The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-02-15

very strange, stranger than fiction, at that sharp
swful cry, wrenched by the horrible catastrophe
OF their comrade from the souls of his pursuers,
aroused from the stupor which had fallen upon
him between the excess of WEAKNESS and the
| extremity of despair, Eadwulf raised his head.
| BE saw the white surf tossing and breaking
fnriously In the distance; he saw the long line
OF deep, unbroken, swelling water, which had not
been driven up from the sea, but had gushed
and welled upward through the pores of the
saturated sand, rolling in FIVE feet abreast, far
| in advance of the white rollers; swifter than
either, darker and more terrible, he saw the
| ink-black, ragged hail storm, mere mist on
the waters surface, but above, contorted pile
of solid, convoluted clouds, driving in, like a
| hurricane, before the breath of the rushing
Southeastern.
But, In that one lightning glance, he saw also,
on the dark polished surface of the smooth water,
IN advance of the breakers, under the storm
cloud, long black object, hurrying down
before wind apd tide, with speed exceeding that
OF the fieetest race horse, right upon the spot
where he sat, despairing., He recognised it, at
once, for one of the leathern cordcLes, as they
were called, or rude fishing boats of the natives
OF those wild and stormy shores; the rudest per-
aHps, but at the same time the most buoyant
and seaworthy of boats. She was empty, he
saw that at glance, and rode the waves, out
stripping the breakers, gallantly. Could he
reach her, he might yet be saved.
He safe erect on his rock, resolute, with every
nerve quivering with intense excitement, with
every faculty braced, ready for the last exer-
ton.
The cloud fell on him black as midnight; the
fierce wind smote his elflocks, making them
stream and SILVER in its currents; the cutting
hail dashed him with arrowy keenness. Quickly
as cama n pancad. and e,laau m, Of 81
sunshine shimmered through rent in the black
storm, and glanced like a hopeful smile upon
the waters. In that momentary brilliance, the
wretch caught a glimpse of the black boat,
floating past his solitary rock, and without an
instants hesitation, rushing waist deep into the
frothy eddies, fought his way, he never well
knew how, thorough surge and quicksand, till
he had caught her by the gunwale. Then, spur
ring the yielding sands with tremendous effort,
he leaped, or hurled himself rather, into her,
and lay for breathing space motionless, and
stunned by the very perception of the strange
vicissitude to which he owed his safety.
!. But it was no time for self.indulgence; and,
ignorant as he was, semi-barbarous, and half
brutalized, he perceived the nature of the crisis
The oars or paddles by which the coracle was
impeied were dashed by thongs to her row.
locks, and, getting them out at once, Eadwulf
before the entering tide, and pulling with all
his might, to outstrip the combing of each sue
cessive roller.
For a short space, the glimmer in the air
continued then the mist gathered down again,
and all was gloom, except the white caps of the
breakers, tossing and shivering in the twilight.
But it was now mist only; the wind had sunk
and the storm-cloud been driven landward
And now, so dexterously had the serf man
aged his little vessel, that, as he shot away from
each combing sea-cap, the surges had swept
under instead Of over him, and be found him
self riding buoyantly on the long, gentle swell,
riiile the surf, gre'iu,',iy su',e'SairsJ ~ $50
sands, murmuring hoarsely far before him.
Suddenly, close ahead of him, not as it
seemed ten yards from the bow of the boat,
there arose an angry clash of steel, loud cry,
"Jesu Jesu Maria |" and deep groan and,
| the next instant, the body of riderless horse
with its head half submerged, painting and
snoring out its last agonies, was swept so close
to his vessel that he could have touched it with
the oar. One other minute, and light air was
felt sensibly, the mist began to lift and shiver,
the darkness seemed to melt, and to be pene-
trated and imbued with the sunbeams, till it
| resembled gauzy veil interposed before q
| strong light
Another moment, and it rose bodily from the
water, hoated upward into the skies, and left
all below laughing, clear in the sunlight.
There was no sand now to be seen, save mar
row yellow stripe on the edge of the soft YER
dant points, which stretched out from the shores
Of We:tmoreland, sparkling in the sun and
glittering in the rain-drops, into the broad
bosom of Morecambe BAY, which was now filed
with the tide, though it had not as yet nearly
| risen to its highest mark-but here and there,
at intervals, dark spots showed in the expanse
of waters, where the tops of the highest sand
banks were scarcely submerged at all, on which
the gentle eddies rippled and sparkled, as wave
let after wavelet rolled in by its own mounting
impulse, but fastened by no angry gust or tur-
bulent billow.
On one of these sand-banks, having so long
escaped, Heaven knows how, quicksands and
breakers, and having made his way thus far
landward, sat tall, powerful man-at-arms,
sheathed from head to heel in complete pan
oply of chain mail His horse was likewise
caparisoned in the heaviest bardings-cham-
front and poitrel. steel demipique and bard
proper-nothing was wanting of the heaviest
caparison with which charger or man ever
rode into the tilt-yard or melee.
The tide was already above the horses belly,
and the riders plated shoes and mail hose were
below the surface. Deep water was around
him on every side. the nearest shore mile dis
tant, and to swim fifty yards, much less mile,
under that weight of steel, was impossible still
he sat there, waiting his doom, silent and i'm
passive.
He was the last of the pursuers he alone
of the two parties, who but three short hours
before had spurred so fercely in pursuit of the
wretched slave, had escaped the fate of Pha-
raoh and his host, when the Red Sea closed
above them. He alone breathed the breath
r e 4 L 4 IL
with that calm composure which comes to the
fuH as much of artificial training as of innate
valor.
As the clouds lifted, this solitary man saw,
at once, the boat approaching, and saw who
rowed it-saw rescue close at hand, yet at the
same time saw it impossible. His face had
hardly the time to relax into one CLEAN of
hope, before it again settled down into the iron
apathy of despair.
The coracle swept up abreast of him, then
paused as Eadwulf, half unconsciously, rested
on his oars, and gazed into the despairing and
blank features Of his enemy. 1t was the SEN
eschal of Waltheofstow, the brother Of the
man whom he had slain in the forest.
Their eyes met, they recognised each other,
and each shuddered at the recognition. For
moment, neither spake but, after short,
bitter pause, it was the rider who broke silence
$50, it is thou, Saxon dog, who alone hast
escaped from this destruction
:" 1t is /, man-hunter. Where are thy boasts
and threats now? Why dost not ask the serf,
now, for life, for mercy?"
because thou couldst not give it, if thou
would'st and would'st not, if thou could'st. Go
thy ways, go thy ways We shall meet one day,
in that place whittier our deeds will carry u.s.
Go thy ways, unless thou would'st stay, and look
how Norman dies. fear neither death, nor
thee. Go thy ways, and the fiend go with thee"