Four thousand miles of ocean lie behind; they are nearly home.
THE WRECK.
"There are blind ways provided, the foredone
Heart-weary player in this pageant world
Drops out by, letting the main masque defile
By the conspicuous portal:--I am through,
Just through."
BROWNING.
On Thursday, July 18th, at noon, the Elizabeth was off the Jersey
coast, somewhere between Cape May and Barnegat; and, as the weather
was thick, with a fresh breeze blowing from the east of south,
the officer in command, desirous to secure a good offing, stood
east-north-east. His purpose was, when daylight showed the highlands
of Neversink, to take a pilot, and run before the wind past Sandy
Hook. So confident, indeed, was he of safety, that he promised his
passengers to land them early in the morning at New York. With this
hope, their trunks were packed, the preparations made to greet their
friends, the last good-night was spoken, and with grateful hearts
Margaret and Ossoli put Nino to rest, for the last time, as they
thought, on ship-board,--for the last time, as it was to be, on earth!
By nine o'clock, the breeze rose to a gale, which every hour increased
in violence, till at midnight it became a hurricane.
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