E. H. Visiak

“ Nay, had the thing been contrived by Doctor Copicus to terrify us, how was it feasible that he wished to frighten us away, after (by my surmise) having enticed us to the island?
I was deep in these cogitations, when, on a sudden, a shadow and a fear fell upon me; and, looking round, I saw that Doctor Copicus again stood within the cell. I met his gaze—but could not support it, so searching was it.
“So, my lad,” said he, in mild and gentle tones, “hast made a good recovery. A sound mind in a sound body nature mends apace. Welcome, Francis Clayton, welcome to the Promised Land!” ”

“ The ship lurched and pitched so that I had much ado to keep my feet. We ran before the wind under our topsails only, driven ever onwards with the rolling long waves of the sea and the flying white scud-rack overhead. This all-moving prospect put strange thoughts and whimsies in my head, insomuch that I found I could not endure to look upon it for long together, and I presently returned into my cabin, and read in a book until breakfast-time.
I sat down to that meal in sole company of Surgeon Burke (my brother not yet being up) ; and then I had news of Ouvery. ”

“ Ambrose and I reached the great door, and in a trice stood without in the darkness of the night. ’Twas dark indeed! There was no moon nor stars. The air was hot and heavy, and seemed to throb in our ears.
Suddenly there came a jag of lightning that rent the black heaven like a scroll; and the thunder scarce had ceased to roll, but, flash upon flash, and jag upon jag, the lightning came continuously, as if it would seam and scar and melt the firmament! The earth did crack and crack as it came to ground.
There came a sudden, mighty flaw of wind ”

“ It was the clamour of the great waterfall, joined with the roaring of the sea.
A wind was sprung up, a high and rocking wind, that came in flurries, and swept round and round and in and out the bends and indentations of the cliff, to leap howling upon the giant headland. The sea, risen high upon the shore, gnashed and foamed in great breakers. But the sky was cloudless blue, and the firmament clear like crystal. ”

“ A big ship, flying the flag of St. George, had hove in sight round a bend of the cliff.
Next moment he turned; and, bawling out, “In with the boat!” cried he, “All hands make sail! Up anchor and away!”
There fell a great ado on this, as the mariners went to work to the shrill piping whistle of the boatswain, and the word of command. Soon the cable was hove in, while the seamen sang as they strained at the capstan. Soon the ship began to move, stretching away under her spritsail and topsails to the shore-breeze. ”

“ The ship leaped and leaped again as the broadside blazed along, and volume upon volume of cannon-smoke hid all.
We strained our eyes.
Gradually the smoke lifted. The figure was standing as before!
And as that horrid countenance came forth again in view, fixedly looking on us, their terror returned upon the mariners, now come all up on deck again. Dazed with fear, they stood huddled together, every man clinging to his mate.
Suddenly the Captain cried:
“Make sail!” But his voice was shrill and small; and, glancing to starboard, he screamed:
“Haste! haste! Make sail! Cut the cable!” ”

“ However, Burke proffered to go to the hut and bring them word again, and persuaded them to wait his return. So he went, and I with him.
We forced our way in haste alongst the woody shore, whilst behind us the curses of the seamen, in front the shouts and laughter of the revellers, sounded in our ears; whilst the sun scorched us like a furnace, and the humming mosquitoes stung our bare faces. Many discomforts and hardships of body I have suffered, but never a one of them comparable to that shore-passage at Hispaniola! ”

“ He died bravely, committing his spirit unto God.
But this dreadful passage wrought a strange effect in me. It filled me full of anger against Doctor Copicus and all his works. As I gazed upon the morass, which lay all shimmering and steaming in the sun-glare, I swore that I would bring the man to the bar of justice and judgment.
I stood there in the dank wood, in the dismal shade of the mangrove trees, and I raged—I, a weak, futile lad—against the man whose might was like a strong tower. And suddenly, as though [161] deriding me, the voice of the volcan roared in thunder.... ”

“ I helped him to hale her down the narrow strip of shore. The breakers foamed and gnashed like things possessed.
And now began the island to quake and to be shaken to pieces: the cliffs split in flaws and fissures, with stupendous sounds; the roar that came to us from the woodland bespoke a deluge of fire, over which, no doubt, the volcan reared high its infernal plume.
“Quickly! Quickly!” cried Thalass, when the boat was gotten down. “Get ’e in! Get ’e in! Her good fine boat! No sink! no break! I made ’e, fine! beautiful!” ”

“ The conclamation was broken off suddenly, on a man crying out that we were come among the very breakers of the shore; and scarce his voice had died away, when, with a lamentable dull grating sound, the ship struck, ploughing long and deep into the bottom of sand. The breakers swayed her languidly from side to side with a dismal motion, while the despairing cry arose, “Now we be gone indeed, the Lord ha’ mercy on us! We shall never see our homes again!” ”

“ To me it seemed the very earth did split, and quake and stagger. Stunned, I fell to the ground.
The Doctor himself raised me up, and, “See! See!” cried he, pointing out beneath the lifting cannon-smoke, “a curse is fallen upon the wolves! They die! they die! They go down! down! There shall not a one of them escape!”
The ship that had been pursued sailed slowly in, and I could see the men crowding in the bows, waving scarfs to us, and, doubtless, cheering. [152] But of the other craft, there remained but a confused wrack driving in the waves, swarmed over with struggling seamen, as with rats. ”

“ As it was, our ship took no great hurt, though the splinters flew, and six of her ports were battered in; yet many of our men were wounded after a dreadful manner, and one was killed outright. Whereupon such brutish and demoniac fury came upon the rest as transported them like very devils.
Our decks were bloody like a slaughter-house; and from the spar-deck the wounded men roared out very grievously as Surgeon Burke wrought upon them, so that their groans and shrieks did mingle with the horrid blasphemies. ”

“ We scarce had got into a sailing posture, but we saw a ship, which came towards us. And, wanting something—I forget what it was—we made a wiff to her. But we got more than we wanted! For, clapping on a wind, and coming on, they began to fire at us as hot as they could, and brought our mainmast by the board.
“Well, they boarded us—as villainous a crew as ever sailed the sea; and, though we made a good fight, ’twas all one: our ship was taken. We expected to be all murdered, or at least set ashore to starve on some desolate island.” ”

“ An hour passed. Silence was fallen upon the ship; for some had gone below, and the rest (saving the sentinels) lay sleeping and waking between the guns. The waterfall sounded but faint, and the breakers beat with a low clamour that seemed muffled by the cloak of the darkness. Suddenly, from a point close at hand on the shore, came a sound of singing! ”

“ We scoured down the avenue, crossed the road beyond, and, striking into the countryside, cut crisply across the frozen fields to the cliff-top; then down, helter-skelter, to the shore.
A great ship lay at an anchor close in, with her sails hauled up in brails. It was the Tiger. Her captain’s boat lay beached above the breakers; and her crew walked up and down, to keep them warm. My brother stepped to the coxswain, “’Tis I, John,” said he, as he got his breath; and, to the rest, he said: “Back to the ship, men! Our plans are at a head! All’s ready! I’ll make all your fortunes, my jolly boys!” ”

“ For the material universe, the sum and crasis of bodies, is the shadow cast by the spiritual universe, the sum and crasis of souls. It’s a picture cast upon the curtain of the darkness, as when the sun, shining through a coloured casement, throws a picture upon a wall. ”

“ The seamen held off glum and murmuring, no man offering. If, however, they had no stomach for the work, Thalass and I were even eager to set foot on the island; and, when Wallis and the rest perceived this, they were nothing backward to encourage us, giving us good words, proffering us small-arms and ammunition, whilst some ran to the cook-room to fetch victuals for us, and others put themselves into the jolly-boat to row us ashore. ”

“ Doubtless there was something of God in the villainous men, deep in the hearts of them, as there is something of God in all things; and the rest (to speak truly) is but distortion and shadow and absence and darkness. ”

“ Accordingly I gave over trying to open the door, and started back to the cliff; the cannonading, meanwhile, being continued. The heavens were splendid with the hosts of the stars; the moon was not yet risen.
I reached the outward of the wood, and looked keenly forth upon the fortifications. They were full of men; and every gunner was plainly to be distinguished by a point of yellow flame that shone at the end of his linstock. But there came no longer a sound of voices, and at that I wondered; until I spied the form of Doctor Copicus. ”

“ Vanity, trouble, and vexation of spirit! Set your heart on shadow, and become shadow.... I tell you, my lad,” added he, with passion in his voice and deep despair, “I tell you, that if....”
[166] He ceased, and there was silence; a hollow and throbbing silence, like the pulse of the darkness.
Then the Doctor spoke again. “How came you here?” said he.
I told him how I had found the path across the morass.
“It remains,” said he, “for you to die.... And yet....”
He touched a knob upon the wall; and immediately my sight was dazzled with the bright white light, which flooded the passage. ”

“ Hereupon, being come to a place where the ground slanted steeply up, we turned and went inland beneath the slope.
“Say, are you learned?” asked Ambrose. “Can you read Latin?”
“Indifferent well,” said I. “But why? Hath Doctor Copicus, peradventure, a charity-school in his island?”
He laughed his singular laugh. “Charity-school,” said he, “is good! Yea, we shall put you to school! And do you see to it that you be industrious. ”

“ However, the wind coming briskly to the shore, and the ship bearing directly in, soon I descried her. But now the shades of night began to fall, so that she was no longer visible to us. On this we turned, and started back along the cliff.
As we drew near to the fortifications, there came a sound of voices; and soon we beheld a gang of pirates gathered about the guns. A small man, having a scarlet feather stuck in his hat, stood a little apart from the rest. He beckoned to Thalass, who went to him. ”

“ I broke off; for the door of the cell was thrown violently open, and there entered, bursting in upon us, the little lad whom we had seen near the volcan.
“Tirralirra!” cried he in his shrill voice, and stood stock and silent before us. I looked at Ambrose, who stared on the lad.
“Well, Dominic?” said he in a quavering voice.
The lad fell to capering about the cell. His eyes glowed like lamps; and, on a sudden, he cried:
“The mighty from their seats! The mighty from their seats! Death is a pendulum! Death is a swing! Up—down! ”

“ Ambrose!’
“He touched the knob again, and, when the young man returned, ‘Expound to this clodpole,’ said the Doctor, ‘my saying, the door that hath no key!’
“Thereupon Ambrose turned to Ouvery; and, like one reciting a task, he said:
“‘No man is able to open it, but the dead pass through there. ’Tis the door of fate.’
“‘Good words, Ambrose,’ said the Doctor. ‘No man, indeed, is able to open that door. I myself have essayed, even to weariness, but I found no key. ”

“ The mariners went eagerly to work, snapping greedily at the exciting chance. The jolly-boat, which was towing astern, was speedily hauled in and manned; but the coxswain was shoved from his wonted command of her by Ouvery, who put himself into the stern-sheets. I, being full of curiosity, jumped into the boat as they made ready to pull away; whereupon Ouvery did look upon me balefully, though he spoke no word, and I knew that he hated me from the bottom of his black heart! ”

“ I shuddered; but tried to conceal it, asking quickly:
“What manner of man is Doctor Copicus? Is he a magician? Is the island enchanted? What do you here?”
But he answered:
“I may not tell you these things. The Doctor will do so in his own good time. And I stay too long. Farewell. For the present, farewell.”
And, deaf to the importunities that I made, he rose and went from the cell.
[117] I reckoned up what I had learnt. ’Twas but little. One mystery, indeed, was resolved: that of the deserted ship. But of the island and its Master (save his name) , I had learnt nothing. ”

“ If any man spoke, ’twas in a whisper, or scarce more than a whisper; as if terror possessed their minds. And now, no doubt, they recalled, and believed implicitly, every word and dark terrible hint spoken of the Haunted Island by the mad maroon. ”

“ He strives to follow thee, O sun! Down! down! there’s sea enough.’
“So he raved in his frenzy, the crazy lad; but Ouvery, lumbering forward with a curse, took him with his clenched fist a great buffet on the head, so that he fell down like one dead. And Ouvery laughed, laughed! But not for long!
“A man burst forth from the thicket behind, and felled the great pirate as if he were a figure of pasteboard!
“’Twas an Indian—that same Mosquito Indian you took up with me from the boat. He consorted with the pirates; an innocent abetter of their devilish work, a malefactor in whom was no guile. ”

“ When we got to the boat, we found my brother was not yet returned, and the seamen much out of humour for the waiting. They sat on the shore, smoking their pipes, cursing the Captain and the mosquitoes, and viciously casting stones at the land crabs.
“I ain’t going for to bide on this hell-shore much longer,” said one, “Cap’n or no Cap’n! Oh, to hell with them mosquiters!”
But Burke essayed to turn their minds, and “Why, what’s amiss with ’em?” says he merrily, “They need their victuals, like the rest of us. I’ve been feeding a score of ’em since I came ashore.” ”

“ We now rapidly left the floundering and mazed man-of-war. But our men kept firing into the medley on her decks, plying the stern-chasers in furious haste; and, ever as he was able, the enemy did shoot at us with muskets and pistols, and once—his ship having slewed right round—gave us a thundering great broadside. ”

“ I fared with Wallis in the great cabin, his mate—one Peter Burrows—remaining with the watch on deck. Wallis was very moody and cross, and I dwelt heavily on the death of my brother; so that the meal passed with but scant speech. Wallis, afterwards going to the quarter-deck, called lustily for all hands; and, when they were come together, he made them a sort of rambling speech.
“Shipmates,” said he, “there a’n’t no manner of need for me to tell you how we lay. You know what fell yester-night, that there be dark things hatching yonder. We be fallen in on the Devil’s island by the look on’t. ”