forget where it came from ? Even our bodies are
part of the ground of Holland ; and Vanderdecken
says, if he once were come to Amsterdam, he would
rather be changed into a stone post, well fixed into
the ground, than leave it again, if that were to die
elsewhere. But in the mean time, we only ask you
to take these letters."
The chaplain, looking at him with astonishment,
said, "This is the insanity of natural affection,
which rebels against all measures of time and
distance."
The stranger continued, " Here is a letter from
our second mate, to his dear and only remaining
friend, his uncle, the merchant who lives in the
second house on Stuncken Yacht Quay."
He held forth the letter, but no one would ap-
proach to take it.
Tom Willis raised his voice and said, " One of
our men, here, says that he was in Amsterdam last
summer, and he knows for certain that the street
VANDERDECREN. 55
called Stuncken Yacht Quay was pulled down sixty-
years ago, and now there is only a large church at
that place."
The man from the Flying Dutchman said : " It
is impossible, we cannot believe you. Here is an-,
other letter from myself, in which I have sent a
bank-note to my dear sister, to buy some gallant
lace, to make her a high head-dress."
Tom Willis hearing this said : " It is most likely
that her head now lies under a tombstone, which
will outlast all the changes of the fashion. But on
what house is your bank-note?"
The stranger replied, " On the house of Van-
derbnicker and Company."
The man, of whom Tom Willis had spoken, said :
" I guess there will now be some discount upon it,
for that banking-house was gone to destruction
forty years ago ; and Vanderbrucker was afterwards
amissing. ā But to remember these things is like
raking up the bottom of an old canal."
The stranger called out passionate^ : " It is im-
possible ā We cannot believe it ! It is cruel to say
such things to people in our condition. There is a
letter from our captain himself, to his much-beloved
and faithful wife, whom he left at a pleasant summer
dwelling, on the border of tne Haarlemer Mer. She
promised to have the house beautifully painted and
gilded beforo he came back, and to get a new set of
56 TALES rROM "BLACKWOOD."
looking-glasses for the principal chamber, that she
might see as many images of Vanderdecken as if
she had six husbands at once."
The man replied, " There has been time enough
for her to have had six husbands since then ; but
were she alive still, there is no fear that Vander-
decken would ever get home to disturb her."
On hearing this the stranger again shed tears,
and said, if they would not take the letters, he
would leave them ; and looking around he offered
the parcel to the captain, chaplain, and to the rest
of the crew successively, but each drew back as it
was offered, and put his hands behind his back.
He then laid the letters upon the deck, and placed
upon them a piece of iron, which was lying near, to
prevent them from being blown away. Having
done this, he swung himself over the gangway, and
went into the boat.
We heard the others speak to him, but the rise
of a sudden squall prevented us from distinguishing
his reply. The boat was seen to quit the ship's
side, and in a few moments there were no more
traces of her than if she had never been there. The
sailors rubbed their eyes, as if doubting what they
had witnessed, but the parcel still lay upon deck,
and proved the reality of all that had passed.
Duncan Saunderson, the Scotch mate, asked the
captain if he should take them up, and put them in
the letter-bag ? Eeceiving no reply, he would have
VANDERDECKEN. 57
lifted them if it Lad not been for Tom Willis, who
pulled him back, saying that nobody should touch
them.
In the mean time the captain went down to the
cabin, and the chaplain, having followed him, found
him at his bottle-case, pouring out a large dram of
brandy. The captain, although somewhat discon-
certed, immediately offered fhe glass to him, saying,
" Here, Charters, is what is good in a cold night."
The chaplain declined drinking anything, and the
captain having swallowed the bumper, they both
returned to the deck, where they found the seamen
giving their opinions concerning what should be done
with the letters. Tom Willis proposed to pick them
up on a harpoon, and throw it overboard.
Another speaker said, " I have always heard it
asserted that it is neither safe to accept them volun-
tarily, nor when they are left to throw them out of
the ship."
" Let no one touch them," said the carpenter.
" The way to do with the letters from the Flying
Dutchman is, to case them upon deck, so that, if
he sends back for them, they are still there to give
him."
The carpenter went to fetch his tools. During
his absence, the ship gave so violent a pitch that
the piece of iron slid off the letters, and they were
whirled overboard by the wind, like birds of evil
omen whirring through the air. There was a cry
58 TALES FROM "BLACKWOOD.'
of joy among the sailors, and they ascribed the
favourable change which soon took place in the
weather, to our having got quit of Vanderdecken.
We soon got under weigh again. The night watch
being set, the rest of the crew retired to their
berths.
THE FLOATING BEACON.
\MAQA. October 1821.]
ONE dark and stormy night we were on a voyage
from Bergen to Christiansand in a small sloop.
Our captain suspected that he had approached too
near the Norwegian coast, though he could not dis-
cern any land, and the wind blew with such violence
that we were in momentary dread of being driven
upon a lee-shore. We had endeavoured, for more
than an hour, to keep our vessel away ; but our
efforts proved unavailing, and we soon found that
we could scarcely hold our own. A clouded sky, a
hazy atmosphere, and irregular showers of sleety
rain, combined to deepen the obscurity of night,
and nothing whatever was visible, except the spark-
ling of the distant waves, when their tops happened
to break into a wreath of foam. The sea ran very
high, and sometimes broke over the deck so furiously
that the men were obliged to hold by the rigging,
lest they should be carried away. Our captain was
a person of timid and irresolute character, and the
dangers that environed us made him gradually lose
confidence in himself. He often gave orders, and
60 TALES FROM " BLACKWOOD."
countermanded them in the same moment, all the
while taking small quantities of ardent spirits at
intervals. Fear and intoxication soon stupified him
completely, and the crew ceased to consult him, or
to pay any respect to his authority, in so far as
regarded the management of the vessel.
About midnight our mainsail was split, and shortly
after we found that the sloop had sprung a leak.
We had before shipped a good deal of water through
the hatches, and the quantity that now entered
from below was so great that we thought she would
go down every moment. Our only chance of
escape lay in our boat, which was immediately
lowered. After we had all got on board of her,
except the captain, who stood leaning against the
mast, we called to him, requesting that he would
follow us without delay. " How dare you quit the
sloop without my permission? " cried he, staggering
forwards. " This is not fit weather to go a-fishing.
Come back ā back with you all ! " ā " No, no," re-
turned one of the crew ; " we don't want to be sent
to the bottom for your obstinacy. Bear a hand there,
or we'll leave you behind." ā " Captain, you are
drunk," said another; "you cannot take care of
yourself. You must obey us now." ā "Silence!
mutinous villain ! " answered the captain. " What
are you all afraid of? This is a fine breeze ā Up
mainsail, and steer her right in the wind's eye."
The sea knocked the boat so violently and con-
THE FLOATING BEACON. 61
stantly against the side of the sloop, that we feared
the former would be injured or upset if we did not
immediately row away ; but, anxious as we were to
preserve our lives, we could not reconcile ourselves
to the idea of abandoning the captain, who grew
more obstinate the more we attempted to persuade
him to accompany us. At length one of the crew
leaped on board the sloop, and having seized hold
of him, tried to drag him along by force ; but he
struggled resolutely, and soon freed himself from
the grasp of the seaman, who immediately resumed
his place among us, and urged that we should not
any longer risk our lives for the sake of a drunkard
and a madman. Most of the party declared they
were of the same opinion, and began to push off the
boat ; but I entreated them to make one effort more
to induce their infatuated commander to accompany
us. At that moment he came up from the cabin, to
which he had descended a little time before, and
we immediately perceived that he was more under
the influence of ardent spirits than ever. He abused
us all in the grossest terms, and threatened his
crew with severe punishment, if they did not come
on board, and return to their duty. His manner
was so violent that no one seemed willing to at-
tempt to constrain him to come on board the boat ;
and after vainly representing the absurdity of his
conduct, and the danger of his situation, we bid
him farewell, and rowed away.
" r.T A nirnmm "
62 TALES FROM " BLACKWOOD
The sea ran so high, and had such a terrific
appearance, that I almost wished myself in the
sloop again. The crew plied the oars in silence,
and we heard nothing but the hissing of the enor-
mous billows as they gently rose up, and slowly
subsided again, without breaking. At intervals
our boat was elevated far above the surface of the
ocean, and remained for a few moments trembling
upon the pinnacle of a surge, from which it would
quietly descend into a gulf so deep and awful that
wo often thought the dense black mass of waters
which formed its sides were on the point of over-
arching us, and bursting upon our heads. We
glided with regular undulations from one billow to
another ; but every time we sank into the trough of
the sea my heart died within me, for I felt as if we
were going lower down than we had ever done
before, and clung instinctively to the board on
which I sat.
Notwithstanding my terrors, I frequently looked
towards the sloop. The fragments of her mainsail,
which remained attached to the yard, and fluttered
in the wind, enabled us to discern exactly where
she lay, and showed, by their motion, that she
pitched about in a terrible manner. We occasion-
ally heard the voice of her unfortunate commander,
calling to us in tones of frantic derision, and by
turns vociferating curses and blasphemous oaths,
and singing sea-songs with a wild and frightful
THE FLOATING BEACON. 63
energy. I sometimes almost wished that the crew
would make another effort to save him, but next
moment the principle of self-preservation repressed
all feelings of humanity, and I endeavoured, by
closing my ears, to banish the idea of his sufferings
from my mind.
After a little time the shivering canvass disap-
peared, and we heard a tumultuous roaring and
bursting of billows, and saw an unusual sparkling
of the sea about a quarter of a mile from us. One
of the sailors cried out that the sloop was now on
her beam ends, and that the noise to which we
listened was that of the waves breaking over her.
We could sometimes perceive a large black mass
heaving itself up irregularly among the flashing
surges, and then disappearing for a few moments,
and knew but too well that it was the hull of the
vessel. At intervals a shrill and agonised voice
uttered some exclamations, but we could not dis-
tinguish- what they were, and then a long-drawn
shriek came across the ocean, which suddenly grew
more furiously agitated near the spot where the
sloop lay, and in a few moments she sank down,
and a black wave formed itself out of the waters
that had engulfed her, and swelled gloomily into a
magnitude greater than that of the surrounding
billows.
The seamen dropped their oars, as if by one im-
pulse, and looked expressively at each other, with-
Gi TALES FROM "BLACKWOOD."
out speaking a word. Awful forebodings of a fate
similar to that of the captain appeared to chill
every heart, and to repress the energy that had
hitherto excited us to make unremitting exertions
for our common safety. While we were in this
state of hopeless inaction, the man at the helm
called out that he saw a light ahead. We all
strained our eyes to discern it, but at the moment
the boat was sinking down between two immenso
waves, one of which closed the prospect, and we
remained in breathless anxiety till a rising surge
elevated us above the level of the surroundincr
ocean. A light like a dazzling star then suddenly
flashed upon our view, and joyful exclamations
burst from every mouth. " That," cried one of the
crew, " must be the floating beacon which our cap-
tain was looking out for this afternoon. If we can
but gain it, we'll be safe enough yet." This intel-
ligence cheered us all, and the men began to ply
the oars with redoubled vigour, while I employed
myself in baling out the water that sometimes
rushed over the gunnel of the boat when a sea
happened to strike her.
An hour's hard rowing brought us so near the
lighthouse that we almost ceased to apprehend any
further danger ; but it was suddenly obscured from
our view, and at the same time a confused roaring
and dashing commenced at a little distance, and
rapidly increased in loudness. We soon perceived
THE FLOATING BEACON. G5
a tremendous billow rolling towards us. Its top,
part of which had already broke, overhung the
base, as if unwilling to burst until we were within
the reach of its violence. The man who steered the
boat brought her head to the sea, but all to no
purpose, for the water rushed furiously over us, and
we were completely immersed. I felt the boat swept
from under me, and was left struggling and grop-
ing about in hopeless desperation for something to
catch hold of. When nearly exhausted, I received
a severe blow on the side from a small cask of
water which the sea had forced against me. I im-
mediately twined my arms round it, and, after
recovering myself a little, began to look for the
boat, and to call to my companions ; but I could
not discover any vestige of them, or of their vessel.
However, I still had a faint hope that they were in
existence, and that the intervention of the billows
concealed them from my view. I continued to shout
as loud as possible, for the sound of my own voice
in some measure relieved me from the feeling of
awful and heart-chilling loneliness which my situa-
tion inspired ; but not even an echo responded to
my cries, and, convinced that my comrades had all
perished, I ceased looking for them, and pushed
towards the beacon in the best manner I could. A
long series of fatiguing exertions brought me close
to the side of the vessel which contained it, and I
called out loudly, in hopes that those on board
E
66 TALES FROM " BLACKWOOD."
might hear rne and come to my assistance ; but no
one appearing, I waited patiently till a wave raised
me on a level with the chains, and then caught
hold of them, and succeeded in getting oil board.
As I did not see any person on deck, I went for-
wards to the skylight, and looked down. Two men
were seated below at a table ; and a lamp, which
was suspended above them, being swung backwards
and forwards by the rolling of the vessel, threw its
light upon their faces alternately. One seemed
agitated with passion, and the other surveyed him
with a scornful look. They both talked very loudly,
and used threatening gestures, but the sea made so
much noise that I could not distinguish what was
said. After a little time they started up, and seemed
to be on the point of closing and wrestling together,
when a woman rushed through a small door and
prevented them. I beat upon deck with my feet
at the same time, and the attention of the whole
party was soon transferred to the noise. One of the
men immediately came up the cabin stairs, but
stopped short on seeing me, as if irresolute whether
to advance or hasten below again. I approached
him, and told my story in a few words, but instead
of making any reply, he went down to the cabin,
and began to relate to the others what he had seen.
I soon followed him, and easily found my way into
the apartment where they all were. They appeared
to feel mingled sensations of fear and astonishment
THE FLOATING BEACON. 67
at my presence, and it was some time before any
of them entered into conversation with me, or af-
forded those comforts which I stood so much in
need of.
After I had refreshed myself with food, and
been provided with a change of clothing, I went
upon deck, and surveyed the singular asylum in
which Providence had enabled me to take refuge
from the fury of the storm. It did not exceed
thirty "feet long, and was very strongly built, and
completely decked over, except at the entrance
to the cabin. It had a thick mast at midships,
with a large luntern, containing several burners
and reflectors, on the top of it ; and this could be
lowered and hoisted up again as often as required,
by means of ropes and pulleys. The vessel was
firmly moored upon an extensive sand-bank, the
beacon beins: intended to warn seamen to avoid a
part of the ocean where many lives and vessels
had been lost in consequence of the latter running
aground. The accommodations below decks were
narrow, and of an inferior description ; however,
I gladly retired to the berth that was allotted me
by my entertainers, and fatigue and the rocking
of billows combined to lull me into a quiet and
dreamless sleep.
Next morning, one of the men, whose name was
Angerstoff, came to my bedside, and called me to
breakfast in a surly and imperious manner. The
68 TALES FROM " BLACKWOOD."
others looked coldly and distrustfully when I joined
them, and I saw that they regarded ine as an in-
truder and an unwelcome guest. The meal passed
without almost any conversation, and I went upon
deck whenever it was over. The tempest of the
preceding night had in a great measure abated,
but the sea still ran very high, and a black mist
hovered over it, through which the Norwegian
coast, lying at eleven miles distance, could be
dimly seen. I looked in vain for some remains of
the sloop or boat. Not a bird enlivened the heaving
expanse of waters, and I turned shuddering from the
dreary scene, and asked Morvalden, the youngest
of the men, when he thought I had any chance of
getting ashore. " Not very soon, I'm afraid," re-
turned he. " We are visited once a-month by
people from yonder land, who are appointed to bring
us supply of provisions and other necessaries.
They were here only six days ago, so you may count
how long it will be before they return. Fishing-
boats sometimes pass us during fine weather, but
we won't have much of that this moon at least."
No intelligence could have been more depressing
to me than this. The idea of spending perhaps
three weeks in such a place was almost insupport-
able, and the more so, as I could not hasten my
deliverance by any exertions of my own, but would
be obliged to remain, in a state of inactive suspense,
till good fortune, or the regular course of events,
THE FLOATING BEACON. 69
afforded me the means of getting ashore. Neither
Angerstoff nor Morvalden seemed to sympathise
with my distress, or even to care that I should
have it in my power to leave the vessel, except in
so far as my departure would free them from the
expense of supporting me. They returned indis-
tinct and repulsive answers to all the questions I
asked, and appeared anxious to avoid having the
least communication with me. During the greater
part of the forenoon, they employed themselves in
trimming the lamps and cleaning the reflectors,
but never conversed any. I easily perceived that
a mutual animosity existed between them, but was
unable to discover the cause of it. Morvalden
seemed to fear Angerstoff, and at the same time
to feel a deep resentment towards him, which he
did not dare to express. Angerstoff apparently
was aware of this, for he behaved to his companion
with the undisguised fierceness of determined hate,
and openly thwarted him in everything.
Marietta, the female on board, was the wife of
Morvalden. She remained chiefly below decks,
and attended to the domestic concerns of the ves-
sel. She was rather good-looking, but so reserved
and forbidding in her manners that she formed no
desirable acquisition to our party, already so heart-
less and unsociable in its character.
When night approached, after the lapse of a
wearisome and monotonous day, I went on deck to
70 TALES FROM "BLACKWOOD."
see the beacon lighted, and continued walking
backwards and forwards till a late hour. I watched
the lantern, as it swung from side to side, and
flashed upon different portions of the sea alter-
nately, and sometimes fancied I saw men strugg-
ling among the billows that tumbled around, and at
other times imagined I could discern the white
sail of an approaching vessel. Human voices
seemed to mingle with the noise of the bursting
waves, and I often listened intently, almost in
the expectation of hearing articulate sounds. My
mind grew sombre as the scene itself, and strange
and fearful ideas obtruded themselves in rapid suc-
cession. It was dreadful to be chained in the
middle of the deep ā to be the continual sport of
the quietless billows ā to be shunned as a fatal
thing by those who traversed the solitary ocean.
Though within sight of the shore, our situation
was more dreary than if we had been sailing a
thousand miles from it. We felt not the pleasure
of moving forwards, nor the hope of reaching port,
nor the delights arising from favourable breezes
and genial weather. When a billow drove us to
one side, we were tossed back again by another ;
our imprisonment had no variety or definite ter-
mination ; and the calm and the tempest were alike
uninteresting to us. I felt as if my fate had already
become linked with that of those who were on
board the vessel. My hopes of being again per-
THE FLOATING BEACON. 71
mitted to mingle with mankind died away, and I
anticipated long years of gloom and despair in the
company of these repulsive persons into whose
hands fate had unexpectedly consigned me.
Angerstoff and Morvalden tended the beacon
alternately during the night. The latter had the
watch while I remained upon deck. His appear-
ance and manner indicated much perturbation of
mind, and he paced hurriedly from side to side,
sometimes muttering to himself, and sometimes
stopping suddenly to look through the skylight,
as if anxious to discover what was going on below.
He would then gaze intently upon the heavens, and
next moment take out his watch, and contemplate
the motions of its hands. I did not offer to disturb
these reveries, and thought myself altogether unob-
served by him, till he suddenly advanced to the
spot where I stood, and said, in a loud whisper,
"There's a villain below ā a desperate villain ā this
is true ā he is capable of anything ā and the woman
is as bad as him." I asked what proof he had of
all this. "Oh, I know it," returned he; "that
wretch Angerstoff, whom I once thought my friend,
has gained my wife's affections. She has been
faithless to me ā yes, she has. They both wish I
were out of the way. Perhaps they are now plan-
ning my destruction. What can I do ? It is very
terrible to be shut up in such narrow limits with
those who hate me, and to have no means of escap-
12 TALES FROM "BLACKWOOD."
ing, or defending myself from their infernal machi-
nations." ā "Why do yon not leave the beacon," in-
quired I, " and abandon your companion and guilty
wife?" ā "Ah, that is impossible," answered Mor-
valden ; " if I went on shore I would forfeit my liberty.
I live here that I may escape the vengeance of the
law, which I once outraged for the sake of her
who has now withdrawn her love from me. What
ingratitude ! Mine is indeed a terrible fate, but
I must bear it. And shall I never again wander
through the green fields, and climb the rocks that
encircle my native place ? Are the weary dashings
of the sea, and the moanings of the wind, to fill my
ears continually, all the while telling me that I am
an exile ? ā a hopeless despairing exile. But it
won't last long," cried he, catching hold of my
arm ; " they will murder me ! ā I am sure of it ā
I never go to sleep without dreaming that Anger-