Foxholme Hall, and Other Tales
Page 49
approached the terrific contest increased. The sea,which ran on either beam in high mountainous surges, broke with an awfulroar; the stern of the ship now lifted on the summit of a wave, and thenext instant her bow was plunging madly into the dark trough whichyearned apparently to engulf her. The thunder rattled loudly throughthe heavy sky, the vivid lightning played threateningly round the masts,and the wind howled and whistled through the rigging. Those who hadnever before felt fear in a storm, now trembled with alarm. On we drovewith impetuous violence, the hands at the wheel scarcely able to keepthe ship before the boiling seas, which, as they curled up astern,seemed ready to rush down on our decks and overwhelm us.
"It was in the middle watch, and the captain had just joined me on deck,when one of the look-outs shouted, `Land on the starboard bow.' Thestartling cry was echoed through the ship, and every man sprang on deck.We were clearly in dangerous proximity to the coast, and with theforeboding of mischief on the minds of all, many thought that our timehad arrived. All eyes were directed anxiously towards the coast, whichevery instant was growing more distinct. The wheel was kept a fewspokes more to starboard, but we could not venture to haul the ship moreup lest she should broach to, and as no land appeared ahead, we hoped tobe able, if it were Cape Horn we saw, to scrape round it; at all eventsa short time would decide our fate.
"The captain went into the cabin with me to consult the chart, and wehad every reason to hope that the land we saw was the southernmost partof Cape Horn. When we returned on deck we had drawn awfully near thecoast, but it was broad on our starboard beam.
"`We shall be round the Cape in another half hour,' exclaimed thecaptain in a cheerful tone, `and then, my lads, we shall be clear of theaccursed witch and her devilish tricks.'
"I do not know what madness induced him to remind the people of the oldhag; it showed what his own mind was running on, notwithstanding all hispretended indifference and disbelief. At all events he had better havelet the subject alone; for at that instant, as if to refute hisassertion, a roll of thunder, louder than was ever heard before, soundedin our ears, and in a blaze of forked lightning which flashedcontinually from the skies, the old woman herself was seen, increasedinto gigantic proportions, standing on a lofty rock at the verysouthernmost point of the Cape, exactly as she had appeared on the pierat Liverpool, and waving round in the air her long twisted staff, aboutwhich the most vivid flashes played in fiery circles. Her face full ofmalignant fury, lighted up as now, was of a livid hue, her garments andher grey looks streamed in the wind, and as she pointed towards thewestern ocean she seemed by her gestures to threaten us with furthermishaps. Her lips moved and gibbered, but if she spoke, not a soundreached us.
"We had two of the guns mounted, and on beholding the terrific figure,Derick ordered one of them to be loaded and run out.
"`I'll see what impression a cannon ball can make on her,' he exclaimed,in a voice of mingled excitement, rage, and horror. `Bring a lightedmatch here, one of you.'
"While the match was being brought, he stood eyeing the witch with alook of defiance. He seized the light eagerly from the hand of aseaman, and though, as you may suppose, in the tremendous way the shipwas rolling and pitching, it was impossible to take an aim, he fired.The gun went off with an explosion louder than I ever heard before, anda flash far more vivid. The noise was answered by a shriek of mockinglaughter, and the flash only served to show still more clearly thehideous figure of the witch, jeering at us and threatening us with herstaff.
"Onward we rushed, and while the lightning lasted there she was seen asclearly, I tell you, as we had seen her at home. When the lightningceased, the darkness of the night shut her out from our sight, but someeven then affirmed that they saw the dim outline of her form against thenorthern sky.
"Not a man on board turned in again that night, you may be sure, but allthe watch who should have been below shrunk together in knots utteringtheir forebodings to each other, and earnestly wishing for the return ofday. The longest night must have an end, and so had this, and, as themorning broke, the wind settled down into a moderate gale, which sent asforward on our course at the rate of twelve knots an hour.
"The land was no longer in sight, the glorious sun came out bright andwarm, and cheered our hearts, and we almost forgot the terrors of thenight. I said that Mrs Derick had not witnessed the sight we had, butfrom her husband's manner, when he went below, she discovered that therewas something wrong, and she would not rest till he had told her. He,as usual, tried to laugh it off, and to declare that there was nothingin it, but I saw that she was not satisfied, and that the circumstancewas preying sadly on her mind.
"In two days, by an observation made, we found that we were well to thewestward of the south coast of America, and the wind veering round tothe south, we kept away on a northerly course. Every day, as we gotinto more temperate latitudes, the weather became finer and warmer, andthe spirits of the seamen rose proportionably, though they were not themen they would have been in the natural course of things. They hadplenty of work to do, which kept their minds employed, in preparing forour visit to the Spanish coast; we got up the remainder of the guns fromthe hold and shipped them on their carriages, we sent up topgallantmasts and yards, got out the flying jib-boom, and repaired the damageswe had received in the gale. The carpenters also set to work to build aboat to supply the place of the one we had lost; while the captain andsupercargo made arrangements for their transactions on the coast.
"I am not giving you extracts from my log, so that I need only tell youthat about a month was consumed in successful trading with theSpaniards, in spite of the men-of-war on the look out for us at sea, andthe custom-house officers and soldiers sent to intercept us in shore.We touched, I remember, at Conception, Coquimbo, Huasco, Point Negra,and other places on the coast of Chili.
"At last the vigilance of the Spanish authorities being completelyaroused, it was thought better to keep away from the shore for a shorttime, to throw them off their guard. Captain Derick accordinglydetermined to visit a group of islands some distance to the westward, tolay in a stock of turtle, with which those islands abound. I think theywere the Gallipagos, but as we never reached them, I am not certain.The Pacific is very properly so called, but when the wind does take itinto its head to blow, then it makes up for its general idleness. Theweather had long continued calm and beautiful, and everything went wellon board. Captain Derick once more laughed and joked, and his wifelooked happy and contented. Not satisfied, however, to let thingsalone, he must bring up the subject of the old witch again, and declaredthat the whole story, from first to last, was trumped up by the crew,and that neither he nor any one else on board had ever set eyes on hersince the day we left Liverpool. How he could venture on suchassertions I don't know, but he wanted to persuade others of what hewished to believe himself.
"The evening was beautifully calm and serene: it put me in mind of theone we had before the night on which we had lost our masts off the coastof Brazil, only this was calmer and warmer. Not a breath of air wasfelt, the sails hung listlessly down against the masts, the sea wassmooth as a polished mirror, and the sky of the purest blue; theatmosphere, notwithstanding the warmth, was pleasant, and every one onboard was in good spirits. As the night drew on, however, the airbecame more stagnant, the heat increased, and as there was not even aswell moving the bosom of the Pacific, the dead silence which prevailedbecame absolutely oppressive.
"The captain and his wife were sitting aft and leaning against thetaffrail with their hands clasped in each other's, for they were as fondnow as when they were bride and bridegroom; the work of the day wasover, and the crew were lying listlessly about the decks, not evenamusing themselves with talking as usual. I do not believe a person onboard had uttered a word for a quarter of an hour. I never felt socomplete a silence; when on a sudden it was broken by a loud, piercing,derisive cackle, sounding close under our quarter. Every one knew thevoice, and as we sprang up and looked over the bulwarks, we saw, as weexpected, the
old witch, gliding along the smooth sea, and taking acourse directly ahead of us, while she howled and jeered, and pointedwith her staff just as she had done before.
"The captain saw her too. `Damn her!' he exclaimed, fiercely; `whatdoes she want here?'
"The words were scarcely out of his mouth, when an answer was given backwhich fully accounted for her presence. Right astern there appeared,where a moment before the sky had been of beautiful blue, a cloud blackas ink, spreading across the whole eastern horizon. We all saw what wascoming--the men instinctively sprang to the brails.
"`Clew up, haul down, let fly everything!' shouted the captain.
"It was too late: before a tack could be let go, or a brail hauled on,the fierce hurricane struck us. In a moment, ere we could look round,the stout ship heeled over, and trembled in every timber. Crash uponcrash was heard,