TALES & SKETCHES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 858, 10 August 1888, Page 8

TALES & SKETCHES.

[NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.]

THE DEATH SHIS 3 .

A STRANGE STORY. an account of a cruise in the flying DUTCHMAN COLLECTED FROM THE PAPERS OF THE LATE MR GEOFFREY FENTON, OF POPLAR, MASTER MARINER.

By IV., Clark Russell.

Author of c The Wreck of the Grosvenor, . ‘ The Golden Hope,’ &c. &c.

[All Rights Reserved.]

CHAPTER XX. Imogkne Says She Will Trust Me. A half hour passed, and during that time I had sufficiently recovered from the distresaful croak of the parrot to wonder, as any sailor would, how the ship was naviaated ; for I could not doubt that the clock Eept pretty close to the true time, since tho easting and westing made by the ship was small, never, perhaps, exceeding ten degrees ; and the circumstance of noon having struck set me wondering in what fashion the captain and mates navigatod the snip, whether they used the cross-staff, or relied oil dead reckoning, or were we supernaturnlly conned. , _ . At half-past twelve arrived Prins, to prepare the table for dinner. I was so dull that his coming was extremely welcome, and I watched him go about his work with interest, not, perhaps, unmixed with fear. Out of the great drawer under the table he withdrew tho cloth, knives, forks, silver goblets and the like, which had been set out for breakfast; but his movements were those ol a marionette rather than a man’s. He scarcely looked at what he did, putting a goblet here, and a knife and fork there, and so on, with the lifeless air of an object controlled by mechanism. Small wonder that the uahappy wretch should know his busLness ! He had been at it long enough ! \et it wrung my heart to watch him ana to think that he would stilt be arranging the cabin tables, and attending upon Vanderderdecken and his mates when Heaven alone knows how many times Rio wave of civilisation should have followed the sun round the globe, and how often our British islands should have lapsed into their ancient savaseness and emerged again. Whilst he was at this work, Mias Dndley stepped out of her cabin. She came to a stand, not instantly recognising me in my own clothes, but quickly satisfying herself, she advanced with a smile aud_ sat down near me, with no further sign of timidity than a Blight blush -which greatly heightened her k o *" Where is Captain Vanderdeoken ? ’ said

Sh ®T left him on deck three quarters of an hour since,’ I answered. * We were talking when he suddenly broke off, and I should have supposed him in a fit but for his erecu posture and the fiery life in his eyes. ( « This happens to them all,’ said she, as you will find out. 1 do not know what it meanß or why it should be. «Possibly,’ I exclaimed, recalling the conjecture I hava already written down, ‘ the death in them grows too strong, at periods, for the power that sustains them, be it demoniac or not ; and then follows a failure of the vitality of the body, which yet leaves the spirit—as one sees it flashing in V anderdecken’s eyes—strong enough to recover the corporeal forces from their laugour. But how terrible is all this for you to be living familiarly with !—the sweet, fresh, human life of the world, your beauty would adorn and gladden, hidden from you behind the melancholy sea-line, and the passage of months, yes, and of years, finding you still aimlessly beating about these waters, with no better companions than beings more frightful in their shapes and behaviour as men than were they phantoms which the hand could Dot grasp and whoso texture the evo can pierce* 3 . ‘What can 1 do, Mr Fenton? Captain Vanderdecken will not part with me. Howcan I escape ? ’ she cried, with her eyes brimming. ‘ If I cast myself over board,it would be to drown !' If I succeeded in gaining the shore when we anchored near to tho coast, it would be either to perish upon the broiling sands, or to be destroyed by wild beasts, or be seized by natives and carried into capchance offered to make good your escape without the risks you name, would you seize it ? ’ 4 Oh, yes ! ’ , . , « Well ’ said I, speaking with such tenderness and’ feeling, such a glow and yearning in my heart that you would say the tiny seed of love in my breast, watered by her tears, was budding with the swiftness of each glance at her into flower, ‘ whilst I have been sitting melancholy and alone, I have turned over in my mind how I am to deliver yon from this dreadful situation. No scheme as yet offers, but will you trust me bb an English sailor to find a means to outwit these Dutchmen, ay, though the Devil himself kept watch when they were abed? . . One moment, Mies Dndley—forgive me, it had nob been my intention to touch upon this matter until time had enabled you to form some judgment of me. Bub when two are of the same mind, and the pit that has to bo jumped is a deep one, it would be mere foppery in mo to stand on the brink with you, chattering like a Frenchman about anything else sooner than speak out and to the point as a plain seaman should.' ‘Mr Fenton,’ she answered, ‘ I will trust you. If you can see a way to escape from this ship, I will aid you to the utmost of my strength and accompany you. You are a sailor ; my father was of that calling, ana as an English seaman you shall have my full It was not only the words, but her pretty voice, her sparkling eyes, her earnest gaze, the expression of hope that lighted up her

J face with the radiance of a smile rather than, of a smile itself, which rendered what she said delightful to me. I answered, ‘ Depend upon it, your faith wili animate me, and it will be strange if you are not in England before many months, nay, let me say weeks, are passed.’ Here, leaning her cheek in her hand, she looked down into her lap with a wistful sadness in her eyes. Not conceiving what was passing in her mind, I said, * Whatever scheme I hit upon will take some time. But what are a few months compared with years on ship—years which only death can end ! ’ * Oh ! ’ she answered, looking at me fully, but with a darkness of tears upon those violet lights, ‘ I don’t doubt your ability to escape, and rescue me, nor was I thinking of the time it would require, or how long it may be before we see England. What troubles me is to feel that when in England —if it please God to suffer me to set foot once more upon that dear soil—l shall have no friend to turn to.’ I was about to speak ; but she proceeded, her eyes brimming afresh : ‘lt is rare that a girl finds herself in my situation. Both my father and my mother were only children and orphans when they married, my mother living with a clergyman and his wife et Rotherhithe as governess to their children when my father met her. The clergyman and his lady are long since dead. But were they living, they would not be persons I should apply to for help and counsel, since my mother often spoke of them as harsh mean people. The few relations on my mother’s side died off ; on my father’s side there was —perhaps there yet is—an uncle who settled in Virginia and did pretty well there. But I should have to go to that country to seek him, with.the chance of finding him dead. Thus you see how friendless I am, Mr Fenton.’ 4 You are not one of those who remain friendless in this world,’ said I, softly, for can you marvol that a young man’s heart will beat quickly when such a beauty as Imogene Dudley is, tells him to his face that she is friendless. ‘I implore you,’ I added, 4 nob to suffer any reflection of this sort to sadden or swerve you in your determination to leave this ship * No, no ! ’ she interrupted, * it will not do that. Better to die of famine among the green meadows at home than—Oh ! ’ she cried, with hysterical vehemence, ‘ how sweet will be the sight of flowers to me,_ of English trees, and hedges blooming with briar roses and honeysuckles. This dreadful life ! ’ she clasped her hands with a sudden passionate raising of her eyes, ‘ these roaring seas, the constant screaming of the wind that bates its tones only to make a desolate moaning, the company of ghost-like men, the fearful sense of being in a ship upon which has fallen the wrath of the majesty of God !—Oh ! indeed, indeed it must end 1 and burying her face in her hands she wept most grievously, sobbing aloud. .» What will end, mynheer? And what is it that causes thee, Imogene, to weep ? ’ exclaimed the deep vibratory voice of Vanderdecken. ' I started, and fouud his great figure erect behind me, a certain inquisitiveness in the expression of his face, and much of the li«ht shining in his eyes that I had remarked when he fell into that posture of trance I have spoken of. I answered as readily as my knowledge of his tongue permitted : —‘ Miss Dudley weeps, sir, because this gale, as others have before, retards the passage of your ship to Amsterdam ; and ’tie perfectly natural, consistent, indeed, with the wishes of all men in tho Braave, that she should wish the baulking storm at an e °He came round to his high-backed ebair and seated himself, and, putting his arm along the table, gently took Imogene’s wrist, and softly pulled her hand away from her face, wet with her tears, saying, ‘ My dear, your fellow-countryman is right ; it is the sorrow of every creature here that this gale should blow us backwards, and so delay our -‘-return ; but what is mere capricious than the wind ? This storm will presently pass and it will be strange,’ he added, with a sudden scowl darkening his brow, and letting go Miss Dudley’s band as he spoke, * if next time we do not thrust the Braave into an ocean where these uorth-westors make way for the strong trade wind that blows from the south-east.’ * She dried her eyes and forced a smile, acting a part, as I did ; that is to say she did not wish he should suspect her grief went deeper than I had explained ; thor gh I could not help observing that in directing her wet, sweet, violet eyes, with her mouth shaped to a smile, upon him, a plaintive gratitude underlay her manner, an admixture of pity and affection, the exhibition of which made me very sure of the quality ol her heart. To carry Vanderdeckens thoughts away from tho subject he supposed Miss Dudley and I had been speaking about, I asked her in Dutch what she had been doing with herself since breakfast. She answered in the same language that the had been lyfng down. , ~ _ 4 Have you books ? said I. 4 A few that belong to the captain. Some are in French and I cannot read them. The others are in Dutch. There is also a collection of. English poetry, some of which is beautiful, and I know many verses by heart.’ T 4 Are these works pretty new . said 1. She answered, * Of various years ; 1 think: the newest is dated 1647.’ 4 Av ’ said Vanderdecken, ‘that will be my friend Bloys Van Treslong’s book upon the tulip-madness.’ Finding him willing to converse, 1 was fretted to discover that owing to my ignorance of the literature and art of his time, 1 could not ‘ bring him out as the phrase runs, for looking into the Batavian story since, 1 find scores of matters he could have told me about, such as the building ot a.yipa at Hoorn, the customs of the people, the tulipmadness he had mentioned the great men, such as Jan Six, Rembrandt, Jan Steen, Van Cam pen, who designed the Stadhuis and others, some of whom—as happened in the case of the great Willem Schouten—he may have known and haply smoked pipes of to--0 it may. We had got back again to the gale when Prins brought m the dinner, and in a few minutes arrived the mate, Van Vogelaar, whereupon we fell to

the meal, Imogene saying very little and often regarding me with a thoughtful faoe and earnesteyes as though, afterthe maiden s way in such matters, she was searching me, I taciturn, the mate sullen in expression and silent, aB his death-like face would advertise the beholder to suppose him ever to be, and Vanderdecken breaking at from the deep musing fit he felt into,, to invite me to eat or drink with an air of incomparable dignity, hardened as it was by its eternal sternness and fierceness. At this meal I found the food to be much the samo as that with which we had broken our fast. But in addition there was a roasted fowl and a large ham ; and into each silver goblet Prins poured a draught of sherry—a very soft and mellow wine —which I suppose Vanderdecken hid come by through the same means which enabled him to obtain coats for his own and his men’s backs, and ropes for bis masts anil 1 sails, and brandy and gin for his stone jars—that is, by overhauling wrecks and pillaging derelicts ; for certafnly strong waters were not to be got by lying off the coast and going a-huntiug. Yet though the wine put a pleasant warmth into my veins, insomuch that I could have talked freely but for the depressing influence of the captain and his mate, them it no more cheered and heartened, it gave them no moreiife and spirit than had they been urns filled with dust into which the generous liquor had been poured. Several times, indeed, whilst I was on board that ship, have I seen Vanderdecken, Vogelaar, andArents swallow such draughts of punch out of bowls, as would have laid me senseless in five minutes, yet these capscious jorums gave rise in them to not the least sign of jollity ; as, indeed, how should it have been otherwise, for their brains were dead to all but the supernatural influence that kept them moving —dead as the works of a going watch - and what is there in the fumes of wine to disorder embodied ghosts ?

CHAPTER XXL VAR DERDECKEN EXHIBITS SOME TREASURE. When Vogelaar left the cabin to relieve Arents on deck, Vanderdecken exhibited a disposition to talk. He gently took Imogene’s chin in his hand and. chided her very tenderly, yefc withonfc the slightest quality of what we should call pleasantness in hifl manner. For this would have brought him to some show of good-humour, whereas, never during the time I was thrown with him. did I s<3& the least light of merriment on his face; I say, he chided her, but very gently, for crying at the delay caused by the storm, and exclaimed, motioning to me, 4 Here is a seaman. He will tell you that this is a stormy part of the ocean, and that at this season of the year we mu3t look for gales from, the north west ; but he will also know that these tempests are short-lived and that a breezo from tho east, north or south, must carry us round the Cape as fairly as our helm controls us.’ , . oh 1 that is so indeed, Miss Dudley, said I quickly, and darting a meaning glance at her. And wishing to change the subject I went on : 4 Mynheer, when I was m your cabin last night shifting myself, I noticed a cross staff. ’Twould be of no use to you to • day, the sun being blotted out. Failing an observation, npon what method do yon rely for knowing your position V . ‘ What else but the log ? he exclaimed. 4 I compute entirely by dead reckoning. The staff hath often set me wide of the mark. The log fairly gives me my place on tho sea card, and then there is the lead. I bowed by way of thanking him, for m this direction I gathered by his rejoinder as much aa he could have acquainted me with m an hour’s discourse ; besides, the earnest regard of the pair of sweet light eyes opposite reminded me that I must be very wary m showing myself inquisitive. • __ 4 You have a sharp sight, sir, said Vanderdecken, but speaking without any fierceness ‘ to see that foro-staff in my cabin by the faint light there was. What else did vou observe ?’ ■ ~ . I told him honestly, for I could_ imagine no challenge to his wrath in answering that I had seen a speaking trumpet, sand-glass, pictures, and the like. But as though Imogene knew him better and desired to shield me, she instantly said, ‘ Oh, captain, will you not show Mr Fenton tho pictures of your wife and children ? They will charm him, I kl On this he called Prins to bring the pictures. If ever I had doubted this ship was the veritable Flying Dutchman, the portraits would have settled my misgivings once and for all. The material on which they -were painted was cracked in places, and the darkness of age lay very gloomy and thick upon them. They were all of a size, about tea inches long and six inches broad. He put bis wife before me first and watched me with his fierce eyes wbils I pored upon the painting. -Lh« picture was that of a portly lady in a black close-fitting cap, the hair yellow, the bosoms very large, a square-shouldered heavy woman of the true Dutch mould round-faced, not uncomely, and perhaps- of five and forty years of age. How she was dressed I could not tell, but the arms were bare from the elbows, and they and the hands, were, methought, delicately painted and exquisitely life-like. The others were those of girls of different ages. Which of them Captain Vanderdecken imagined Miss Dudley to resemble I could not conceive ; there was nothing in these darksome likenessos, albeit they represented maidenhood and infancy, to suggest a resemblance to the English beauty of the fragile, large-eyed, gold-crowned face of Imogene Dudley. She that was named ' Geertruida was o. a style that came close to good looks, eyes merry, dainty mouth, but cheeks too fat. Here was little Margaretha, for whom the piping swain had been purchased, peering at me with a half-shy, half-wondering look out of the dusky background. As I returned them one by one, the captain took them from me, lingering long upon each and making such comments as Tib Johanna to the life!’ meaning liis wife. ‘What art is more wonderful than this ol portrait painting ? No age is likely to beat our time, and no nation the Dutch. How alive is the eye here ! Methmks If I spoke angrily to her, she would weep 1 or_ You will find this girl,’ meaning Geertruida, a. true sister, Imogene, homely, honest, and innocent, so fond of fun but yet so dutiful,

that there is no woman in all Holland who would make a bettor wife,’ or ‘ All! little ono thy father will ho with thoo era long,’ stopping to kiss the painting oi hi* daughter Margarotha. . , . , Prina stood by to receive the pictures, but Yandordeoken hung over this one for some minutes, falling motionless, insomuch that 1 thought another one of his strange fits or trances had seized him ; and perfectly still for those momenta wore Miss Dudley aud I, often glancing at each other as though both of us alike felt the prodigious significance imported into this spectacle of a father’s love by the bellowing of the wind, and the lung, yearning, sickening, broadside rushes of the ship, ruthlessiy hurled back by the surge and storm into the deeper solitude of those waters whose coniines she was never to pa 93. Now Arents left the table, never having given us, nor our talk, nor the pictures, the smallest imaginable heed. His going brought Vanderdeckon back to life, so to speak ; and he handed the picture of his child to Prina. I looked at him, expecting, though God knows why, to see a tear. But whatever sensibility Heaven had permitted this man to retain did not appear iu his face. Had it been oast in brass it could not have been harder and more impenetrable. His eyes were, full of their former passionato scornful life and light. They made mo think, supposing him to show now as he would have appeared at the time of his death, that he wa,3 one who would have met his end full of impatience, imperious rage, and savage decrial of the holy ordinances of Nature. But oh, the sadness, the sadness of the Bpectaole I had contemplated ! This tender perusal by a husband and father of the beloved lineaments of those whom he deemed living, ay, and still looking as they looked at him from the canvas, but who had been dead so many years that time had perhaps erased the name from fcho stone that .marked the burial place of the youngest of them all—the' little Margaretha ! And how much longer would these portraits last, I asked myself ? ’Twas certain by the evidences of decay in them that they had not the vitality of the ship and of those who sailed her. "W hat then ? The year 3 would blot them out. Yet mercy he would surely deserve who loved his wife and children as this man did. And I still sometimes fondly hope that memory may be permitted to serve him in lieu of his eyes, so that in gazing upon the timeblackened canvas he may as truly see with intellectual sight the faces of hi 3 dear ones as though they stood out bright, fresh and life-like, as at the hour in which they .were painted. All the time I looked at these pictures I would notice Miss Dudley watching me, quickly averting her gaze when mine met hers. I put down this scrutiny to her wish to gather my character, though I need not at this distance expect to be reproached for my vanity if Isay that 1 thought that was not her only reason for following me with her eyes. I pray you consider the life she had led since the destruction of her father’s ship and the loss of her parents ; how that she was now a woman ; and how that I wa3 not only a young but bright, fair, merry-eyed avilor, her own countryman, of the calling she lovad for her father’s sake, and the sweeter to her sight for breaking in upon her mournful life and offering to snatch her from the frightful companionship of the Death Ship’s crew. But more of this anon.

Whilst Prina was in the captain’s cabin hanging up the pictures, she exclaimed, ‘lt is a dull and dreary day. How are we to kill the time ? As she spoke the clock struck, and the parrot instead of using her customary expression, laughed out loudly, * Ha ! ha ! ha! ’ ‘That bird,’ said I, ‘ seems to know what we are talking about. It is a pretty notion of hers to laugh at your inquiry when she sees how vainly old Death in theclockyonder stabs at time.’

This I spoke in English. ‘What do you say, mynheer? demanded Vanderdecken.

* Oh, captain ! ’ exclaimed Miss Imogene, as if she was carrying on the sense of my remarks, ‘coaid not we prettily dispatch an hour by looking at some of the treasure you hava below?’ She laid her little white hand on his. and pleaded with her eyes. ‘lt will be a treat to Mr. Fenton to Bee the tine things you have, and I am still childish enough to love the sparkle of precious stones.’

He turned to me and said, *Sir, 1 have no objection, but our countries are at war, and in case of your being transhippod I have tc ask you on your honor as a gentleman and a Beaman not to give information of the objecta the lady desires me to show you.’ I never before witnessed a fiuer dignity in any man’s air than that which ennobled him as he spoke. I gave him my assurance, feeling that I cut but a mean figure in my manner of answering after his own majestic and haughty aspect and the rich and thrilling tones in which he had delivered himself, nor will I pretend that I was not moved at ths vanity and idleness of the obligation of silence he imposed upon me, for whatever treasure he had would be as safe in his ship as on the sandy bed of the sea, even though on my escaping I should go and apprise all the admirals in the world of its existence.

He said no more, but, calling to Prins, ordered him to clear the table, bring pipes and tobacco, and then take some seamen with him into—as I understood—the halfdeck, and bring up two chests of treasure, those which were lashed on the starboard side, close against the bulk head. The cloth was removed, we lighted our pipes, and after we had waited some little while, Prins, with several sailors, appeared, bearing among them two stout, apparently very heavy chests, which they Bet down upon the cabin floor, taking care to secure them by lashings and seizings to the stauncheons, so that they should not slip with the ship’s lurches. The sailors interested me so much that whilst they were with us, I looked only them. It was not that there was anything in their faces, if 1 except the dreadful pallor, or in their attire, to fix my attention ; it was that they were a part of the crew of this accurst ship, participators in the doom that Vanderdecken had brought upon her, members of a ghostly band the like of which it might never be permitted to mortal man to behold again. One had very deep-sunk eyes, which shone in their dark hollows with rnuoh of the fire that gave a power of terrify-

ing to those of the captain. Another had a long, grizzly beard, over Avhich hia nose curved in a hook 5 hia little eyes lay close against the toy of hia nose, and hair, that was wet with spray or rain, lay like new* gathered seaweed down to pretty near his shoulder-blades. This man’s name, i afterwards hoard, was Tjaart Van dor Vault, whilst bo that had the gbwlug eyes was called Christopher Roostoff. They all went about in the soulless, mechanical way I was now used to, and when they had set down the chests, Prins dismissed them with an injunction to stand bv ready to take them below again. The cmcs were about three feob high, and ranging about five feet long; they were heayiiy girt with iron bands, and padlooked with massive staples. Prins opened them and flung back the lids, and then, to be sure, I looked down upon the treasures the like of which in quality, I’ll not say quantity, in one single 3hip, the holds of the Acapulco galleons could only rival, or the caves in which the old buccaneers hid their booty. Miss Dudley, seeing me rise, left her seat and came to my side. Vnnderdecken stepped round, and loaned against the table, his arms folded, and his body moving only with the rolling of the ship. I should speedily grow tedious were I to be minute in my description of what I saw, yet I must venture a short way in this direction. In one box there were fitted four trays, each tray divided into several compartments, and every oornpartment was filled with precious stones, set in rings, bracelets, bangles, and the like, and with golden ornaments, such as birds for the hair, brooches, necklets, chains for wearing about the waist or neck, and other such things of prodigious value aud beauty of device. I asked leave to examine some of these objects, and on picking them up, noticed that Borne were of a much more antique character than others, insomuch that I said to Miss Imogene in English, ‘I suspect that much of these splendours our friend will have collected at different periods.’ She answered in our tongue, ‘ He can toll you what he purchased at Batavia, or what was consigned to him for delivery at Amsterdam, but his memory after that is a blank, and thejlast wreck he can recall, in which ho found several quintals of silver and unminted gold, is the Vryhcid that he met—l cannot tell where—in a sinking condition.’ • There is more treasure aboard than this !’ cried I.

‘ Much more !’ she replied. Then turning to Vandordecken, who had fixed his eyes oil me without moving his head, she said, ' I n.m telling Mr Fenton that these chests rcpresent but a handful of the treasure in this ship.’ ‘I am dazzled by what I see, mynhoor,’ said I, speaking whilst Prins raised the trays, disclosing many hundreds of guineas’ worth of ornaments and atones. ‘ Had I but the value of one of these trays alone this should be my last voyage.’ ‘Aye,’ said ho, ‘there is much that is beautiful here. Much that will yield good sums. But a large number of the articles in that chest belong to a merchant ; there are likewise consignments, and my own share is butja speculation. The other chest had but one tray, iu which lay many golden crucifixes of different sizes, goblets, flagons, candlesticks, all gold, whilst beneath were numbers of a kind of small bricks or bars of pewter, which Miss Imogene told me were gold that had been disguised in this way as a bliud to the pirates, In addition were several great canvas bags, into which Prins, moving always as an automaton, thrust his hand, bringing forth different sorts of coins, such as rix-dollars, ducatoons, ducats, Batavian rupees, Spanish dollars, and even schellings, worth no more than six stivers apiece. There is a pleasure in looking at bright and sparkling objects, at the beauty of gold worked into strange or fantastic shapes, at jewels and stones in their multitude, gleaming out in twenty colours at once. And had I been a picaroon or a woman, I could not have surveyed this collection with sharper delight, though I hope you will not suppose that I felt the buccaneer’s thirst for the things. But when my glance went to Van* derdecken, all the shining seemed to die out, and the richest of the jewels to lose its glory. I said to Miss Imogene. pointing as I spoke to the chests, that Vanderdccken might suppose wo talked of the treasuro iu them, ‘He does not appear to care the snap of a finuer for what is there. If the sense of possession is dead in him, why should ho take whatever he can find of jewels, gold or silver, from the ships in which he is fortunate enough to find such things ?’ ‘ If your brain will not help you to such matters, how should mine ?’ she replied, with a faint smile. ‘ The idea ha 3 never before occurred to me, but be sure ’tis a part of hia punishment. He may feel no pleasure in the possession of his wealth, yet he knows it is on board, and it may bo intended to render every gale that beats him back more and more bitter and hard by delaying him from carrying his cargo, home. ’ This was shrewdly imagined, I thought, though it did- not satisfy me, because, since ’twas sure that ho had lost recollection of preceding gales, succeeding one 3 could not gain in bitterness. In truth, we were afloat in a fearful and astonishing Mystery, from which my eagerness to deliver the sweet and fragrant girl by my side grew keener with every look of her 3 that met mine, and with every glance I directed at the captain and around the ancient interior that time had sickened to the complexion of the death which worked this ship in the forms of men.

Having satisfied me with a sight of. these treasures, Vanderdecken ordered Prins to have the chests removed, and we then returned to the table to smoke out the tobacco that remained in our pipes. (To be continued.)