The times., 1898-07-31
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gether in one weird floating maritime
mob. The story of one night, when he
had camped among the Spanish ships OF
400 years ago, is so fine piece OF descrip-
ton as to be worth quoting:
turned over-for / mad rolled in my uneasy
sleep and got my back towards the dooTway-and
raised myself little IN my elbow so that
might oct clearly; and what saw WAS so
unearthly strange. and in a way so awe-compsll-
ing that in another moment / my faet
and staring with all my eyes. Over the Whole
deck OF the galloon soft lambent Ight was
playing, and this went along her bulwarks and
up over her high forecastle so that all the lines
of her structure defined sharply by IL; and
pale through the mist against the blackness, out
over her low waist. could catch 81 mpses OF the
other tall old ships lying near he, all likewise
shining everywhere with the same soft flames
which yet were not flames exactly, but rather
hickCriHg glow
In moment or so / realized that this lumi-
nous wonder, which at the first lock had so
. strong a touch of the superna ura in it, was no
more than the manifestation of natural phi nom
enon; being the simmer of phaspho escent light
upon the solking rotten woodworA OF The galleon
and of the ships about her. rotten and as old;
But making this explanation TO myself did not
lessen the frightening stranseness CT the spec
tacle, do much TO stop the cold creeps which
ran over me as | looked at it: | being there
solitary in that marvellous brightness-that /
knew was, IN a way, death-glow-the one thing
alive.
But presently my unreasoning shivering dread
began 20 yield little, my curiosity bred in
eager desire TO see the whole OF this
drous soft splendor; for | made from my
glimpses the galleon's bullwarks that ii
was about me on every side. And 50 ] stepped
out from the cabin upon the deck, where my
feet sank into the short messy growth tnat coat
ed the rotten planks, and was fairly walking
IN what seemed 10 me a lake OF wayering pale
fame; and from there, that | might the bet
ter. climbed cautiously up the rotten stair lead
ing TO the roof OF the cabin, and thence to the
little overtopping gallery where the stern-lantern
was. And from that height ] could gaze about
me far as ever the mist would let
Everywhere within the circle that my eyes
eTed-which was not a very big one for in the
night the mist thick and low-lying-the old
wrecks wedged together there lighted with
the same lambent flames; which came and went
over their dead carcasses as though they all sud
denly wee lighted and then as suddenly We're
put out again; and farther away the glow OF
them IN the mist was like silvery, shimmering
haze.
BY this ebbing and flowing light-whicfi seemed
to me, Tor all that / knew the natural cause of
II, so outside OF nature that ] thrilled with
creeping tear as looked at it-l could clear
ly the shapes Of the strange ancient ships around
me; their great poops and forecastles rising high
above their shallow waists, and here and there
among them the remnant of a mast making 4
line Of light rising higher still-lilte huge lpse
candle shining against the backness beyond And
the ruin Of them-the breaks in their lines, and
the black gaps where bits of their frames had
rotted away completely-gave to them all a
ghasty. deathlike look; while their wild targling
tcge ther made strange ragged lines Of brightness
NaNeflnE uiuer the ven OF mist, as though deS
olate sca-city were living there dead before me,
lit up with lanterns of despair
Yet that which most keenly thrilled me with
a cold dread was my ST Ong conviction that
could see living moving hiiher and thither
over those pale-lit decks where my reason told
me that only ancient death could be- for the
play of the Pickering light made such commo
uon of heating flames and dancing sh ldows going
and coming in all manner OF fantastic shapes,
that every shattered hulk around me seemed 10
have her Old crew alive and on board of her
again-all mrTljng in bustling crowds fore and
aft, and up and down the heights of her as
though under orderly command And at times
these shapes were real and distinct TO me
mat was for CRYING out TO them-and would
check myself suddenly shivering with a fright
which ! knew out of all reason but which
Tor the life of me l could not keep down.
And so the story goes on, until the end
OF the marvels is reached, and the hero
most ingeniously contrives a means of
escape for himself out of this nightmare
ife-in-death- II is good story. well
told, and warranted TO take tired peo-
pie to the Islands OF the Blest." (New
York: Harper & Bros)