Adrift in the Wilds

rly all the passengers were in their berths. There were a few, however, who were lingering on the promenade deck, some smoking--here and there a couple of lovers all unconscious of everything else--one or two avaricious speculators; and but a few minutes could elapse before the startling danger should become known.

The last words, which we have given as spoken by our friends, had scarcely been said, when a man, who apparently had been stretched out sound asleep, suddenly sprung up, wild with terror. "The boat is on fire! fire! fire!"

He darted hither and thither like some wild animal compassed on every hand by death, and then suddenly made a leap overboard, and was swallowed up in the sea.

The alarm spread with fearful rapidity, and was soon ringing through every part of the steamer, and now began that fearful confusion and panic which no pen can clearly picture, and which, once seen, can never be forgotten to the dying day.

Our three friends were gathered at the stern of