THE    LIVINGSTONES.  71

ently  only  to  the  Captain.  For  several  days  they  did
not  leave  their  staterooms.  When  at  last  they  appeared
011  deck  I  was  astonished  to  see  persons  who  bore
every  mark  of  rank  and  distinction.  The  eldest,  a
man  of  seventy,  nearly  resembled  Washington  in  his
stature,  form  and  countenance,  having  in  his  aspect
the  same  mingling  benevolence  and  majesty.  Without
comparison,  the  younger  gentleman  was  the  handsomest
man  on  whom  I  ever  looked  and  was  evidently  an
eminent  military  officer.  And  what  shall  I  say  of  the
ladies  ?  You  will  think  I  have  turned  poet  or  fool.
If  the  elder,  a  brunette  of  forty,  represented  the  glory
of  womanhood,  the  girl  not  twenty,  and  a  contrast  in
everything  to  her  mother,  typified  its  sweetest  classic
beauty.  Now  comes  the  saddest  experience  of  my
life— so  sad  that  I  have  not  ventured  before  to  tell  it
even  to  you.
The  Britannia  encountered  a  fearful  storm.  Both
ladies  were  lashed  in  their  chairs  to  enjoy  the  terrific
spectacle,  and  the  officer  was  standing  before  them,
when  a  lurch  of  the  ship  threw  him  over  the  railing
into  the  ocean.  We  saw  him  hang  for  a  moment  on
the  crest  of  a  mountain  wave  and  then  sink  for  ever.
Rescue  was  impossible  in  such  a  fury  of  the  elements.
But,  O  God,  who  shall  describe  what  followed  ?  The
speechless  agony ;  the  sobs,  the  moans,  the  cries,  the
frenzied  gestures  imploring  help,  and  then  the  silence
and  impotence  of  despair !  I  saw  the  ladies  a  few
times  afterwards  on  deck.  Niobe  is  grief  in  stone—
theirs  was  agony  in  living  hearts.  When  our  vessel


72  KINGS   OF    CAPITAL.
