tempted in vain to avoid; again the sailors tack, but with no success. Every instant of time exposed the vessel to the tremendous hazard of being split upon the craggy and protruding eminence before her.
During a scene so calculated to infuse terror, the General, unshaken by the danger, was moved only by the plaints and cries of his wife and eldest daughter, to relieve whose fears he descended to the cabin, but was quickly followed by two or three male passengers, with looks so much bespeaking a certitude of danger, as still further augmented the fright he was essaying to appease.
Mounting upon the deck, washed by the foaming surf, he gave instant orders to the captain to change the course of his vessel and steer for the port they had quitted; when, nearly arrived in harbour, how gladly did even the stoutest heart amongst the passengers descend the side of the ship to take a seat in those boats which, upon the first signal of distress, had left the Fort to reconduct them thither!
Happy would it have been for General and Mrs. De Brooke had they, so recently escaped by a providential deliverance from a watery grave, regarded that event as ominous, and revoked their purpose of departing from that coast on which
