"But tell us, tell us!" "Quiet be!" She said, "sit close and listen well, For what befell the Mystery It is a fearful thing to tell! "She was a slave-ship long ago— "One voyage, when from the tropic coast Laden with dusky forms she came, A wretched and despairing host, Beneath the fierce sun's breathless flame "Sprang, like a wild beast from its lair, And sent the great ship reeling bare "Then terror seized the piteous crowd; "Make fast the hatchways strong and tight! "Has hell such torment as they knew? "Off with the hatchways, men!' No sound! "Quick! Drag them up,' the captain said, 'And pitch the dead into the sea!' The sea was peopled with the dead, With wide eyes staring fearfully. "From weltering wave to wave they tossed― Two hundred corpses stiff and stark At last were in the distance lost, A banquet for the wandering shark. "Oh sweetly the relenting day Changed, till the storm had left no trace, And the whole awful ocean lay As tranquil as an infant's face. "Abaft the wind hauled fair and fine, "But up and down the decks her crew Shook their rough heads and eyed askance, With doubt and hate that ever grew, The captain's brutal countenance, "As slow he paced with frown as black As night. At last with sudden shout He turned. "Bout ship! We will go back And fetch another cargo out!' "They put the ship about again, His will was law, they could not choose: They strove to change her course in vain, Down fell the wind, the sails hung loose, "And from the far horizon dim The sun set red, the moon shone white On idle canvas drooping drear; Through the vast, solemn hush of night What is it that the sailors hear? "Now do they sleep-and do they dream? Was that the wind's foreboding moan? From stem to stern her every beam Quivered with one unearthy groan! "Leaped to his feet then every man, "The captain waked, and angrily Sprang to the deck and cursing spoke, 'What devil's trick is this?' cried he. No answer the scared silence broke. "But quietly the moonlight clear Sent o'er the waves its pallid glow: What stirred the water far and near, With stealthy motion swimming slow? "With measured strokes those swimmers dread From every side came gathering fast, The sea was peopled with the dead That to its cruel deeps were cast! "And coiling, curling, crawling on, The phantom troop pressed nigh and nigher, And every dusky body shone Outlined in phosphorescent fire. "They gained the ship, they climbed the shrouds, "And where the captain stood aghast, With hollow mocking eyes they came And bound him fast unto the mast With ghostly ropes that bit like flame. "Like maniacs shrieked the startled crew! They loosed the boats, they leaped within, Before their oars the water flew, They pulled as if some race to win. "With spectral light all gleaming bright The Mystery in the distance lay; Away from that accursed sight They fled until the break of day. "And they were rescued, but the ship, "But up and down the roaring seas And wheresoe'er her form appears CELIA THAXTER. DESPAIR. Abridged. A man and his wife having lost faith in a God, and hope of a life to come, and being utterly miserable in this, resolve to end themselves by drowning. The woman is drowned, but the man is rescued by a minister of the sect he had abandoned. Is [S it you, that preached in the chapel there looking over the sand? Followed us, too, that night, and dogged us and drew me to land? What did I feel that night? You are curious. How should I tell? Does it matter so much what I felt? You rescued meyet-was it well That you came unwished for, uncalled, between me and the deep and my doom? Three days since, three more dark days of the Godless gloom Of a life without sun, without health, without hope, without any delight In anything here upon earth? but ah God, that night, that night |