Foxholme Hall, and Other Tales by William Henry Giles Kingston
mingled with the shrieks of the seamen, and she wasleft without a mast standing, a mere hull upon the water. Derick wasthe most undaunted, though he must have felt on whose account all thesedisasters were happening. He sprang up with an axe in his hand, andsummoning the crew, set to work to cut away the shrouds to clear theshattered spars from the ship. It was done, and the ship drovefuriously on before the howling blast.
"`We shall ride it out and disappoint the accursed old hag; so nevermind, my boys!' he shouted, as he worked away.
"`Land right ahead,' sang out a man forward.
"`Land on the starboard bow,' cried another.
"`Land on the larboard bow,' exclaimed a third.
"`Then we are lost!' shrieked out many voices, in an agony of despair.
"Onward we drove before the hurricane. `Breakers on the starboard andlarboard bows,' cried the first mate, who had rushed forward to look outfor any passage among the reefs through which to steer the ship, whileI, with the third mate and another hand, went to the helm.
"The darkness of the night came down, and added to the horrors of thescene. `Breakers right ahead!' he shouted; `all's lost!' He hadscarcely uttered the words when the ship struck with tremendous violenceon some rocks; the sea lifted her, but it was to let her fall with stillgreater force, amid a foaming caldron of waters. The surges fiercelybroke over us, and washed man after man from his hold. Shrieks andcries rose on every side from the manly bosoms which had never beforefelt fear.
"The captain stood firm, clasping his wife in his arms, for she had fromthe first refused to go below. His countenance, as the lightningflashed brightly round him, looked deadly pale; she had fainted, and washappily senseless. A third time the ship lifted, and down she came witha tremendous crash, every timber in her parting at the instant. Twothings I saw at that awful moment: the despairing countenance of thecaptain as the foaming waves whirled him and her he loved away in theirwild embrace, his starting eyeballs to the last fixed on the malignantfeatures of the fearful witch, whom I beheld sailing round us in herskiff, unharmed, among the breakers, her loud shrieks of triumphantlaughter sounding high above the roaring of the tempest.
"Notwithstanding the horrors of the scene, the principle ofself-preservation prompted me to seize a plank, and supported by it, Ifound myself, I scarcely know how, carried by the waves on to a sandybeach. A rock was near. I climbed to its summit, and from thence Ibeheld, amid successive flashes of lightning, the old witch whirling herstaff in triumph over her head, while her skiff scudded at lightningspeed in the direction of Cape Horn. I was on an uninhabited island. Isearched anxiously on every side to see if any of my shipmates hadescaped, but alas! none appeared, and I discovered with sorrow that Iwas the sole survivor of the _Chameleon's_ gallant crew.
"After living some months on the island, I was taken off, and in twoyears found my way back to Liverpool. I had the curiosity to makeinquiries for old Dame Kirby, and learned that she had been for monthsabsent from home, and that nobody knew what had become of her, but thatat length she returned, and was heard to boast that she had been doing adeed much to her satisfaction, but would tell no one what it was. Iinquired the date of her return; it was exactly five days after ourshipwreck, so that although she must have made a quick passage, therecould be no longer any doubt on the mind of a reasonable man that shehad been the cause of all the disasters which had happened to us, and ofthe destruction of the Doomed Ship."
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"`We shall ride it out and disappoint the accursed old hag; so nevermind, my boys!' he shouted, as he worked away.
"`Land right ahead,' sang out a man forward.
"`Land on the starboard bow,' cried another.
"`Land on the larboard bow,' exclaimed a third.
"`Then we are lost!' shrieked out many voices, in an agony of despair.
"Onward we drove before the hurricane. `Breakers on the starboard andlarboard bows,' cried the first mate, who had rushed forward to look outfor any passage among the reefs through which to steer the ship, whileI, with the third mate and another hand, went to the helm.
"The darkness of the night came down, and added to the horrors of thescene. `Breakers right ahead!' he shouted; `all's lost!' He hadscarcely uttered the words when the ship struck with tremendous violenceon some rocks; the sea lifted her, but it was to let her fall with stillgreater force, amid a foaming caldron of waters. The surges fiercelybroke over us, and washed man after man from his hold. Shrieks andcries rose on every side from the manly bosoms which had never beforefelt fear.
"The captain stood firm, clasping his wife in his arms, for she had fromthe first refused to go below. His countenance, as the lightningflashed brightly round him, looked deadly pale; she had fainted, and washappily senseless. A third time the ship lifted, and down she came witha tremendous crash, every timber in her parting at the instant. Twothings I saw at that awful moment: the despairing countenance of thecaptain as the foaming waves whirled him and her he loved away in theirwild embrace, his starting eyeballs to the last fixed on the malignantfeatures of the fearful witch, whom I beheld sailing round us in herskiff, unharmed, among the breakers, her loud shrieks of triumphantlaughter sounding high above the roaring of the tempest.
"Notwithstanding the horrors of the scene, the principle ofself-preservation prompted me to seize a plank, and supported by it, Ifound myself, I scarcely know how, carried by the waves on to a sandybeach. A rock was near. I climbed to its summit, and from thence Ibeheld, amid successive flashes of lightning, the old witch whirling herstaff in triumph over her head, while her skiff scudded at lightningspeed in the direction of Cape Horn. I was on an uninhabited island. Isearched anxiously on every side to see if any of my shipmates hadescaped, but alas! none appeared, and I discovered with sorrow that Iwas the sole survivor of the _Chameleon's_ gallant crew.
"After living some months on the island, I was taken off, and in twoyears found my way back to Liverpool. I had the curiosity to makeinquiries for old Dame Kirby, and learned that she had been for monthsabsent from home, and that nobody knew what had become of her, but thatat length she returned, and was heard to boast that she had been doing adeed much to her satisfaction, but would tell no one what it was. Iinquired the date of her return; it was exactly five days after ourshipwreck, so that although she must have made a quick passage, therecould be no longer any doubt on the mind of a reasonable man that shehad been the cause of all the disasters which had happened to us, and ofthe destruction of the Doomed Ship."