When the water ran off, and he looked around, but ten of his crew were left on the Scorpion’s deck; the rest, some one hundred and forty souls, had been swept, unannealed, into eternity, the waves their winding-sheet, the howling blast, and the roaring billows, hymning their dirge. Poor men! how many of your fellows, with brave souls, kind hearts, loving wives and children, meet the same sad fate. Gathering together on the quarter-deck those who had been spared, the hardy, weatherbeaten tars, the proud, conceited officer, the vain, worldly-minded lady, humbly joined in offering to the throne of Almighty Grace, grateful thanks for their preservation; and praying to the Ruler of all things for the rest of their departed messmates, earnestly besought him to keep them safe in the hollow of his hand, and lead them out of their present danger. The second day came round; the wind was unabated; and the brig was rushing, hurrying on to her unknown destination—most probably the bottom of the ocean. The third day came; as time will ever on in its ceaseless course, alike indifferent to human joy or sorrow. No change had yet taken place for the better; slowly, tediously, tiresomely, the hours of that third day crept by. No employment had they but watching the brig, as she dashed along, apparently racing with the wild billows that ever followed, ever kept alongside. Sun there was none to enliven them; the same dark, leaden hue pervaded the sky; and even the sunlight of hope, that best, most cheerful of all lights, was just glimmering, and on the very eve of expiring forever. With grim and despairing countenances, silently they sat, fearing each moment that the vessel, strained in every timber by the violent and incessant heaving and rolling to which she was subjected, would go to pieces. What a sight that deck and crew would have been to the purse-proud, the ambitious, the money-craving, grasping ones on shore; would it not have exhibited the utter worthlessness of it all? and the necessity we all have, poor mortals that we are, subject to die at any moment, for the grace, the pity, and the care of God.