TALES OF THE SEA: 12 Maritime Adventure Novels in One Volume (Illustrated). Джеймс Фенимор Купер

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СКАЧАТЬ plainly stamped on the pallid lineaments of the wounded man. His eye alone seemed still to belong to earth; for, while all around it appeared already to be sunk into the helplessness of the last stage of human debility that was still bright, intelligent, and glowing—might almost have been described as glaring.

      “Is there aught in which we can contribute to your comfort, or to your wishes?” asked Captain de Lacey, after a long and solemn pause, during which all around the litter had mournfully contemplated the sad spectacle of sinking mortality.

      The smile of the dying man was ghastly, though tenderness and sorrow were singularly and fearfully combined in its expression. He answered not; but his eyes had wandered from face to face, until they became riveted, by a species of charm, on the countenance of the oldest of the two females. His gaze was met by a look as settled as his own; and so evident was the powerful sympathy which existed between the two, that it could not escape the observation of the spectators.

      “Mother!” said the officer, with affectionate concern; “my mother! what troubles you?”

      “Henry—Gertrude,” answered the venerable parent extending her arms to her offspring, as if she asked support; “my children, your doors have been opened to one who has a claim to enter them. Oh! it is in these terrible moments, when passion is asleep and our weakness is most apparent, in these moments of debility and disease, that nature so strongly manifests its impression! I see it all in that fading countenance, in those sunken features, where so little is left but the last lingering look of family and kindred!”

      “Kindred!” exclaimed Captain de Lacey: “Of what affinity is our guest?”

      “A brother!” answered the lady, dropping her head on her bosom, as though she had proclaimed a degree of consanguinity which gave pain no less than pleasure.

      The stranger, too much overcome himself to speak, made a joyful gesture of assent, but never averted a gaze that seemed destined to maintain its direction so long as life should lend it intelligence.

      “A brother!” repeated her son, in unfeigned astonishment. “I knew you had a brother: but I had thought him dead a boy.”

      “‘Twas so I long believed, myself; though frightful glimpses of the contrary have often beset me; but now the truth is too plain, in that fading visage and those fallen features, to be misunderstood. Poverty and misfortune divided us. I suppose we thought each other dead.”

      Another feeble gesture proclaimed the assent of the wounded man.

      “There is no further mystery. Henry, the stranger is thy uncle—my brother—once my pupil!”

      “I could wish to see him under happier circumstances,” returned the officer, with a seaman’s frankness; “but, as a kinsman, he is welcome. Poverty, at least, shall no longer divide you.”

      “Look, Henry—Gertrude!” added the mother, veiling her own eyes as she spoke, “that face is no stranger to you. See ye not the sad ruins of one ye both fear and love?”

      Wonder kept her children mute, though both looked until sight became confused, so long and intense was their examination. Then a hollow sound, which came from the chest of the stranger, caused them both to start; and, as his low, but distinct enunciation rose on their ears, doubt and perplexity vanished.

      “Wilder,” he said, with an effort in which his utmost strength appeared exerted, “I have come to ask the last office at your hands.”

      “Captain Heidegger!” exclaimed the officer.

      “The Red Rover!” murmured the younger Mrs. de Lacey, involuntarily recoiling a pace from the litter in alarm.

      “The Red Rover!” repeated her son, pressing nigher with ungovernable curiosity.

      “Laid by the heels at last!” bluntly observed Fid stumping up towards the groupe, without relinquishing the tongs, which he had kept in constant use, as an apology for remaining in the presence.

      “I had long hid my repentance, and my shame, together,” continued the dying man, when the momentary surprise had a little abated; “but this war drew me from my concealment. Our country needed us both, and both has she had! You have served as one who never offended might serve; but a cause so holy was not to be tarnished by a name like mine. May the little I have done for good be remembered when the world speaks of the evil of my hands! Sister—mother—pardon!”

      “May that God, who forms his creatures with such fearful natures, look mercifully on all our weaknesses!” exclaimed the weeping Mrs de Lacey, bowing to her knees, and lifting her hands and eyes to heaven “O brother, brother! you have been trained in the holy mystery of your redemption, and need not now be told on what Rock to place your hopes of pardon!”

      “Had I never forgotten those precepts, my name would still be known with honour. But, Wilder!” he added with startling energy, “Wilder!—”

      All eyes were bent eagerly on the speaker. His hand was holding a roll on which he had been reposing as on a pillow. With a supernatural effort, his form arose on the litter; and, with both hands elevated above his head, he let fall before him that blazonry of intermingled stripes, with its blue field of rising stars, a glow of high exultation illumining each feature of his face, as in his former day of pride.

      “Wilder!” he repeated, laughing hysterically, “we have triumphed!”—Then he fell backward, without motion, the exulting lineaments settling in the gloom of death, as shadows obscure the smiling brightness of the sun.

       Footnotes:

1 It would seem, from this declaration, that certain legal antiquarians, who have contended that the community is indebted to Desire for the unceremonious manner of clipping the nuptial knot, which is so well known to exist, even to this hour, in the community of which she was a member, are entirely in the wrong. It evidently did not take its rise in her example, since she clearly alludes to it, as a means before resorted to by me injured innocents of her own sex.]

2 The superstition, that Friday is an evil day, was not peculiar to Nighthead; it prevails, more or less, among seamen to this hour. An intelligent merchant of Connecticut had a desire to do his part in eradicating an impression that is sometimes inconvenient. He caused the keel of a vessel to be laid on a Friday; she was launched on a Friday; named the “Friday;” and sailed on her first voyage on a Friday. Unfortunately for the success of this well-intentioned experiment, neither vessel nor crew were ever again heard of!]

      THE WATER-WITCH:

       The Skimmer of the Seas

       Table of Contents

       Preface

       Chapter I

       Chapter II

       Chapter III

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