a brig, under easy canvas, standing across our course. "`Where can she be bound to?' says I to my mate, here. "`Only to the coast of Africa,' says he; `for you see, sir, she had a fair wind up or down the Mediterranean.' "`She is in no hurry, at all events,' says I, `with that sail she has set.' "`I can't make it out,' says he. `See, sir, she looks as if she intended to speak us. She has altered her course a couple of points. Ay, I see how it is--she is short-handed, by the way those sails are set, and the ropes, too, are all hanging slack about her. Perhaps she has lost some of her people by fever, or maybe they have been washed overboard in a squall.' "As I looked at the brig more attentively, there was a strange foreign look about the paint on her sides and figure-head which puzzled me, and still the cut of her sails and the rake of her masts was English. Presently, however, an ensign, with the stars and stripes of the United States, flew out at her peak. That seemed to set the matter at rest. The stranger soon bore down on us, and I hailed her to know who she was, and what she wanted. "`The _Crescent_, from New York, bound for the Levant,' was the answer. `We've lost more than half our ship's company in trying to save some people off a wreck, and have ourselves sprung a leak. Can you send any of your people aboard to help us to try and stop it?' "`Ay, ay,' I answered; for you see, sir, I am always glad to lend a hand to any other ship's company requiring assistance. To show that what he stated was true, three or four hands were working at the pumps, though I did not see that they were forcing much water over the sides. We lowered a boat accordingly, and I jumped in, with four hands, and pulled aboard the stranger. As the bowman caught hold of the main-chains-- "`Why, she has canvas over her sides,' he remarked. "`Shove off, my lads; it's not all right,' I sung out.