The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1860-01-26

riety and magic art, to win his thoughts from
prayer. There were spot of CLASSY calm, all
smooth and green, like thu shade of grove of
palm trees midst the sandd glare. There we're
whirling flakes of foam, white as the bosom of
an albatross; and green masses of wave, all
lighted up from themselves with chilly phos
phoresceut fame and rounded, sucking eddies,
spinning, and "clucking;' and sharp-backed
waves that caught the SUMS golden touch, and
mixed kaleidescopically the reflected wonders
of the clouds above, now all afiame and flying,
purple-dyed, and crimson, snd scarlet, and livid
blue, like bloody, routed host, whom the
sword of vengeance drives ever before it in
terror, ever striking in amepg them, and STAIN
ing them anew. And, sfar snd high, the black
storm stands apart, hesitatiag if to go or to re-
turn, and flashing out sulssn blaze of light
ming now and then, follower by muttered thun-
der. And low upon the sen, beneath that
storm, one can see approach tae swift mist of
the night, gathering cold ard moist, and CON-
ing on to wrap the ship in, Us clammy folds,
which chill one like the daak and earthiness of
a newly opened grave. Through all this the
laboring schooner makes Der slow and dismal
way, as, through thronged .sts Gets, in the days
of Terror, the cart used to toJ along in Paris
towards la sainte GuItotiRe.. The
schooner? Sure he know, the neat arch of
that deck, the fine lines-ctough crushed they
be, now, and splintered. !. And those fierce,
bronzed, ragged faces, SO Thifianly and reck-
less those voices, strident, raucous, full of
harsh laugh, and brutal cath, and heinous
blasphemy, and obscene coarseness-sure he
knows them Ave It's the SLAYER,
his venture for gold and pelf, md part of it
one hundred and eighty-seves namely. =
One. Two. Three. Four. IALLYi =
Ugh! Grrrrl away, THOU fend y
"Hallol shipmates, the storm seems over.
How's the leak?"
They have not seen himSbefore. Hai What
means that gathering peal efserror-that wild,
unearthly shrek of maddet aight2 Ha !
comrade, I'll not harm you. = Christ |
he is overheard SHoi hol man
overheard man overboar@ Why
do they not save their cosnrace? Why, with
hair all horrent, and ashen faces, and eyes
stretched wide, do the whole crew stand there
on deck, motionless, gaziag. only at him I?
Man overheard, Us y-see, he floats
astern He will; & to them-they
are drunk-they do not hear He walks to-
wards the stern-they stand, eSes fixed, forms
all a-shiver, as he draws towart them,
until one, that black bearded u ate, the tall and
burly Maltese, grandest villhin, eut-throat, des-
perado of them all, finging n, clenched hands
towards the sky, yes out asfisericordial oh
santissima Vergine sta Vendetta di
Dio! Jesu! in mani suoi!"
to the stern; y to the bnlwark
on the rail ~ one fea rsul look back !;
n over his shoulder; = one scream,
waking the night; y ioe,e pluDge-and
sunk Are they rad? And he
hastens forward, reckoning T. them, and cry
ing out. Then, with united ieks of horror,
with simultaneous cry: Ii is6 te Vengeance of
God! IL as the Vengeance Of God!" They
rash apart, they spring, andsnke Panurges
sheep, following their leader, each takes the
mad leap, each plunges into the sea, each, with
that understanding scream, eac with that back
ward glance over his shoulder each with that
single bubble rising to the sp where the wa
| tiers has closed over him And, sink
ing down to the deck, in his Dr. sm, the wretch
ed prisoner of the cell fancied tmself alone on
the wide waste of Ocean, in a amaged, leaky
ship. There came " him thoughts
that drove him mad again thoughts
of why all had fed him so; y drowned
themselves to escape his presence. \
Was he then systematically CITED? Had he
died., and, coming ba&k, brought with
him some fearful mark of the csnds whence he
returned? Or, 4 La V.l.dettd di Dio
Was he-men befor. now have had
missions. 1t was ps nitted George
of Cappadocia, for instance, e ibezzler, thief,
robber of widows and orpha, 1, extortionist,
usurer, simonist-it was permitted this polluted
wretch to become Bishop of the Holy Church
Martyr-Saint-gua warts: ofthe Church
Militant, and Patron Of n ssrie England.
\ If, this, then-perhs :, he also. The
poison of a spiritual conceit s, pride, swelter-
ing in his veins, gave him strefsfth again. He
arose-there was light in the cabin, =
L. Ia al IL. ILL, al
ship rolled heavily and groanips in the trough
of the lurid sea. Is-ttwo swinging
lamps, (he is speaking again, ( If for fear of
being alone j two lamps, grims1 and smoky,
that shed fierce red light o. md, upon the
lockers, the keen arms in the LEX, the table
and its spread charts and open .0g book. All
| gone none left to bear me e5tmpany in my
woe, \ none left! How ley screamed,
and leaping up, and looking -sund, plunged,
and gurgled, and went down lst lead Ven
delta di Dio! / sho ID have liked
now, to have kept count of them rs they plung-
sd-one score for every plunge. One.
Two. Three. Four. Tallyl What
sport How that Maltese did shrek
when he beheld me, yet, holder devil
| never cut throat. Why, then
y is my face like the face of Moses !?
= shall / have to wear a veil? Or, it is
|
rassan, with the silver gauze over it, which, once
| lifted, revealed-such horrors, that:
Now turn aud look-then wonder, if thou wilt
That should hale, should take revenge by gull,
| Upon the hand, whose mischief or whose mir,h
Sent me thus maim'd and monstrous upon earth;
And on that race who, though more vile they be
Than moving apes, are demi-s0ds 10 me
| Here Judge il He'll with ell lis power TO damn,
| Can add ore curse to the foul Thing am
He raised his veil--the maid turnd slowly round
Looked al him, shrieked, and sunk upon the ground
Pretty verses Aud II There's
the mirror; turn we these lamps around; now,
the light blazes full. Poor wretches
| do not wonder. n had forgot. So
It's pretty Wilderness. Has alabaster a more
sheeny glisten? Could l not win now, and
have to wife, the Jungfrau, whom / rival in
curst splendor of Wilderness? = Why,
they took me for a white shafk-me, y
the High Priest of Impunity the linen
pobed acolyte of the foetid slough; mel
Come to nv arms, oh beauty-come to the
arms of thy adopted, the arms of the Leper, the
Leper white as snow Yeti can look
upon myself. Is it, then, MYSELF or has the
fiend gone into me, as he went into the swine
upon the hillside, and drove them down into
the sea? / am chilled and damp.
must have swooned. Why does the ship roll
thus heavily, from side to side? IT'S wet here,
too. and the water swishes from right to left as
we roll. = And bark that buzz and hum
and babble of many voices uncouth, cultural.
\ What can it meant I'll on deck. =
Ha! these black forms clustering forward,
naked - the slaves are loose How the
soa ooper ia sunk down? Heavensl The leak
we are eiukingl Hal there-mtn the pumps,
e Won would save your Iyssi = How they
stare and gibber! - alb, this leper's coat,
= 81 this accused foul wilderness No TINE
60 na,.a now. though, or we shall go down.