The bright sunshine was sleeping in a thousand places on every side of the silent and deserted wreck.  The sea had subsided to such a state of utter rest that it was only at long intervals that the huge and helpless mass, on which the ark of the expectants lay, was lifted from its dull quietude, to roll heavily, for a moment in the washing waters, and then to settle lower into the greedy and absorbing element.  Still the disappearance of the hull was slow, and even tedious, to those who looked forward with such impatience to its total immersion, as to the crisis of their own fortunes.

* * * * *

Then came the moon, with its mild and deceptive light, to throw the delusion of its glow on the varying but ever frightful scene.

“See,” said Wilder, as the luminary lifted its pale and melancholy orb out of the bed of the ocean; “we shall have light for our hazardous launch!”

“Is it at hand?” demanded Mrs. Wyllis, with all the resolution of manner she could assume in so trying a situation.

“It is—­the ship has already brought her scuppers to the water.  Sometimes a vessel will float until saturated with the brine.  If ours sink at all, it will be soon.”  “If at all!  Is there then hope that she can float?”

“None!” said Wilder, pausing to listen to the hollow and threatening sounds which issued from the depths of the vessel, as the water broke through her divisions, in passing from side to side, and which sounded like the groaning of some heavy monster in the last agony of nature.  “None; she is already losing her level!”

His companions saw the change; but not for the empire of the world, could either of them have uttered a syllable.  Another low, threatening, rumbling sound was heard, and then the pent air beneath blew up the forward part of the deck, with an explosion like that of a gun.

“Now grasp the ropes I have given you” cried Wilder, breathless with his eagerness to speak.

His words were smothered by the rushing and gurgling of waters.  The vessel made a plunge like a dying whale; and raising its stern high into the air, glided into the depths of the sea, like the leviathan seeking his secret places.  The motionless boat was lifted with the ship, until it stood in an attitude fearfully approaching to the perpendicular.  As the wreck descended, the bows of the launch met the element, burying themselves nearly to filling; but buoyant and light, it rose again, and, struck powerfully on the stern by the settling mass, the little ark shot ahead, as though it had been driven by the hand of man.  Still, as the water rushed into the vortex, every thing within its influence yielded to the suction; and at the next instant, the launch was seen darting down the declivity, as if eager to follow the vast machine, of which it had so long formed a dependant, through the same gaping whirlpool, to the bottom.  Then it rose, rocking to the surface, and for a moment, was tossed and whirled like a bubble circling in the eddies of a pool.  After which, the ocean moaned, and slept again; the moon-beams playing across its treacherous bosom, sweetly and calm, as the rays are seen to quiver on a lake that is embedded in sheltering mountains.