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! the
false-hearted 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 Captain 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. "Poor--poor Rosa!"
But perhaps the fatal news might not have reached her.
That hope was dashed away as soon as found. Why, these were all OLD
NEWSPAPERS. That gentlemanly man who had lent them to him had said so.
Old! yet they completed the year 1867.
He now tore through them for the dates alone, and soon found they went
to 1868.
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