on the pictorial treasure within.  There was nothing in this, however, to make him sob.  I repeat, therefore, that it must have been simply a freak of my own fancy, distempered by good Captain Hardy’s green tea.  Just before dawn, on each of the two nights of which I speak, I distinctly heard Mr. Wyatt replace the lid upon the oblong box, and force the nails into their old places by means of the muffled mallet.  Having done this, he issued from his state-room, fully dressed, and proceeded to call Mrs. W. from hers.

We had been at sea seven days, and were now off Cape Hatteras, when there came a tremendously heavy blow from the southwest.  We were, in a measure, prepared for it, however, as the weather had been holding out threats for some time.  Every thing was made snug, alow and aloft; and as the wind steadily freshened, we lay to, at length, under spanker and foretopsail, both double-reefed.

In this trim we rode safely enough for forty-eight hours —­ the ship proving herself an excellent sea-boat in many respects, and shipping no water of any consequence.  At the end of this period, however, the gale had freshened into a hurricane, and our after —­ sail split into ribbons, bringing us so much in the trough of the water that we shipped several prodigious seas, one immediately after the other.  By this accident we lost three men overboard with the caboose, and nearly the whole of the larboard bulwarks.  Scarcely had we recovered our senses, before the foretopsail went into shreds, when we got up a storm stay —­ sail and with this did pretty well for some hours, the ship heading the sea much more steadily than before.

The gale still held on, however, and we saw no signs of its abating.  The rigging was found to be ill-fitted, and greatly strained; and on the third day of the blow, about five in the afternoon, our mizzen-mast, in a heavy lurch to windward, went by the board.  For an hour or more, we tried in vain to get rid of it, on account of the prodigious rolling of the ship; and, before we had succeeded, the carpenter came aft and announced four feet of water in the hold.  To add to our dilemma, we found the pumps choked and nearly useless.

All was now confusion and despair —­ but an effort was made to lighten the ship by throwing overboard as much of her cargo as could be reached, and by cutting away the two masts that remained.  This we at last accomplished —­ but we were still unable to do any thing at the pumps; and, in the meantime, the leak gained on us very fast.

At sundown, the gale had sensibly diminished in violence, and as the sea went down with it, we still entertained faint hopes of saving ourselves in the boats.  At eight P. M., the clouds broke away to windward, and we had the advantage of a full moon —­ a piece of good fortune which served wonderfully to cheer our drooping spirits.

After incredible labor we succeeded, at length, in getting the longboat over the side without material accident, and into this we crowded the whole of the crew and most of the passengers.  This party made off immediately, and, after undergoing much suffering, finally arrived, in safety, at Ocracoke Inlet, on the third day after the wreck.