A NIGHT AT SEA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXL, Issue 6164, 9 January 1904, Page 7

A NIGHT AT SEA

(By Frank T. Bullen.)

Perfect peace. Over all the w:de circle of the sea spread around mc mere lieu a lniisa of infinite solace, a sense of eternal truce between warring creatures and battling elements ; the very zephyr, scarcely rippling the pUme of the uceau, is like the waUmg oi a kiss of t-enderest maternal love. I eit upon the , forecastle-htiad- with a strange cuncseiousiisiis of aiooin&as from my kind, of being poised in space far removed from the pu&sibiiuy oi' a tiiicurowag word or .-even a thought. Ido not look behind mc, where the spier.dla pauopiy oi tiai.e rises tier upon tier into the ether, every piece of canvas gently held in peiieci snape, a series of moot beautiful curves, by cue st-tady suasion oi the duli'cate breeze, for 1 am lieenly ■conscious of its presence, mc only sound apparent is the cooling ripple oi the smoothly parted waters as tne great fabric of stee-l .gliae-u through thorn; indeed, it is more than the suggtiicion of sound, serving to bring more fully to the resting sense the -lulling silence. Above mc the blue infinity, adorned with •countless globules of crystal light, spreads its limit U&s dome, in contemplation oi which the soul realises its true region, and, unshackifcd by bodily liampermgs, soars beyond the suining stars in eager quest of the unknowable. Sea and sky .blend so perfectly that the illusion of being suspended in gpace becomes impossible to avoid; but gradually it blends with another and more subtle idea. "JL'hat wide glade of molten silver laid from the horizon to mc by the glorious moon must be traversable, leading by a definite and unmistakable road to the real place of "my desire. So strongly does this mystical sense of tangibility become impressid upon my mmd, that tue indefinable verge of the bright way appears full of palaces and spires and domes, compacted of light and the shadow of light. For the eyes have lost the power, temporarily, to see what is here before them, and only behold ;what is not. A meteor,blazes into incandescence and sails slowly through the sky, parallel to the horizon, and forty degrees above it by man's empirical measurement, leaving behind it a broad riband of glowing light, as if a rift had been made in the heavens, revealing a trace of the unutterable eplendor beyond. That silvern line is drawn around a third of the apparent circumference in ths wake of the triumphal star, until we .painful contracting ol my scalp and the staring sensation of intense cold over the great ganglions of my body draw mc down with irresistible grasp to the limitations of physical disability. The flesh for the tune resumes its despotism; matter hampers mind, and ■hunger, chill, weariness, knock clamorously at the door of sense, which admits them, to the mournful accompaniment of a heavy Bl§ But the buoyant spirit again eludes the gross holding, and soars among the tlnckly- . fown starlets of the Milky Way, which, like the floating vesture of some mighty angel extend from east to west across the placid •What is it that 'draws my gaze sp persistently to the moon? She hangs m the infinite sky, a perfect circle of glowing eil-. ver her well-defined markings strangely real to the unassW eye, as mountain and valley and sea. Yet there is something amiss with her light; surely it is not fading !. There is not . in all the vast concave the tiniest wisp of cloud or suspicion of haze to dim her usual radiant effulgence. Still, I cannot avoid the knowledge that the brilliancy is leaving the splendid (satellite, she is becoming just a flat white disc, from which the light as departing., bit, I ask myself, withamomen toy spasm of dread, that I am going blind ? ©oes svg'ht thus leave the eyes? How foolish of mc; the stars are increasing their lustre, the less remote planets blazing like miniature suns. And then I note, with new dismay, an encroaching darkness on the moon's rim, a creeping upon her of a circular shadow, and I say, aioud, for my own comfort, "Why, it's an eclipse. And t , try t-o, remember thai this is a purely natural phenomenon, its time of occurrence predicted many years beforehand to the fraction of a second by astronomical science. But >ib is of no avail. That innate sense of the supernatural, which is one ol the deepest instincts of human nature, forbids mc so to look upon this solemn celestial distflav being givtn with infinitesimal mc for sole spectator (as I feel). The shadow advances fatelfully: the gloom upon the waters deepens; the sweet, peaceful silence becomes the terrible strained hush before some awlul calamity; the breathless waiting for a cataclysm. Strange spectral glares .begin to show in the sea, as if the good spirits were being imprisoned for a season and_the_ demons of the depth were gathering for high carnival. , Still the darkening of the moon goes on, the sky deepening in color until, as the last faint crescent of white disappears the whole vault above it of so deep a violet that it may almost be called black. It is a curious darkness too, an unnatural gloom which has none of the characteristics, of the overcast sky, or of the appearance of the heavens upon ari ordinary moonless night. There ie a sense of tremendous loss, a tfeeliii"- of bereavement, not to ibe expressed an mere words, and I unconsciously mourn the logs of the Lady of Night as if she were an intimately dear friend. While lam still perfectly conscious that her absence from view is but temporary, this is still my feeling. And not unnaturally. How hard it is to realise upon a miserably gloomy and •weeping day that just on the other side of the pall of cloud there is a boundless ocean of sunshine! The stare have now grown still more brilliant glowing like points of molten steel against the intensely dark background of the heavens. Aid in the west there rises the mysterious leaning cone of the Zodiacal LrHit, never so plainly visible as on a night like thie. Like a far-off lambent .reflection of some unutterably vast pyramid of fire Rlowintf a universe away, m brightens and fades and brightens again, its borders meltdner so imperceptibly into the darkness as to make it impossible to decide where one ceases and the other begins. A.nd row, as-if to heighten the darkness above, the sea is all ablaze with greenish Ujo-ht. Living flames, describing- a thousand ■ thousand niazy evolutions amid an ocean that -seems to be supplied with difiused light from beneath, -whose every tiny wavelet breaks in a miniature surf of diamond spray And a bewildered sea-bird, its fine sensibilities touched to their depths by the sudden and palpable dark, gives utterance to a long wail as of some acutely wretched, spirit condemned to (suffer inarticulately for the tide of gloom has reached Sts ordained height. It begins to ebb w the same hastless fashion as it flowed, and presently, bringing with it relief beyond my ■hopes, peeps out again the sweet, shy curve of lio-ht As if irresistibly forced to return -to its darksome lair, the shadow recedes, reluctantly, lingeringlyj but the unshrouded face of the moon now beams brighter apparently than ever before. The lambent, jfiaane in the sea fades and almost disappears ; the stars resume their sober twinkling, and the Zodiacal Light disappears. Ihe eclipse. 16 'Tretty sight," says my relief, with starU lin<r abruptness in my ear. I murmur eorne- *• unintelligibly, and turn away with something of a feeling of despair. That such a vision of wonder should ibe spoken ol ..as "pretty !" _____