carpet of his little room occasionally rose from the floor, swelled up by the insidious entrance of the searching blast; the solitary candle, which from neglect had not only elongated its wick to an unusual extent, but had formed a sort of mushroom top, was every moment in danger of extinction, while the chintz curtains of the window waved solemnly to and fro. But the deep reverie of Edward Forster was suddenly disturbed by the report of a gun swept to leeward by the impetuosity of the gale, which hurled it with violence against the door and front windows of his cottage, for some moments causing them to vibrate with the concussion. Forster started up, dropping his book upon the hearth, and jerking the table with his elbow, so as to dash out the larger proportion of the contents of his tumbler. The sooty coronal of the wick also fell with the shock, and the candle, relieved from its burden, poured forth a brighter gleam.
“Lord ha’ mercy, Mr. Forster; did you hear that noise?” cried the old housekeeper (the only inhabitant of the cottage except himself), as she bolted into the room, holding her apron in both hands. “I did, indeed, Mrs. Beazeley,” replied Forster; “it’s the signal of a vessel in distress, and she must be on a dead lee-shore. Give me my hat!” and draining off the remainder in his tumbler, while the old lady reached his hat off a peg in the passage, he darted out from the door of his tenement.
The door, which faced to seaward, flew open with violence, as Forster disappeared in the darkness of the night.
The old housekeeper, on whom had devolved the task of securing it, found it no easy matter; and the rain, blown in by the sweeping gale, proved an effectual and unwelcome shower-bath to one who complained bitterly of the rheumatics. At last her object was accomplished, and she repaired to the parlour to re-light the candle which had been extinguished, and await the return of her master. After sundry ejaculations and sundry wonders, she took possession of his arm-chair, poked the fire, and helped herself to a glass of whisky-toddy. As soon as her clothes and her tumbler were again dry, she announced by loud snores that she was in a happy state of oblivion; in which we shall leave her, to follow the motions of Edward Forster.
It was about seven o’clock in the evening, when Forster thus exposed himself to the inclemency of the weather. But a few weeks before how beautiful were the evenings at this hour; the sun disappearing beyond the distant wave, and leaving a portion of his glory behind him until the stars, in obedience to the divine fiat, were lighted up to “shine by night;” the sea rippling on the sand, or pouring into the crevices of the rocks, changing its hue, as daylight slowly disappeared, to the more sombre colours it reflected, from azure to each deeper tint of grey, until darkness closed in, and its extent was scarcely to be defined by the horizontal line.
Now all was changed, The roaring of the wind and the hoarse beating of the waves upon the streaming rocks deafened the ears of Edward Forster. The rain and spray were hurled in his face, as, with both hands, he secured his hat upon his head; and the night was so intensely dark, that but occasionally he could distinguish the broad belt of foam with which the coast was lined. Still Forster forced his way towards the beach, which it is now requisite that we should more particularly describe.
As we before observed, the cottage was built upon a high land, which terminated in a precipitous clift about two hundred yards distant, and running in a direct line to the westward. To the northward, the coast for miles was one continual line of rocky clifts, affording no chance of life to those who might be dashed upon them; but to the southward of the clift which formed the promontory opposite to Forster’s cottage, and which terminated the range, there was a deep indent in the line of coast, forming a sandy and nearly land-locked bay, small indeed, but so sheltered that any vessel which could run in might remain there in safety until the gale was spent. Its only occupant was a fisherman, who, with his family, lived in a small cottage on the beach. He was an ally of Forster, who had intrusted to his charge a skiff, in which, during the summer months, he often whiled away his time. It was to this cottage that Forster bent his way, and loudly knocked when he arrived.
“Robertson—I say, Robertson,” called Forster, at the full compass of his voice.
“He is not here, Mr. Forster,” answered Jane, the wife of the fisherman; “he is out, looking for the vessel.”
“Which way did he go?”
Before an answer could be returned, Robertson himself appeared. “I’m here, Mr. Forster,” said he, taking off his fur cap, and squeezing out with both hands the water with which it was loaded; “but I can’t see the vessel.”
“Still, by the report of the gun, she must be close to the shore.—Get some fagots out from the shed, and light as large a fire as you can; don’t spare them, my good fellow; I will pay you.”
“That I’ll do, sir, and without pay; I only hope that they’ll understand the signal, and lay her on shore in the cove. There’s another gun!”
This second report, so much louder than the former, indicated that the vessel had rapidly neared the land; and the direction from which the report came, proved that she must be close to the promontory of rocks.
“Be smart, my dear fellow; be smart,” cried Forster.
“I will go up to the clift, and try if I can make her out;” and the parties separated upon their mutual work of sympathy and good will.
It was not without danger, as well as difficulty, that Forster succeeded in his attempt; and when he arrived at the summit, a violent gust of wind would have thrown him off his legs, had he not sunk down upon his knees and clung to the herbage, losing his hat, which was borne far away to leeward. In this position, drenched with the rain and shivering with the cold, he remained some minutes, attempting in vain, with straining eyes, to pierce through the gloom of the night, when a flash of lightning, which darted from the zenith and continued its eccentric career until it was lost behind the horizon, discovered to him the object of his research. But a few moments did he behold it, and then, from the sudden contrast, a film appeared to swim over his aching eyes, and all was more intensely, more horribly dark than before; but to the eye of a seafaring man, this short view was sufficient. He perceived that it was a large ship, within a quarter of a mile of the land, pressed gunnel under with her reefed courses, chopping through the heavy seas—now pointing her bowsprit to the Heavens, as she rose over the impeding swell; now plunging deep into the trough encircled by the foam raised by her own exertions, like some huge monster of the deep, struggling in her toils, and lashing the seas around in her violent efforts to escape.
The fire burnt up fiercely in the cove, in defiance of the rain and wind, which, after in vain attempting to destroy it in its birth, now seemed to assist it with their violence.
“She may yet be saved,” thought Forster, “if she will only carry on—Two cables’ lengths more, and she will be clear of the point.”
Again and again was the vessel momentarily presented to his view, as the forked lightning darted in every quarter of the firmament, while the astounding claps of thunder bursting upon his ears before the lightning had ceased to gleam, announced to him that he was kneeling in the very centre of the war of the elements. The vessel reared the clift in about the same proportion that she forged ahead. Forster was breathless with anxiety, for the last flash of electricity revealed to him that two moments more would decide her fate.
The gale now redoubled its fury, and Forster was obliged to cling for his existence as he sank, from his kneeling posture, flat upon the wet herbage. Still he had approached so near to the edge of the clift that his view below was not interrupted by his change of posture—Another flash of lightning.—It was enough! “God have mercy on their souls!” cried he, dropping his face upon the ground as if to shut out the horrid vision from his sight.
He had beheld the vessel within the surf, but a few yards distant
