tender, already some distance off, was hailed, and in a few minutes she was alongside.
I went towards the fore-part of the vessel, the staircase had not yet been raised. The four corpses, enveloped in coverings, were let down, and placed on the deck of the tender. One of the surgeons on board embarked to go with them to Liverpool, with injunctions to rejoin the "Great Eastern" as quickly as possible. The tender immediately sheered off, and the sailors went to the lows, to wash the stains of blood from the deck.
I ought to add that one of the passengers, slightly wounded by the breaking of the pinion, took advantage of this circumstance to leave by the tender; he had already had enough of the "Great Eastern."
I watched the little boat going off full steam, and, turning round, I heard my ironical fellow-traveller mutter,—
"A good beginning for a voyage!"
"A very bad one, sir," said I. "To whom have I the honour of speaking?"
"To Dr. Dean Pitferge."
