A Simpleton

Hours at a stretch; and then, awakmg in the dead of night, he saw the past even more clear and vivid. He lighted his candle, and began to grope in the Cape Gazette. As to dates, he_ now remembered when he had sailed from England, and also from Madeira. Following up this clew, he found in the Gazette a notice that II. M. ship Amphitrite had been spoken off the Cape, and had reported the melancholy loss of a promising physician and man of science, Dr. Staines. The account said every exertion had been made to save him, but in vain. Staines ground his teeth with rage at this: "Every exertion 1 the falsehearted curs! they left me to drown without one manly effort to save me. Curse them, and curse all the world!" Pursuing his researches rapidly, he found a much longer account of a raft picked up by Capt. Dodd, with a white man on it and a dead body, the white man having on him a considerable sum in money and jewels. Then a new anxiety chilled him. There was not a word to identify him with Dr. Staines. The idea had never occurred to the editor of the Cape Gazette. Still less would it occur to any one in England. At this moment his wife must be mourning for him.