THE FLYING DUTCHMAN. BY THE AUTHOR OF "GENTLEMAN JACK," "WILL WATCH." Novels A New Edition. TOTHEC TIU I LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE; NEW YORK: 416, BROOME STREET. 250. v. 62. THE FLYING DUTCHMAN. CHAPTER I. Happy they were, and innocent, till love, "A few more hours," said the prisoner, “and h revenge will be complete! By this time to-morrow night, and I shall have been tried-condemned—and broken! Merciful accuser! could he have his will to the utmost, no doubt that breaking would be upon the wheel. But relentless as he is, he must be content with the spirit of his victim. It is a question, however, who suffers most: the wretch whose limbs are slowly mangled and so left, till in a few days the worn-out frame expires; or he who, with ambition nipped in its strong budding, his prospects annihilated, and his name. degraded, must either pass years in bitter struggle to regain a lost position, or, sinking slowly day by day, resign all hope and fortune, quiet of mind, and health of body, to become perhaps a tippler, and so feel the flame of life go out. He does not die. This to the fiery soul is not dying. It is a decay which antedates the corruption of the grave. This was not the death which I pictured to myself on entering the navy. The swell of victory-the roar of battle-the cheers o conquest the warm grasp of comrades-the choking sob the irrepressible tear of my rude seamen-the glory and the glow of a victor's dying heart-these were in my fancy-nay, more, these were in my prayers-when I gave up everything for the service of my country. What an intense feeling of madness overpowers me, when I reflect that these high aspirations have come to this! A lieutenant's cabin, with an armed sentry at its door-a long arrest-the disgrace of a narrow prison for a few more hours—and then-a trial-if such that mockery of justice can be called, where the only object sought is the condemnation of the accused. "A brief space, since, and whose advancement seemed more certain than mine? whose name stood higher? who more favoured-more applauded—more entrusted? And for what have I made these sacrifices? A fair face! I may well start at this summing up of all that has wrought the change-and that even that is still as far from being mine as ever-perhaps even more so. But I do not fall alone. Thousands of better hearts than mine have perilled all for nothing more, and found shipwreck on the same coast. And even I, were it to come again, would do the same this very hour. We cannot controul the heart, even if we would. I have staked boldly, and I will win her yet, or pay the forfeit fearlessly. Yes, she is worth it!" said the prisoner, after a brief pause in his sad musings. Drawing from his breast a miniature, he laid it upon his narrow bed, and steadfastly regarded it with the devotion of one whose heart was absorbed by an intense and overpowering passion. The dim light that struggled through the railing of his cabin-door, came from a rude lantern on the gunroom table of a frigate, and was every now and then intercepted by the passing shadow of the marine sentinel who slowly paced to and fro. As the arrested officer gazed on the likeness of his mistress, contemplation of her expressive features appeared to diffuse fresh firmness through a bosom naturally one of the least pusillanimous or hesitating. "Could I for a moment despond," said he, resuming his mental philosophy, "possessed as I am of the affection of so dear a being? No, I must triumph in the end, if I but remain true to myself. Haughty fools! I will live to put my foot on their necks yet. The days of feudal power are, it is true, gone by; but-thank the stars-I come of a stock never yet rendered familiar with defeat. And who ever made foes of us and prospered? Though I go through fire and water—or, what is infinitely worse, unmerited shame and disgraceI will live through it, if only for the pleasure of paying them back their own base coin-their own with usury!" The sound of the sentry on the maindeck, going forward to strike the ship's bell, was now heard. The prisoner listened with the air of one glad to catch any sound that diverted the monotony of his own sad thoughts. 66 Corporal of the watch," called the sentry from above, "twelve o'clock! Shall I order out the relief?" "Ay, at once," replied the soldier. Eight strokes were suddenly vibrated like a solemn warning through the ship's decks, thence undulating over the calm waters of the harbour in which she was lying. The shrill whistle of the boatswain's mate followed with the slightest perceptible intermission, and then the hoarse dull cry of "Larboard watch!" The marine, ordered by the cabin sentry, descended, lantern in hand, to the hammocks of his sleeping party, and turned out the necessary relief guard. Rousing up from under the quarter of the launch, the midishipman of the past watch rubbed his eyes, and came stumbling into the gunroom to call the lieutenant of the next; while the quartermaster was heard creeping down the steerage ladder to rouse its midishipmen, and the boatswain's mate to call its petty officers. |