moment ; but, from its depth, the jagged- 

 ness of the weapon with which it was made, 

 and from a pain which immediately afterwards 

 seized the poor fellow in his chest, the apothe- 

 cary thinks that his recovery is very improbable : 

 he says that the liver is certainly perforated, and 

 so probably are the lungs. If the latter have 

 escaped, it must have been only by the breadth of 

 a hair. Every one in the ship is distressed be- 

 yond measure at this accident, for the young man 

 is a universal favourite. He is but just one and 

 twenty, good-looking, with manners much superior 

 to his station ; and so unusually steady, as well as 

 active, that if Providence grants him life, he can- 

 not fail to raise himself in his profession. 



April 25. 



Edward complains no longer of the pain in his 

 chest ; he sleeps well, eats enough, has no fever, 

 and every symptom is so favourable, that Dr. 

 Ashman encourages us to hope that he has re- 



