such a sad taking in her born days, going where and any way and every way the wind thought proper to drive her. Well, d'ye see, matters grew thus gradually a-head, every day getting worse and worse, when one afternoon, after a severe jawing and fisting match, up jumps Captain Oram on deck, and Morelle after him brandishing a cutlass. Well, mates, Oram wasn't the fellow that would ever say die!-not he,never an inch of him, so you'll not hinder Jerry from springing to the armchest abaft and seizing another, and to it they went heart and hand, for all the world like two brave fellows, determined to settle the hash once and for all. Now, you must know, my lads, that though this here Blackee had neither the bottom nor length of arm to stand before Oram with his fists, yet he was to the full more than his match with cold iron in his paw, and, accordingly, made his slasher play round the skipper's carroty mop to infinite admiration. Long they fought, and wickedly; while all hands, gathered around them, were so confounded and astounded as never once to think of interfering. At last, just as every one thought that Blackee were going to carry the day, poor soul, as usual, away he went to leeward. He had received Jerry's assault with great coolness and dexterity, -had completely winded him,--and had just begun to ring the changes by touching him a smartish wipe or two athwart the bows, when, as the devil would have it, something or other taking his foot, down he came smack, and the skipper above him; who, not being in one of his pleasantest humours, speedily wrested the cutlass from his grasp, and gave poor Blackee a most desperate and wicked pummelling on the deck as he lay. Morelle, brave fellow, did the best he could, but he was by far too light for the skipper, who, having once got him under his ponderous and brawny beam-ends, was determined, like the Scotsman, to keep him there, and quilted away at the supercargo's carcase like Roger with his flail, as the song has it. He had certainly finished the black fellow at once with his thorough-bred Lancashire of kick, bellows, and bite, if, by the inter ference of his mates and the doctor, he hadn't been forced to knock off. However, in spite of all their speechifyings, he wouldn't allow the Doctor to overhaul him, but raving and foaming with passion, he ordered Morelle to be tied hand and foot, and thus, all terribly beaten and bleeding as he was, he was carried below, and locked up in an obscure birth, which no one had use for. On this same occasion, indeed, Jerry hadn't much to brag on, having got a pretty tidy handling; for besides a poke or two he had got in the carcase, and some smartish clips on his Dunstable, his face was so terribly mauled and jellyfied, that his toplights appeared to be battened in for ever. However, he was a strong man, and was soon on deck again, where he was of ten heard to mutter the most horrible and savage threats against poor Morelle, whom he still kept in the closest confinement, giving him his grub, and locking him up again, with his own hands. How he came on with Madame Morelle, I never heard say, seeing they kept all things snug to themselves in the cabin below: but it's likely all went well enough on in that there quarter, seeing she did certainly prefer this same Jerry Oram to her husband, notwithstanding of his large red whiskers; and I do not wonder at it, when, you'll mind me, the one was a skipper, and a stout-made free-born Englishman, and the other no more than a pen-and-ink lubber of a supercargo, and a blackamoor to boot, which made all the difference in the world, you know, to any one, far less to your girls of spirit, who generally know-that they do-how many pistareens are in a dollar. Well, d'ye see, maties, after this here furious squall as I've told you on, there was a long lull, when all of a sudden the news came on deck, first, that Morelle had got into one of them terrible things called fevers, and then some days after that he were dead for sartain; and sure enough a large box made by the carpenter, and said to contain his corpse, was committed to the deep that same day,- both the Captain and Madam attending, and appearing mightily sor ry for what had happened. But the whole of this flummery was all in my eye and Betty; for I've heard my old shipmate often say, that he were free to give his Bible oath, that the never an inch of Morelle's carcase was in the carpenter's box when it went overboard, but the whole affair was one of Jerry's made-up stories to gammon the tongues of the crew, which, to be sure, will be wagging, let the sails blow to ribbons. This, d'ye see, was Oliver's notion of the concern, and there were many more such in the hooker, which I have forgot; but it matters not, for they all agree in this, that Blackee by no means had gotten anything like fair play; for he, poor devil, having always been kind to the hands while he lived, and by no means a niggard of his grog, had got many hearts as beat warm to him, while they could have chucked Jerry Oram to the devil. Well, d'ye see, my lads, what convinced Oliver in all this more and more, was, that some days after, being down in the hold, he heard the skipper unlock the door of Morelle's cabin as usual, and go in then he heard the voices of him and Madame Morelle whispering-then he heard what he took to be the hissings, rattling, short, quick sobs or groans of a man that were throttling-then, after a long silence, in which he heard nothing but the scuffle of feet, he distinctly heard the skipper say, Bring me the bag, child; he's snug at last then he heard him again say, in answer to some whisper of hers, Confound his ugly carcase, the bag is too small-let us leave him now, Anabell, he'll make no noise, and I'll truss him up, and give him a passage in the midwatch; and accordingly the cabin was again locked up as before. After all this you may easily suppose, mates, that long before the appointed time, Oliver was at his post, and hadn't waited long ere he heard the skipper, attended as before, softly unlock Morelle's cabin, and go in-then he heard him using an axe, d'ye see, as thof he'd been cutting up junk-and then he heard them slowly and cautiously dragging something weighty along the deck, and the cabin windows quietly opened; but he heard nothing more, having to cut his stick that same mo 43 ATHENEUM VOL. 14. ment, for fear of Oram coming on deck and finding the after-hold open, you know. However, it would appear there was little danger of his doing so at that time, having seemingly other fish to fry; for after waiting a while in his birth, and dousing part of his rigging, Oliver went upon deck, where he found everything quiet,-all the watch being asleep, except the mate who kept reckoning, and the man at the wheel. Hollo, old boy,' cries the mate to Oliver, what the devil's turned you out so early? I'd think, for my part, you'd been as well in your hammock To this, d'ye see, Oliver made some reply or other; but that, and a great deal more talk they had together, I must pass over, for I've forgot it.-Lord! Lord! could you but have heared old Oliver tell it, how he would have scared you!-I can only recollect that the mate told him that for certain there was some devilry going forward in the cabin, for that just a short time before, the night being uncommonly quiet, having heard the creak, of the cabin windows opening, he had gone to the stern, and looking cunningly over, he beheld the skipper and Madame Morelle pushing something like a well-filled bread-bag out of 'em, which fell heavily into the deep, and disappeared like a shot; and ever since,' continued the mate to Oliver, 'he has done nothing else but bundle up and down the cabin-ladder there for water and has been knocking about the mops like the devil in a gale of wind. He told me, indeed,' says the mate to Oliver, that being unable to sleep after turning in, he had got up for the purpose of giving the infected cabin a rousing up, as he didn't like to hazard any of his cabin-boys' lives in the doing of it.-But I believe all this to be a lie, d'ye see,' says the mate, 'for I never yet saw Jerry so fond of doing anything, far less such a nasty job as the cleaning out of a dead man's cabin. No, no, in faith he must have some other rig in his eye, in all this midnight industry,' said the mate, "particularly when he is assisted in it by his fancy article. I only wish to God, Oliver, there mayn't be some 6 thing foul in all this scrubbing.' To all this you may swear Oliver made no reply, but bidding the mate good bye, he returned to his birth, and turned in, thoroughly convinced in his own mind that Morelle had been murdered somehow or other. "Well, my lads, this here Morelle being once out of the ship, and everything going on in a more quiet and orderly way, matters, d'ye see, assumed a more lively appearance, and the good old Benjamin, cutting through it with life and spirit, was soon at her destination. Here, having taken in some hundreds of them black devils as work in the plantations, with ivory and gold dust, they sailed once more on their return to the West Indies; and then began the rig of which I were talking to Davis there just now. I really can't say, as I never heard, whether there was any unusual appearance made in the cabin of a night or morning-if there was, they kept it to themselves, d'ye see, like many other things; but this one was certain, that now as they approached the spot where belike the deed was committed, the ghost of Morelle seemed to meet them half-way, and grew very troublesome, making a regular trip of the decks every middle watch, and playing the very devil in frightening all hands. It stuck to no particular part of the booker,mind me,as a fellow might have supposed; but was sometimes seen walking forward, sometimes aft, and sometimes, for all the world as he had been alive, it would make a start away to some one or other of the tops, or disappear through the hold gratings amongst the negurs. Oliver told me he saw it once quite close to him and some others as were talking together; and he described it to be a tall figure, rigged out in white gear, with its head muffled up, which moved slowly along, carrying a bread-bag all over blood under its arm, which it stopped and displayed to all whom it passed; and when it vanished, which it did often in a twinkling, you'd have heard strange noises,as thof it were the clang of forgehammers, or the rattling of chains, mixed with loud peals of wild unearthly laughter, dismal shrieks, and low hol low groans. All this occurred so of ten, and so frightened young and old, that duty seemed once more to have come to an end, seeing the never a hand would stir his stumps to do anything with cheerfulness after sunset; and though Captain Oram and his mate did what they could in the jeering and chiding way, to knock this same terror out of them, all would not do; and so, d'ye see nothing was done that wasn't forced, and what they'd obliged to lend a hand to themselves. Now what made all this the worse was the coming on of bad whether; for by this time the season was far advanced, and little else was to be expected, you know. It is an easy guess story, then, my lads, to know what a sad taking the poor old Benjamin must have been in, having thus to encounter the heavy squalls, worse seas, and thunder and lightning storms of the tropics, with never a willing hand on board her to assist in the keeping of her snug. Captain Oram, his mates, and a few stout hearts more, to be sure, did do wonders, and worked for a while like jolly fellows, who feared neither ghosts nor devils; but it was impossible they could hold out so for ever, you know; and as the weather continued still in the same unsettled way, they soon began to fag and fall off, through sheer want of sleep and hard work. "They were in this hard-up and dreary way one dismal, rainy, and squally night, and the few hands that would work, after making the old hooker as snug as they could, had just thrown themselves on the deck, under a tarpauling, in order to snatch a momentary repose, when the mate of the watch was roused to attention by a strange, hollow, and uncommon harsh voice, singing out from the maintopOn deck, there! Now you must know, my lads, that this same mate was none of your shilly-shally shorebred fellows who start at mere trifles, but a regular thorough-bred sea goer, and had besides the character of having as bold a heart and as sound a head as ever the port of Liverpool produced; but what argufies all that, when one's taken by surprise-and so, d'ye see, whether or not the ghost story had come into his head, I'll not say, thof it's likely enough; but he were just standing firmly gazing on the top, waiting to see whether the bright sheets of lightning, which ever and anon were streaming athwart the horizon, would let him see who it was that were thus bawling before he would answer, when the same voice sung out a second time, On deck, there still louder than be fore. He immediately roused his watch-mates, and had just begun to tell them the story, when all hands were astounded with horror, with hearing On deck, there! bawled out a third time in a most thundering manner. "What do you want?" cried the man at the wheel; when he was answered with a peal of the wildest and loudest laughter arising in the top, which seemed to sail away and die in the breeze. As soon as they had recovered themselves from the fright, for they neither heard nor saw anything more that night, they mustered their hands, and found all presant, excepting the Captain, who had stowed himself away below. "Well, my lads, yon needn't fear but all this here story was fully and faithfully conned over to all hands by those who kept the watch; and if things were bad before, you may swear that it made them no better; every soul being now convinced that the ghost of Morelle haunted the ship, and the devil of it was, no one either had the pluck to speak to it, or knew how to get rid on't. Some stout hearts there were, indeed, who seemed to think the story all a bamm, and even volunteered to go and sit in the top until the ghost made its appearance: but, avast, there, the nearer the time approached, the more their courage gave way, and the watch were jeering the arrival of the last of these bravaders on deck, when the old thundering voice sung out as usual, On deck, there! Blast my eyes and limbs!' cried a forecastleman, jumping to the rigging, 'but I'll see this same bawler, be he the devil himself; though I strongly suspect that 'tis some frolicsome whoreson making game of us all the time. Hark'ee, maties, keep a bright eye on the lee rigging there, that no man slides down, while I go aloft and examine "He had now got his head barely above the top rim, and what he saw, Heaven only knows; but with the eyes of all the watch anxiously fixed upon him, he gave a dreadful scream of horror, let go his hold, and rolled right overboard,-while, for the third time, On deck, there! resounded in all their ears, succeeded as before with the same wild laughter, mingled with shrieks and groans. Heaven have mercy upon us!' cried the mate, as the awful sounds died away, for this is no fool's trick.' "The melancholy fate of this brave lad, who was beloved by all hands, entirely put an end to all duty and subordination; so that the following day, the never a he of them all would enter the main-top, even in day-light, without the Captain, or some one of his mates along with them; and when night came on, it was only by the Captain assuring them that he would keep the first and middle watches himself, that he could contrive to muster a sufficient nnmber to agree to keep it along with him. "Accordingly, Capt. Oram, accompanied by Madame Morelle, kept the decks the whole of the first watch, during which every thing was quiet and orderly. Eight bells were struck and gone, and he was just standing before her, advising her to go below, as the dew was beginning to be cold and chilly, when the whole deck again resounded with the usual cry of On deck, there! which whether it were the sound of that wild voice, or the sudden shock, seemed completely to paralyze all the powers of Madame Morelle, who immediately gave a loud shriek, and fell back into the arms of a female negress, her attendant, in a faint. As for Oram, he seemed to get rank raving mad on instant; for leaving his wench to look after herself, he sprung forward, and with eyes flashing fury on the top, he sung out, Hilloah! "By the Lord,lads, he hadn' to wait for an answer. "Stand from under! was the terrible response. What! is she dead-fairly stone dead? Have I done all this-Have I committed murder and thrown my hopes of Heaven at my heels for naught !—then die, Jerry, die and be'-and he instantly fell flat on the deck, in a state of complete insensibility. They were both taken below; a fever was the consequence and before they recovered, the Benjamin arrived at her port, and Oliver was one of the first to leave her. "Let fall and be d-d! cried the intrepid Oram, and immediately a Bread Bag was precipitated to the deck, streaming in blood, the mouth of which bursting open, a human head rolled out, and lay at his feet, which all the "Now, my lads, pray what d'ye watch could recognize as that of the think of my old ship-mate's story! unfortunate Morelle. Oram gazed at wouldn't it convince any fellow of any the mangled remains for an instant, sense at all, that murder will not hide with a countenance in which horror, on ship-board, and that the ghost will desperation, and madness, were strong- never cease to haunt and flipper round ly depicted, then cried, Hell and the the body, until it has got Christian devil are you there again?-Away, burial-What say you, Davis, eh? away, blast you! away, and be food for I see you are smuggling a laugh, to the first shark that meets you! In and be d-d to you." saying which, he first made the ghastly head spin from his kick like a football, then clutched like a fury on the Bloody Bread-Bag, and, with a strength almost supernatural, made it fly over the lee gangway. He now ran aft to where the doctor and some others were assisting the recovery of Madame Morelle, roaring out, Anabell, my dear wench, I have given him a passage again, and he'll bother us no more Nothing was ever more true; for Edward having hitherto succeeded with great difficulty in restraining his risible faculties, no sooner received this half good-humoured interrogation, than his mirth overleaped all bounds, and he now laughed away so heartily and so highly to the satisfaction of the mirthloving Mahony, that he instantly joined in the chorus, to the infinite astonishment of the chagrined story-teller. (New Mon.) THE HARP OF ZION. OH! how art thou fallen, thou City of God! He hath stricken the crown from thy brow with his rod On thy neck is the yoke-on thy garinent a stain- The phial of wrath on thy forehead was pour'd, Thou hast shrunk from the withering glance of the Lord; O turn thee, our God! let thy mercy awaken, Oh, Zion! his smile shall dawn on thy night W. e. |