rits began gradually to sink lower and lower. A new feeling took possession of his mind; he remembered, that he had once read, and often heard from his mother, that the "path of duty alone was the path of safety," that all others were beset by dangers; his own mind now told him that he had wandered far from the line of rectitude, which his parents had always pointed out to him, and which the dying charge of his father had enjoined; he felt that he had now lost all confidence in himself, that he had no consolation in his own breast to look to, should dangers occur; and with such a weight of condemnation on his conscience, how could he look to Heaven for protection, since he had despised all the benefits it had heaped upon him he had rejected the kind offers of his affectionate mother; he had flung behind him all the comforts and securities of home; he had followed the dictates of his own perverse will, and he had rushed of his own accord, into disobedience

and danger,-what the consequences were to be he could not tell, but he shuddered to contemplate them. He remained till it was dark upon the deck, and then went below to his messmates. The evening was spent in amusements, in playing at draughts, and in reading, and about ten o'clock he turned into his hammock. Here again the thoughts which occupied his mind recurred to him in all their force; he pictured to himself the sorrows of Emily, the sad, sad regret of his mother, and the lonely situation to which he had reduced them both; he turned from side to side of his bed, but he could not sleep, and he lay in anxious agony, till the bell announced the middle-watch, and the rough hand of a sailor shook his arm to awake him, and desire him to turn out, and take his turn upon deck for the four following hours. He got up, dressed himself as well as he could in the dark, and followed in silence upon deck. It was a damp dreary night; the dew was falling

heavily on the cold planks, the wind was rising, the ship was beginning to scud along rapidly, and occasionally gave a slight plunge over the rising swell. For the first hour or so, Frank kept his feet pretty well, though he felt sleepy; but by and by, as the Syren drew nearer to the mouth of the Channel, and the heavy swell came rolling in from the Atlantic, at every movement of the vessel he reeled from side to side; whilst his awkward motions elicited frequent sarcasms and bursts of laughter from D'Aubrey and his companions, whom long practice had taught a steady pace, and an upright step. Towards the conclusion of his watch, too, he found his head beginning to swim, and his eyes to feel weighty; at every plunge of the vessel he thought he felt all his blood rush into his temples, and he knew, (for he had experienced the same sensation during his first voyage on board the Ariel,) that he was going to be sea-sick. Long before four o'clock,

when his watch expired, he was so ill as to be scarcely able to set a foot upon deck; he leaned his aching head against the mast, but D'Aubrey, with an oath, as usual, ordered him to get up, that there must be no "caulking there." This he thought peculiarly unkind and cruel, but he obeyed; and for another half-hour walked about with a heavy head and a heavier heart; he then went below, and tumbled into his hammock again. He had, however, slept but little, when at eight o'clock he was forced, sick as he was, to turn out, as according to the regulations of the vessel the hammocks were all removed at that hour upon deck; he would gladly have remained another hour in the blankets, but it was impossible; and amidst the jibes and jests of his comrades on his pale face, he dressed himself, and crawled up to the fresh air, where he seated himself, and leaned his bursting head upon his hand.

CHAPTER X.

MISERIES OF A MIDSHIPMAN.-UNPLEASANT DISCOVERIES.-ARRIVAL AT MALTA.

Strangers alone are round him,-on each face
He meets some jibing insult of his woe;
No friendly voice is nigh to soothe his grief,
No kindred breast to fly to from despair.

MAURICE CROSS.

FRANK had not remained long in this situation till he had a crowd of his thoughtless messmates around him; they had themselves long since experienced all the suffering which he was enduring; but sea-sickness, like the